Realme have recently launched two new dual sim phones - the Realme 5i and Realme C3 in the Pakistani market. With the Realme 5i available for only PKR 24,999 and the Realme C3 available for only PKR 20,999 both phones seek to provide options for mobile lovers looking for key features and performance at a budget-friendly price. We tried out both phones for ourselves to see how they measured up.
The Realme 5i runs Android version nine on the Colors OS 6.0.1. Using the phone, especially for Android users, is intuitive and relatively easy, with the Smart Assistant available for shortcuts from the homescreen with a simple right-swipe. The phone also features a fingerprint sensor, which worked every time, as well as a face recognition sensor to unlock the phone. The face recognition worked seamlessly across lighting conditions, regardless of whether our reviewer was wearing glasses or not. An additional security feature prevents the phone from being unlocked via facial recognition if your eyes are closed – this also worked every time we tested it. Navigating around the Realme 5i is intuitive and seamless, with no perceptible lag time or the like.
In contrast, the Realme C3 uses the Realme UI V1.0, based on Android 10, instead of the Colors OS. While the user interface is relatively seamless, a few key differences with the Colors OS do take some adjusting to – there is no Smart Assistant shortcut available from the homescreen, and the universal Google search bar is fixed at the bottom of the homescreen. Because of this, unlike most Android phones where swiping up from the bottom reveals the full menu, on the Realme C3, swiping must be done from above the universal search bar and bottom icons. The Realme C3 also includes a Focus Mode, in which background applications and notifications are blocked, allowing one to focus on a task at hand.
Powering the Realme 5i is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC processor, along with 4GB RAM and 64GB of built-in storage. While this may not be the fastest processor available in the market, for the average user the difference is negligible – throughout our testing we found no issues with the phone’s responsiveness, as it easily switched back-and-forth between multiple apps and was able to preform all the functions required without any discernible lag. The Realme 5i also features an Adreno 610 GPU, and a built-in optimization software that allows the phone to maximize it’s 3GB of RAM by devoting more RAM to games and apps with heavy RAM usage. This optimization goes a long-way in maximizing the performance of the device, allowing gaming and the like, though it does cause the phone to very slightly heat up.
In contrast, the Realme C3 features the all-new Mediatek Helio G70 octa-core processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB of built-in storage. Especially given the phone’s price – PKR 20,999 – the phone packs a considerable punch! We were able to switch between apps easily without any noticeable lag and were able to enjoy HD video streaming without any issues either. Indeed, the Mali-G52 2EEMC2 GPU also performed without any issues, and reinforced the feeling that the phone was performing significantly better than we’d expect given the price.
The Realme 5i comes with a Li-Po 5000 mAh battery and worked well, charging relatively quickly – we were able to charge it from 25% to full in three hours. Without heavy usage, the battery easily lasts a full day before needing to be charged again at night. When used heavily, watching videos and using a lot of apps, the battery life does come down, but the battery can survive half a day.
The Realme C3 also comes with a 5000 mAh battery, but despite its affordable price, preforms superbly on the battery-front. As with the Realme 5i, the C3 was also able to charge fully in approximately three hours. However, thanks to it’s smaller processor in comparison to it’s cousin the 5i, the C3 battery easily lasts a day and a half with average usage, and when used heavily, watching videos and switching between several different apps, the battery life did come down, but still managed to easily last for a full day.
On the downside, both phones use a micro-USB port, instead of the Type-C port more common in new phones. Additionally, neither phone supports fast charging, though they do charge relatively quickly.
Both the Realme 5i and Realme C3 feature a 6.5 inch HD+ display, with a 720x1600 pixel resolution and 16 million colours display. On both phones, the display is incredibly bright, even with the brightness lowered, allowing us to easily see what was on the screen, including watching videos outside in the sunlight. While the brightness of the display does stand out, once the sun sets, we switched to the Dark Mode setting, available on both phones, not only made the apps really pop against the dark background, but provided some of the crucial eye relief needed for heavy cellphone users at night.
On the camera side, both the Realme 5i and Realme C3 perform above what one might expect given the price range of the phones, but do leave some room for improvement. From the usage perspective, despite the affordability of the phones, they are loaded with special modes such as slo-mo, time-lapse, ultra-macro and panoramic shots, though their inclusion of these options in a menu bar makes them a little difficult to find. That said, the cameras do preform consistently well in most modes, and easy to use, with a host of pre-set filters to choose from and easy and seamless toggling between various modes, such as video, portrait, regular and ultra-macro.
The Realme C3 contains a triple camera on the back, capable of 12 MP photography, in addition to a 2 MP Macrolens. The camera’s features include a Chroma Boost to enhance the colors of photos, as well as a geo-tagging, mode detection to automatically adjust setting based on the item being photographed, touch focus and an LED flash. The C3 also includes a 5MP front-facing selfie camera with a 27mm wide-lens.
The Realme 5i in contrast features an incredibly powerful rear quad camera, capable of photography at 48 MP, as well as an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens and a 2MP dedicated macro camera. The rear camera is capable of fast focusing, multi-frame noise reduction, AI scene recognition and AI beauty 2.0. On the front, the Realme 5i features a single 8MP camera capable of both HDR mode and panorama shots.
On a whole, both phones worked remarkably well, with the Realme 5i preforming well above our expectations. That said, the photography at night was a bit of a challenge on both phones, particularly on the C3, and while the Ultra-Macro lens delivered crisp photography, it needed very well-lit environments to be able to preform at it’s best. Over a special dinner, we tried out three of the key features in both phones – the Chroma color boost, the Macro lens and the Ultra-wide angle lens, with pictures below.
Chroma Boost Mode
Both the Realme 5i and Realme C3 provide great value for money, with the 5i available for only PKR 24,999 and the C3 available for only PKR 20,999. While the cameras may not be top-of-the-line, the overall performance of both models, the graphics, the user experience and the long-lasting batteries hit the mark perfectly. Indeed, based on the performance of the two phones, one would never imagine that they are available for as little as they are. For a phone customer looking for options that are light on the pocket without sacrificing performance or battery, both the 5i and C3 are ideal.
