Realme continues its climb to success with Realme 5. We are talking about a low-end device, which has a slightly lower price than Realme 5 Pro, a product that we have awarded in the ranking of the best smartphones of the year under the 200 euros.
The difference in terms of cost is not so marked: Realme 5 is sold at 169 euros on the official European website (model 4 / 128GB), while the Pro variant costs 199 euros (always 4 / 128GB). The Chinese company will have managed to make a good compromise or for only 30 euros difference Is it worth aiming for the best performing variant?
Design and unboxing
The sales package contains a 5V / 2A (10W) charger, the standard microUSB cable for charging, the pin for extracting the dual nanoSIM compartment (triple slot two nanoSIM + microSD), various documentation and a comfortable silicone cover. In short, we are faced with a basic equipment, which includes everything that the user expects from a smartphone in this price range.
Realme 5 comes with the dimensions of 164.4 x 75.6 x 9.3 mm, for a weight of 198 grams. We are on slightly above average numbers and we must say that this feels a bit when using the smartphone. Excellent grip, however: the device was never "slippery".
The main material used is plastic, but the Chinese company has done a good job and Realme 5 gives a "premium" feeling. In addition, also thanks to the thickness of the smartphone, the constructive solidity remains good. We particularly liked the backcover, which we could call "mosaic". In fact, it creates geometric lines that are particularly pleasing to the eye when it comes into contact with sunlight. We have hardly seen such a beautiful rear body in this price range, so we feel we are promoting Realme's work with flying colors. The coloration that we have had the opportunity to try is the Crystal Blue, but those who have different tastes from those of the writer can also opt for the Crystal Purple.
Staying at the rear of Realme 5 we find four photographic sensors placed vertically in the upper left, followed by the Dual LED flash and a classic fingerprint sensor placed in the center. The latter has an average unlocking speed, although we continue to prefer the quick Face Unlock (which is also available on this smartphone), despite the usual security problems.
Moving on to the front of the device, we find a common panel with "drop" notch, containing the ear capsule and the front camera. The edges are quite evident, but on the other hand under 200 euros it is difficult to find devices that seriously aim at the screen-to-body ratio.
The speakers are located in the lower part, next to the standard microUSB port, to the 3.5mm audio jack for headphones and to the two microphones. On the right side the power button peeps out, while on the left there are the two separate buttons to raise / lower the volume and the SIM trolley. The upper part is completely "empty". As for the standard microUSB port, this is one of the differences between the Pro version and the "basic" version. Clearly the USB Type-C has several advantages and surely focusing on a smartphone with a Micro USB port at the end of 2019 may not be exactly the best of ideas.
To sum up, the design of Realme 5 has convinced us above all because of its excellent backcover, but remains anchored to the past given the absence of USB Type C.
Technical features
Realme 5 is driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 AIE octa-core processor operating at the maximum frequency of 2.0 GHz (4 x 2.0 GHz + 4 x 1.8 GHz), flanked by an Adreno 610 GPU and 4GB of RAM. We are talking about the same configuration of Redmi Note 8T, smartphone sold at a slightly higher price than this Realme 5. In short, we are on good levels, but we are certainly not talking about a device that focuses entirely on "brute force". Excellent internal memory, since we find 128GB of ROM (expandable via microSD up to 256GB), sufficient for all types of use.
Moving on to the screen, there is a 6.5-inch IPS LCD with HD + resolution (1600 x 720 pixels), 20: 9 aspect ratio and 89% screen-to-body ratio, guaranteed by the presence of the "drop" notch placed at the top and rounded edges. As you may have already guessed, here Realme has "cut" to allow the smartphone to have a lower price than the Pro variant (which instead has a display with Full HD + resolution). The panel is not bad in reality: the colors are well balanced and the automatic brightness adjustment works properly, aspects that position this screen in the average price range.
However, the reduced resolution is clearly a limit, especially when compared to the wide diagonal of the screen. In our view, the Chinese company has saved a little too much from this point of view and, despite using an average panel, Realme 5 is a bit "backward" compared to its Pro version.
In any case, there is no problem regarding the optimization of the aspect ratio: most of the apps work properly, thanks also to the presence of the convenient "full screen view" functionality.
As for the photographic sector, we find a 13MP front camera (f / 2.0) and one quadruple rear camera 12MP (f / 1.8) + 8MP (f / 2.25, wide angle, 119 degrees) + 2MP (f / 2.4, for depth of field) + 2MP (f / 2.4, for macros). The four rear sensors can record videos in 4K / 30fps, while the front one reaches Full HD / 30fps.
The features offered by the Camera app are the classic ones: Night, Panoramic, Expert, Time-Lapse, Slow motion, Ultra macro and Portrait.
The quality of the photos taken by the quadruple rear camera is good for the price range, thanks above all to the excellent use of HDR and artificial intelligence, which really manage to improve the situation in certain contexts.
The photos taken in good light conditions are satisfactory and the presence of a wide angle sensor in this price range is no small plus. At night you clearly start to see all the classic limits of a low-end photographic sector, but in general we would not have expected more. Do not underestimate the possibility of taking macros, but as always it is a feature intended for a niche.
As for videos, stabilization is not the best, but it must be said that essentially no smartphone under 200 euros manages to stabilize the videos properly, so it is normal. Summing up, Realme 5 has a good photographic sector, which will surely satisfy those who want to bet on a device in this price range. However, even here the Chinese company has cut to save money, since Realme 5 Pro has a 48MP main sensor. You can see some uncompressed photos by consulting our Drive folder dedicated to Realme 5.
One of the major strengths of the smartphone is certainly autonomy, given that we find a 5000 mAh battery, which often took us to the evening with about 35% of residual charge. Surely with a milder use of ours you can safely do two days. In short, a particularly good result that makes this Realme 5 suitable for those who focus a lot on autonomy. Too bad only for the 10W recharge, which is not exactly the fastest.
Arriving in the connectivity sector, we find 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac and Bluetooth 5.0, instead missing the NFC. Nothing to report regarding the audio sector and reception: the first has a good maximum volume, while the second never had problems during our tests.
Software
The operating system is Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6.0.1 customization and security patches updated in November 2019. Here things to say are always the same, since it is the same software that we found on board the Realme and OPPO smartphones that we have had the opportunity to try during the past months.
Interesting the possibility to access Google Assistant by pressing the power button. There are also always excellent gestures.
We remind you that Realme adopts a different graphical interface to that of OPPO, which we have appreciated above all because of the excellent design of the icons (even if that of the camera is perhaps a little subdued). Worth noting is the presence of a little "bloatware", such as Hot Apps, Hot Games and Webnovel, but all in all it is software that does not go too far.
ColorOS is always the one we know and its limits are the classic ones: stumbling blocks and bugs scattered here and there, somewhat "confusing" menus and management of not the best notifications. However, despite everything, the Chinese company is working well and therefore we are confident for the future.
Performance and benchmarks
As mentioned above, the performance of Realme 5 is good in the daily environment: we have not encountered any type of problem, even with the heaviest applications. Despite this, the smartphone actually fails to stand out particularly regarding "brute force".
For benchmark lovers, the device has recorded a total of 173978 points on AnTuTu. On Geekbench, however, it reached 314 points in single-core and 1402 points in multi-core. Good numbers, but which cannot compete with other devices in the same price range.
To give you a concrete example, Realme 5 Pro records a total of about 220000 points on AnTuTu, so the performance difference is quite marked. However, the device still falls within the average of the price range, given that, for example, Redmi Note 8T recorded a total of 174156 points on AnTuTu. In short, the performance is more than good, but the performance gap with the Pro variant could lean towards the latter, given the little price difference.
Gaming
To test Realme 5 in the gaming field, we used the classic three titles: Call of Duty Mobile, Mario Kart Tour and eFootball PES 2020. These are video games released quite recently, which could potentially give a lot of trouble to smartphones of this range of price.
Call of Duty Mobile runs smoothly and without lag with details and FPS set to "High", while trying the "Very High" option you start to see several drops. In any case, we are still talking about an excellent result, considering the price of the smartphone.
Turning to Mario Kart, a slightly less resource-demanding title, the latest addition to Nintendo obviously runs without any kind of problem, but we are talking about a relatively light title.
Same goes for football eFooball PES 2020, which run smoothly and without jamming on this Realme 5. Konami's title also manages to adapt properly to the aspect ratio, going correctly to cover the parts on the side of the notch.
Obviously present the gaming mode called Space Game. In addition to optimizing the performance of the various titles, it also adds some features, from estimating battery life to the possibility of blocking notifications and calls during game sessions, up to the use of apps such as WhatsApp in picture-in-picture .
The user also has three presets (Low consumption, Balanced and Competition) that allow you to optimize the performance according to your needs.
