Realme 5 review

Introduction

Realme is making new phones by the dozen and we will forgive you if you stopped following somewhere along the way. The Realme 5 series launched last month, but once we were done with the 5 Pro, the XT had already arrived. Well, the Realme 5 is still worthy of the spotlight and today we are making it the guest of honor in this review.

The Realme 5 is the bigger phone of the duo due to its larger 6.5" display and beefier 5,000 mAh battery. The phone is powered by a very capable Snapdragon 665 chip, which should be thriving under that 720+ display. Sure, the resolution is less than ideal, but with a price of 10,000 Indian rupees (130 euros) - we'd forgive almost anything.

But regardless of what the price suggests, the Realme 5 quite rich in features. Things start off with a quad-camera setup on the back - a 16MP f/1.8 primary, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide shooter, a 2MP macro snapper, and a 2MP depth sensor (a.k.a. portrait cam).

In addition, the phone has a rather premium build with Gorilla Glass 3 at the front and splash-resistant protection across its whole body. Then there are the two very cool gradient paint jobs - Crystal Blue and Crystal Purple.

And here's the full specs list to learn more about the rest of the features available on this phone.

Realme 5 specs

• Body: Gorilla Glass 3+ front, polycarbonate back
• Screen: 6.5-inch, 19:9, 720p+, LCD
• Rear camera: Primary 12MP, f/1.8 lens; 119° ultrawide-angle 8MP camera; 2MP macro camera; 2MP portrait camera; LED flash; 2160p@30fps video recording
• Front camera: 13MP sensor
• Chipset: Snapdragon 665: octa-core CPU (4x2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver), Adreno 610 GPU
• Memory: 3/32GB, 4/64GB or 4/128GB; dedicated microSD slot for up to 256GB expansion
• OS: Android 9.0; Color OS 6.0 on top
• Battery: 5,000mAh, 10W charging
• Connectivity: Dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Micro-USB, FM radio
• Colors: Crystal Blue, Crystal Purple
• Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader

We think the dated microUSB port is probably the only issue we have with this impressive specs sheet, but then again, we are talking about a phone priced at INR 9,999 and we are giving this port a get out of jail free card.

Unboxing the Realme 5

The Realme 5 may be rocking one very low price tag yet its retail bundle is quite respectable.

The phone ships with a 10W charger, a microUSB cable, and a transparent silicone case.

That's not all, of course. As any other Realme, this one also 5 comes with a thin screen protector that's applied in the factory.