Realme 8 review

Android 11 and Realme UI 2.0

The Android 11 and Realme UI 2.0 combo is a relatively new one. This new version of Realme's custom UI is more customizable than ever, with a couple of extra Dark Mode styles, refined floating and mini windows, and enhanced security.

On the surface, Realme UI 2.0 looks quite clean. The lock screen and desktop are straightforward. The task switcher is very AOSP as well. There is an optional Google Feed panel, and you can also choose whether you want an app drawer or not.

Lock screen • Home screen • Google Feed • Task switcher • Notification shade • Quick toggles

There is an astonishing amount of customization available in Realme UI 2.0. Most of it is neatly organized within the Personalisations menu. There is full-featured icon customization, not just limited to packs. You can also tweak system colors and fonts. There are also quite a few fingerprint unlock animations, and you can even adjust the look of the quick toggles.

Personalisations menu

The more "general" or behavioral-related settings have their own top-level settings menu. It includes the optional home screen settings, with options for an app drawer, no app drawer and a simple mode, with no app drawer and bigger icons.

More customization • Even more settings • Home screen mode • Home screen gestures

Some of the gesture settings are also housed within this menu. Not all of them, though. There are a few other settings menus that also pertain to various customization for Realme UI 2.0. That is actually one of our main complaints with it - the need for better organization. The groundwork is already there with menus like Personalisations. Now Realme just needs to simplify and reorganize things better.

Realme UI 2.0 settings menu

For instance, there is a separate Notifications and status bar menu that could easily be placed in a more logical spot, alongside other settings. Organizational concerns aside, the number of small tweaks on offer is impressive. You can basically dial both the behavior and look just the way you like them.

Notifications and status bar settings

Continuing on with the tour, there is also a whole other Convenience tools menu. It is also filled to the brim with options. Navigation is fully adjustable, as expected - traditional buttons in both popular arrangements and a full set of gesture navigation.

Convenience tools • Navigation options

And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gestures. Realme UI 2.0 has support for basically every swipe and motion-based shortcut you can think of. Both with the screen on and off. Plus, in-depth customizability for said gestures.

Gesture settings

Screenshots and Screen recording also have an extensive set of options to adjust.

Screenshots and screen recording

Realme UI 2.0 has quite advanced multi-tasking options too. There is the standard split-screen for supported apps. It can either be triggered from the task manager or via a gesture. Beyond that, Realme UI 2.0 also has two different floating window options. One bigger than the other, but otherwise pretty similar.

Split screen and floating windows

There is yet another convenience feature bake into Realme UI 2.0 - Smart Sidebar. It is pretty self-explanatory. You can put shortcuts to both system functions, as well as apps and trigger them quickly.

Smart Sidebar

Dark Mode is available, too, and it's been enhanced with Realme UI 2.0 with support for three different dark styles - black, dark gray or light gray. It can be manual or scheduled. You can also opt to force it on third-party apps, though this doesn't always end well.

Dark Mode

Speaking of OLED and Dark Mode, the Realme 8 also has an AOD feature to go with its OLED display. It is surprisingly light when it comes to customization, though.

The multimedia apps such as Gallery, Music, and Videos - are provided by Realme. There is also a redesigned File Manager and even a Phone Manager app. This completes the non-Google app list, as far as utilities go. There are a few pre-installed third-party apps beyond that, like Facebook and the Amazon app, but they can be uninstalled.

Gallery • Albums • Videos • Phone manager • File Manager

Realme also has a game optimizer and launcher, called Game Space. It lets you apply performance profiles, and resolution scaling on a per-app basis and also offers performance metrics, including an FPS readout. Neat idea, but it might need some extra work since its readings weren't consistent at times. Beyond that, there are also focus and do not disturb modes to toggle from Game Space, as well as quick shortcuts to other features and apps.

Game Space

Overall, we are very pleased with the new direction Realme UI 2.0 is taking. The interface is snappy, clutter-free and easy to use. Yet, it retains plenty of powerful tools should you choose to dig deeper and use them.

Performance and benchmarks

The Realme 8 is built around a MediaTek Helio G95 chipset. The same one found in the Realme 7. Though, perhaps notably, it doesn't use the Snapdragon 720G, found in the Realme 8 Pro, nor the MediaTek Dimensity 800U of the Realme 8 5G. Granted, the Helio G95 is not the most "eye-catching", budget chipset around, for lack of a better term, but it is still a solid offer at this price point and capable of holding its own.

The G95 is a 12nm part, which is lagging a bit behind the aforementioned chips. In the CPU department, it has two 2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 units and six 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 ones. Graphics are handled by a Mali-G76 MC4 - another decent budget part. In our Realme 8 test unit, the G95 is paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, making it the middle-tier, as far as the available memory SKUs go.

Kicking thigs off, we have some pure-CPU loads and GeekBench.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  2574
• Realme 7 Pro
  1811
• Realme 7 5G
  1794
• Poco X3 NFC
  1777
• Realme 8
  1690
• Realme 7
  1681
• Realme 8 Pro
  1678
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  1599
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  1400
• Poco M3
  1398
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  1374
• Redmi Note 9
  1292
• Motorola Moto G30
  1265
• Motorola Moto G10
  1139
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  1100
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  1034
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  495

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  735
• Realme 7 5G
  598
• Realme 7 Pro
  576
• Poco X3 NFC
  568
• Realme 8 Pro
  566
• Realme 7
  536
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  534
• Realme 8
  533
• Redmi Note 9
  361
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  315
• Poco M3
  308
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  307
• Motorola Moto G30
  306
• Motorola Moto G10
  247
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  184
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  169
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  131

We can clearly see the Realme 8 and its MediaTek G95 are trading blows with the like of the Snapdragon 720G quite nicely. Perhaps with just a slight advantage to Qualcomm's silicon. Rather unsurprisingly, the MediaTek 800U has an even bigger CPU lead over the G95. And we won't even mention the Snapdragon 860, which is a clear outlier and anomaly in this price bracket, stuffed inside the extreme-value Poco X3 Pro.

On a more-positive note, the G95 seems to fair quite well compared to the Snapdragon 662, as well as the 678 in CPU tests. Plus, it easily leaves the Snapdragon 460 and Samsung's sort of "top budget offer" Exynos 850 in the dust.

AnTuTu paints a very favorable picture of the Realme 8's overall performance. Good thing too, since its much more-compound tests take into account CPU, GPU, as well as various other performance factors, like storage speed. We can see it outpace both Snapdragon 720G and Snapdragon 732G phones. A lot of that might be due to software improvements on Realme's part. Whatever the case may be, we are pleased with the overall performance score.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  453223
• Realme 7 5G
  318535
• Realme 8
  298328
• Realme 7
  292828
• Realme 8 Pro
  286666
• Poco X3 NFC
  283750
• Realme 7 Pro
  278414
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  218788
• Redmi Note 9
  200414
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  182875
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  177917
• Poco M3
  177904
• Motorola Moto G30
  170968
• Motorola Moto G10
  140230
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  107189
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  107157
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  90811

Moving on to GPU tests and GFXBench, the quad-core Mali-G76 MC4 is also holding strong. In lower-intensity tests, like the OpenGL ES 3.0 Manhattan runs, it seems to outperform both the Snapdragon 732G, as well as the Snapdragon 720G, both rocking a Mali 618. It is also nice to see the Realme 8 neck to neck with the Realme 7 5G and the MediaTek Dimensity 800U and well in-line with the performance from the Realme 7, rocking the same MediaTek G95 chipset.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  102
• Realme 7
  54
• Realme 8
  53
• Realme 7 5G
  51
• Poco X3 NFC
  44
• Realme 8 Pro
  43
• Realme 7 Pro
  41
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  33
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  24
• Motorola Moto G30
  20
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  19
• Poco M3
  19
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  16
• Motorola Moto G10
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  12
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  9.3

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  93
• Realme 7 5G
  48
• Realme 8
  48
• Realme 7
  42
• Realme 8 Pro
  38
• Realme 7 Pro
  35
• Motorola Moto G30
  34
• Poco X3 NFC
  33
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  28
• Motorola Moto G10
  25
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  21
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  19
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  17
• Poco M3
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  16

The deltas between most of these chips expectedly starts to noticeably shrink as the GPU test difficulty ramps-up. Again, the MediaTek G95 inside the Realme 8 is holding solid ground around the head of the budget crowd.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  75
• Realme 7 5G
  35
• Realme 7
  34
• Realme 8
  33
• Poco X3 NFC
  33
• Realme 7 Pro
  30
• Realme 8 Pro
  28
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  17
• Motorola Moto G30
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  13
• Poco M3
  13
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  9.4
• Motorola Moto G10
  9.4
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  7.7
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  6.1

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  67
• Realme 7 5G
  31
• Realme 8 Pro
  31
• Realme 8
  29
• Realme 7
  28
• Poco X3 NFC
  27
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  26
• Motorola Moto G30
  26
• Realme 7 Pro
  25
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  19
• Motorola Moto G10
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  12
• Poco M3
  11
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  10

It is equally encouraging to see that numbers don't suddenly start to taped off with Vulkan tests. The MediaTek G95 and Mali-G76 MC4 appear to be nicely optimized for the newer and trendier Vulkan API.

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  27
• Realme 7
  11
• Realme 7 5G
  11
• Realme 8 Pro
  11
• Realme 8
  11
• Poco X3 NFC
  11
• Realme 7 Pro
  9.7
• Motorola Moto G30
  8.7
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  8.6
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  6.6
• Motorola Moto G10
  6.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  5.3
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  4.1
• Poco M3
  4.1
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  3.8
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  3.5

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  26
• Realme 7
  12
• Realme 7 5G
  12
• Realme 8
  12
• Realme 8 Pro
  11
• Poco X3 NFC
  11
• Realme 7 Pro
  9.7
• Motorola Moto G30
  9.1
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  8.9
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  7.1
• Motorola Moto G10
  6.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  5.6
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  4.6
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  3.5
• Poco M3
  2.8
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  2.7

Last, but not least, our 3DMark benchmark runs place the Realme 8 in roughly the same, quite-favorable poll position. Once again, regardless of the choice between OpenGL ES and Vulkan. Nice!

3DMark SSE ES 3.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme 7 5G
  3163
• Realme 7
  2709
• Poco X3 NFC
  2689
• Realme 8
  2610
• Realme 7 Pro
  2541
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  1471
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  1186
• Motorola Moto G30
  1185
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  1181
• Poco M3
  1175
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  888
• Motorola Moto G10
  855
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  438
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  365

3DMark SSE Vulkan 1.0 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme 7 5G
  3028
• Realme 7
  2772
• Realme 8
  2639
• Poco X3 NFC
  2495
• Realme 7 Pro
  2358
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  1372
• Motorola Moto G30
  1142
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  1125
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  1107
• Poco M3
  1106
• Samsung Galaxy A21s
  901
• Motorola Moto G10
  818
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  612
• Samsung Galaxy A02s
  489

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Poco X3 Pro
  3401
• Realme 7 5G
  1589
• Realme 8
  1486
• Realme 8 Pro
  1051
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
  482
• Motorola Moto G30
  389
• Motorola Moto G9 Power
  378
• Poco M3
  368
• Xiaomi Redmi 9T
  365
• Motorola Moto G10
  253

All things considered, we would say that the MediaTek G95, while perhaps not the most appealing or "trendy" chipset around is perfectly adequate inside the Realme 8. It provides plenty performance for the class, powers a smooth and stutter-free UI experience, with Realme UI 2.0 and handled pretty-much every common task we threw at it with easy. It doesn't suffer from overheating or throttling issues either. Its feature set is also not artificially holding back the Realme 8 in terms of other features, like camera ones, where you get 4K video capture. Nor does it cripple other things like charging - 30W Dart Charge, in this particular case.

We know that many prospective buyers would still favor a Snapdragon chipset instead, for any number of reasons we won't be getting into. Even so, it is hard to deny that the MediaTek G95 is a competent and good-value budget package that fits the bill nicely.