Realme 8i review

Realme UI on top of Android 11

The Realme 8i runs on Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0. The second version of Realme's launcher offers richer customization options, a couple of extra Dark Mode styles, refined floating and mini windows, and enhanced security.

The phone supports fingerprint unlock, and the side-mounted sensor works flawlessly - it's fast and with high accuracy. You can also set up face unlock for an even speedier unlock - though this is not as secure.

The launcher has no-nonsense homescreens, a simplistic and now cleaner notification/toggles area, and an easy-to-use task switcher. An App drawer is available, too, and it is as clutter-free as one could hope for. You can opt-out of the app drawer if you prefer.

Realme UI 2.0

Realme UI supports different icon packs, so if you are not happy with the default one, you can opt for material style, pebbles, or you can even fully customize them by your liking. Thanks to Realme UI 2.0, you can also change the system colors, the notification drawer icons, even the system font.

There is a Theme Store, too, so you can spice things up even more.

Customization options

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

There are many powerful tools within the settings menu if you want full control over your Android OS. Or you can leave everything as is and enjoy a hassle-free Android experience optimized by Realme's AI algorithms and machine learning.

Settings

You can also minimize an app to a mini-windows or a floating window from within the Task Manager. If an app is compatible, you can do either of these or use the familiar Split Screen.

Task Manager • Mini app • Floating window • Split screen

Similar to the recent Galaxies, the Realme UI offers a Smart Sidebar on the edge of the screen - you can customize the actions and app shortcuts that appear there.

Smart Sidebar

The Realme 8i also supports Dynamic RAM Expansion (DRE) feature. As evident from the name, DRE lets you expand your smartphone's RAM - albeit virtually - by using the phone's internal storage. You can add from 2GB up to 5GB virtual RAM.

RAM expansion

The multimedia apps such as Photos, 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.

Photos • Music • Videos • Phone Manager • File Manager

We are fond of the Realme UI, and we like the new direction. The interface is snappy, feels great when working with 120fps, 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 8i is the first smartphone we meet running on the Helio G96 chipset by MediaTek. It is fabricated on the 12nm FinFET manufacturing process from TSMC, just like the previous G9x chips.

The Helio G96 has the same octa-core CPU as the Helio G90, G90T and G95 - it packs two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores ticking at 2.05GHz and six energy-efficient Corext-A55 cores working at 2.0GHz.

The Helio G96 chip features a new GPU from the Valhalla generation by ARM - the Mali-G57. Unlike the previous G9x chips, here we have a dual-core configuration instead of quad-core, so we can't say yet if we'll see an improved performance or not. It does support a 120Hz refresh rate, but it's another thing if it will be able to reach 120fps in games (probably not).

Finally, the Realme 8i is available in two configurations, both with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.1 storage - 4GB RAM + 64GB and 6GB RAM + 128GB (our review unit).

We ran the usual benchmarks, and the scores are in.

The scores from the Geekbench CPU test are self-explanatory - the Realme 8i processor is one of the most powerful in this budget price bracket.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 8i
  1886
• Realme 7 5G
  1794
• Realme 8 5G
  1784
• Realme 6
  1726
• Realme 8
  1690
• Realme 8 Pro
  1678
• Motorola Moto G50
  1620
• Poco M3
  1398
• Realme 6i
  1349
• Realme 7i
  1318
• Xiaomi Redmi 10
  1294
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  1034

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 7 5G
  598
• Realme 8 5G
  569
• Realme 8 Pro
  566
• Realme 6
  548
• Realme 8i
  539
• Realme 8
  533
• Motorola Moto G50
  505
• Realme 6i
  388
• Xiaomi Redmi 10
  361
• Realme 7i
  312
• Poco M3
  308
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  169

The offscreen performance of the new GPU is acceptable, on par with Dimensity 700U (Realme 8 5G) and close to Snapdragon 720G's (Realme 8 Pro).

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme 7 5G
  35
• Realme 8
  33
• Realme 6
  31
• Motorola Moto G50
  29
• Realme 8 Pro
  28
• Realme 8 5G
  25
• Realme 8i
  24
• Realme 6i
  16
• Realme 7i
  13
• Poco M3
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  7.7

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme 8
  20
• Realme 7 5G
  20
• Realme 8 Pro
  18
• Realme 6
  18
• Motorola Moto G50
  16
• Realme 8 5G
  15
• Realme 8i
  14
• Realme 6i
  9.4
• Poco M3
  7.2
• Realme 7i
  7
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  3.3

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme 7 5G
  1589
• Realme 8
  1486
• Realme 8 5G
  1104
• Realme 8i
  1102
• Realme 8 Pro
  1051
• Poco M3
  368

Of course, it's not that easy. Some phones like the Realme 7i and 6i, as well as the Moto G50 and Galaxy A12 feature lower resolution HD displays. This means they have an advantage over phones like the Realme 8i with Full HD screens.

Obviously, the Realme 8i is not that fast, and its scores are near the bottom of our chart.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Moto G50
  53
• Realme 8 Pro
  31
• Realme 7 5G
  31
• Realme 6i
  31
• Realme 8
  29
• Realme 6
  27
• Realme 7i
  25
• Realme 8 5G
  22
• Realme 8i
  22
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  13
• Poco M3
  11

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Moto G50
  27
• Realme 8
  18
• Realme 7 5G
  17
• Realme 6i
  17
• Realme 8 Pro
  16
• Realme 6
  16
• Realme 8 5G
  13
• Realme 7i
  13
• Realme 8i
  11
• Poco M3
  5.9
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  5

Finally, AnTuTu has the last say on the performance, and it suggests the Realme 8i is on par with the Realme 8 and Realme 8 5G.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Realme 7 5G
  318535
• Realme 8 5G
  302059
• Realme 8
  298328
• Realme 8i
  293507
• Realme 6
  288931
• Realme 8 Pro
  286666
• Realme 6i
  202275
• Poco M3
  177904
• Realme 7i
  172933
• Samsung Galaxy A12
  107189

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Realme 8 5G
  361505
• Realme 8
  357488
• Realme 8i
  308544
• Motorola Moto G50
  286916

The Realme 8i is not a powerhouse, as evident from the benchmark tests we've done. But the scores don't suggest the 8i is an incapable phone, not at all. And our real-life impressions confirm this - we've played plenty of games with good 3D graphics and a smooth frame rate stutter-free. The Android and Realme UI run great at 120fps, multi-tasking is good, and demanding office apps. Overall, we've never felt the Realme 8i lacking in performance, and we are happy with its experience.

Finally, we ran the two stress tests we always do - CPU Throttle and 3D Mark Wild Life.

The Realme 8i did very well on the CPU Throttle test by keeping nearly 80% of its maximum performance during an hour of 100% CPU usage. Then it scored 94.5% stability on the 3D Mark Stress Test - an excellent result.

CPU test • GPU test

The Realme 8i offers excellent stability and long-lasting peak performance. It may get warm when using 100% of its resources but never hot. And that's why it gets an excellent mark for sustained performance.