Realme unveils cheap but durable Narzo N61 with a die-cast aluminum chasis

29 July 2024

Realme has quietly introduced a new member of the Narzo N series that slots under the N63 both in terms of price and capabilities. The company focused its attention on building a very durable phone.

The Realme Narzo N61 has a die-cast aluminum structure and an integrated metal frame on the inside, plus reinforced glass on the outside. The company took the effort to add seals on the USB port and the card slot. It also added shock absorption to the main circuit board. The result is a phone with an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance and a TÜV Rheinland High Reliability Certificate.

For the most part, the N61 is similar to the N63. It features a 6.74” LCD, an HD+ panel with 90Hz refresh rate and up to 560 nits brightness. The touchscreen is able to detect your fingers even when wet, so it can be used in the rain. There is a 5MP camera notched into the display, which is combined with Realme’s “Mini Capsule 2.0” UI, which shows key info at the top row of the screen.

The other camera is the 32MP module on the back, which features 1080p recording. That’s pretty much it for the camera system and it is one of the key differences between this and the N63 – the N63 has an 8MP selfie and 50MP rear cameras. Well, that and the die-cast aluminum chassis and the unnamed reinforced glass.

Anyway, the N61 is powered by the same Unisoc T612, a 6nm chipset with two Cortex-A75 cores and six A55 cores (all at 1.8GHz) and a Mali-G57 GPU. The phone is configured with 4/6GB of RAM and 64/128GB of storage, which can be expanded with the 2x SIM 1x microSD card slot.

The phone runs on a 5,000mAh battery, which can maintain 80% of its original capacity after 1,000 charge cycles. Charging is done over the USB-C port at a slow 10W (compared to 45W on the N63).

This is a 4G phone with Wi-Fi 5 (ac) and Bluetooth 5.0 (LDAC). Another connectivity feature worth mentioning is the 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Realme Narzo N61 is on the company’s online store in India at a price of ₹7,500, though right now there is a ₹500 coupon that brings the price down to ₹7,000 for the 4/64GB model. The higher specced 6/128GB model is ₹8,500 before the coupon. This is something of a pre-order as the first actual sales start on August 6 (Tuesday next week). The N61 comes in Voyage Blue and Marble Black.

For comparison, the Narzo N63 (4/64GB) sells for ₹7,600 after a ₹900 coupon is subtracted from the MSRP.

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