Introduction
We recently reviewed the realme 5 Pro, which is the most worth phone to get in its range. Now it’s the time for its younger brother, which we recently also unboxed and gave our first impressions. Without further ado, this is the realme 5 review!
Unboxing & First Impressions
Design
In terms of design, the realme 5 looks a lot like its bigger brother — the 5 Pro. However, it is slightly bigger, though, as it has a slightly thicker thin, probably due to the MicroUSB port needing more space. For some reason, the company called the notch mini-drop notch, instead of the dew-drop notch, even though both have the same design.
The phone houses the power button on the right and volume rocker on the left. The bottom has the 3.5mm audio jack, microphone, MicroUSB port, and the mono speaker. Not going to complain about the MicroUSB port since this phone is quite affordable, but it would be nice if it has a USB-C port.
Like the realme 5 Pro, it comes with a brand new crystal design, which went through a 133-time of polish to create nanometer holographic color with the cutting texture. Hence, our Crystal Blue variant reflects different blues from different angles. However, the phone back isn’t glass, though, but a soft plastic material, which will get scratched easily. I would advise you to use the included TPU case.
Display
The realme 5 sports a 6.5-inch HD+ IPS mini-drop display with an 89% screen-to-body ratio. Compared to the realme 5 Pro, the screen lacks detail due to the lower screen resolution. Overall, it has a mediocre display, not too good nor too bad.
Performance
Powering the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 AIE processor with up to 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. It’s good to see that the company has made a switch from the MediaTek processor. Performance on this phone is quite decent, but don’t expect to have buttery-smooth gaming experience. Multitasking on this phone is not a problem thanks to the 4GB RAM, and having a 128GB storage is definitely a surprise for me since most phones at this price range only have half of the storage.
Software
The realme 5 runs on ColorOS 6 realme edition based on Android 9.0. It is basically the same ColorOS we’ve used before on OPPO, but with some tweaks and changes. One annoying thing though, the phone actually comes with many unwanted pre-installed apps, a.k.a bloatware. I just don’t get it, why do you have the App Market when there’s already a Play Store.
The realme edition ColorOS 6 comes with an app drawer, no more putting everything on the home screen! Besides the annoying bloatware, the overall user experience is actually quite user-friendly. Additionally, it also comes with Google Play Services!
Camera
Like the realme 5 Pro, the realme 5 has a quad-camera setup, but the lenses are a little bit different — 8MP f/2.25 ultra-wide lens + 12MP f/1.8 lens + 2MP portrait lens + 2MP macro lens. Selfie wise, there’s a 13MP front-facing shooter.
Image quality generally is pretty good for its class. It actually comes with Chroma Boost, some images turned out oversaturated in my opinion. As for the 8MP ultra-wide camera, the white balance seems to be off from the main camera. Low-light photography can be improved by enabling Nightscape, but make sure you have a steady hand or tripod.
Battery
The realme 5 packs a massive 5,000mAh battery. Unfortunately, the phone doesn’t come with VOOC Flash Charge technology, but only a normal 5V/2A charging solution. Obviously, it will definitely take a long time to fully charge the phone, so charging it overnight is a good solution to pass the waiting time. If you are using any other charger, the charging speed will be even slower, and sometimes the phone will automatically stop charging due to the irregular slow charging speed. I actually hope that it uses the older VOOC Flash Charge technology, at least the charging speed will be faster. Based on my usage, getting a day of battery life isn’t a big problem thanks to the big battery.
Final Words
The realme 5 is available in 3GB + 64GB and 4GB + 128GB variants, which priced at RM599 and RM799, respectively. Additionally, there’s also the 3GB + 32GB variant launching soon too, pricing at RM549. Once again, realme has beat its competitors when it comes to pricing the products. Some say cheap things can’t be good, but not for the realme 5. Overall, this is a great phone that priced below RM800 you can get right now.
Yay
- Decent performance
- Impressive battery life
- Unbelievably low price
Nay
- Build quality lacking behind
- Comes with bloatware
- Camera UI is not user-friendly