Realme 3i smartphone - advantages and disadvantages

Realme continues to delight its consumers with bright smartphones at an affordable price: on July 15, India was presented - Realme X, the mid-segment, with premium features and the budget Realme 3i, which is a simplified version of the previously released Realme 3.

In the review, we will take a closer look at the budget model Realme 3i. You will learn about performance, autonomy, ergonomics, functionality, device capabilities, as well as its pros and cons. The review will help you determine if this new product fits your selection criteria.

Some information about Realme

The history of the brand began in 2010, when a subsidiary of BBK Electronics, OPPO, created the OPPO Realme sub-brand to expand the sales market. On July 30, former OPPO Vice President Sky Lee leaves the company, and on May 4, OPPO Realme becomes an independent Realme brand, with Sky Lee taking over as CEO.

The main goal of the brand is to create powerful, stylish, affordable smartphones, the cost of which ranges between $ 100 and $ 300. In addition, the company intends to manufacture accessories and release a smartphone with 5G support.

Realme 3i review

Table with parameters and technical characteristics

Equipment

Realme 3i comes in a small gray box containing:

• smartphone;
• transparent silicone case;
• instruction manual;
• warranty card;
• charging block;
• charging cable (medium cable length);
• metal key.

Appearance

The front panel looks very unremarkable - in the middle of the top of the screen there is a front camera in a teardrop-shaped, water-repellent cutout, light and proximity sensors, as well as an earpiece. The screen is “dressed” with rather wide frames with a large “chin”. But the absence of "bangs" visually increases the useful area of ​​the screen, which is only 81.3%.

The side faces of the device are made in the color of the case. On the right side there is a built-in power and unlock button, but the placement of the volume control button is rather unusual, the manufacturers have placed it on the left side. There is also a slot for SIM cards and memory cards. The top is empty, while the bottom has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, speaker grill, microphone, and a standard micro USB port.

But the rear side goes beyond the standard and is admirable.The matte back panel has a textured diamond-cut finish that reflects beautifully in the sun, thanks to a special pearl finish. The decoration is made using laser engraving. The phone will be available for purchase in three colors - black, blue, and a gradient of red and blue. The back houses a dual-module rear camera with LED flash, a fingerprint sensor and a company logo.

For the manufacture of the case, high-quality, reliable plastic is used, which fits perfectly without forming gaps. The cover will not bend or hold together. The only drawback is that the finish makes the phone slip in the hand, but the problem can be easily solved with a case, which is necessary in any case to protect the case from scratches.

Unlocking

There are 3 ways to unlock your phone:

1. Using a fingerprint sensor that quickly recognizes the user and unlocks the device with lightning speed.
2. The power button located on the right edge.
3. With face unlock function. In good lighting conditions, the function works the first time, in less than a second. Errors can occur in the dark, and a second attempt will be required.

Display

The Realme 3i has an IPS LCD display with a diagonal of 6.2 inches, an aspect ratio of 19: 9, and a resolution of 720 by 1520 pixels, which is 95.9 cm2. The display has average indicators: pixel density per inch - 271, brightness 450 cd / m2, contrast ratio 1500: 1. The screen is made of curved 2.5D glass, it is protected from scratches and chips in the form of Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

ARM Mali-G72 MP3 provides a high level of adjustable brightness, good color balance, and battery saving. Large viewing angles create clear images even at 180 degrees. The standard features will be enough to enjoy watching videos, movies or playing games. Also, the brightness of the screen is enough for using a smartphone in sunny weather.

Camera features

Main camera

The rear camera consists of a double module:

1. The first module is represented by an extension of 13 Mp, a sensor size of ½ and a pixel size of 1.12 micrometers. The optics aperture is f / 1.8.
2. The second module has a resolution of 2 megapixels and acts as a depth sensor.

Camera features:

• touch focus and autofocus;
• white balance setting and continuous shooting mode;
• auto start and digital zoom capability;
• exposure compensation and scene mode;
• face recognition function and panorama;
• support for Google Lens, Chroma Boost and Night Scape Mode;
• adjusting sensitivity to light, support for HDR (with a frame rate of 960 fps) and the use of geotags.

In good light, the camera shows good quality. There are problems with lack of sharpness and exposure levels, but the dynamic range is ideal.

The smartphone supports the Chroma Boost mode, which should improve the dynamic range, increase the level of exposure balance and detail. Unfortunately, this feature rarely performs well. You can mostly see oversharpness, problems with exposure levels and dynamic range. Perhaps this problem will be solved in new updates to the device.

When it comes to how the smartphone takes pictures at night, the Night Scape Mode comes to the rescue, which increases the amount of light in the photos, creating improved visibility. The image quality is average, there are problems in detail.

Front-camera

The camera is represented by a 13 megapixel extension, with an f / 2.0 aperture of optics, a pixel with a size of 1.12 micrometers and a sensor with a size of ½.

In good light, you get great pictures, with sufficient sharpness, a good balance of brightness and contrast. Additionally, you can use face beauty mode or portrait mode. As for poor lighting, here the detailing is noticeably deteriorating, the quality of the photo deteriorates significantly.

Sample photos taken with a smartphone

CPU

The smartphone runs on a single-chip Mediatek MT6771 Helio P60 system.The processor with 12 nanometer process technology consists of 4 high-performance Cortex-A73 cores with a frequency of 2 GHz and 4 energy-efficient Cortex-A53, which also operate at a frequency of 2 GHz. The processor has a built-in Mediatek NeuroPilot Al neuroblock, which ensures the development of artificial intelligence. The Mediatek CorePilot 4.0 system monitors the power consumption and the need to increase the power of the smartphone. The Mali-G72 is responsible for AI calculations and graphics. The graphics chipset has 3 cores, with a maximum frequency of 800 MHz.

The average processor power is sufficient for satisfying daily tasks. But for games with high power requirements, it is not enough, it is necessary to set medium or minimum settings.

Interface

Realme 3i has Android 9.0 pie installed, with a proprietary shell ColorOS 6, which has an excellent appearance and many convenient and necessary functions, among which are:

• the presence of an intelligent assistant and freezing applications that are in the background;
• increased performance with the Hyper Boost application;
• personalization of the gameplay using the Game Space application;
• improved gesture control;
• turning off the blue light and the Quiet Time function, which allows you to allow or prohibit receiving messages and calls from certain subscribers.

Autonomy

The smartphone has a high level of autonomy, for which the installed lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 4230 mAh is responsible. The device supports fast charging function.

The operating time of the phone without a charge is (in hours):

• in standby mode - 35;
• when viewing images - 22;
• during video playback - 14.

Memory and cost of Realme 3i

From July 23rd, Realme 3i is available for purchase in two variants:

1. With 3GB RAM and 32GB built-in, it costs about $ 120.
2. With 4GB RAM and 64 built-in, priced around $ 145.

If the memory is not enough, then you can always use a microSD card, which can expand the memory up to 256 GB.

Pros and cons of Realme 3i

Having studied the parameters, specifications and features of the smartphone, you can highlight the pros and cons of a smartphone.

• great design;
• ease of use;
• the presence of a face recognition function and a fingerprint scanner;
• good enough display quality;
• high quality images taken with the front camera;
• smart enough processor for everyday tasks;
• proprietary shell with many useful features;
• high indicators of autonomy of work.

• lack of a USB Type-C port.

Conclusion

Realme 3i is the ideal budget device that combines great design, high levels of build quality and battery life, as well as average performance and photo capabilities.