The Realme C1, an entry-level smartphone introduced by Realme to compete with Xiaomi’s dominance in the budget segment. The Realme C1 comes with decent specs and features, including a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC, a big display, and an impressive battery life, all at an introductory price of Rs. 5,999.
The article examines whether the Realme C1 has what it takes to outshine its competition and whether it is worth buying during its introductory offer period. we find out
Realme c1 : design
Realme has always been known for producing budget-friendly smartphones with good build quality and design. Despite being an entry-level smartphone, the Realme C1 still boasts a premium feel and quality in hand. The plastic unibody construction of the phone is well-built and the glossy back adds a touch of elegance, making it stand out from other entry-level devices.
Although the phone is relatively light, it still feels solid and comfortable to hold. The dual rear camera and single LED flash are not very common in this price range, making the Realme C1 a standout device. The back also features the brand logo, while the volume rocker and SIM card tray can be found on the left, and the power button on the right.
The bottom of the phone has a 3.5mm audio jack, micro USB port charging port, speaker grille, and a single microphone. The front of the phone features a notch design with minimal bezels at the sides and a thick chin at the bottom.
The notch is relatively small compared to other smartphones and houses the front camera, earpiece grille, and necessary sensors. Surprisingly, the company has decided not to include a fingerprint scanner in a smartphone launching in 2018. However, the phone still has a face unlock feature that works very quickly.
The Realme C1’s design and build quality are exceptional for its price point, and there are no major complaints about the phone’s overall design. The plastic body of the Realme C1 makes it light and easy to carry around, and the sides are thick enough to offer a comfortable grip without making the phone appear bulky.
The matte finish of the frame does not pick up fingerprints, but the laminated back and display do. While Realme was among the first smartphone brands to experiment with the gradient design in their budget offerings, the Realme C1 has a glossy plastic body that resembles a glass design. The gloSsy appearance makes the phone look chic, but it attracts fingerprints easily.
realme c1 : display
The Realme C1 offers a surprisingly good display for a smartphone in its price range. The 6.2-inch HD+ display has an aspect ratio of 19:9 and 88.8% screen-to-body percentage, with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The colours are vibrant, and the viewing angles are good, although sunlight legibility could be better.
The display also has a colour temperature adjuster and a Blue light filter mode. The front of the phone is dominated by the screen, with a notch on top for the front camera, earpiece, and sensors. The display is one of the best features of the Realme C1, and it’s rare to find such a large, high-quality screen at this price point.
realme c1 : performance
The Realme C1 is an entry-level smartphone that delivers decent performance with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, 2GB RAM, and 16GB internal storage, which can be expanded up to 128GB using a micro SD card. It runs on ColorOS v5.1 on top of Android 8.0 Oreo and offers several useful features such as Smart Assistant, Gesture Navigation, Assistive Balls, Smart Driving, and Game Space.
The phone performs well for light games like Candy Crush and Temple Run, but more demanding games like PUBG and Asphalt require lowering the graphics settings. The phone has good call quality and signal reception, and the audio quality from the speaker and earpiece is also clear. However, the phone is not very fast, and multitasking can be challenging with only 500MB of free RAM. The display touch response can be iffy at times, but the phone handles most popular media codecs well.
realme c1 : camera
The Realme C1 comes with a dual rear camera setup consisting of a 13MP primary camera and a 2MP depth sensor. The camera app offers several shooting modes like time-lapse, video, portrait, sticker, and pano, and the UI is well-designed and easy to navigate. The rear camera captures satisfactory images with good colours and details in well-lit conditions, but the image quality deteriorates with decreasing light.
The front camera captures decent selfies with an acceptable bokeh effect, but the beautification mode exaggerates things. The smartphone can shoot videos up to 1080p resolution, and the video footage is acceptable with a decent amount of detail. However, there is no electronic stabilisation, and the output is not very sharp. Overall, the camera performance of the Realme C1 is acceptable for a smartphone in this price range.
realme c1 : battery
The Realme C1 has a large 4230mAh battery and comes with a 5V2A charger included in the box. During testing, the phone lasted for more than a day with plenty of juice left for normal usage. It can easily last for a day even with heavy usage.
The non-removable battery easily lasted for a day and half and took about two and a half to three hours to fully charge with a 10W adapter. The phone does not support fast charging and takes nearly four and a half hours to fully charge with the bundled 5W adapter.
Realme C1: Verdict
The Realme C1 smartphone is priced at Rs 6,999 and is strong in many areas such as design, build quality, large screen, processor, and battery life. While the camera quality is not the best, the overall photo and video output is satisfactory.
At this price, it offers excellent value compared to other smartphones in the same price range. It’s important to note that this festive season price may increase by Rs 1,000 or more later on. Although the 2GB RAM limits multitasking, the phone’s stylish looks, big display, and powerful SoC are impressive.
It may have a few drawbacks such as the camera quality and software refinement, but it still competes well with other smartphones on the market. Overall, it’s a great purchase, especially at this price point.