Top 5 highlights of realme 5i, a tough to beat budget phone

In an event earlier, realme has formally launched the realme 5i in the Philippines, the company's newest contender in the ever-competitive budget smartphone realm.

The cheapest with quad-cam and SD665 in the Philippines yet

At PHP 6,990, realme 5i is the most affordable in the country with the 11nm Snapdragon 665 mid-range SoC and a quad-camera system. And for me, it is more than just a speedy budget camera phone.

Here are the best highlights of the realme 5i: 

Top 5 highlights of realme 5i, a tough to beat budget phone

Unique shine

1. Attractive design - The realme 5i boasts a very attractive design for the price. In particular, I like the "Van Sunlight" 3D textured finish that shows sunlight-like rays. We also mentioned that it is textured and that's a good thing as it isn't prone to scratches and smudges. In front, it goes with a big display with a small notch to house the selfie cam and pretty slim bezels that resulted in 89 percent of screen real estate.

The massive screen on a budget

2. Big display - As mentioned, the phone has a massive 6.5-inch panel. Even if it only has HD+ resolution, that's still impressive considering the price. Besides, the screen is far from bad. It has a respectable viewing experience for indoor usage. For me, it is more than decent for watching videos, playing games, and viewing different things on your phone.

Strong AnTuTu score

3. Fast performance - The key feature of this device is its 11nm Snapdragon 665 AIE octa-core processor. In case you do not know, that is the fastest chipset at this price point yet. It is paired with 3GB RAM and 64GB storage as well. Most phones in this price point only have 32GB storage. Its chip and storage combo makes it a speedy phone for social media use and even light gaming.

It even has a triple card slot

4. Massive battery life - 5,000mAh of juice is no joke. In our test, it lasted for around 20 hours in our PC Mark battery test. In real life, that's more than enough for 1 whole day of battery life. If you are not a heavy user, it can easily last for 2 days. Charging time at 10W is not the fastest around, but still, 5,000mAh is 5,000mAh.

The camera interface

5. Quad-camera with video stabilization - For the cameras, it has the same cameras found on the realme 5. It has the 12MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP quad-camera system that has an ultra-wide mode, macro mode, and bokeh mode. For the software, it has Nightscape and Chroma Boost. Compared to the realme 5i, it now has EIS for video stabilization.

Realme 5i Specs

Display: 6.5-inch 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass 3+ protected IPS screen w/ HD+ 1600 x 720 resolution at 269 ppi
CPU: 2.0GHz 11nm Snapdragon 665 AIE octa-core processor
GPU: Adreno 610
RAM: 3GB
ROM: 64GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB
Back Camera: 12MP f/1.8 with PDAF + 8MP f/2.25 119-degree ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 4cm macro + 2MP f/2.4 depth + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 8MP f/2.0 w/ AI Portrait
Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 10W charger
OS: Android 9.0 Pie w/ ColorOS 6.0
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5, OTG, FM Radio, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: Fingerprint sensor, face unlock, splash resistance, Dirac HD Sound, Colors: blue, green
Dimensions: 164.4 x 75.6 x 9.3 mm
Weight: 198 g
Price: PHP 6,990

The selfie cam is down to just 8MP from 13MP though. But, that's a small price to pay for the improved design, bigger storage, and enhanced quad-cameras optimized for videos at a lower price point.

In the event earlier, realme also announced that it will be updated to Android 10 and ColorOS 7 with realme UI this May.

There you go! The above-mentioned features are the highlights of the realme 5i, the phone with the most attractive specs for the PHP 6,990 price tag yet.

The realme 5i will be available starting February 1, 2020, in offline stores for PHP 6,990. You can also get it at Shopee Lazada Flash Sales on January 30 and February 1 every 12NN and 6PM.