realme 9 4G Unboxing, First Impressions, Camera Samples
The 5G-ready realme 9 Pro and Pro+ arrived in March earlier this year. Today, we have the vanilla variant— the realme 9 4G.
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| realme 9 |
To recall, realme unveiled the realme 9 4G in India sometime in April. The new device sports a back panel featuring the Ripple Holographic Design in Sunburst Gold, Stargaze White, and Meteor Black colors.
In front, it boasts a 6.43-inch Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, FHD+ resolution, and others. It is powered by a 2.4GHz 6nm Snapdragon 680 octa-core processor with Adreno 610 GPU coupled with an 8GB RAM and 128GB expandable storage.
This is also equipped with a 5,000mAh battery capacity with USB-C 33W Dart Charge and a 108MP triple camera set-up at its rear.
Sounds pretty good, right? But let us sha10re with you our initial impression upon unboxing the device and testing the camera for a bit.
Let's dive in!
Unboxing/Accessories
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| realme 9 box inclusions |
The device comes in a box in the signature realme yellow color. Inside, you get the attractive unit, a clear case with a grayish tint, paperwork, a 33W Dart Fast Charging wall charging brick, USB-C cord, and the SIM eject tool. Similar to all of its releases, the device comes with a pre-installed screen protector.
Even though the handset sports a headphone jack, the company did not include wired earphones. But like other releases from the brand, this one comes with a pre-installed screen protector.
Build Quality/Design
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| Minimalist design with a bold color choice |
The realme 9 4G is simply an eye-catcher with its sleek yet ergonomic build. Yes, it is mainly made from polycarbonate material, but it feels slim and elegant on my palm. I personally like that it packs some weight without the bulky exterior.
The device arrives in three colorways: Stargaze White, Meteor Black, and Sunburst Gold. The unit that the company loaned us comes in Sunburst Gold, and I think it's good that the brand has included it in the options.
While black and white may be a safer choice, the consumers might be looking for something different yet aesthetically pleasing. When the light hits the rear panel, the Sunburst Yellow appears between yellow and orange, giving off a warm vibe.
Just like a ray of sunshine among the neutrals...
The phone is shiny and reflects light as glasses do, but it's a huge plus that it's not as fragile as glass panels are. Since it has a glasstic finish, the back panel still attracts some smudges but not as glossy devices do. It's also good that it offers a good grip even without the tinted jelly case.
The branding is placed at the bottom left corner of the device. The rectangular camera module of the smartphone is housed on a shiny glass hump boasting a 108MP primary shooter. It is composed of two huge sensors, one small sensor, and a LED flash.
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| A vibrant Super AMOLED screen with thin bezels |
In the front, you will see the 6.43-inch Super AMOLED screen w/ 90Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 409 ppi. As mentioned before, this one also got Gorilla Glass 5 protection and a pre-installed screen protector.
As expected, bezels are narrow on top and sides, but the chin bezel is noticeably thicker. The punch-hole cutout on the upper left does not distract us from the viewing experience. With a 20:9 aspect ratio and slim bezels, it has a respectable 84.2 percent screen-to-body ratio.
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| Top |
On top, you will notice a microphone hole.
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| Bottom |
The bottom part contains another microphone hole, a USB-C port, a single firing speaker grille, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, which can be suitable for those who still prefer wired earphones over wireless ones.
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| Left |
On the left, you will find the volume rocker (up and down keys) and a pinhole to access the dual SIM slots.
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| SIM tray |
Upon checking the SIM card tray, we noticed that it has a dedicated slot for microSD aside from the dual nano SIM slots. The SIM card tray slot has no rubber seal to somehow protect the phone from water splashes.
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| Right |
Lastly, the power button is positioned on the phone's right side.
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| Triple cameras |
The new handset from realme flaunts a triple rear camera set-up that comprises a 108MP Samsung HM6 primary camera with PDAF, an 8MP super wide-angle shooter, and a 2MP macro lens.
The rear camera set-up of the smartphone has Night Mode, Photo Mode, HDR, Ultra Wide, AI Scene Recognition, Video Mode, AI Beauty, Portrait mode, Text Scanner, etc.
First Camera Samples
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| Daylight wide (Note that we forgot to thoroughly clean the lens here that's why flare is visible) |
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| 108MP mode |
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| Super macro mode |
As expected, it shoots vibrant, stunning photos with plenty of details under daylight using either the primary or wide cameras. Thankfully, contrast and sharpness are also respectable.
Colors are vivid and closer to what you really see.
On the other hand, the wide-angle mode and 108MP tend to oversaturate the colors of the shots, which other users may not like.
The 2MP f/2.4 4cm macro lens did a fantastic job with its clean subject-to-background separation and excellent color reproduction for close-up shots. The camera UI guides the user to properly distance the camera lens from the subject, but it may take a while to get used to.
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| Daylight selfie normal |
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| Daylight selfie with bokeh effect |
In well-lit environments, the 16MP front-facing camera of the phone delivers bright and detailed selfies that handle exposure well. The images got with good facial detailing, and the subject's skin tone is also close to actual.
We also think that the portrait mode got a realistic background blur.
Stay tuned for more camera samples in our full review.
realme 9 4G Specs
Display: 6.43-inch Gorilla Glass 5 protected Super AMOLED screen w/ 90Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 409 ppi
CPU: 2.4GHz 6nm Snapdragon 680 octa-core processor
GPU: Adreno 610
RAM: 6GB
ROM: 128GB UFS 2.2 expandable storage via microSD card slot up to 256GB
Back Camera: 108MP f/1.79 Prolight Samsung HM6 w/ PDAF + 8MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 4cm macro + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 16MP f/2.45
Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 33W Dart Charge
OS: Android 12 w/ reaIme UI 3.0
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.1 (SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC), OTG, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor w/ heart rate monitor, Hi-Res Audio, USB-C, Colors: Sunburst Gold, Stargaze White, Meteor Black
Dimensions: 160.2 x 73.3 x 7.99 mm
Weight: 178 g
Price: PHP 14,999
As of the moment
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| Nice screen for web browsing |
Although the realme 9 lacks the 5G connectivity that its siblings have, it still has many noteworthy features.
The polycarbonate build of the device does not look and feel cheap at all. It feels solid with a great finish and fit. We also love the minimalist color selections for the device.
Meanwhile, the device's 6.43-inch Super AMOLED screen is such as joy to use. Its reasonably thin bezels combined with a vivid screen give an immersive experience when watching short clips and movies.
The smartphone also shows a lot of potential in terms of camera performance as the company equipped it with several shooting modes. As for our experience, the shutter speed is quick enough, and the tap to focus is responsive.
The few samples during our initial testing show the device's capability in certain settings and we're satisfied with it in general.
We are very excited about further testing the realme 9 so please wait for the full review coming soon.
What do you guys think?
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