realme 14 5G Full Review - Longer Play Session
We dive deep into the new realme 14 5G, which has the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 octa-core processor, a 120Hz AMOLED screen, and a 6,000mAh battery.
 |
| realme 14 5G's Mech-inspired design |
The new realme 14 5G changes its focus to mobile gaming. Its key features include a 120Hz AMOLED E-sports display, a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 5G chipset, a 6,000mAh battery, and a Mecha-inspired design.
It also has a 50MP main rear camera with 2x and 5x crop with Victory Halo Light LED Flash and a 16MP selfie camera.
In the Philippines, it is priced at PHP 17,999 for the 12GB/256GB variant. Those who purchase the phone will get a FREE TechLife Headphones G1 worth PHP 2,199 until supplies last.
Let's take a look at it.
Unboxing/Accessories
 |
| realme 14 5G's box inclusions |
It comes in bright yellow packaging with realme branding, key features, and regulatory information.
Inside are the phone, the 45W SUPERVOOC wall plug, USB-A to USB-C cable, SIM ejector, silicone case, and documentation are inside the box.
Unfortunately, there are no earphones in the box.
Build Quality/Design
 |
| An iconic new design? |
We received the Mecha Silver colorway, and out of the box, it is stunning. The silver finish glimmers depending on how the light hits it. The Mecha-inspired decals give it a unique look that evokes futuristic hardware.
Upon holding the phone, you immediately notice how lightweight the phone is. The rear panel has a frosted finish feel, but is leaning towards more plastic-y than frosted glass. The frame is mostly flat with a faux metal finish.
 |
| A dual-nano SIM card tray with a microSD card hybrid second slot |
It is IP66, IP68, and IP69 water and dust resistance rated, meaning that the product is dust-tight and can withstand high-pressure, high-temperature water jets for two minutes. This is also the highest IP rating on smartphones yet.
IP69 rated, the highest around today
The SIM tray accommodates up to two nano SIM cards or 1 nano SIM and 1 microSD card. There is a red rubber gasket that reinforces the IP69 rating.
It measures 163.15 x 75.65 x 7.97 mm and weighs 196 grams.
 |
| Slim bezels and curved screens |
The aforementioned 6.67-inch AMOLED Esports screen has a 2800 x 1272 resolution and 16.7 million colors in front. It is Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protected.
Around the panel are slim bezels, with the chin bezel being the thickest. The punch hole with the selfie camera is on the upper part of the panel. Above it and inside the top bezel is the super-slim earpiece. The same slim earpiece acts as the second speaker, too.
 |
| realme 14's top and bottom |
The microphone port and the second speaker grill are on top, while the bottom-firing speaker grills, USB-C port, microphone port, and the SIM tray are also on the bottom.
 |
| Left and right sides |
On the left is a smooth surface, while on the right are the silver volume rocker and the orange power button. Both buttons have decent resistance to them while feeling plastic-y when pressed.
On the upper left side of the back are the rear dual 50MP + 2MP cameras with a Victory Halo Light LED flash, with a microphone port.
Multimedia Experience
 |
| realme 14 5G's screen |
In front is a 6.67-inch AMOLED Esports screen with a 2400 x 1080 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, a 1,500Hz instant touch sampling, and a 180Hz touch sampling rate.
The panel is bright, at 600 nits typical and 2,000 nits peak brightness. This means it's readable under direct sunlight. In my experience, the colors pop, while the text and fine details are crisp.
Slightly thicker chin, but it is one of the better-performing panels we have tried at this price point
It supports 10 multi-touch points, making it good for multitasking or games that support multiple simultaneous touch inputs. It responds quickly and accurately to our taps and gestures.
The phone is equipped with stereo speakers (top and bottom firing) for audio. Around the phone are microphones used for noise cancellation in calls and audio recording.
The sound from the speakers is always surprisingly loud, especially at 90 percent. What surprises us is that it maintains good sound quality until 80 percent. Distortion is apparent from 81 percent until its maximum. It can be pushed to 300 percent with minimal penalties, too.
The microphones do a good job of picking up sounds from a meter away, while the noise-cancellation for calls is good too.
Cameras
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear cameras |
The back has the 50MP f/1.8 main camera with OIS and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor camera with an LED flash.
The included modes of the stock camera app include Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Pro, Street, Pano, Hi-Res, Movie, Slo-Mo, Time-lapse, Long Exposure, Dual-View Video, Underwater, Doc Scanner, and Tilt-Shift.
The Pro controls include EV (+-3), ISO (100-6400), Shutter speed (1/8,000-30 secs), Focus, and White Balance.
The Portrait Mode is equally robust with bokeh strength control (f/1.4-16), and Retouch (1-100 levels). It also comes with the new Fresh, Emerald, and Clear filters found on recent realme smartphones.
Like the recent competition, the realme 14 5G has the new Underwater mode. However, it isn't a key selling point of this variant. The feature allows users to take advantage of the freshwater resistance of the phone by turning off inputs with the touch screen, and allows users to capture both photos and video with the main camera using the power button and volume buttons. To turn off this feature, you need to press and hold the power key while in Underwater mode. It will then blast sound to flush the water out of the ports.
Rear Camera Samples
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera daylight 1x |
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera daylight 2x |
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera daylight 5x |
The images from the realme 14 5G's rear camera all come from the single 50MP camera, and the images are cropped to 2x and 5x.
The daylight images from the 1x and 2x are nearly identical and are sharp and vibrant. It needs a little contrast, but we consider these images to be decent. The 5x image, however, is disappointing even in broad daylight.
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera close-up shots |
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera close-up shots |
With close-up images, the areas that are in focus are sharp while the out-of-focus areas have a nice fall-off. The color and contrast are good, too.
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera portrait |
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera portrait |
The rear camera's portrait mode offers good edge detection and a decent artificial bokeh.
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera indoors 1x |
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera indoors 2x |
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera indoors 5x |
Indoors, the images produced are similar in daylight, where the 1x and 2x are decent while the 5x is disappointing.
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera lowlight 1x |
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera lowlight 2x |
 |
| realme 14 5G's rear camera lowlight 5x |
For low light and Night Mode, the 1x and 2x images are passable with minimised reduction in color, contrast, and sharpness quality. There is more noise, but it is well-controlled. The 5x remains unusable.
It has several photography-focused AI modes, such as AI Snap and AI Eraser. The former allows users to capture images with up to 1/10,000s shutter speed, while the latter allows users to remove unwanted objects from photos with AI after the shot has been taken. AI Clear Face supposedly improves clarity in Portrait photos. In our experience, these features take a lot of trial and error and can be a hit or miss.
Overall, the rear camera has produced consistently good 1x and 2x images from a smartphone so far. We do not recommend using the 5x crop.
 |
| realme 14 5G's front-facing camera on the punch hole |
The 16MP f/2.4 selfie camera with a Sony IMX480 sensor in the punch hole on the display.
Camera modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, Panorama, Night mode, and Dual View.
Selfie Camera Samples
 |
| Selfie camera daylight |
Daylight selfies from the realme 14 5G are decent. However, there is a green color shift in high contrast areas, such as in the edges of Neil's hair.
 |
| Selfie camera Portrait |
Like in the rear cameras, the portrait has good edge detection and pleasing artificial bokeh. However, there is still the green color shift in high-contrast areas.
 |
| Selfie camera indoors |
Indoor selfies are the same as the daylight. In this shot, the green color shift was still present.
 |
| realme 14 5G's lowlight selfie |
In low light, the sharpness and detail were reduced by the noise build-up and the subsequent noise reduction. However, there is enough sharpness and contrast to make the selfie somewhat usable in low light.
Overall, the front cameras produce consistently decent selfies in most situations. Our main concern is the green color shift in high-contrast areas. We hope realme fixes this in a firmware update.
The rear cameras can record up to 4K at 30fps while the selfie can record up to 1080 at 30fps. The footage is sharp and vibrant enough. The noise is noticeable in some areas. Stabilisation is okay. Not the best, but it's better than none. If you want to reduce micro jitters, there is an Ultra Steady mode that records up to 1080 at 60fps (for the rear camera)/1080 at 30fps (selfie camera) but crops the field of view.
The rear and front camera video capability of the realme 14 5G is passable, but not its strength.
Performance
 |
| realme 14 5G's AnTuTu and GeekBench results |
Inside the realme 14 5G are the 4nm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 5G octa-core processor, Adreno GPU, 12GB RAM, and 256GB storage. It is cooled with a 6,050 mm2 Vapor Chamber and HyperTherm Graphite called "Bionic Cooling System".
Thermally and power efficient
During the AnTuTu test, while being in GT Mode, the phone's temperature increased by only 0.8 degrees while the battery lost 4 percent power. This means that the phone is power and thermally efficient.
 |
In the more intensive 3D Mark Wild Life, the realme 14 5G managed to score 3,814 overall with an average frame rate of 22.84. Based on 3DMark, this performance is comparable to similarly priced smartphones. It isn't the best, though.
In CPDT, the internal storage got 608.91 MB/s in sequential read speeds and 254.54 MB/s in sequential write speeds.
 |
| AI Bench and GeekBench AI results |
In AI Bench, it scored a respectable 1321 overall score, while in GeekBench AI, it scored 998 in single precision, 1,011 in half-precision, and 1,618 in the quantised score.
realme 14 5G benchmarks:
- AnTuTu - 764,798
- Geekbench 6 - 1,108 (single-core), 3,155 (multi-core)
- 3DMark Wild Life Extreme - 3,814 overall score, 22.84 average FPS
- CPDT - 254.54 MB/s sequential read speeds and 254.54 MB/s sequential write speeds
- GeekBench AI - 998 single precision, 1,011 half-precision, 1,618 quantised score
- AI Benchmark - 1,321
The realme 14 5G scores in AnTuTu and Geekbench are within the range of what is expected in its price range. However, there are better-performing smartphones with a similar price point. The new 4nm CPU and GPU performance offers incredible thermal and power efficiency, which may come at the cost of the actual raw performance of the SoC. This wouldn't be a concern normally, but the phone is marketed as a gaming phone.
 |
| Genshin Impact Graphics Settings |
In Genshin Impact, it managed to unlock the Lowest graphics settings as the default. Running the game at 30fps is playable, but it struggles and stutters when more characters and animations are happening on screen. Genshin Impact is a demanding game, and we expect the realme 14 5G to fare better in games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Mobile Legends.
However, because it is marketed as a gaming phone, it may make people expect more.
realme has added the HyperBoost feature, which the brand claims produces an optimised experience, especially on GT mode. Surprisingly, it did give a noticeable improvement to our Genshin Impact gameplay. The stuttering was minimized enough that we were enjoying the game even when the screen was filled with characters and animations. It still skipped frames, but not as much as when HyperBoost wasn't turned on.
In our experience, the phone can handle the majority of tasks like navigating through the OS, opening apps, web surfing, and social media without struggling.
The phone has an optical In-Display fingerprint sensor and face unlock for security. The initial setup and subsequent uses are quick, and it detects our biometrics instantaneously. It works even if your finger is a little sweaty.
The face unlock only struggles when the camera is dirty. The screen brightens up when used in the dark.
Regarding connectivity, we have the following: WiFi 6, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.2, OTG, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, and dual nano SIM.
Connections are usually stable for WiFi, and we get 4 to 5 bars of mobile data signal most of the time. This may be attributed to the Atenna Matrix 2.0 array that the brand claims reduces signal loss regardless of phone orientation.
 |
| PCmark Battery Benchmark |
Inside the phone is a large 6,000mAh battery. realme claims that it has a 782Wh/L energy density, which supposedly offers 17.5 hours of continuous playback on YouTube and up to 10.5 hours of gameplay on a single charge.
In our usual PCMark Benchmark, it lasted 10 hours and 41 minutes. This is inconsistent with our daily usage of an average of 7.5 hours of on-screen time with GT mode enabled. We are confident that when in balanced mode, it can last for two days. This includes constant 5G, 4G, and WiFi connection.
The battery charges via USB-C with the 45W wall charger, which charges the phone 100 percent in around 70 minutes. It also supports bypass charging. This means it reduces overheating and power consumption while both playing games and charging the realme 14 5G. In our experience, the phone still warmed up, but it never got alarmingly hot.
It does not have wireless charging.
 |
| realme 14 5G's home screen |
It is running on realme UI 6.0 based on Android 15. It offers further refinements to realme UI with the new AI-focused features, such as Google Gemini and Circle-to-Search, found in Android 15. If you liked realme UI before, then you will like it as well. If not, then there is little that will change your mind.
 |
| ColorOS |
AI Smart Loop 2.0 allows users to quickly navigate to or launch apps or pre-programmed actions with a swipe from the side using a revolving side menu.
AI Recording Summary is included in the stock voice recording, where it can summarize key points of a voice recording.
Other AI features include the AI Editor. It is an image editing suite in the Photos app. Users can find the AI Eraser, AI Clear Face, Unblur, and Remove Reflections here.
AI Eraser offers options to select the unwanted object in the photo with Smart Lasso, Paint Over, and Remove People. At first, the people detection and removal wasn't something to write home about. Over time and after several updates, it got better.
The same can be said for Remove reflections. It does not totally remove the reflections, but it does minimise them to the point where you have to be looking for the reflections to actually see them.
Overall, it is a nice-to-have feature when it works, but how often do we really need it is the question only time will tell.
Pros - Eye-catching Mecha design, up to IP69 dust and water protection rating, Power-efficient performance in gaming, 7.5 hours on-screen time in High-performance mode, HyperBoost actually improves gameplay performance, decent 1x and 2x rear camera shots
Cons - Middling SoC graphics power, hit-or-miss AI features, 5x telephoto crop is almost always unusable, green color shift in selfies
realme 14 5G Specs
Display: 6.67-inch AMOLED (IPS) screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 395 ppi
CPU: 2.3GHz 4nm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4
GPU: Adreno
RAM: 12GB
ROM: 256GB
Back Camera: 50MP f/1.8 w/ OIS + 2MP f/2.4 depth + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 16MP f/2.4
Battery: 6,000mAh w/ 45W SUPERVOOC
OS: Android 15 w/ realme UI 6.0
Connectivity: WiFi 6 (2.4GHz/5GHz), 5G SA/NSA, Dual 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.4, OTG, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS, NavIC, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, IP69 dust and water splash resistance, Super Linear Dual Speakers, Hi-Res Audio, Dolby Atmos, Dual-mic Noise Cancellation, USB-C, Colors: Silver, Titanium, Pink
Dimensions: 163.1 x 75.7 x 8 mm
Weight: 196 g
Price: PHP 17,999
Verdict
 |
| Web surfing on the realme 14 5G |
The realme 14 5G boasts a distinctive design, combining a sleek and lightweight build with an energy-efficient SoC and an impressive 6,000mAh battery for extended use.
The combination of the power-efficient 4nm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4, the 6,000mAh battery, and the Bionic VC cooling system offers nearly 2 days of battery life even on GT mode.
The stereo speakers and 120Hz Esports AMOLED display offer an immersive multimedia and gaming experience, especially with non-demanding games. The HyperBoost feature actually improved our Genshin Impact experience, which is a big bonus.
Its 50MP main rear camera and its 16MP selfie camera take decent images in daylight and passable images in low light. However, we recommend not using the 5x crop in most situations.
The included AI features are great additions when they work. It still needs improvement to be more consistent.
Overall, the phone is marketed as a gaming phone but focuses on longer play sessions rather than raw performance. This means that gamers who prefer to game longer on the go are the clear target of this phone.
At PHP 17,999, the competition is fierce with great-performing phones at similar price points. We recommend the realme 14 5G for gamers who don't mind middling graphics but prefer longer battery life.
What do you think, guys?
Build/Design - 4.25
Multimedia Experience - 4.25
Cameras - 3.5
Performance - 4.0
Average - 4/5
Post a Comment