Realme 3 review: Reliable budget phone with premium design

Within a year of making the debut in May 2018, Realme brand has grown steadily in India and one of the hallmarks of its devices has been good design, hardware and affordable pricing, which up until then was a bragging right of another of its Chinese peer.

Like the predecessor's Realme 1 and 2, the new edition Realme 3 has all the necessary ingredients to find traction among the youth, but does it really offer differentiating factor that makes it a standout among the current crop of the phones from the rival brands? Let's take a look at it.

Design, Display and build quality:

My Realme 3 unit was dynamic black and have to say, it has been the best colourway for a phone, I have used this year. The device's cover shell on the back flaunts dual-tone gradient finish with dark raven-hued shade blending so well with the sparkling purple, it's a visual spectacle.

It also comes with three-dedicated slots for two SIMs and a microSD, which is very rare in the budget segment and consumers never have to compromise between second SIM and extra storage.

On the front, it sports a 6.22-inch HD+ display with a small notch on top and with less obstruction; I had a good time watching videos and high-resolution photos. Even under the direct sunlight, I had no trouble reading contents on the display.

As far as the build quality is concerned, the back cover is made of polycarbonate material. Though it looks glossy smooth to the eyes, it offers good grip for the hand to hold on to the phone and I can feel the sturdiness, which I believe is enough to take accidental fall and protect the internal parts. I appreciate the company for offering additional shell cover with the package, as it will further increase the durability of the Realme 3 and thanks to transparent nature of the cover, the gradient design will still be visible so that user can flaunt it with full glory around his or her friends.

Performance:

Realme 3 unit comes with 2.1GHz MediaTek Helio P70 octa-core AI CPU backed by Android Pie-based ColorOS, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. During the testing period, it worked buttery smooth during app loading, launch camera, switch between multiple apps and internet browsing. I also played games such as Angry Birds and non-graphics-intense game and it performed well without any signs of lagging.

Camera:

It boasts 13MP+2MP dual camera on the back and it really took some stunning images and I am mighty impressed with the Portrait mode. Even in the night, the picture quality was good. But, I have to say that the Nightscape mode, was a bit turn down for me, as it needs steady hands and wait a few seconds to process the image. Sometimes, the autofocus speed was irregular under low-light condition.

But, I was happy to note that the normal mode with LED flash takes a sharper image and even capture finer details.

As far as the 13MP front camera is concerned, it takes decent selfies including portrait picture with good edge detection capability.

Battery:

Realme 3 houses a massive 4,230mAh battery and truly lived up to my expectations. It was able to run through the day while performing daily chores. My routine involved taking audio calls, do internet browsing, go through social media newsfeed, watch a few movie trailers, play games in the free time and also catch up on latest cricket scores on sports app. And yet, it had more than 30-per cent juice left before I could resign to the bed at 12:00 am.

Final thoughts

Over-all, Realme 3 is a really good budget phone for its price and has enough features to you to consider as an alternative to popular brands under sub-Rs 10,000, which some are still haven't managed to improve its stocks and many consumers are getting frustrated of waiting for weekly flash sales.

It has a decent camera, long battery life and the most I loved about the Realme 3 is its gradient finish on the shell and also the display quality is praiseworthy.

If you are looking for a pocket-friendly phone, you can bet on the Realme and it will serve you well for long.

Pros:

• Visually appealing design language
• Good display
• Long battery life
• Decent camera
• Dependable security (face unlock and fingerprint)
• Three dedicated slots for two SIMs and a microSD card

Cons:

• ColorOS is a bit too complex to my taste, but this issue is subjective. I review several phones all through the year and every time I open and start using a new model, I have to relearn the intricacies of the highly skinned user-interface almost every time unless it is an Android One. If the customer is a first-time smartphone user, you can learn and master the ColorOS in a few days and get the best out of the device. Also, most importantly no ads will pop randomly while using the phone.

Realme 3 comes in two models—3GB RAM +32GB storage and 4GB RAM + 64GB storage—for Rs 8,999 and Rs 10,999 on Flipkart.