Realme 3 Specification Review: Great Device Overall But There Are Better Candidates

In the time frame of around one year, Oppo’s former sub-brand Realme has already launched nine handsets including Realme 3 and Realme 3 Pro. I believe it isn’t a bad thing, but it is also not a good thing.

After spending some time with the Realme 3, here are my thoughts with the phone. Overall, the Realme 3 specs are okay for its price, but there are some better candidates for just a little more money. In this review, I will go through Realme 3 all details so you can have a good idea about the phone.

1. Design, Build & Display

While I don’t really like the design of the Realme 2, the Realme 3 surely got my attention with a stylish and subtle gradient. The color shifting part in the rear panel is located at its bottom and only takes up around 30 percent of its back, which is neither too garish nor overly done at all.

I like its Dynamic Black color variant as it is a good mix of shiny particles and a solid color, making its back look like a starry night sky. Realme 3 all colours are Black, Dynamic Black, and Radiant Blue.

The phone is also very comfortable to hold on hand, and I can easily use it with just one hand even though it packs a 6.26-inch screen. The water-drop notch also helps the phone achieve nearly 90 percent screen-to-body ratio which is nicer than having a rather wide notch that sometimes bothers you a lot.

With its price range, it is understandable that the phone is all made of polycarbonate. One downside of its rear panel is the fact that it is smudge and fingerprint prone. You can use Realme 3 case to prevent it from happen and also protect the phone.

As for the Realme 3 specification, if you consume a lot of media then it might not be the best choice for you since the Realme 3 resolution is only HD+. It is obviously still usable, but it isn’t the brightest and sharpest display I have reviewed.

Viewing angles are still decent, and colors are also rich, but I noticed a slightly bleeding in the texts. Therefore, if you are looking for a phone for watching videos or movies, Realme 3 display is far from being the best option.

2. Hardware Specifications

Moving to specs of Realme 3, the Realme is powered by an octa-core Helio P70 SoC paired with 3/4GB RAM and 32/64GB of storage. Realme 3 specifications are not the best you can get for the money, but it is close. The unit I used to review packing 64GB of storage, and there was 48GB available storage out of the box. It isn’t much, but you can still expand its storage up to 256GB using a microSD card, so it is not really a big deal. You can check out the Realme 3 full specification here.

The new Realme 3 is powered by the same 4,230 mAh battery as its predecessor Realme 2, which is not bad all things considered since the battery is enough to fuel the phone for the whole day. However, the disappointing thing about the phone is that it still doesn’t have any fast charging support. Another specification of Realme 3 that is the same as its predecessor is the display. The Realme 2 and Realme 3 display is a 6.2-inch HD+ IPS LCD panel with 1,520 x 720p resolution.

One thing I like about the phone compared to its predecessor is the fact that it doesn’t have the same ColorOS v5.0 as the Realme 2. It boots Android 9 Pie-based ColorOS instead which is nice. Personally, my experience with the ColorOS v5.0 was really quite a pain while the ColorOS 6.0 on the Realme 3 is much better.

3. Performance

The Indian version of the Realme 3 has an Helio P70 SoC while Realme launches the global version of the phone with an Helio P60 SoC. Therefore, I would recommend you to get the Indian version as always. My experience with the device was decent, not really laggy at all. It still took the phone a bit of time to load the apps, and you might also see some lags when switching between apps.

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Overall, the experience was relatively smooth, but that is for daily usage. I would advise you to push the phone too far. For security, the Realme 3 features a fingerprint scanner on the rear. Moreover, other features of Realme 3 include a micro-USB port and standard connectivity options.

The most impressive feature about the Realme 3 is the battery life. Due to the low-resolution screen, 4,230 mAh battery, and Android 9 Pie, I could use the phone for over a day before having to charge it.

I mostly used the phone for reading news, instant messaging, two hours on YouTube, an hour of gaming or so. With all these, it still had around 40-50% battery, which is impressive enough.

This compensates that fact it doesn’t have support for fast charging. 40 minutes of charging and all it charged was only 30 percent of battery, very very slow! So year, at least it can last for the whole day so you can charge it at night while you are sleeping.

4. Camera

In terms of Realme 3 camera, the phone is slightly upgraded over the Realme 2. There are a 13MP primary camera with an aperture of f/1.8 in comparison with the 13MP shooter with f/2.2 lens on the Realme 2.

However, that is the only upgrade for the rear camera setup as both phones have the same 2MP depth unit for bokeh and depth effects. On the front, Realme upgrades the 8MP selfie camera on the Realme 2 to a 13MP f/2.0 shooter on the Realme 3.

The pictures taken by the Realme 3 were pretty good considered its price tag. Its cameras aren’t the best, but it is on the same level as other phones in the same segment.

In daylight conditions, the photos look sharp with high details, great contrast, and accurate colors. I still noticed some distortion or little noise on the photos. Realme 3 all features in terms of camera are PDAF, Nightscape, Portrait mode, Hybrid HDR, and more.

Here are some of the Realme 3 camera samples:

In low-light conditions, the phone really surprised me with the Nightscape mode. It still took a couple of seconds to shoot a photo but the outcomes were surely much clearer with better details and more accurate colors as well.

In portrait mode, the handset offers decent edge detection, and it could nicely separate the subjects from background. Obviously, you shouldn’t expect perfect photos from it as some details still got blurred out like loose hair.

The 13MP front-facing camera of Realme 3 also offered decent performance as the selfie photos had good details, nice colors and looked quite sharp.

5. Verdict

The Realme 3 specification and price in India are Rs. 8,999, and Rs. 10,999 for the two variants with 3GB RAM + 32GB storage and 4GB RAM + 64GB storage, respectively. After going through the Realme 3 details, the phone is by no mean a bad smartphone, and I can say it’s even a decent pick up for you. The Realme 3 display quality is also quite disappointing as it only has HD+ resolution.

However, spending just a little more money could get you much better options like the Redmi Note 7S for Rs. 10,999. The Redmi Note 7S is the latest offering from Redmi with a 48MP main sensor, Snapdragon 660 SoC, 4,000mAh battery, the same selfie camera, and FHD+ display.

Some Realme 3 accessories that you should get are tempered glass and cases as they can protect the phone from damaging.