1. Realme 1

When Oppo released its Realme subbrand, the company announced that it has been conceived based on Indian youth. The smartphones in this lineup will only be sold online via Amazon India with a price from Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 20,000. With the Realme 1, Oppo aims to challenge Xiaomi on the market for budget smartphones.  Is this phone going to stand out from its competitors?

Launched on May 25, 2018, at Rs 12,990, the phone allows users to work, game while taking some decent photos. Realme 1 has a unique appearance. It also has a little AI magic, making the phone a very compelling offer.

It is pointless to compare the Realme 1 to any flagship phone, but it can definitely compete against other devices that are in its price category. It is certainly a bang for your buck.

2. Display

Realme 1 comes with a 6-inch full-HD+ display which has an 18:9 aspect ratio. The screen is an IPS LCD panel instead of an OLED. And sometimes it feels cheap. The display is too reflective and its viewing angles are a little bit disappointing. But in return, the screen’s vibrant colors and brightness is enough to use outdoors. The phone has no notch, which has recently become a trend for smartphone manufacturers.

3. Chip

For its price, Oppo Realme 1's specifications are extremely impressive. The phone’s MediaTek Helio P60 processor with four Cortex A73 cores and four Cortex A53 at 2.0GHz makes it a potential rival of Redmi 5, and even Redmi Note 5 Pro, a much more expensive choice. The flagship processor of MediaTek is created with a 12nm process and equipped with NeuroPilot AI tech capable of handling facial recognition deep learning as well as video and photo enhancement.

Realme 1 can handle almost every task, from simple ones like taking pictures, surfing Web, using applications for social media, and watching video clips to intensive ones like full-HD video recording. It can run casual games such as Subway Surfers as well as heavy ones like Asphalt 8 with no stutters or dropped frames. When pushed, it didn’t get too hot.

4. RAM – Internal Storage

The smartphone comes with three variants –3GB RAM, 4GB RAM, and 6GB RAM. The 3GB RAM variant (aka Realme 1 32GB) has a storage of 32GB. Rs. 8,990 is the price for the 3GB RAM ver. The 4GB RAM ver (aka Realme 1 64GB) has a storage of 64GB and a price of Rs. 10,990. Last but not least is the 6GB RAM ver (aka Realme 1 128GB) which has a storage of 128GB and a price of Rs. 13,990. The storage can easily be expanded to 256GB with a microSD card. Regarding its pricing, the Realme 1 has a truly great price range, especially for a smartphone in the entry-level.

5. Battery Life

Realme 1 has quite impressive battery life. In NDTV's Oppo Realme 1 Review, the site said that for its battery test on the HD video loop, the smartphone could last for 11hrs and 30mins. Even after a full day of using the phone, users still don’t have to charge it before midnight. However, the phone doesn’t offer quick charging. A full charge of the Realme 1 takes from 2.5 to 3 hours max.

6. Camera

The Realme 1 camera on the back is a 13-megapixel one with a single-LED flash while on the front is an 8-megapixel one. According to the company’s claims, the front camera is equipped with artificial intelligence features and can recognize up to 296 facial points the skin tone, gender, age, etc.

The phone’s camera app is similar to that of Apple, which proves to be easy to use. Realme 1 offers different shooting modes like Time-lapse, AR sticker, and Panorama. There is also a Pro mode which includes features like white balance, aperture, exposure, ISO, and shutter speed.

Its AI-based selfie camera can detect users’ age, gender, skin type, and skin tone automatically and then adjusts the image setting accordingly. Oppo claims that in its database, there are as many as 8mil beauty reference points. In well-lit scenarios, the front camera can take decent photos whereas, in low-light settings, it struggled. Facial features are really softened by the AI beautification to the point that there seems to be an unpleasant watercolor-like effect on top.

Both the camera, the front, and the rear ones, can take bokeh shots with its software algorithms. However, the results are not great with poor edge details and detection.

The 13-megapixel camera on the back has AI-powered scene recognition with which it can change the settings according to the objects and scenes in real-time.

The images still look a little bit dull even though it takes in a reasonable amount of details. The photos often look over-saturated compared to how they look in reality. The sensor’s poor dynamic range leads to its struggles with auto-focus and detail in low light.

Photos taken indoor look a little more polished. The camera’s good side is brought out by the controlled light. With AI, objects tend to look better than how they are in real life. The images look good, sharp, and slightly warmer.

In low-light conditions, the camera fails to meet its promise. When you try to adjust the exposure higher, grains show up. The photos have little to no detail. If you don’t have a steady hand or if the object doesn’t stay still, your photos will be blurred.

The portrait mode is available for both the front and the rear camera. The depth-of-field effect is simulated by software. It is nowhere near what the Redmi Note 5 Pro can do, but it still does the job as in blurring the background.

Both cameras can record videos with a resolution of 1080p. The videos are enough if you just want to post them on social media but they are not stabilized and detail-lacking.

A plus point for Realme 1 cameras is the phone’s AR stickers which are well implemented. The stickers are a quirky and fun way to impress your friends. The feature is available for both cameras.