Realme C1 Review: A Budget-Friendly Smartphone with MEGA Features

If you are on a tight budget and looking for a smartphone that has quality features under the P6,000 price tag, then this Realme C1 smartphone can probably meet your smartphone preference and may be just right for you. As you read further, you’ll get to know more about my first impression and review about Realme C1’s performance based on my actual usage. 

WHAT’S INSIDE THE BOX?

• 1 Realme C1 smartphone unit
• 1 Transparent casing
• Realme C Information guide leaflet
• Realme Quick Guide leaflet
• 1 micro USB cable
• 1 Charger adaptor
• 1 ejector pin

Will highlight some of its major features and I hope that it will help you decide if Realme C1 could be your next smartphone.

EXTERNAL LOOKS

At first glance, Realme C1 smartphone looks like most of the latest smartphone models of premium value. It’s definitely not cheap-looking. You wouldn’t think that it is just Php5,990. Could you believe it? with this price, you’ll already have a good looking phone!

This phone has a metallic side finish which adds up to the overall premium look. At the back, it has this glass-like design made of 12 nanoscale laminated/electroplated layers with 2.5D backplate for a harder,  better conductivity and heat-abrasion-scraping-resistant back surface.

Though I find the glass and metal corners feel kinda sharp in the hand when being held. But don’t worry, I got a solution to cover that by using the free transparent protective casing that comes with the box package. 🙂

It also has dual rear cameras with LED flash which I will discuss much deeper later.

Moving on. On the right side you’ll find the power/lock button, while on the left side you’ll find the volume keys and the triple card slot that can fit in two(2) nano sim cards and one(1) microsd card.

At the bottom you’ll see the speaker(audio grille), the micro-USB port, the microphone, and the 3.5mm audio port. Audio quality is average, it lacks bass but just enough for casual listening and watching.

MEGA SCREEN SIZE

Who wouldn’t want a smartphone screen this big? Me likey! Realme C1 has 6.2-inch notch full screen with 88.8% screen-to body- ratio and 19:9 screen display, which makes C1 the first smartphone to have this screen size on its price rage.

Realme C1’s compact layout consists of three major components: the receiver, front camera and light sensor. The 2.05mm ultra narrow bezel were narrowed by 16% for a wider visual field and immersive visual experience. Just perfect if you are into games, movies, browsing the net and other smartphone activities that needed full screen-type.

MEGA BATTERY LIFE

One of the features that I like about Realme C1 smartphone is its superb battery life. It has 4,230mAh mega battery that can last up to 4 days or even more on standby mode(just on standby mode ok?). Look closely to the photos above on the battery level.

2:25Pm: My wifi, bluetooth, mobile data is on, I have several apps running on the background, and I was taking photos non-stop and some videos as well and did some on the spot editing. I also browsed the internet for several minutes.

3:15Pm: After almost an hour of busy smartphone activities, I checked the battery level and just at 85%. cool! Maybe to other smartphones the battery percentage will drop below 50% with that kind of usage.

Two days later, on standby mode, with minimal browsing, wifi/bluetooth still on, the battery level is at 67%. Amazing right? You might be curious how Realme C1 conserved the battery life. It’s because of AI Power Master which ensures smooth running of programs. The AI Power Master sytem(APP-freezing Power saver and Quick App Freezing) intelligently optimize power consumption of apps and control the number of processor cores to avoid power waste.

What is APP-freezing Power Saver and Quick App Freezing?

APP-freezing Power Saver- Smartly restricts apps running on the background to reduce overall power consumption and to extend battery life. On average, it allows application to save power by 5% to 11%. It can also be manually adjusted in Settings.

Quick App Freezing- AI power Master can put the background apps in the quick freezing folder to effectively cut off frequent and meaningless mutual wake up between apps to save power. According to tests, About 5% energy saved per 24 hours.

Now you wouldn’t be worried of running out of battery charge easily even if you are a heavy user because Realme C1’s reliable 4,230mAh battery capacity. How’s that for MEGA BATTERY LIFE?

PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE

I know you would agree with me on this. One of the convincing factors nowadays when buying a smartphone is the camera. Right? Realme C1 comes with 13MP+2MP dual rear cameras and 5MP fron camera. YES! it has dual rear camera already. So let’s talk about what these cameras can do.

FRONT CAMERA

For the price range and considering that it is just 5 mega pixel, I’m quite surprised that Realme C1’s front camera can take very decent photos. Be aware that most photos that you are about see are mostly my selfies so bare with me hahahah! No judgements please hahaha!

Thank you for beautification mode. Now you can say goodbye to your blemishes!. But of course, it’s much better to look natural because it shows your real beauty. I love the depth effect too. Just look how the depth of field works and blurred my background(3rd photo).

Just like its rear camera you can choose among STANDARD, SQUARE, and FULL SCREEN. First two are on Beautification mode then the full screen is on Normal mode.

There are lots of cute stickers that you can choose from as well to make your selfies or groupies more interesting and fun. (The photos above are some of my faves- I hope they release more stickers.)

This one is soooo cool!. Realme C1 has SMART IMAGE EDITING feature where you can edit and enhance  your photo on the spot through color grading and beautification. Not just that, you may also trim(for video), add filter, music, texts and you can even do watermark.

BACK CAMERA

Like I mentioned earlier, Realme C1 smartphone houses 13 megapixels+2 Megapixel dual rear cameras with LED flash. Colors are good and sharp especially with good lighting(on normal mode). I must say it can take pretty decent photos. Just don’t expect it to be as high quality like the premium smartphones out in the market with dual cameras. You just get what you paid for right?

Tried using the zoom of the rear camera. See the photos above. Be the judge. I also used the rear camera for video. It can capture decent clips but when I start shooting videos with beautification mode on, it kinda lags a bit when moving/panning.

• The AR stickers are adorable. Super enjoyed using them. Like what I said earlier, I hope that they add more.
• The big screen is a plus factor! I love playing games and watching movies
• The battery life is superb. I don’t need to bring heavy high capacity powerbanks anymore.
• Photo/video quality is decent for the price point.
• If you are a heavy user(into gaming, browsing, watching videos, taking photos and used to using multiple applications) this smartphone may not be the best one for you.
• Quite small storage of 16Gb. With the size of app updates now, your internal storage can run out fast. Installing a micro sd card may help. Or maybe delete some apps/files that you don’t actually need.
• Very Affordable price. For just Php5,990 you’ll enjoy this “entry-level king” smartphone.

Realme C1 Specification: