The narzo 50A Prime is part of the brand’s refresh of the narzo 50 series. It is placed at the very competitive entry-level market at PhP 7,999. The smartphone comes with a decent enough spec sheet like a 6.6-inch FullHD+ IPS display, a 50MP f1/.8 main lens, and a 5,000mAh battery with 18W Fast Charging. But are those enough to separate itself from the crowd?
| Chipset | Unisoc Tiger T612 |
| Screen | 6.6-inch IPS, 2408 x 1080 |
| RAM | 4GB |
| OS | Android 11, realme UI R Edition |
| Rear Camera | 50MP f/1.8, 2MP f/2.4 Macro, 0.3MP f/2.8 Depth |
| Front Camera | 8MP f/2.0 |
| Storage | 64GB, 128GB UFS 2.2 |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 4G LTE |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C |
| Battery | 5,000mAh, 18W Fast Charging |
| Others | Side-Mounted Fingerprint Scanner |
| Dimensions | 164.4 x 75.6 x 8.1mm |
| Weight | 189g |
| Colors | Black, Blue |
The narzo 50A Prime is encased in the brand’s now-traditional blue box with its name embossed at the front. Extras are few with the smartphone being accompanied by only its documentation, SIM ejector pin, and USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable. It does not come with its own power adapter.
The narzo 50A Prime has a boxy design reminiscent of iPhones instead of a more curved design we usually see in Android devices. Its rear has a shiny and reflective finish that reflects light with a rainbow hue. It is, however, an incredible fingerprint and smudge magnet without a case.
The power button is placed at the right-hand side and comes with an integrated fingerprint scanner. Over at the other side is the volume rocker. Above it is the smartphone’s triple-cut SIM tray.
narzo includes a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB Type-C port, and grilles for its speaker and microphone at the bottom.
The 50A Prime packs a 6.6-inch 2408 x 1080 IPS display. It sticks to a 60Hz refresh rate but it’s refreshing to see FullHD+ resolution on a budget-friendly smartphone. Color coverage is decent with 98.7% sRGB and 96.10% DCI-P3. Color reproduction, however, isn’t accurate as values are all over the place. It seems that the display prefers red hues with greens being downplayed which leads to sub-standard whites.
Contrast ratio is rather low as well measuring at 1056:1. Brightness, however, is pretty good for an entry-level smartphone. At around 444.77 cd/m2, it should be able to push through strong backlight or can even be used under sunlight.
Audio is delivered through a single bottom-firing speaker. There’s minimal soundstage to be heard and it does get a bit tinny at higher volume levels. Vocals are clear but highs can get drowned at times. Meanwhile, bass is lacking as expected from a budget-friendly device.
The narzo 50A Prime comes installed with Android 11 with realme UI R Edition. R Edition is basically a cutdown version of the regular realme UI to run smoothly on entry-level devices. It sticks close to the default Android experience with all of the standard options included.
At the rear of the smartphone are three cameras: a 50MP f/1.8 main lens powered by a Samsung S5KJN1 sensor, a 2MP f/2.4 lens for macro, and a 0.3MP f/2.8 depth sensor. Selfies are taken with an 8MP f/2.0 front-facing shooter on the screen’s notch.
Not much can be said about the narzo 50A Prime’s camera app. All the usual options are including Photo, Portrait, Macro, Pro, Time Lapse, Night Pro, Burst, and 50MP mode. There are a couple of filters available built-in to the app. Video is limited to 1080p30fps for the main camera and 720p30fps for the selfie cam.
We’ll only be taking a look at the main 50MP f/1.8 main camera for the rear since the 2MP f/2.4 macro lens is basically eclipsed in every way. The camera takes good photos in daylight but struggles in high contrast scenes. It also introduces noise to snaps whenever lighting dips even by a little bit. Taking decent photos in the evening or low-light conditions are tough even when Night Pro mode is used.
Powering the narzo 50A Prime is a Unisoc Tiger T612 chipset with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Its chipset is designed for the entry-level market, so don’t expect mind blowing performance. Saying that, it still provides the smartphone okay performance at most times with the expected chugging under heavy load.
Benchmarks are unexceptional but pretty good for this class of device. The smartphone is able to break the 200,000 mark in AnTuTu and scores 7,681 in PCMark Work 3.0.
Most games should be able to run near 30fps once some graphical settings are tweaked with some dips in the most intense scenes. Less graphically-intensive games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and League of Legends: Wild Rift can run at 60fps at tuned settings.
Battery life of the narzo 50A is fantastic. It runs on a 5,000mAh battery that can last nearly up to two days within reasonable use. PCMark Work 3.0 battery loop test puts usage at around 17 hours and 39 minutes with medium brightness and volume. The device does support 18W Fast Charging, which should fill up the device from 0% in around 1 hour and 45 minutes.
The narzo 50A Prime doesn’t really do anything new but offers a decent enough experience. Its main attraction is its 5,000mAh battery that delivers longer use especially those dependent on their smartphones.
Its Unisoc Tiger T612 chip is okay for regular use but rather weak in gaming. It will do well in mainstream titles with tweaked graphical settings but quickly drops off in performance when settings are turned higher.
At PhP 7,999, the narzo 50A Prime is put in a difficult position especially compared to its peers. Those who like its looks and long battery life will get some usage out of it but users who like a stronger experience might look elsewhere.
The narzo 50A Prime 4GB/128GB is now available in the Philippines for PhP 7,999 via the official narzo flagship store on Lazada.
