The narzo 50i Prime is one of the most affordable smartphones in the Philippine market thanks to the company bringing its price down by a significant margin. It packs what you expect from a budget-oriented smartphone including a Unisoc Tiger T612 chipset with 3GB RAM, 8MP rear camera, and a 5,000mAh battery that supports 10W charging. But can it perform well enough to separate itself from the increasingly saturated entry-level market?
| Chipset | Unisoc Tiger T612 |
| Screen | 6.5-inch IPS, 1600 x 720 |
| RAM | 3GB |
| OS | Android 11, realme UI R Edition |
| Rear Camera | 8MP f/2.0 |
| Front Camera | 5MP f/2.2 |
| Storage | 32GB UFS 2.2, MicroSD |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 4G LTE |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5mm Audio Jack. MicroUSB |
| Battery | 5,000mAh, 10W Charging |
| Others | N/A |
| Dimensions | 164.1 x 75.6 x 8.5mm |
| Weight | 182g |
| Colors | Mint Green, Dark Blue |
The narzo 50i Prime only has the basic necessities included. Inside its familiar blue narzo box is the smartphone itself, a MicroUSB cable for charging and data transfers, a SIM ejector pin, and documentation.
We do miss the inclusion of a silicone case and a power adapter. We understand that their exclusion is to make costs low but this could add to the expenses of the user in the long run.
The smartphone hides its budget-oriented roots with a familiar design. The company is employing a boxy design instead of the curved sides we are used to seeing from the brand. Most of the outer chassis is made out of plastic but that’s expected from an affordable smartphone. The rear is textured and has a striped design that reflects light at angle so it doesn’t look plain.
All its buttons are clustered at the right-hand side. The are easy to reach thanks to the compact design of the device. At the reverse side is its SIM tray that supports two nano SIM cards and a dedicated MicroSD expansion slot.
Its MicroUSB port for charging and data transfers can be found at the bottom. It is accompanied by the grilles for the speakers and microphone as well as a 3.5mm audio jack.
narzo is equipping the 50i Prime with a 6.5-inch IPS display. Resolution is only 1600 x 720 but they are promising up to 400 nits of brightness. The screen is serviceable but its far from impressive. Colors are slightly oversaturated but can be pulled back slightly via the display settings. The lower resolution also makes the screen less crisp but is otherwise functional.
Color coverage is less than 100% sRGB. Based on our readings, the screen is only able to cover 83.50% sRGB. Perhaps that’s why the company decided to oversaturate the display to hide some inaccuracies while viewing. Fortunately, brightness is decent reaching 391.14 cd/m2; which should be able to withstand some amount of sunlight and strong backlight.
The smartphone only comes with a single bottom-firing speaker for external audio. Its earpiece isn’t used for any additional sounds aside from calling. Sound quality is what you expect from an entry-level smartphone. Bass is non-existent and there’s minimal sound separation but it can get decently loud.
The narzo 50i Prime runs on Android 11 with realme UI R Edition. It’s closer to stock than the fully kitted-out realme UI and removes some of the features to have smoother performance on meager hardware.
Most of the stock Android apps and features are included in the 50i Prime. They are throwing in some pre-installed apps that you should uninstall immediately given that it only has 32GB of internal storage. Overall, not much to be seen here just the stock Android experience.
The narzo 50i Prime keeps everything basic by using only two cameras – an 8MP f/2.0 main camera at the back and a 5MP f/2.2 selfie camera at the front. The camera app also sticks to basics with only a few modes including Photo, Video, Portrait, Pro Mode, Night Mode and Time-Lapse. Video maxes out at 1080p30fps for the rear camera and 720p30fps for the selfie lens.
Its 8MP f/2.0 main camera is powered by a SmartSens SC800CS sensor. There is no pixel binning employed here so photos come out at their native 8MP resolution. Photos look great when there is good lighting. Colors look good and there is some amount of detail present.
Image quality does start to take a dip in low-light and high-contrast scenarios. Snaps taken in less-than-optimal lighting will get some amount of noise. HDR is decent but tends to over-expose highlights to bring out darker details.
The selfie camera has largely the same performance as the rear one. Daylight photos look good but quality significantly drops at evening or in darker scenes. Strangely enough, it does not have access to Portrait mode.
Inside the chassis is a Unisoc Tiger T612, which is becoming more common in entry-level smartphones. It is accompanied with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Performance is decent for a budget-oriented device but don’t expect blazing-fast performance on the narzo 50i Prime.
Scores are low benchmarks-wise but that’s to be expected. The chip only needs to run the smartphone and apps. We did run some benchmarks and scores are unimpressive as anticipated.
You won’t be able to run graphically-intensive games on the smartphone at decent framerates. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, however, run pretty well with steady fps at high settings. Given that the title is the one of the most played games in the Philippines for mobile, gaming performance is okay for the average Filipino that’s on a budget.
Battery life is one of the aspects of the 50i Prime that the company has not compromised in the name of affordability. It comes with a 5,000mAh battery as with other smartphones above its price range. With light use, you should be able to last more than 2 days on one charge.
Charging is slow since it only has a MicroUSB connector. Speeds top out at 10W if you have a proper adapter. From zero to full, it should take 2 hours and 45 minutes to 3 hours to top up the battery. Quite a wait for a smartphone to charge fully.
The narzo 50i Prime might have some faults but it is one of the most affordable smartphone in the market. At only PhP 3,999 or even lower at sale events, the smartphone delivers a complete smartphone feature set to Filipinos that hunts for deals at a budget.
Some of its highlights, aside from its price, is its long-lasting 5,000mAh battery, nice-looking design, and decent cameras so long as you capture photos in good lighting. The display isn’t too shabby either but you won’t get the best color accuracy or sharpness.
Charging speeds is really held back by its MicroUSB connection. The company also is not bundling a wall adapter and a silicone case but that’s understandable. Chances are, you already have a USB-A adapter in your home.
Like most of its devices and its previous sister company, the narzo 50i Prime packs a complete smartphone experience into an affordable package. This can be a perfect partner for those who need a smartphone for basic tasks but don’t expect mind-blowing performance here.
The narzo 50i Prime is priced at PhP 3,999 in the Philippines with sales slashing its price further to only PhP 3,799 at times. It can be had through the company’s official Lazada store, authorized online resellers, and authorized retailers and narzo kiosks nationwide.
