Realme has finally entered the Philippines. The once OPPO spinoff has now branched out as its own brand to bring their powerful yet affordable smartphones to the Filipino youth. This time around, we’ll be taking a look at one of the brand’s more budget offerings, the Realme C1.
Realme C1
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 |
| Screen | 6.2-inch, notched, 19:9, 1520 x 720, 271ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| RAM | 2GB |
| OS | Android 8.1 Oreo, ColorOS 5.2 |
| Rear Camera | 13MP f/2.2 main, 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor, LED Flash |
| Front Camera | 5MP f/2.2 |
| Storage | 16GB expandable via microSD slot |
| Network | Triple-tray, Dual SIM, 4G LTE |
| Connectivity | WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, |
| Others | Face Unlock, AI Beautification, microUSB |
| Battery | 4,230mAh |
| Colors | Mirror Black, Navy Blue |
Unboxing
The Realme C1 comes in a relatively minimalist box with the C1 logo clearly visible while the Realme name is quietly sitting just below it. Inside the box is the smartphone itself, a clear silicone case, documentation, a microUSB cable, and a wall adapter.
Pretty much standard stuff when it comes to smartphones but the Realme C1’s packaging does omit the SIM card ejector pin and a pair of earphones.
Overview
In terms of design, the Realme C1 still caries a premium-looking design despite being the runt of the litter in the Realme range.
The display on the Realme C1 is a notched 6.2-inch screen with a 19:9 aspect ratio that totals for a resolution of 1520 x 720. The screen’s size and resolution also works out to reach 271ppi, which should mean that the pixels shouldn’t be noticeable unless your viewing the smartphone’s display up in to your face.
To protect the screen, the smartphone comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Just to be sure, Realme has also placed a screen protector on top of the screen to ease the minds of its users.
Nestled on the rather large notch of the Realme C1 is a 5MP f/2.2 selfie shooter. The camera also enables the Realme C1’s Face Unlock. Of course, the smartphone also comes with AI Beautification in order for its users to take better yet natural-looking selfies.
In spite of its budget price, the Realme C1’s rear is made of glass. This adds a solid and premium feel to an otherwise budget-oriented smartphone. To keep down the price, Realme has opted out of a fingerprint scanner to keep down cost.
The dual main cameras of the Realme C1 can be found at the top left-hand side of the rear. The camera setup is composed of a 13MP f/2.2 main camera and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor backed by a dedicated LED flash.
Inside its sleek body lies a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core SoC with 2GB of RAM. Built on a 14nm lithography process, the Realme C1’s SoC can reach up to 1.8GHz to deliver smooth performance in both intensive workloads and casual low-power use.
Powering the whole device is a 4,230mAh battery. It’s large battery also contributes to its weight of 168g and its thickness of 8.2mm. Another downside of its battery is that the smartphone doesn’t come with fast charging, which should lead to quite a wait while waiting for the Realme C1’s battery to top off.
The Realme C1 is running Google’s Android 8.1 Oreo with ColorOS 5.2, which is the same skin found on OPPO smartphones. The brand hasn’t bothered to reskin the OS to suit their needs and it does feel like an OPPO smartphone with the same feature set on the OS such as a drop down command center, Face Unlock, and AI Beautification.
We haven’t had much time with the Realme C1, however, its feature set and its asking price of PhP 5,990, points to a promising budget smartphone from Realme. Stay tuned for our full review in the coming days.
