Unboxing and First Impressions: Realme C3

Launched a few weeks ago, the Realme C3 will be arriving in the Philippines in a few days’ time. We’re fortunate enough to get our hands on an early sample of the smartphone. Which is why we’re going to unbox and take a quick look at Realme’s latest budget smartphone.

Realme C3

Unboxing

The Realme C3 sticks close to the traditional packaging that has been expected from an entry in the C series. The traditional yellow packaging encases the smartphone, a wall charger, a MicroUSB cable, and some documentation.

Realme has made the decision to remove the silicone case and earphones in order to lower costs, thus allowing the smartphone to be positioned in a much lower bracket in the market.

A new yet familiar design

The front of the Realme C3 is fairly reminiscent of previous entries in the series as they share the same design. The screen hasn’t really changed much in terms of resolution and size as it still is a 6.1-inch 1560 x 720 Dewdrop screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Realme says that the display can produce 480nits of brightness, which is around the same ballpark as the Realme 5 Pro.

The only real deviation from the original design is the aesthetics of the back. Instead of a shiny Diamond-cut Design from its predecessor, the Realme C3 has a Sunrise Design similar of what the Realme 5i has.

Though its rear design might be a divisive subject, we must say that the Sunrise Design has really grown on us. The matte yet sleek finish of the back adds a more pleasurable handling experience and under the right lighting conditions, sunrays seems to radiate from the cameras.

Speaking of the cameras, the Realme C3 has a 12MP f/1.8 Main camera with PDAF and is backed by a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor and a third 2MP Macro lens. Those who like taking selfies can find a 5MP f/2.4 shooter resting on the notch.

A more powerful chipset

The Realme C3 is powered by the MediaTek Helio G70, which is a significant upgrade compared to the Helio G22 of the Realme C2. Instead of having an Arm Cortex-A53 in an 8-core setup, the Helio G70 now comes with a 2 Arm Cortex-A75 processors at 2.0GHz and an additional 6 Arm Cortex-A55 processors running at 1.7GHz.

Paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, the Realme C3 can really bring more performance into the entry-level market. Though we have had only a short time with it, the smartphone ran smoothly and easily scored 180K an AnTuTu. To put its benchmark score into perspective, the Realme 5i which sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665, 13K lower than the C3 in AnTuTu.

As expected, the Realme C3 has a large 5,000mAh battery on hand to power you throughout the day. Unfortunately, there’s no additional quick charging tech found on the smartphone. This means that you’re going to have to do with the standard 5V/2A charging.

The first smartphone to come with RealmeUI

The Realme C3 is officially the first smartphone to ship out with the brand new RealmeUI. Based on Android 10, the new UI comes with Dark Mode and stock apps that you usually find in most smartphones as well as some expected bloatware.

Game Space is still present to block calls and notifications while you are playing games with the smartphone. You are given several presets of icon designs giving you more options for customization.

The Realme C3 is shaping up to be another budget gem

Realme made their mark in the world by providing one of the best price-to-performance ratios in smartphones when they were first established. It seems that the Realme C3 will be carrying the torch when it comes to great budget-oriented smartphones in the market.

Realme has said that the Realme C3 will see a local launch within March. Until its official Philippine launch, we’re going to test the smartphone to its limits to see what kind of performance it will offer to its potential buyers. We’ll keep you up to date to more Realme C3 news in the coming days.