Launched the first week of November, the realme 10 had its fans hyped up with its value proposition – a Helio G99 processor, 90hz Super AMOLED display, 5000mAh battery with 33W SUPERVOOC fast charge, starting at just Php 12,999 for its 8GB+128GB variant. But is this really the best mid-range smartphone for you? Find out below in our review.
Available in Clash White and Rush Black, the realme 10 features a 7.95 Ultra-Slim Light Particle Design which exudes a minimalist but elegant design. It has straight edges unlike its predecessors which at first felt peculiar, but something I eventually got used to after a couple of days of usage. On the other hand, the corner design allows me to have a better grip on the smartphone.
The device is solid, with some weight to it. I personally like the pinhole front camera, and more, the conspicuous protruding front camera, although you don’t want to lay the phone on its back as not to scratch the lenses, so make sure you put on the provided silicone case or better yet place the device with the screen facing down.
Something I found irritating is the fingerprint sensor which from time to time activates accidentally whenever I’m holding the phone, but this is something you can easily fix by opting not to unlock the display using the fingerprint in settings. The sim card holder also does not have an indicator which confuses me about the orientation when inserting cards.
(Click here for the realme 10 unboxing and first impression article)
With an almost bezel-less, 6.4-inch 90Hz Super AMOLED display, the realme 10 is a treat for those who love to spend their time binge-watching or playing mobile games on their smartphones. The display is bright and sharp, with notable color accuracy, and wide viewing angles. The speaker is loud and can even be made louder with its 200% Ultraboom Speaker mode.
The realme 10 runs on Android 12, and is powered by a 6nm Octa-Core MediaTek Helio G99 Processor with a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. It has an 8GB RAM which can also be extended by up to 8GB more via dynamic RAM expansion. With these specs, I was able to play PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, and some of my favorite FPS games with barely any lags. Overall, controls were responsive in-game, and the higher refresh rate made the games more pleasurable.
The device additionally features a 5000mAh battery with 33W SUPERVOOC fast charging technology. On usual days, I mostly use social media, browsing stories and clips, and the large battery allows me to use the smartphone for a day with still enough juice left for the following day. On the average, charging time is less than an hour and half. I ran some of the synthetic benchmarks and below are the results:
Geekbench :
540 Single-Core Score
1761 Multi-Core Score
3DMark Wild Life Overall Score – 1368
PCMark Work 3.0 performance – 10031
For mobile photography buffs, the realme 10 has a 50MP Color AI + 2MP BW dual main camera, paired with a 16MP pin-hole selfie camera. The main camera’s default photo mode has a magnification of up to 10X which is useful when you need to zoom in to an object. Aside from usual Portrait, Night, and Pro modes, there are a variety of other modes provided including Tilt-Shift, and even Street mode for when walking outdoors. I love that the HDR is on point and that the cameras can take good indoor shots. Focus is fast, and so is the face detection on both main and front cameras. Overall, the photos are sharp, with just enough saturation. The cameras also provide good bokeh, and ideal for taking food or toy photos. The night mode is also pretty impressive. For videos, the 1080p / 60fps is a plus. Check out below for some of the photos I took with the realme 10.
The shot below was taken in a dimly lit area in BHS.
So far, the realme 10 lived up to its expectations. A nicely designed device with an impressive speedy performance, and powerful shooters, the mid-range realme smartphone is a treat for both mobile gamers and mobile photographers. The realme 10 is a solid device that you can gift yourself or your loved ones this Christmas.
The realme 10 8GB+128GB is priced at Php 12,999 while the 8GB+256 variant has an SRP of Php 14,999