The Realme 9 5G and the Realme 9 5G Velocity Version are new additions to the 9 sequence. These launches are a bit shocking for the reason that firm has launched three different smartphones in the identical sequence over the previous two months. The Realme 9 Sequence spans a wider worth vary than earlier generations, with much more choices to select from. That is good however it may additionally trigger some confusion for potential patrons. I shall be focussing totally on the vanilla, Realme 9 5G on this overview to see the way it compares to different smartphones in the identical worth vary.
Realme 9 5G worth in India
The Realme 9 5G is priced at Rs. 14,999 in India for the bottom variant which has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The opposite variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is priced at Rs. 17,499. This smartphone is offered in two colors, Stargaze White and Meteor Black, and I had the previous for this overview.
Realme 9 5G design
The Realme 9 5G has a well-recognized design and it jogged my memory of different Realme telephones I’ve used previously. The massive show has a digital camera gap within the top-left nook. It has skinny borders on the high and the edges whereas the chin is bigger. It is not distracting and is suitable on a telephone at this worth. Realme has used plastic for the body and again which helps hold the load right down to 188g.
The facility button on the appropriate has an built-in fingerprint scanner whereas the quantity buttons are on the other facet. The buttons are all positioned in the direction of the centre of the body and are simple to succeed in even with one-handed use. The telephone is noticeably slim, measuring 8.55mm in thickness.
The Realme 9 5G is slim and packs in a 5,000mAh battery
On the underside, the Realme 9 5G has a 3.5mm headphone jack, main microphone, USB Sort-C port, and loudspeaker. The highest of the telephone is totally clean. The again of the Realme 9 5G is flat with curved sides that makes it comfy to carry. It has three cameras positioned in an oblong module that juts out barely. This causes the telephone to rock about on a flat floor, which I did not like.
The Stargaze White end has patterns on the again that shift in color when seen underneath mild. The again panel does choose up smudges however these aren’t simply seen. Realme features a clear case within the field.
Realme 9 5G specs and software program
The Realme 9 5G sports activities a 6.5-inch LCD show with a full-HD+ decision and 90Hz most refresh charge. Realme has picked the MediaTek Dimensity 810 5G octa-core SoC. This telephone has a 5,000mAh battery and helps 18W quick charging. You additionally get a suitable charger within the field. The tray on the Realme 9 5G has two nano-SIM slots and a microSD card slot for storage growth. This telephone additionally helps Bluetooth 5.1, dual-band Wi-Fi, and 6 satellite tv for pc navigation programs.
By way of software program, it runs Realme UI 2.0 primarily based on Android 11. My unit was operating the March 2022 Android safety patch. The UI is easy and straightforward to get round, which is sweet particularly in case you’re a first-time Realme consumer. You possibly can toggle between the normal three-button format or swipe gestures for navigation. It additionally has options corresponding to a sensible sidebar, which is a floating carousel of shortcuts to your favorite apps and actions.
The opening within the show homes the 16-megapixel selfie digital camera
Realme UI 2.0 does provide personalisation choices for altering the icon fashion, color scheme, fonts, and icon format. Contained in the settings app, the Realme Lab part has experimental options so that you can attempt. One such characteristic is Sleep Capsule, which stops you from utilizing apps after a specified time that can assist you sleep with out distractions.
I did discover an enormous quantity of bloatware preinstalled on the system. A few of these apps corresponding to FinShell Pay and Theme Retailer despatched spammy notifications throughout the overview interval. On the upside, third-party apps could be uninstalled to reclaim space for storing.
Realme 9 5G efficiency and battery life
The Realme 9 5G presents first rate efficiency and I by no means seen any slowdowns with common utilization. The show switches between 60Hz and 90Hz relying on what you’re doing. You may also lock it at 90Hz which makes scrolling very clean. You possibly can select between Vivid and Mild color modes, relying in your desire.
Watching movies was satisfying however the single speaker did not produce very partaking sound. The Redmi Observe 11 is a direct competitor at this worth, and presents an AMOLED show in addition to twin audio system, so not having them on the Realme 9 5G was a bit disappointing. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the Realme 9 5G was fast to learn fingerprints and by no means wanted a number of makes an attempt to unlock the telephone. Face recognition was additionally fast.
The fingerprint scanner is embedded into the facility button and is straightforward to succeed in
My overview unit had 6GB of RAM, and allowed me to reassign as much as 5GB of storage as RAM. Multitasking was a breeze and I may soar between totally different apps with out ones within the background needing to be reloaded. App loading instances had been additionally first rate.
The telephone fared properly in artificial benchmarks, scoring 372,099 factors in AnTuTu. In Geekbench 5’s single-core and multi-core exams, it managed 609 and 1,830 factors. In 3DMark’s Sling Shot check, the telephone scored 3,475 factors.
Informal video games ran fantastic with none points. Even Name Of Responsibility: Cell ran at ‘Medium’ graphics and ‘Medium’ body charge settings by default, and was playable with none stutter. I performed the sport for quarter-hour which resulted in a 4 % drop within the battery stage, and the telephone was barely heat to the contact afterwards.
The Realme 9 5G has a triple digital camera setup on the again
The Realme 9 5G presents superb battery life and you may simply use it for a day and a half on a full cost. In our HD video loop check, the telephone managed to run for 16 hours and 38 minutes which is an excellent time. The provided 18W charger is able to charging it to about 27 % in half-hour and about 52 % in an hour. Charging the telephone fully takes a bit over two hours.
Realme 9 5G cameras
The Realme 9 5G has a 48-megapixel main digital camera with an f/1.8 aperture that pixel-bins pictures right down to 12 megapixels by default. You aren’t getting an ultra-wide-angle digital camera on the Realme 9 5G which I believe is a giant miss. The opposite two are a black and white portrait digital camera and a macro digital camera. For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel digital camera. The digital camera app is pretty loaded and has a wide range of taking pictures modes. It has fast toggles for HDR in addition to AI scene recognition. There’s a new Avenue Mode filter that applies a high-contrast, high-saturation look to the pictures you’re taking.
Daylight digital camera efficiency was first rate. The telephone was capable of metre mild appropriately and enabled HDR mechanically in vivid scenes. I discovered the AI to be too aggressive with greens, making crops and timber look synthetic. The output from the first digital camera was first rate if seen as is, however magnifying these pictures revealed fairly a little bit of lacking element. An ultra-wide-angle digital camera would have given this telephone extra versatility.
Realme 9 5G daylight digital camera pattern (faucet to see full-size picture)
Shut-up pictures had been good and the telephone managed crisp pictures so long as I used to be at an acceptable distance. It additionally managed first rate background blur. Portrait pictures had been sharp and had superb edge detection, together with enough background blur, which could be adjusted earlier than taking the shot. Macro pictures had been common and restricted to 2 megapixels in decision.
Realme 9 5G digital camera samples; high to backside: closeup, portrait, macro samples (faucet to see full-size samples)
Low-light digital camera efficiency was strictly common whereas taking pictures within the common ‘Photograph’ mode. Images appeared mushy, and objects at a distance had a watercolour-like impact. Night time mode didn’t make a major distinction to the output. It did produce barely higher element in darker areas of a scene, however the output had a yellowish tint and seemed like a filter had been utilized. The telephone did not stabilise pictures both, so shakes triggered undesirable blur.
Realme 9 5G low-light digital camera and Night time mode digital camera samples (faucet to see full-size picture))
Selfies seemed good in daylight in addition to low mild. In low mild, the Realme 9 used a display screen flash which helped get higher outcomes. Portrait selfies had been good, however the telephone did apply a beautification filter by default.
Realme 9 5G Selfie portrait samples (faucet to see full-size picture)
Video recording tops out at 1080p for the first digital camera in addition to the selfie shooter. The Realme 9 5G doesn’t stabilise footage by default. It does have an ‘Extremely Regular’ mode that crops the body a bit to aim to stabilise footage, and this helped enhance video. Low-light footage did have slight grain.
General, the digital camera efficiency of the Realme 9 5G was good in daylight, whereas low-light circumstances had been difficult for it.
Verdict
Realme has launched so many smartphones priced under Rs. 20,000 of late, that its fashions and sequence overlap, making it laborious to choose the appropriate one. The Realme 9 5G has a quite simple design and the specs, whereas good, will not make patrons queue up for it, for my part. The Realme 9 5G shares quite a lot of {hardware} with the Realme 8S 5G (Evaluate) and it appears like the corporate has downgraded a few of that older mannequin’s specs to hit a cheaper price.
The 6GB RAM variant of the Realme 9 5G is priced at Rs. 17,499, whereas an equally spec’d variant of the Realme 8s 5G would value simply Rs. 500 extra. The latter would provide higher worth because it has a higher-resolution 64-megapixel digital camera and 33W quick charging.
The bottom variant of the Realme 9 5G is priced at Rs. 14,999 and is healthier worth for cash than the one I examined. If you’re an off-the-cuff consumer, you might take into account this, however I’d advocate you check out the Redmi Observe 11 as an alternative because it has an AMOLED show, stereo audio system, and 33W charging. It lacks 5G, however none of the community suppliers in India even provide this proper now, so it won’t be an enormous loss.
