Launched on 18th May 2022, Realme Narzo 50 Pro 5G is another addition to the budget gaming series ‘Narzo’ by Realme and has already set foot in the market for sales from yesterday, i.e., 26th May 2022.
We being India’s leading mobile skin and screen guard brand, have got the device hands-on already, and we’ll be doing a quick one-day usage review this time!
But before we jump into the review, let’s just go through the specs first.
Specs
Price
- Starts from ₹21,999
Processor & OS
- MediaTek Dimensity 920 CPU
- Arm Mali-G68 MC4 GPU
- Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12
RAM-ROM variants
- 6 GB/ 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM + 128 GB ROM
- vRAM upto 5 GB
Display & Media
- 6.4″ screen size
- FHD+ Super- AMOLED Display (2400 x 1080 pixels)
- Brightness up to 1000 nits
- 90 Hz Refresh rate
- 360 Hz Touch Sampling Rate
- Dual-speakers with Dolby Atmos
Camera
- Rear Camera
– 48 MP (Main Camera)+ 8 MP (Ultra-wide Camera) + 2 MP (Macro lens camera) with a single LED Flash.
– Video recording in 4k, 1080p & 720p modes
– 48MP Mode, Ultra Steady Video, Night Mode, Panoramic view, Expert, Timelapse, Portrait Mode, HDR, Ultra-wide, Ultra macro, AI Scene Recognition, AI Beauty, Filter, Chroma Boost, Slow Motion, Bokeh Effect Control, Movie, Dual-View Video, Text Scanner, Street Mode
- Front Camera
-16 MP camera
-1080p/720p video recording
Connectivity
- 5G compatible (7 bands)
- Supports WiFi 4, WiFi 5 & WiFi 6
- 5.2 Bluetooth Compatibility
Battery and Charging
- Battery Capacity: 5000 mAh
- Best Compatible Chargers: 33W Dart Charger
Design
- 16.02cm x 7.33cm x 0.8cm
- 181 gms
- Plastic back panel & side frames
- Available in shades Hyper Black, Hyper Blue
- Kevlar Textured back panel
Detailed Quick Usage Review
- Realme Narzo 50 Pro has the MediaTek Dimensity 920 processor, which is generally found in mid-range 5G smartphones ranging from a price point of ₹25,000-to ₹35,000 and is a great budget range processor for gaming purposes found in many well-known phones like Vivo V23, Xiaomi 11i and more. We did play a couple of games and put the phone through extensive usage for the day, only to find out that the phone is actually pretty snappy for its price! However, there were a few stutters along the way because it is a budget range of 5G processors and can only do so much. However, given the price you’re getting this phone for, it’s a well-performing device. It runs on Realme UI 3.0 skin based on Android 12. Since the OS is based on Android 12, there’s no doubt that you can personalise the phone as much as you want. Although, it’s not the cleanest OS as there’s a lot of bloatware pre-installed in the brand new phone. However, you can uninstall some of them, but only a few.
- It is a budget range phone, hence the limitation in storage options. There are two variants; both have 128 GB ROM and 6 or 8 GB RAM. However, you can extend your RAM up to 11 GB or 13 GB virtually by utilising 5 GB from your ROM if there’s extra space left. This option can help in boosting your phone speed and performance. You can use this vRAM option if your phone is stuttering.
- We found the display of this phone to be really great, given the price. Realme claims it has brightness levels up to 1000 nits, and it definitely feels like it because when we took the phone out in the sunlight, we did not have to squint our eyes or cover it with our hands while using the phone; it was adequately bright. Because of this factor alone, this phone is apt for qualitative content streaming. However, you can’t watch any content in 4k as there is no HDR 10+ support, but it has certifications for full HD streaming. The gaming experience is decent, but we would not recommend it always for super graphical and heavy games like BGMI or Genshin Impact. The good news? You can play these games in a top-tier graphic mode! The less good news? You might experience a slight display lagging while doing the same even though the refresh rate is 90 Hz and the touch sampling rate is 360 Hz. For casual gaming, this phone is perfect. The display performance was excellent for most of it. It has a dual-stereo speaker system with Dolby Atmos and is placed at the top and bottom edge of the device. This placement of dual speakers in combination with Dolby Atmos makes up for a surrounding quality sound for a more immersive audio experience, especially during content streaming. However, the audio is not that loud.
- We have some mixed feelings about the camera because it’s good and not that good at the same time. Pictures taken from the primary camera during mid-day look good from a certain distance, while on a closer look, we found some issues with the subject’s colour in the image; it’s got a warmer tone than usual when clicked during mid-day light. However, it takes good pictures when clicked under bright, sunny daylight. The ultra-wide camera covers and captures a decent amount of area and colours but at the expense of surrounding details of the subject looking slightly hazy or faded. The macro camera is not very impressive. You can click pictures from 4cm away, which sounds great for a macro shot, but however, the photo does not give off the depth and clarity you’d usually see in a macro mode photo. The portrait mode from the camera is pretty decent, but the HDR can be seen a little too much on portrait images. The night mode is fine for clicking pictures of a lit-up street or city view, but we cannot assure the same for indoor low-light photography. Indoor low light photos are a little bit noisy and grainy. The front camera is okay-ish; one really bugging thing it has is that it adds way too much beautification to the image, which almost makes you look like a doll. Video recording is not great, not even with 4k video mode, because there’s no EIS or OIS in the camera.
- Everything is okay in terms of connectivity except for obvious reasons, we could not test out the 5G network. There are only seven bands of 5G on the phone, which hopefully we’d get to test as soon as 5G rolls over in India.
- Battery life is really great! We used the phone extensively with all the cranked-up settings, and we did not have to charge the phone for one whole day and a half. The charging rate is okay, but it depends on what speed of charging you’re used to. If you’re habituated to slower charging, it will definitely be an upgrade or vice versa. However, a point to be noted is that we’ve only used it for one day; charging capacities reduce as time passes by, sometimes.
- The design is pretty standard and premium-ish. However, it is pretty lightweight and has Kevlar texture in the back panel, making it ergonomic. It’s available in two shades: Hyper Blue and Hyper Black. Although, we’d personally recommend you to go for Hyper Blue if you really want the Kevlar texture to be prominently visible.
Verdict
We know that we have only used it for one day, and our entire review is based on that. Our all-over rating about this phone scaling between 0 to 5 would be 4. It’s a pretty good phone for the price. It has a processor found in phones worth almost ₹30-35k INR, a dynamic RAM option, Android 12, high battery capacity and a good display screen. The camera is not the most impressive, but it’s passable. At a price below ₹23k, it’s not so easy to get all the best specs; at least one spec or feature will be compromised somehow, which is understandable. However, we would not recommend this phone if you like to play heavily graphical games most of the time. For casual gaming, Realme Narzo 50 Pro is a good phone. This phone is best for content streaming under budget. If you are someone who loves to binge on TV series, movies and YouTube during your free time, this phone is great if you’re under a budget constraint.
Design-wise, it’s adequate, but you can definitely work around it to make it look even better and more scratch and smudge-free…with our Realme Narzo 50 Pro skins!
And if you want to just stick to the Kevlar texture but want to scratch-proof your device, we’ve got our virtually invisible, self-healing Realme Narzo 50 Pro screen guards and device protectors!