Realme has launched two of its device in Pakistan – the Realme 2 Pro and the Realme C1. We have just got our hands on with the two devices, you can read about Realme 2 Pro, but here we’ll check the Realme C1.
One thing is sure that Realme is the direct rival to Xiaomi’s budget smartphone market. Though the brand has just came in Pakistan, it has been operating in the neighbouring country with quite a buzz in the market. The brand has a footprint in Indian market with a portfolio of five smartphones right now in the budget segment. Hope to see more coming this way in weeks ahead.
The Realme 2 Pro is the company’s flagship See: Full Review of Realme 2 Pro. The brand launched another one phone, the Realme C1, which is a budget smartphone and costs PKR 18,999 in Pakistan. But just like the Realme 2 Pro, the brand is offering the Realme C1 for an exclusive price of PKR 17,999 from Daraz – read more about pricing and availability.
The company refers it as “entry-level king” that we have right here for review. We have spent a short time with it to bring you an initial thoughts with an unboxing session – full review is coming just in a day or two.
Read: How to buy Realme C1 in Pakistan?
So we’ll start with the packaging which is as pretty as the Realme 2 Pro’s. The C1 also packs in a twin coloured gray/yellow box like the 2 Pro but it’s the reverse – say yellow/gray?. Just look at the two side by side, they are really cool and elegant, unlike many others.
The box simply prints some key information about the phone that includes branding, the device name, the colour, the model number and memory configuration as usually all phones do. Realme C1 is no different in that regard.
Just open the box to reveal a packet on top that contains some paperwork, SIM eject tool. and a bundled silicon back cover. As mentioned above, with C1 it’s yellow packet. The one with the 2 Pro was gray. You might be thinking why I am talking about these box colors so eagerly. Yes, because they are different to me and I liked them.
The packet reads the same as 2 Pro, “realme” branding and underneath the packet, there comes a the phone lying in a wrapper. Then below, there are two compartments to store USB cable and a charger.
You will get the phone with a bundled power adapter. It’s also branded by OPPO as we saw in the 2 Pro. Unfortunately, this one is even slower at 5V+1A. However the phone does support 2A charging, so you can pick a 5V+2A charger for better speed.
You also get an old micro USB cable with Realme C1, sure because such a phone won’t have any better option in near future. Specially when its own big sibling didn’t have any better.
If you are not getting the earphones with 2 Pro, you won’t have it with the Realme C1 too. Actually none of the Realme phones currently have bundled earphones. But the phone comes with a protective film is pre-applied on the screen, even though it does carry Gorilla Glass 3 for further protection. That’s all you get with the Realme C1.
Realme C1 Box Contents
- The device – Realme C1
- Travel charger – 5V+1A
- USB cable for Connectivity/Charging
- SIM eject tool
- User guide
- Add-on TPU back cover
- Add-on TPU protective film (pre-applied)
Realme C1 – Overview and Features
There is only one variant of the Realme C1, with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The phone packs with the Qualcomm’s entry-level chipset, the Snapdragon 450 with an octa-core CPU and the Adreno 506 GPU.
The phone comes with a dual-camera setup on the back and single front-facing camera. Along with other basic sensors, Realme C1 also sports with gyroscope sensor so that you could have some AR/VR experience with this entry-level smartphone.
The Realme C1 runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and provides ColorOS 5.1 on top of it. The Realme C1 has a large 4230 mAh battery, but with no fast charging it is gonna take way longer to charge with the bundled 5W charger. Thankfully the phone itself does support 10W charging, so you are good to go with any 10W charger. But still it’s not so good to have it not bundled with the phone.
Available in two color option – Navy Blue and Mirror Black, the Realme C1 features a big 6.2-inch display that is a only 0.1″ smaller than the 2 Pro. However this budget phone only has an HD+ display with 1520×720 resolution on a 19:9 aspect ratio. And this phone comes with a wider notch.
Frankly my advice, to almost every brand out there, is: do not make such devices. For this price range, I personally love to have little smaller screen rather than a large display with this low resolution.
Hands-On with Realme 2 Pro and First Impressions
There is no second opinion that the phone looks great in its price range. Too cool, just like the big brother 2 Pro. In fact they both look same sized in hands with only minor difference of millimeters on paper. The only two difference that you would spot instantly, is the more common top notch and no-fingerprint sensor on the back.
Only the non-existence of a fingerprint sensor makes the back panel so deserted with only the dual-camera on top with an LED flash and the “realme” branding on the lower part.
In this price range, you won’t get anything better than the plastic. The Realme C1 has plastic back panel that mimics glass very nicely. It’s light in weight and gives a nice grip to handle with matte-finish around the frame. The laminated back panel is just prone to attract fingerprints with no difference to the Realme 2 Pro. Not to mention that the scuffing and scratching is easy on such a build type. That’s why Realme gives you the bundled back cover, do use it.
The 6.2-inch display does have a Gorilla Glass to protect against scratches and minor drops but that’s still behind the factory-applied protective film on top. Put a side the low-resolution, the display is quite bright with vivid and pleasing colors.
The phone does not have a fingerprint sensor as mentioned above but it does feature face unlock. Well without any hardware component, it’s quite affordable for companies to provided what’s already in the software. However the Realme C1 is surprisingly fast with the face-unlock. Even though I’d prefer to have a fingerprint sensor but then you are spending just below 20k. It’s better you have a nicely working face unlock feature.
The face unlock also comes with some interesting and useful features. You can set it to unlock only when your eyes are open, to make it more secure. You can choose to stay on the lock screen after unlocking, so you could slide it up to go to home screen. Or you can choose to directly go to home screen after unlocking with face. That’s where you can tell that it’s really fast and does the job in milliseconds.
There is another feature that facilitate the face-unlock, that’s when you raise the phone, it wakes up and instantly detect your face to unlock.
The Realme C1 comes with Android 8.1 Oreo operating system and ColorOS 5.1 on top of it. The software gives you the option to keep the notch or hide it just like the Realme 2 Pro.
Unlike EMUI’s base option of hiding it all the way, this notch always stays on unless chosen to hide for certain apps. This is just a software limit which can be managed in later updates.
Dual Rear and 16MP Front Facing Camera
The Realme 2 Pro features a dual camera setup on the back with a combo of 16-megapixel main unit and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The main one takes care of the most features in camera while the 2MP sensor is only used in Portrait mode to evaluate depth and give a simulate bokeh effect in your closeup shots.
Initial Thoughts
The quick use with Realme C1 was just fine however we can tell about performance after using it. However the phone has equally good feel like the Realme 2 Pro. The large 4230 mAh battery that comes with mere 5W charger is a real objection. Thankfully the phone itself supports 10W charging so it’s a little help but then you would need to buy another charger if you don’t have one.
Stay tuned for an in-depth review coming up soon. Just keep an eye on our Facebook page or Twitter handle to get updated. Do subscribe our website to get instant notifications right into your mailbox.
