Realme C3 is one of the world’s best cheap smartphones in 2020. For a hundred dollars price label, Realme C3 offers a 6.5-inch Display, Android 10 OS, Helio G70 performance, and 5000mAh battery. In our Realme C3 review, we determined whether it is only a theoretical specs sheet or brings real value to the table content.
Pros
Bigger Display
Android 10 OS
Improved Photography
Helio G70 (12nm built)
5000mAh Battery
Affordable
Cons
Lost Diamond-cut Back
Only HD+ display res
Poor Low-Light Selfies
Lacking Fingerprint Sensor
No Fast Charge
What’s inside the Realme C3 Retail Box? Unboxing!
1 – Handset
2 – 10W Charger
3 – MicroUSB data cable
4 – Screen Protector
5 – SIM ejector tool and brochure
Realme C3 Design
We left with the glossy finish on Realme C3, and gone is the matte finish of C2 diamond-back, which may be a bit disappointing for some Realme fans. For us, it’s appealing yet with a smooth skin giving a nice touch. Especially our reviewing unit Blazing Red looks pretty while hands-on. Another color option is Frozen Blue, looks good. There is an infinity screen with a minimal notch that leaves enough space around for status bar icons. Some other configurations are as such; power and volume rockers on the right side (easy to reach), 3.5mm jack at the bottom, and a vertically-aligned dual-camera setup at the back.
The plastic body of Realme C3 is enough thick against sides for a comfortable grip, and with a gorilla glass3 front, it does not attract smudges and scratches. On the other hand, the flat Rear panel can get scuffs quickly due to no glass protection. So, we recommend you to put a protective case. Dimensions of Realme C3 are 164.4 x 75 x 9 mm, and the device weighs in at 195 grams.
Unfortunately, Realme C3 does not carry a Fingerprint Sensor, and hence it left us with Face Unlock and other security options pattern, PIN, and password. Credit is due for the Face Unlock, works fast, and weirdly enough that with an accident glimpse, the cell phone gets unlocked.
Realme C3 Display
What do you expect from an average cell phone? Realme C3 brings a 6.5inches IPS LCD with a 20:9 aspect ratio making it among a few entry-level phones to do so. Colors are vivid and pleasing to the eye, whether it's due to Realme UI enhancement or good video quality. If the content seems distorting, you can hide the U-shaped physical notch with some software tweaks in settings. Resolution is 720x1560 pixels supporting HD+ format, and we wish Realme to add some extra pixels count.
Contrast ratio is average, and the maximum brightness level is 480 nits, which is satisfactory for indoors, but for watching outdoors, you have to struggle.
Realme C3 OS
Software wise, C3 has much to offer over the predecessor. Realme C3 boots Android 10 OS and ColorOS 7 Lite customized further with Realme UI. In comparison to the C2, Realme C3 increased the white space in the UI and tuned color saturation for a better user interface. Google Apps icons get redesigned. Realme C3 promises to offer new OPPO Sans font if a user spends around 4.7 hours on it without any pause. There is a system-wide dark mode that can cover third-party applications, and the user can also schedule the dark mode to apply for a specific time in the day. The eye protection feature is there to reduce eye strain. Realme C3 offers a new password manager, and the camera app has Portrait mode 2.0 and Night mode (like Google Night sight). Realme C3 added support for the cross-brand file transfer, which means we can share files between any Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi smartphone. Here are some highlighted improvements of Realme C3 over C2.
1 - App Startup Speed, 25% increased
2 - System Fluency, 30% increased
3 - RAM Utilization, 40% increased
4 - Touch Response, 15% improved
5 - Game Frame Rate, 19% improved
Realme C3 Performance
For average gaming, Realme C3 is an excellent choice at such a low price. Realme C3 draws the power from MediaTek Helio G70 chipset, built on 12nm mode. The base model starts at 2GB RAM and the second with 3GB RAM - enough for multitasking but not for a smooth experience on PUBG. An alternate choice is a 4GB RAM variant of Realme C3, with which you can play substantial mobile games like Call of Duty and Fortnite. We enjoyed PUBG for half an hour on C3’s 4GB RAM and noticed no serious sluggish or drop of graphics frame rate throughout our gameplay session, thanks to Mali-G52 2EEMC2 GPU for proving that a low-end smartphone can run graphics-intensive games, though not touching the flagship criteria.
It is alarming that the Realme C3 barely gets warm. Though some unfortunate did not happen, we felt it necessary to put the handset at rest for sometime after an hour of continued gaming.
To help you measure the performance, we let the Realme C3 pass through the AnTuTu benchmark and here is the result.
AnTuTu v8 (Overall Performance Test, Higher is better)
Realme C3= 192,223 AnTuTu scores
Redmi 8A= 89,901
Realme C2= 73, 559
With the Realme C3, there are two storage options – 32GB and 64GB. After installing some heavy software files even on 64GB, you were running low on storage and got a message of declining performance and clean some bits of memory. The only solution is to add external memory through microSDXC card, acceptable up to 1TB. By doing so, you can keep as many records as you want.
Realme C3 Camera
Photography wise, Realme C3 is a good deal with dual back cameras as such, 12MP f/1.8 wide-angle lens and 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. In daylight, I captured vibrant images with punchy colors but noisy. Enabling the Chroma Boost can help you to take clear photos with no grains. Shutter speed is fast enough not to make images blurry unnecessarily. HDR and Dynamic color range is decent, and with the AI Cam technology, daylight photos look beautiful enough that you can share them on social media.
Don’t be fool by f/1.8 aperture camera on the specs sheet. Realme C3 clicks poor low light photos without Nightscape. The feature readjusts camera settings including exposure, and lets the camera shoot some workable nightlife pictures with the aid of an LED flash. Nonetheless, the Realme C3 camera setup is better than the one present on Realme C2.
Coming toward the selfie camera, Realme C3 carries a 5MP (f/2.4) front-facing optical sensor. Selfies tend to look sharp at indoors, but the colors feel sometimes over-saturated at outdoors. When out of the home or office, it is better to take selfies in soft light. The front camera is less-responsive than on the back, and we advise you to get helped by Self Timer and a Selfie Stick to hold on a moment with the front camera. Otherwise, the hurry in taking selfies or a bit shaking the phone can result in blurry images.
Whether you choose Nightscape or something else, Realme C3 front camera performance is poor in case of low light selfies, which are unclear and rich with grains. You might be lucky if being successful in capturing some sharp selfies at night by balancing background exposure, and the trick does not work all the time.
Realme C3 Battery Life
We are going to charge the Realme C3 overnight when we do. It sounds a bit hilarious but true. Charging the Realme C3 took me in the painful past because the device with 10W standard Realme charger (not Fast Charger) takes about 3 hours to recharge 0 to 100 percent battery life. For what we accept, Realme C3 is a 5000mAh Battery by Li-Po. With a single charge, the smartphone can last up to a full day and a half of fair multimedia consumption. In theory, Realme C3 gives 43 hours of 3G talk time, 21 hours of video playback, and 7 hours of gaming.
Realme C3 Price Judgment
Realme C3 is a massive bang for the buck. The Price of Realme C3 with 2GB RAM and 32GB Storage is $90. The other variants 3GB/32GB and 4GB/64GB of Realme C3 are respectively available for $100 and $110. In our opinion, Realme deserves applause (other than Redmi) for keeping the price low and adding more specs over time.
Verdict
Realme C3 stands among a few best budget phones of 2020. At such low price, Realme C3 is offering a big 6.5-inch display, Android 10 OS, the excellent gaming experience on an average cell phone, 32/64 GB room, improved NightScape photography, and a 5000mAh battery. So if you can manage Night time Selfies and Fingerprint Unlock, don’t hesitate to buy Realme C3.
Realme C3 Alternatives
It is not a bad idea to look for the best alternative to Realme C3. Here are some other excellent smartphones, Realme 5i, Realme C2, Redmi 8A, Huawei Y7P, and the upcoming Redmi 9A coming this year (2020). If you can spend a hundred dollars over the Realme C3, Poco X2 is another best choice for budget-friendly customers.
Read Also: Poco X2 Hands-on Review