realme C1

When a phone as affordable as the Realme C1 comes with dual camera sensors at the back, I am usually a little skeptical before testing out the optics. This is mostly because there are many examples where the implementation has been done just for the sake of it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the camera performance offered by the phone. To get the specifications out of the way first, the rear-facing dual camera setup on the C1 consists of a primary 13MP sensor and a secondary 2MP shooter, with PDAF and HDR support. The front camera, a 5MP unit with f/2.2 aperture, comes with an AI beautification mode.In the default camera app, you are greeted by familiar options like Panorama and Time-lapse, apart from Auto. However, there is no Manual or Pro mode, which essentially allows you to adjust ISO and white balance levels before taking a picture. Most recent phones have this mode and if you are someone who likes to tweak these settings before clicking a picture, this absence is something you should keep in mind before buying the Realme C1.

Following the footsteps of other phones from Realme, the C1 runs ColorOS 5.1 based on Android 8.1 Oreo, and provides the same set of features and utility tools to the users as the other handsets in the series. For those of you who have not used ColorOS before, you get certain pre-installed apps but there is not much bloatware. With the Game Space feature, you will be able to manage different aspects of the phone like banner notifications and apply brightness lock from a single place. You can also choose to optimise the phone's resources according to your gaming preferences. There are Smart Assistant and Quiet time features, which kind of work in the opposite direction, to provide you with plenty of information and help you manage the notifications, messages, and call settings when you need to cut yourself some slack, respectively. To make up for the lack of a fingerprint sensor, there is a face unlock feature, which worked reasonably fast in the duration of my review. However, it is definitely not as secure as one would hope. I managed to unlock the phone with my face half covered and eyes closed, which is nowhere close to being an ideal security level.Driving the performance on the phone is a Snapdragon 450 SoC, which can well be described as a trusted choice for performance requirements. Coupled with the processor, there is 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, which is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. In daily usage and navigating through the platform, I did not face any stutter or lag issues with the Realme C1. The animations remained smooth during the review period, although the app content can take a bit too much time to load up on certain occasions.If you like gaming on your phone, you should not be looking phones in this price range but in case you want to occasionally play games like PUBG, the Realme C1 manages to run the game well at lowest graphics settings. There are still occasional hiccups but we are really pushing the phone well beyond its limits in these kinds of use cases.

Battery life ranks very high for most phone users' priority list and thankfully, the Realme C1 doesn't disappoint in this aspect. The handset packs in a massive 4,230mAh battery. Given that the phone has an HD+ display and a power-efficient chipset, the battery life, as expected, turned out to be extremely impressive. Talking about numbers, in our HD video loop test, Realme C1 lasted around 22 hours (yes, you read it right) before running out of juice. In daily usage, I had to plug the phone back in roughly one and a half days after the initial charge.Suffice to say, Realme C1 will be a great companion for you on long road trips and you can leave your bulky power banks at home without worrying much about the battery life.