realme C65 5G 128GB

The Realme C65 5G features a 6.67-inch IPS LCD panel, with HD+ (720 x 1604p) resolution, a high refresh rate of 120Hz and a peak brightness level of 650nits. The phone boasts the highest refresh rate in the sub-Rs 10K segment currently, with 90Hz as the current standard. The UI and apps are well optimised for the high refresh rate, and it elevates day-to-day usage with a buttery smooth scrolling experience. The display offers satisfactory viewing angles and is comparatively brighter than some of its counterparts in the segment.The tall display helps with the multimedia experience, and the speaker does a decent job of improving it. I typically read e-books on my phone during my commute or at night, and I quite enjoyed the experience on this phone. The brightness is sufficient for indoor use, and it can work outdoors when it's not very bright. The brightness, however, falls a bit short when it comes to extremely bright environments, like noontime in Delhi these days. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner works well and helps unlock the phone swiftly. There's also a rainwater touch feature, and it works as intended.

The Realme C65 5G features a 50MP AI primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture alongside a 2MP secondary lens. At the front, you get an 8MP f/2.0 lens for video calls and selfies. Here's a direct comparison with one of its chief competitors, the Moto G24 Power. The Realme C65 offers a better dynamic range and leans towards a warm hue. Though it does overexpose the image slightly in bright surroundings. The G24 Power in comparison, leans towards natural colours, though the dynamic range could be better. 

Moving onto the meat of the matter, how well does the Realme C65 5G perform in real life? The answer is, quite impressively! The MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC caters to all its performance needs, paired with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS2.2 storage, which can be expanded up to 2TB with a MicroSD card.We tested the 6GB+128GB variant of the smartphone using a variety of benchmarks, and the C65 outperforms its similarly priced competitors in most synthetic benchmarks. The Realme C65 punches above its weight class when it comes to performance and offers a similar performance output to higher-priced offerings, such as the Tecno POVA 6 Pro, POCO X6 Neo and Realme 12. Here are some benchmark numbers against its close competitors.The Realme C65 5G performs splendidly with no apparent lags or jitters in regular usage, such as browsing apps, scrolling through social media, watching videos and more. The difference in everyday browsing is noticeable in comparison to other budget phones, which do not pack as much power. We also played some moderately demanding games such as COD: Mobile, BGMI, and Real Racing 3 to find out how well it can function as a gaming device. The results were impressive, with the smartphone delivering a satisfying gaming experience at medium graphic settings.The C65 consistently delivers 60FPS in titles like COD: Mobile (medium graphical settings) and Real Racing 3. In BGMI, the device maintains around 40FPS consistently at HD resolution and high frame rate settings. However, during our gameplay, we encountered some issues, particularly with the rise of internal temperature, resulting in awkward freezes and a couple of crashes in BGMI. The touch response was also adversely affected during prolonged gaming sessions, especially at higher temperatures.

The smartphone comes with Android 14-based Realme UI 5.0 out of the box. The OS skin does come with a few pre-installed apps but these can be removed as per your preferences. The 'Hot apps' need a bit more work and must be disabled from the App Market settings. The UI operates smoothly, thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate, and it incorporates a range of useful functions such as file dock, floating windows, and link to Windows functionality, which are some of my favourite features to use. The smart sensing features also work as intended. The power button can be programmed to perform a variety of functions as well, which is neat. Realme promises 2 years of OS updates and 3 years of software updates with the C65 5G, ensuring the smartphone remains relevant until 2026.

A standard 5,000mAh cell powers the Realme C65, which comes bundled with a 15W fast charger. The battery on the device is quite resilient, logging an impressive 16 hours and 42 minutes on the PCMark benchmark score. This battery will be enough to power you through a day of regular usage. You might need to plug in your charger at the end of the day if you're a power user.In our gaming and video streaming tests, which lasted roughly 2 hours, the combined battery drain was around 24 percent, which is a respectable result. Talking about charging speeds, the 15W bundled charger takes a little over 2 hours to recharge the device completely from 0 to 100 percent, which is the average charging speed at this price range.