Realme 3: Here’s everything you need to know!

Realme has finally unveiled the Realme 3. And to what it looks like, the phone has been the the needing upgrade the base model users has been waiting since the Realme 1. In this article, we will discuss why you should pick this phone over its competitions.

Just a quick background, Realme is a former subrand Chinese smartphone maker OPPO. The brand was created to target the youths, which is the most active demographic in the mobile space. While sales of Xiaomi and Samsung smartphones in India were down sloping this past year, Realme and its aggressive offerings were shown to progress in the market quite rapidly.

Now back to the handset, the Realme 3 is actually one of the most exciting handsets to launch in Q1 2019. Not only does it pack very attractive specifications, but the price is also cheaper than anything on the market with a top-of-the-line MediaTek chip.

The Indian variant will have the Mediatek Helio P70, while the global variant will settle with the last-gen but very capable Helio P60. It has either 3GB/4GB of RAM, and up to 64GB ROM. The display is a 6.22″ HD+ IPS LCD panel in 19:9 aspect ratio. It is also worth noting that the display now comes with less obtrusive “waterdrop notch” instead of the one straight line. The notch holds the camera, sensors, with a very slim earpiece grill above.

For the imaging, this is where the Realme 3 differentiates itself from competitors. It’s actually the first budget smartphone to feature a dedicated night mode feature. Realme calls it “Nightscape Mode”. If OnePlus rings a bell to you because it is. As we all know, OnePlus and Realme is a sister company.

While there’s no confirmation if Realme license this from OnePlus (like it licenses ColorOS from OPPO), the technology exactly works the same way. Basically, this is an image stacking technique, with an advanced software algorithm. The phone captures several photos with different exposure and stacks them up together. This is while also correcting handheld blur and lowlight noise. And believe me, this is far more convenient than the long exposure technique which really needs an OIS or tripod to work wonders.

There is also a feature Realme calls “Chroma Boost” which widens the dynamic range of the Realme camera. That means, details on the shadows and bright light will be clearer and visible. Realme even compared it with the Redmi Note 7, and it impresses so far. Realme also enables the Camera2 API for the Realme 3, allowing users to take advantage of third-party camera solutions like GCam.

Now, let’s get into the camera hardware. The Realme 3 packs a dual rear-facing camera, a 13MP (f/1.8) and a 2MP depth sensor. This is an upgrade from the previous models which uses a dimmer f/2.2 lens. On the front, there will also be a 13MP camera sensor with a brighter f/2.0 lens. A huge step up from the 8MP selfies of last years’.

The battery is also huge on the Realme 3. It is a 4,230mAh battery, unfortunately, there’s no fast charging. The only thing that didn’t impress me with this device though is the use of the micro USB port. Not a big deal for most, but we really appreciate if it’s a USB-C. There will be a 10W charger in the box though.

The phone also includes a fingerprint sensor, headphone jack, Bluetooth 4.2, and triple slot for SIM and storage card expansion. And lastly, the phone will run ColorOS 6 (based on Android 9 Pie) out of the box.

The phone will be available in three color options: Dynamic Black, Gradient Blue, and Black. Sale starts 12th of March at 12PM ISP via Flipkart and Realme website. The first 1 million buyers can get the 3GB/32GB variant for only ₹8,999 ($127) whilst the 4GB/64GB will cost ₹10,999 ($155).