Realme U1 Review | Superb Performance in Budget Price

Note: This article was originally posted on ValueQ, where may offer you an impressive discount. Make sure you check ValueQ before you make the purchase.

The U1 is the latest budget offering from Realme and on papers, it’s a great device for the price. It comes with all new MediaTek SoC which is capable of delivering great performance. Also, the front camera which is a 25 Megapixel sensor seems promising too. Let’s take a look at the complete Realme U1 review

Realme U1: Design

While the Realme U1 is one of the latest devices, the design isn’t anything new. For a budget device, it comes with a glossy plastic back which is quite similar to other Realme phones. Although the back is plastic, it is made in a way to mimic the glass which means it reflects light and collects fingerprint smudges very easily. Though, the material seems to be improved now since it doesn’t catch scratches easily like the Realme 1.

The back of the Realme U1 feels smooth to touch which also makes it comfortable to hold. Also, the device is quite thin at just 8mm and also pretty light to hold at 168 grams. While it’s easy to use the device, it is not really meant for single hand usage due to its tall body. With that being said, the U1 is not capable of wireless charging and doesn’t come with an IP rating either. There are 3 color options to choose from which are — Ambitious Black, Brave Blue, and Fiery Gold.

Upfront, there is a big display with a tiny waterdrop notch up top just like the Realme 2 Pro. The notch houses the front camera with an earpiece just above it and some sensors, however, there is no notification LED whatsoever. The Volume key and the Power key are placed on the right while the SIM slot is on the left and houses a dedicated slot for SD card. At the bottom, there is a Micro USB charging port, a speaker grill, and a headphone jack. Flip the phone over, and there you can find the Dual camera unit, flash, and a Fingerprint scanner. Overall, the build quality is nothing premium but considerable for the price.

Display

The screen on the Realme U1 is a 6.3 inch IPS LCD panel with narrow bezels, waterdrop notch and a bit of a chin. While we have seen phones with big screens and low resolution, the same is not the case for the U1. The display on the device has a resolution of 1080 x 2340 and a pixel density of 409 pixels-per-inch. It is also protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which seems a bit old but it’s better than nothing.

Moving on to the quality, the colors seem fine and there is a color temperature slide with which you can adjust the warmth of the colors according to your will. The viewing angles are also good and with 450 nit max brightness, the screen is pretty much visible under direct sunlight. Also, the notch doesn’t interfere much with the content and can also be masked by changing an option in the setting. The screen is no doubt good and immersive for solid media consumption. Also, it comes with a screen protector pre-applied. Overall, it is a good display for the price.

Performance and Software

The all-new Realme U1 comes with the latest MediaTek Helio P70 processor which is an improved version of Helio P60 with 13tter performance and also enhancements in AI processing. It is an Octa-core processor which in terms of benchmark seems to surpass the Snapdragon 660 found on the Realme 2 Pro. The U1 uses Mali-G72 MP3 GPU which seems to deliver some impressive performance.

With that being said, we put the Realme U1 to some intense performance test and the results turned out to be fairly good. The new SoC is able to handle the latest games like Asphalt 9 on high setting and also PUBG mobile but we noticed that the frame rate was not consistent on PUBG mobile so we switched the graphics settings to medium and the game worked perfectly. Also, day-to-day apps work totally smooth and there are no issues with the performance. The Realme U1 is available in two variants, one with 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM while the other one comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM. Both the models support memory expansion up to 256GB through a dedicated MicroSD card slot.

The Realme U1 ships with Color OS 5.2 base on the Android 8.1 Oreo. It is quite similar to other Chinese ROMS with similarities like no app drawer and re-installed bloat. However, most of the apps are un-installable. Overall the OS is smooth and responsive and comes with some impressive features like Gestures, Smart Scan, and ORoaming. The U1 comes with October 2018 security patch update and the Android Pie update will hit earlier next year.

Camera and Battery Life

The Realme U1 comes with a 13 Megapixel primary sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 2 Megapixel depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. On the front, there is a 25 Megapixel selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture. The camera app on the U1 comes with useful features like HDR, Panorama, Portrait etc. With that being said, the quality of the images taken is good actually. Though the focus is not fast or the camera doesn’t come loaded with unique features, the experience is actually good.

We took some images from the rear camera and the images turned out well. The dynamic range is good, colors are nice and there is a Vivid mode for taking photos with saturated colors. While the camera works well well the light condition favors, the quality degrades when the light goes low. Night time shots are blurry and grainy as there is no OIS. The front camera takes sharp images with great quality but the quality goes down the road when light condition falls. Overall, the quality of the images taken are great but only when the lighting conditions are good. Video recording is possible in FullHD @ 30 fps but there is no OIS or EIS for stabilization.

The battery life on the Realme U1 is good but nothing great. It comes with a .3500 mAh battery which is non-removable. With moderate to heavy usage, it can last a Full day but no more than that. During our battery life test, the Realme U1 was able to last around 9 PM before we thought of looking for the charger. Also, there is no fast charging and Realme has used a MicroUSB port for charging which is becoming a history now.

Realme U1: More Features

The Realme U1 comes with a Dual SIM tray which can house two nano-SIMs. Also, there is a dedicated slot for MicroSD card which can be used to expand the storage up to 256GB. VoLTE is supported and other connectivity features include WIFI, Bluetooth, and GPS. There are a bunch of sensors on the device including Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, and compass but there is no NFC.

The Fingerprint scanner seems to work fine and it is fast too. Also, the texture of the scanner id little different from the back of the device which makes it easy to locate. There is a face unlock option too which is also really fast but not secure like FaceID on the iPhone.

The single speaker on the bottom is loud but the audio quality is pretty average. Also, it can be easily blocked by hand when using the device horizontally during gaming. The good part is the presence of the headphone jack which makes it easy to connect external speakers and wired earphones.

…168 words left.

Thanks for your reading! If you want to know the remaining, please check ValueQ.