Realme C3 (Philippines) Hands-on

There's a new budget gaming monster on the block!

There's a new budget gaming monster on the block!

Realme has a new smartphone on the block, and it’s the triple-camera version of the Realme C3 with a MediaTek G-series chip and a 5000mAh battery in tow. Let’s see how this looks in our hands-on.

Realme C3 (Philippines) specs:

  • 6.52-inch 20:9 HD+ 720 x 1600 pixel resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio
  • MediaTek Helio G70
    Mali G52 GPU
  • 2GB, 3GB or 4GB RAM
  • 32GB or 64GB storage, expandable up to 256GB via microSD (dedicated slot)
  • Triple-rear camera setup
    12MP f/1.8
    2MP portrait
    2MP macro
  • 5MP f/2.4 AI Beauty front camera
  • Dual-SIM (nano), 4G VoLTE
  • Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
  • 3.5mm headphone jack, micro USB
  • Face unlock, fingerprint scanner (rear)
  • Realme UI (ColorOS 7 based on Android 10)
  • 5,000mAh battery
    Reverse charging
  • Colors: Blazing Red, Frozen Blue

The box sent to us is the official retail unit that will be sold starting next month. The yellow box contains the usual set of manuals, the phone itself, a 2A charging adapter, and a micro USB data cable. Sorry folks, no earphones or jelly cases this time around.

This phone’s design reminds us of the earlier-released Realme 5i with very identical features. At the front, we have the 6.52-inch display with a U-shaped notch, as well as the call speaker at the upper top corner.

At the bottom, we have the micro USB port, the microphone, the loudspeaker grill, as well as the 3.5mm audio jack.

We have the SIM and microSD card slots, as well as the volume buttons on the left side. The power and lock button stays on the other side. The card slot isn’t that too hard to open up, and the buttons are similar to the Realme 5i with a linear feel.

Once you flip the device on its back, you have the sunburst pattern in the frozen blue finish, but this time it comes from the camera’s corner. The triple rear camera setup protrudes a bit over the back shell., but this can be solved with a phone case. The fingerprint scanner is at the center, and the realme logo sits right at the bottom left corner.

Overall the device feels just the same as the Realme 5i: Quite hefty, but not to the point where the device will hurt your hands and arms from prolonged use. It’s also easy to hold with one hand.

This new Realme phone features a triple rear camera setup — a 12-megapixel main lens, a 2MP shooter for portrait, and another 2MP lens for macro shots. There’s also a five-megapixel camera for your selfies. The cameras produce decent colors with good amount of vividness and contrast. The colors become more saturated when you toggle the Chroma Boost on. Here’s a gallery of our first shots with the phone:

I’m also surprised by the AnTuTu benchmark score. Despite the seemingly 3GB RAM this phone has, it managed to get 180,023 points. That’s way above other mid-range phones with MediaTek Helio P60 and P70 chips onboard. Maybe that’s the result produced by the new MediaTek G70 chip that’s with the phone. We’d love to try this out with a lot of casual and resource-heavy games in the coming days.

Is this really the budget gaming monster to watch out for? We’re almost done with our review, so make sure to check back in a couple of days.

Carl writes for WalasTech when he's not working full-time. Give him tips and/or leads at [email protected].