The new Realme C2 is out now in the Philippines, giving budget-conscious shoppers yet another choice in the exciting bargain smartphone category.

Available in black and blue colors, the C2 is available at all Realme kiosks and stores nationwide for the starting price of P5,490 or roughly $106 converted off-contract. You can also pick it up through a nine-month Home Credit installment plan at 0% interest.

SEE ALSO: Realme C2 review: Good looks and more on a budget

Of course, there are plenty of great smartphones at this price point, so we won’t be surprised at all if your list of options is long and includes multiple brands. If you’re still on the fence about Realme’s latest budget offering, here are five reasons why the C2 deserves your nod for consideration as the industry’s #RealEntryLevelKing.

Low cost, high quality

Most budget phones look the way they are priced — boring, unappealing, and familiar to a fault. But not the Realme C2. The handset features a textured polycarbonate back with a distinct diamond pattern that shines depending on the light and angle. It looks way more attractive than other options at this price, and it feels solid and durable in the hand, like feature phones of the mid-2000s.

READ ALSO: Realme 3 Pro review: Pro performance and features for less

And although the Realme C2 doesn’t come with a case by default, the grippy finish of the rear panel ensures you won’t easily drop the device while using it one-handed. Speaking of which, the compact size and light weight of the C2 make it a joy to use regardless of how you hold it.

So, to recap: This device looks wonderfully different — nothing like the typical bargain-basement offering — and it probably feels even better in your palm, too. The plastic that makes up most of the body is sturdy, while the tactile finish around the back amplifies the feeling of grip and control.

The C2 represents the best combination of style and functionality in the category. This alone makes it sharply stand out from the crowd of similarly priced devices doing the rounds right now.

Screen

Picture quality often gets overlooked in the budget segment, but thankfully, the Realme C2 doesn’t compromise too much on the display spec to deliver a satisfying viewing experience. Phone manufacturers have tried to continuously increase the size of the screen at the expense of bezels, and this gets trickled down somehow to a sub-P6,000 ($116) handset like the C2.

It sports a 6.1-inch high-res screen with a dewdrop notch at the top and reasonably slim bezels, especially on the sides, for a screen-to-body ratio of 89 percent. The notch, as usual, houses the front-firing camera for selfies and video chat, and (again, per usual) can be hidden via software settings, for those of you who prefer a symmetric bezel design.

Colors appear to have a bit more punch to them than usual; the brightness is enough to read text while dealing with direct sunlight; and viewing angles are good, too. And coupled with a tall aspect ratio of 19.5:9, the almost-all-screen front makes swiping through social media feeds, watching movies, and playing casual games an enjoyable experience.

Performance

On the performance side of things, the Realme C2 offers a decent balance between nice, sharp graphics and power efficiency. It packs a MediaTek Helio P22 chip that has eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores operating up to 2.0GHz and the latest IMG PowerVR GE8320 graphics running at a speedy 650MHz. This combination provides enough oomph for just about everything you can throw at it, including multitasking, and will make most games playable.

SEE ALSO: Realme 3 review: A real gem of a smartphone

On paper, the Helio P22 delivers better performance compared to the Exynos 7870 found in the Samsung Galaxy M10 and the Redmi 7A‘s Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 processor. While in our testing, we found that the Realme C2 can play most of today’s hardware-intensive games with reduced graphics at decent frame rates — and without getting too hot.

Gaming on the Realme C2: NBA 2K19, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (5:00 mark), and Marvel Super War (10:00 mark)

We can’t say that about a lot of other devices at this price range; budget phones are still largely pretty basic on the specs front. And even those that give a decent gaming experience tend to get a little too warm for comfort after prolonged use while draining the battery at an alarming rate.

All this to say that if gaming is kind of your thing, there are few choices out there that can match what the Realme C2 can do at the price it is selling for.

Battery life

The Realme C2 has a 4,000mAh battery, which, combined with the medium-sized LCD and highly efficient Helio P22, should satisfy even demanding users in the budget segment. Battery life, which is always a major concern for smartphone owners, isn’t a problem; we can easily enjoy day-long usage with plenty of juice left to spare for the next day.

READ ALSO: Realme C1 review: A real steal for the price

We get two days of mixed usage on a single charge, and this includes internet browsing, video and audio streaming, some gaming, and other normal day-to-day tasks. The standby battery drain is minimal as well, thanks in large part to the display and chipset, and Realme offers a couple of adaptive power-saving functions to get more mileage out of the C2.

Camera

And then there’s the AI-powered dual camera on the back that pairs a 13-megapixel, f/2.2 main camera with a 5-megapixel depth sensor to add bokeh to portraits and closeup shots. If you need to get close, the digital zoom goes up to 4x, while the 2x zoom can actually capture usable photos in low-light environments.

The Realme C2’s camera package also includes Chroma Boost, which improves contrast and saturation to make pictures look extra vibrant; Slo-Mo Video; and Portrait modes.

The latter applies some genuinely impressive edge detection for the spec, resulting in photos with a natural-looking background blur around a subject. Macro shots, though a tad harder to execute than you might expect, look especially good.

The quality of images taken at night, in conditions with a challenging light scenario, is also commendable despite the absence of a low-light setting and individual ISO and shutter-speed controls in Expert mode. The dynamic range is good enough to pull out details in the darkest areas of a scene. Artificial lighting doesn’t look blown out, unlike on some other devices with comparable price tags.

Meanwhile, the front-facing camera gets 5 megapixels and snaps decent portrait selfies at daylight. It has Beauty mode, of course, with several levels of AI-driven beautification to smoothen your skin and hide minor imperfections.

If you like taking pictures and selfies, the Realme C2 likely won’t disappoint if you’re after reasonably good results as long as you avoid dim areas and tricky lighting situations.

Realme C2 specs

• 6.1-inch LCD display with notch, 1,560 x 720 resolution (19.5:9), 89.35% screen-to-body ratio
• Octa-core MediaTek Helio P22 processor
• IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU
• 2GB/3GB RAM
• 16GB/32GB expandable storage
• 13-megapixel (f/2.2 aperture) + 2-megapixel (f/2.4 aperture) rear cameras
• 5-megapixel front camera (f/2.2 aperture)
• 4,000mAh battery
• 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, USB OTG, 3.5mm audio jack,
• microUSB 2.0 port
• Android 9.0 Pie-based ColorOS 6
• Colors: Diamond Blue and Diamond Black

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