The Realme 5i with quad rear cameras will be launched in the Philippines January 29, or a week after the OEM officially took the wraps off the Realme Buds Air true wireless earphones.
(Update, February 1: Our review is up! Read Realme 5i review: Best all-around budget phone.)
(Update, January 29: And it’s official in the Philippines! Read Realme 5i budget phone launched in PH. Price, specs here.)
SEE ALSO: Realme Buds Air review: Good audio, even better price
The new phone, which debuted in Vietnam earlier this month, is expected to retail at around the same price as the Realme 5, putting it squarely in budget territory. In case you’re wondering, the Realme 5 starts at P6,990 or about $137 right now.
But back to the Realme 5i: We’ve had the device for a while, and we already took a bunch of pictures with our review unit. You can view them in the gallery further below. But before you get there, you might want to read about the smartphone’s cameras first.
Realme 5i camera setup
The 5i has a similar set of cameras as on the 5, with one notable difference: an 8-megapixel selfie camera. As for the quad-lens array on the back, the phone packs a 12-megapixel primary camera with f/1.8 lens, alongside an 8-megapixel ultra-wide shooter for landscapes and group shots and 2-megapixel macro and depth sensors.
READ ALSO: Alleged Realme X50 Pro gets highest Antutu benchmark score
On the software side, the Realme 5i includes the company’s Nightscape mode to help in low-light situations. You can use this feature with the main and ultra-wide lenses, unlike with most other phones that can only take pictures in night mode using the primary camera. The 5i doesn’t have a dedicated mode to brighten up your selfies in the dark, though.
Realme 5i daylight pictures
As expected, the new Realme snaps good photos under ideal conditions. The dynamic range is decent, while the exposure and colors are balanced. Detail capture isn’t as high as what other Realmes in the higher-end of the market are capable of. However, that’s not a realistic expectation given the 5i’s expected low price point. The wide-angle camera is fine for daytime use outdoors, but it’s noticeably inferior in performance to the 12-megapixel sensor.
Realme 5i night shots
Nighttime pictures taken with the main shooter are acceptable for use on social media, something we can’t say about a lot of other cameras in this segment. The secondary cameras, however, are not serviceable in auto mode when lighting is bad.
That’s where Nightscape mode comes in. This enables the Realme 5i to capture low-light pictures with visibly less noise and better colors by taking multiple photos and then merging them into one higher-quality image using software. You can enable it from the menu icon on the lower-left side of the camera app.
SEE ALSO: This is Realme’s answer to the Xiaomi Mi Band
Nightscape dramatically improves the 5i’s versatility as a budget camera phone that can do more than what the competition does. It even makes the extra-wide camera usable in dim environments, as you can tell in the shots below.
Realme 5i selfies
The front-facer is decent and comes with a several beauty options to please a selfie lover. It supports HDR, which helps balance the exposure and highlights when using the camera under a particularly bright sun.
Overall, the Realme 5i projects to be a solid camera phone at a bargain price. That’s it for now. Be sure to check back in week for our full review of the Realme 5i when the embargo lifts.
Sample pictures taken with the Realme 5i, from night shots to ultra-wide images
Realme 5i specs
- 6.5-inch HD+ LCD display, 1,600 x 720 resolution, Corning Gorilla Glass 3+
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor
- 4GB RAM
- 64GB/128GB expandable storage
- Quad rear cameras: 12MP (main), 8MP (ultra wide, 119 degrees field of view), 2MP (macro), 2MP (depth)
- 8MP front camera
- Fingerprint reader (rear-mounted)
- 5,000mAh battery with support for reversed wired charging
- ColorOS 6.1 based on Android 9.0 Pie
- Colors: Forest Green, Aqua Blue
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