Realme 6i Full Review

 Realme 6i Full Review

Realme 6i Review: Realme recently established the Realme 6i because its most recent offering in the sub Rs. 15,000 price range.  

The business has established this new smartphone to the Realme 6, that was established earlier this season.  Though the Realme 6 was a fantastic smartphone in launching, its price has become thanks to current currency value changes, putting it out of reach for a couple men and women.  

The Realme 6i borrows a few key hardware from the Realme 6 but begins at a much lower cost of Rs. 12,999.  With toned-down specifications along with the reduced price, has Realme managed to strike the right balance?  I review the Realme 6i to find out.

Realme 6i layout: Just to the Realme 6

Realme has been launching smartphones with all the"I" suffix for quite a while now.  Its strategy is to take an existing model (the Realme 6 Rs 14,999 in this instance) and alter a few important specifications for to a reduce cost.  Because these are minor changes, the overall design and dimensions remain equal.   

The Realme 6 (Overview ) has more striking colour options compared.

The Realme 6i gets a side-mounted fingerprint scanner as it shares the exact same design as the Realme 6.  I like a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, however this one is not bad.  

The situation is such that your thumb rests on it obviously when holding this phone on your right hand, and the plastic framework has a groove to direct it.  The capacitive fingerprint scanner is clickable and pops as a power switch.  

I also like the Realme 6i isn't too wide.  This makes it easy to grip, and I can reach all corners of the display without stretching too much.

The buttons are easy to reach and have clicky feedback.  Realme has opted to get a matte finish on the plastic frame of this device, which feels nice.  

The back of the smartphone picks up smudges and fingerprints very easily, especially the Eclipse Black variant that I had.  In the rear, the cameras are placed in a pill-shaped camera module that has become a frequent design element on Realme tablets.  

There's a USB Type-C port, 3.5millimeter jack, and speaker in the bottom while the shirt is bare.

Apart from the rear that's a fingerprint magnet, I'm quite like the design of this Realme 6i.  Its 191g weight is simple enough to manage, and it did not feel bulky or unwieldy at any stage.

Realme 6i specifications: Toned down

The very first thing grabbed my attention is the 90Hz refresh speed on the display.  This feature is not quite typical in the sub-Rs.  15,000 price range and that makes the Realme 6i stick out.  

The 6.5-inch screen sports a full-HD+ resolution (1080x2400 pixels) and has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for protection.  I found the screen to have good viewing angles and adequate brightness outdoors.

Realme offers the 6i in two variants, with 4GB or 6GB of RAM.  The storage stays the same in 64GB for both, but is expandable by up to 256GB using the dedicated microSD card slot.  I had the base 4GB RAM version with this review.

Astonishingly, the Realme 6i packs a 4,300mAh batterythe same capability as the Realme 6, but you do not receive the same 30W charger in the box.  There's a 20W unit rather.

The Realme 6i runs Realme UI on top of Android 10 and my unit was running the June security patch.  The UI has plenty of customisation options and many features.  A fast right swipe from the homescreen requires you to Realme's Smart Assistant feature that lists shortcuts and recommendations based on your use.  

The Realme 6i gets the conventional three button but this may be swapped in favour of gesture navigation.  The UI also has a wise sidebar that may be configured with app shortcuts and fast actions such as shooting a screenshot or display recording.

I found the stock Browser app and Program Marketplace to be spammy as they kept sending notifications.

Realme 6i functionality: Up to speed

The Realme 6i didn't show any signs of slowing down while utilizing it.  The UI feels super smooth once the screen refresh rate is set to 90Hz.  It is set to Auto by default but you may lock it in 90Hz or 60Hz.  This panel has good viewing angles and it does let you tweak the color output in the Settings app.

The Mediatek Helio G90T is a strong processor and is capable of handling heavy games and apps.  General use wasn't a problem and that I could load many apps and multitask between them.  The side-mounted fingerprint scanner is fast to unlock the smartphone and was the facial recognition feature.

Back in AnTuTu 8, it managed 2,87,451 points.  Additionally, it scored 544 and 1710 points in Geekbench's single-core and multi-core tests respectively.  

This is better functionality than the recently launched Redmi Notice 9 (Review), which managed 356 points and 1,325 points at exactly the same tests.  The Realme 6i procured 59fps and 15fps at GFXBench's T-Rex and Automobile Chase scenes .

I did not notice any lag when playing the match but the apparatus did get slightly warm to the touch after playing for 20 minutes.

Battery life on the Realme 6i is quite nice and the phone readily lasted beyond a full day with my usage.  The 4,300mAh battery conducted for 19 hours and 22 minutes from our HD video loop test.  Realme provides a 20W charger in the box that's capable of charging the unit to 44 per cent in 30 minutes and 85 per cent in one hour.  

Even though this is good enough, this smart phone will not encourage 30W fast charging which should help reduce charging time when you've got a compatible charger.

Realme 6i cameras: Decent for the Purchase Price 

The camera hardware on the Realme 6i is somewhat different compared to this Realme 6.   There is also an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, a black and white portrait camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.  For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel shot.  

The camera app is very similar to what we saw on the Realme 6.  It is AI-assisted and can detect scenes very easily.  Additionally, it enables HDR in glowing scenes automatically and you do get the choice to shoot the complete 48-megapixel resolution.

Photographs taken in daytime were good, and the Realme 6i managed adequate dynamic range.  The level of detail in shots was okay given the price point, and photos were sharp.  

The wide-angle camera on the Realme 6i provides a wider field of view but in the expense of details.   Photographs taken at full resolution had visible grain zooming in.

Close-up shots shot together with all the Realme 6i had great information and a soft bokeh impact but the AI fostered colors artificially.  For portraits, the Realme 6i does let you set the degree of blur before taking the photo.  It handled great edge detection and could separate the subject from the background quite nicely.  Macros taken with sufficient ambient lighting had good detail.

In low light, camera performance takes a dip.  Shots lose out on detail heavily, particularly in the shadows.  The Night mode requires approximately four minutes average to take a shot, forcing you to hold the phone steady.  There is a slight improvement with greater details in the shadows, and the total picture looks a tad brighter.

Selfies taken in daylight are good, and beautification is enabled by default so you get some smoothening from the output.  The leading camera also takes adequate portraits and permits you to set the degree of blur to the background prior to taking a shot.  Performance in low light has been strictly average, but it does have Night mode which will help take a more glowing shot.

 The footage isn't stabilised at either 1080p or 4K.  There is an Ultra Steady mode that marginally stabilises footage 1080p though.  Low-light video functionality was strictly average.

Verdict

The Realme 6i is an interesting new choice for anyone looking for great hardware and features on a tight budget.  It offers almost all of the great areas of the Realme 6, such as the powerful Helio G90T processor, 4,300mAh battery, and 90Hz refresh rate display.  

The areas where it cuts back are the bundled speaker and camera functionality.  For the asking price, the base version of the Realme 6i offers good value for money as there's no other smartphone using a 90Hz display at this cost.  If you don't care much about that, the Poco M2 Guru Rs 13,999 could be a suitable choice.

Great

• Strong processor
• Quite good battery life
• 90Hz Screen
• Decent Daytime performance

Poor

• Preinstalled bloatware
• Spammy Alarms
• Weak low-light cameras