Introduction
Realme has been in the Indian market for a couple of years now, and they have been putting out some really good smartphones in the market with its target being the entry-level segment from the beginning. Realme has multiple series of smartphones launching regularly with one such series being the Realme C lineup of smartphones. The latest in this lineup is the Realme C15, which is a sub-₹10,000 phones aiming to make its mark on the entry-level smartphone market here in India.
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Let’s see if the Realme C15 can follow up on the previous generations and make a name for itself among Redmi 9 and Realme’s own offerings.
Prices in India, Variants, Availability
Realme C15 comes with two sets of memory configuration with each carrying a different price tag. Like most of the time, Realme has decided to make the Realme C15 available to the customers via Flipkart’s site. Realme C15 price in India is Rs.8,999 for the 3GB+32GB variant while the 4GB+64GB variant costs Rs.9,999. It is available in the flash sale model with sales being held every week. There are two colour options available, Power Blue and Power Silver.
Specs at a glance
Before taking things further, let us first look at the specs offered by Realme in the Realme C15.
- Display: 6.5″ IPS LCD panel, 720×1560 pixels, 270PPI
- Processor: Mediatek Helio G35 (12nm), Octa-core processor, PowerVR GE8320 GPU
- Memory: 32GB/64GB (expandable)
- Storage: 3GB/4GB
- Software: Android 10 with realme UI 1.0
- Rear cameras: Quad camera setup (13MP+8MP+2MP+2MP)
- Selfie camera:8MP
- Battery: 6000mAh
- Build: Gorilla Glass on front and plastic back
- Weight: 209 g
- Dimensions:164.5 x 75.9 x 9.8 mm
These were the technical specifications of the Realme C15, now that we are done with these, let’s do deep dive into the finer aspects of the smartphone and decide if this is the one to look out for in the sub-₹10,000 segment for smartphones.
Design and Build
Realme C15 has a polycarbonate back build with some lines running across the width on the back of the device to give it a unique design. For a smartphone, this cheap, plastic body is the obvious choice made by many smartphone manufacturers. As far as the design aspect is concerned, the Realme C15 is a bit different looking than the rest of Realme’s offerings which is a good thing as this shows Realme is putting some thought into making of these budget smartphones. The smartphone sports a square-shaped quad-camera setup on the top left corner of the device. The camera has a little bump to it. Apart from these, the back also has an LED flash, the fingerprint sensor along the Realme branding.
The device has a solid feeling in the hand and also has quite a heft to it for a plastic-bodied smartphone. The smartphone is also a bit thick but this can be justified by the massive battery this smartphone packs inside itself. But still, the build quality is not comparable to those smartphones with a glass or aluminium back. This is the only area where the price tag gets pretty obvious.
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Next, we have the buttons and the ports on the device. On the right side of the device, we have the power button to switch the device on and off, and also there are the volume buttons, for increasing and decreasing the volume of the device. For charging and connecting the device to a PC, we have a micro USB port placed at the bottom of the device along with the headphone jack and the loudspeaker. Lastly, you will find the dual SIM + microSD card slot on the left side of the device.
The device comes in Power Blue and Power Silver colours, as mentioned earlier. The colours actually look good and the lines at the back of the device give dual colour tone vibes which make the design even better.
Display
The display of any device is the most used part of any smartphone, making it the most important thing in any smartphone. Realme C15 is equipped with a 6.55-inch HD+ IPS LCD panel with a 20:9 aspect ratio which is now becoming a very common thing nowadays in smartphones. The panel is having a teardrop-shaped notch for the front camera.
Since this is a budget-oriented device, the display only refreshes at 60Hz. The display panel has a pixel density of 270ppi which is decent enough for a smartphone display being used for everyday use but the content appears a bit pixelated which makes this device unsuitable for content consumption.
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The display panel is being protected by an unspecified version of Corning Gorilla Glass, which will protect the screen from drops and scratches.
The display panel on this device could have been a bit better but the pricing may have led to Realme cutting the corners in this aspect. But the display is still usable and bright enough to make things work.
Performance
Realme C15 is powered by Mediatek Helio G35, an octa-core processor built on a 12nm process. This processor is accompanied by 3GB/4GB of memory and up to 64GB of storage, which in turn is expandable via the dedicated microSD card slot present in this device. The chipset is capable enough to make do for day-to-day tasks but heavy tasks like gaming will make it show the weaker aspects of the chipset. Despite this, the memory management was actually good and was able to load heavy apps like the COD Mobile from the memory in almost a second or two, which is very impressive in itself.
In normal usage, there were no hiccups whatsoever, calling, messaging, and surfing the internet are handled by the device very efficiently. If you are expecting to get mid-range level performance from the device then you’ll be disappointed since the processor in itself is not optimized enough.
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In conclusion, the performance is good enough for normal usage but even a slight need for higher performance will disappoint and reveal the cuts made in chipset performance.
Software
Realme C15 is powered by Android 10 which is customized with realmeUI 1.0 on top of it. The UI feels very much like stock Android but at a second glance is where you notice the subtle differences introduced by Realme. The UI is clean and is not like other custom skins from other third-party manufacturers. Realme has put in a great effort in separating itself from others in this aspect very much.
Cameras
Realme C15 is having a quad-camera setup on the back featuring a 13MP main sensor (f/2.2), an 8MP ultrawide lens (f/2.25), a 2MP black and white lens (f/2.4), and a 2MP retro lens (f/2.4). The front camera, dubbed by Realme as an AI selfie camera consists of a single 8MP sensor (f/2.0).
The camera performance on this device ranged from decent to mediocre performance depending upon the scene and the lighting conditions. The colours were varying very much depending upon the lens used to capture the image. For instance, the same shot taken from the main camera and the ultra-wide camera showed that the shot captured via the latter one had its colours washed out.
The varying performance between the main and the ultra-wide lens makes the camera of the Realme C15 at best a decent setup in a phone of this price range.
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The selfie camera is also not so much better due to the algorithms used for the image processing done on the device. In the selfie shots, the background was mostly indistinguishable from the subject in the picture.
Realme needs to put much more effort into making its algorithms optimized for a camera setup like in the Realme C15.
Battery
Realme C15 comes with a massive 6000mAh battery to compensate for the chipset’s poor power management. There is up to 18W of fast charging supported by the Realme C15 using the included power adapter. It is impressive to see fast charging making an appearance despite the absence of a USB Type-C port on the device but still is not enough for a battery of this capacity.
The battery performed very well to its credit and even can last up to two days on a single charge, this is after using the phone in a range of tasks including gaming, streaming content, and surfing the social media platforms, etc.
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The main USP in terms of value for money is clearly the battery but the charging speed can slow you down due to the massive capacity of the same.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Excellent battery life
- Tall & vibrant display
- Splash resistant
- AI quad-camera setup
Cons
- Relatively slow charging
Realme has tried to offer features to the best of its abilities but the Realme C15 still manages to become a decent smartphone for its price tag. The phone manages to excel in some aspects but fails in some. These kinds of failures are the reasons for buyers hesitating to buy such phones in such a segment. The battery life, memory management, the software are the only great things this smartphone does perfectly but the lack of effort in other areas may not bring good news for Realme if a thing like this happens in the next iteration of this series. The tasks being done on the phone were being handled very greatly if not efficiently.
The cameras are a great disappointment but the problem is fixable with a software update but Realme’s focus and dedication in fixing and working upon problems like these will decide the kind of a brand Realme really is. In our opinion, the display, the performance from the cameras needs to be worked on by Realme in the future and making improvements in these areas will decide the market share Realme is going to capture and maintain in the coming future. In conclusion, this is a great device plagued by some issues but for a price like this, it is a great value for money Realme is asking for this.
