Balance and Bling on a Budget

While the likes of OnePlus and Xiaomi were grabbing a lot of consideration in 2022, rival Chinese emblem Realme has quietly been having a little bit of a stormer.

The Realme 9 Pro+ is without doubt one of the easiest mid-range telephones on the marketplace, whilst the Realme GT 2 Pro has made fairly a splash additional up the marketplace. Now the Realme C35 is right here to take a look at and disrupt the price range phone sector in a an identical type along side the even inexpensive Realme C31.

While it’s getting into a perilously low-margin sector, I reckon it’s in with a robust shout of status out from the group. If you handiest have £150 to spend on a phone, you’ll fight to do larger.

Design & Build

• Attractive design
• 8.1mm
• 189g

Like a lot of 2022 price range telephones, the Realme C35 design widely emulates the newest iPhones. The affect is correct there within the phone’s flat rim, sharp corners, glossy glass-effect (even though decidedly plastic) rear, and transparent stepped digicam module.

The fashion I’ve been the use of is available in a in particular dazzling tone of Glowing Green, which I part anticipated to glow at nighttime. It doesn’t, however it for sure makes itself recognized in common lights. For the ones searching for one thing a little extra sober and professional-looking, there’s a confusingly named Glowing Black choice.

It’s fairly a huge software within the hand, with a dimension of 164 x 75 x 8.1mm and a weight of 189g. Combined with the ones sharp corners, it’s no longer essentially the most relaxed phone to carry over a protracted length.

Realme has separated the ability and quantity buttons to the precise and left aspect of the phone respectively. This lets in it to put the ability button in the easiest place for its secondary serve as as a fingerprint sensor. While this sensor took a beat to liberate, I didn’t have any problems with reliability.

You additionally get a 3.5mm headphone jack on the ground fringe of the phone, which isn’t extraordinary in any respect in a price range phone. There’s simply a unmarried speaker fixed along this port. You’ll wish to up your spending and achieve a Poco M4 Pro or a Redmi Note 11 if you wish to have stereo sound.

Not that, at this value, you do not get any roughly legit IP water resistant score however the phone must live on small splashes within the rain.

Screen

• 6.6in LCD IPS
• Full HD+
• 60Hz

The Realme C35’s show is a delightful wonder. On paper, it doesn’t look like a lot in any respect. It’s fairly giant at 6.6in, however it’s handiest an IPS LCD fairly than a colour-rich OLED.

Crucially, on the other hand, it seems that to be a just right high quality IPS LCD. All LCDs don’t seem to be created equivalent, and the variation between this and the Moto G22 and Nokia G21 monitors is night time and day.

It has a 1080 x 2408 (Full HD+) solution for starters, which advantages all varieties of content material. The hole from 720p to 1080p is far more significant than the distance from 1080p to 2K, in my enjoy.

Colour accuracy is on level too. With the display mode set to Gentle mode fairly than the richer, much less herbal Vivid, I recorded a very robust sRGB gamut protection of 97.4% and a gamut quantity of 101.2%. An moderate Delta E of one.48 is spectacular too.

I recorded a robust most brightness of 491 nits with auto-brightness grew to become off. Realme claims that it might get to 600 nits in top brightness mode (HBM).

The primary adverse level this is that the Realme C35 display has a bathroom ordinary refresh price of 60Hz fairly than the 90Hz of the Moto and Nokia competitors. But with the restricted efficiency of these types of price range telephones, you don’t truly get the overall good thing about that extra fluid refresh price.

Specs & Performance

• Unisoc Tiger T616 processor
• 4/6GB RAM
• 64/128GB garage

The Realme C35 runs on a Unisoc Tiger T616 processor. This is some distance from essentially the most spectacular chip, made the use of a dated 12 nm manufacturing procedure. It’s subsidized by way of both 4- or 6GB of RAM, even supposing in the United Kingdom you’ll be able to handiest get the decrease quantity.

For garage, the inexpensive fashion will get you 64GB however you’ll be able to double that by way of paying £20 further which might be a just right funding, even supposing there is a microSD card slot which you’ll be able to use so as to add as much as 1TB playing cards.

In efficiency phrases, on the other hand, it’s some distance larger than the Moto G22 with its MediaTek Helio G37, and additionally has the brink on the Nokia G21 with its Unisoc Tiger T606.

In the CPU-focused Geekbench 5 benchmark take a look at, the Realme C35 rankings kind of two times in addition to the Moto G22 in unmarried core and round 30% larger in multi-core. Those rankings are a lot nearer when it got here to GPU efficiency.

Below you’ll be able to see the entire effects in comparison to competitors in addition to the inexpensive Realme C31, which has the similar processor however outputs larger GFX effects because of its decrease 720p display solution.

Let’s be directly right here even though: not one of the telephones I’m evaluating listed below are robust performers in any sense of the phrase. If you’re a prepared gamer, otherwise you want to revel in a totally stutter-free navigation enjoy, you truly wish to be spending no less than £30 to £50 extra for one thing a little meatier.

That further may additionally get you 5G connectivity, which isn’t one thing you get right here.

Cameras

• 50Mp primary digicam
• 2Mp macro
• 0.3Mp intensity sensor
• 8Mp selfie digicam

If there’s one house the place you’ll be able to ensure a top stage of compromise with inexpensive telephones it’s pictures. However, Realme has supplied the C35 with one thing decent.

You don’t get an ultra-wide or (predictably) a telephoto digicam right here. What you do get is a better-than-expected 50Mp vast digicam with an excellent f/1.8 aperture, in addition to a 2Mp macro and a 0.3Mp sensor, the latter two of which can also be left out.

That vast sensor seems to be the similar one that you just’ll in finding in telephones such because the Poco M4 Pro. Hardly a photographic titan, however nonetheless a phone that prices significantly extra money than the Realme C35.

Shots right here glance detailed and herbal, no less than in just right lights. It does generally tend to fight with the ones tough HDR scenarios, with the bizarre overexposed background, whilst Night mode produces photographs which can be stuffed with noise. It’s greater than ok as affordable telephones move, on the other hand.

One factor I can observe is that I shot the bizarre duff shot with the Realme C35 the place it totally didn’t center of attention on the rest. The very subsequent shot tended to be wonderful, however you could simply leave out out on documenting the bizarre uncommon or fleeting second for those who’re no longer attentive.

The 8Mp selfie digicam isn’t a lot cop, blowing out highlights and typically failing to seize herbal pores and skin tones. It’ll do a task, however you may no longer need to depend on it to seize the ones particular circle of relatives moments.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh
• 18W charging
• Adapter integrated

The Realme C35’s battery efficiency is forged, however it doesn’t fairly rise up to its competitors. You get a 5000mAh mobile, which is a first rate dimension, and it’ll get you thru a complete day of average utilization with relative ease.

But in a couple of in depth battery assessments, it got here up wanting its competitors. In our ordinary PCMark Work 3.0 battery take a look at, the Realme C35 ranking 10 hours and 40 mins, which is sort of two hours wanting the Nokia G21. In any other take a look at, working a consistent looping video, the Realme C35 ran out of juice hours ahead of each the Moto G22 and the Nokia G21.

I’m guessing that the additional pixels of that 1080p show could also be taking their toll right here. It’s a value that’s without a doubt price paying personally, however the stamina benefits of a 720p show are price declaring.

You get a first rate 18W charger bundled in, which will get the phone from 0 to 33% in half-hour. A complete fee will take you simply over 2 hours.

Software

• Android 11
• Realme UI R Edition

Realme’s UI R Edition is a reasonably bog-standard customized Android UI sat on best of Android 11. Its notifications and customized apps aren’t too evident, however it’s no longer as light-weight or blank because the near-stock UIs of the Moto G22 and Nokia G21.

I’ve few court cases in regards to the UI in daily working. There are preinstalled apps overlaying things like Compass, Sound Recorder, Weather, and Calculator, however such provisions make sense, and they’re stashed away in a discrete Tools folder anyway.

It’s a reasonably gentle customisation effort in all, with Google Feed located to the left of the primary Home display, and reasonably tasteful menus. The drag-up app tray hasn’t been needlessly tinkered with, both.

Although costlier Realme telephones just like the GT 2 Pro now get 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of safety updates, that does not observe to price range telephones just like the C35. You’re not going to get additional than Android 13 right here.

Price & Availability

Prices get started from £149 for a fashion with 64GB of garage. You can double that garage for a small bump as much as £169. You should purchase it from the Realme retailer in addition to shops equivalent to Amazon, Ebuyer and Laptops Direct.

It’s no longer formally to be had in the United States however you’ll be able to in finding a GSM fashion on Amazon for around the $200 mark.

This signifies that even the likes of the Redmi Note 11 and the Poco M4 Pro lie in a sub-category above it, with each retailing nearer to the £200 mark. Spending the additional cash will open up options like AMOLED shows and stepped forward efficiency.

That doesn’t sound like a lot of a step up, however at this finish of the put it up for sale represents a not-inconsiderable 20-30% top class.

Rather, the Realme C35’s direct competitors are the Motorola Moto G22 and the Nokia G21, neither of which might be in particular spectacular, particularly in the case of the all-important topic of show high quality.

In quick, there’s a gap for Realme in what’s a strangely uncompetitive box. Check out extra choices in our easiest price range phone chart.

Verdict

The Realme C35 could be an especially affordable phone, however it nonetheless makes an attempt to make a remark with its daring and angular design. Realme has in large part hit the mark on the photographic entrance too, courtesy a competent 50Mp primary digicam.

On paper, a 6.6in IPS LCD doesn’t sound too spectacular, however it seems to be a sharp and correct part. It used to be a good move going with a 60Hz refresh price too, for the reason that there’s a reasonably humble Unisoc Tiger T616 processor riding issues alongside.

A big 5000mAh battery and fast (for the associated fee) 18W charging whole what proves to be a well-balanced price range package deal, even though as ever at this finish of the marketplace, a little extra money will move a good distance.

If you’ll be able to’t stretch that little bit additional, this is without doubt one of the easiest telephones you’ll be able to purchase for only £150.

Specs

Realme C35: Specs

• Android 11
• 6.6in, FHD+, IPS LCD, 60Hz, flat show
• Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
• Unisoc Tiger T616
• 4/6GB LPDDR4 RAM
• 64/128GB garage
• 50Mp, f/1.8 primary digicam
• 2Mp, f/2.4 macro digicam
• 0.3Mp, f/2.8 intensity sensor
• Up to 1080p @ 30fps rear video
• 8Mp front-facing digicam
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 5000mAh battery
• 18W charging
• 164.4 x 75.6 x 8.1mm
• 189g
• Launch colors: Glowing Black, Glowing Green