realme 8 Full Review
realme Philippines is set to capture infinite possibilities with the launch of its newest smartphone line-up in the country - the realme 8 Series. This newest smartphone series from realme Philippines is expected to bring Filipinos' photography to the next level, offering the best midrange smartphone for every Filipino.
Since we are already done with the unboxing and first impression of the realme 8, this review will help you to decide even further, whether this smartphone is the one you are looking for.
Design
realme being committed to the youth, improved the overall design of the realme 8 with its unique design that will automatically catch your attention. realme called this bold and dreamy design that combines hip and street elements---Infinite Bold Design.
Even though the frame and back panel of the realme 8 are still constructed out of polycarbonate plastic, the phone is solidly built and sturdy. However, the phone’s glossy finish is very prone to fingerprint smudges; so it’s best to use the free protective silicone case right away.
As for the color, realme 8 is available in two colors: Cyber Silver and Cyber Black. My unit comes in Cyber Black color.
On the front, the realme 8 is equipped with a 6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED screen with a pre-installed screen protector; no glass type protection is mentioned. There’s also a punch-hole camera located at the upper left and a fingerprint scanner underneath. The earpiece is quite thin and discretely etched within the screen enclosure. Like most smartphones in this segment, the side bezels are relatively slim but with a pretty thick chin.
Found at the back is a square-shaped camera module that houses the quad-camera set-up along with the single LED flash. There's also a big "Dare To Leap" text on the back cover placed on a vertical stripe, which reflects rainbow colors at different angles when light is being reflected at its surface.
On the left side is the card tray with a 3-card slot for two Nano-SIM cards and a dedicated slot for a microSD card capable of up to 256GB of expandable storage.
On the right is your standard volume rocker button while the power button is located at the bottom.
The top is clean with only the secondary noise-canceling microphone present.
Also at the bottom, you can find the USB Type-C charging port, a single downward-firing speaker, primary microphone and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Aside from its improved stylish design, the realme 8 is ultra-light, weighing 179 grams with a thickness of 7.9mm, which makes it easier to hold and perfect for go-getters and people who prefer handy devices.
Display and Multimedia
New to the non-Pro variant is the Super AMOLED screen. The AMOLED screen features a special material that enables brighter displays and since each pixel on the screen can be adjusted, power efficiency is improved as well. Compared with LCD screens, you get better color reproduction, higher contrast and good viewing angles.
realme 8's 6.4-inch Samsung Super AMOLED screen comes with a Full HD+ (2400x1080) resolution and a touch sampling rate of up to 180Hz for better responsiveness when gaming.
The realme 8 also includes sunlight mode of up to 1000 nits (peak brightness) to ensure the screen is visible even under harsh sunlight conditions. The display also supports DC-like Dimming function and Eye Protection Mode, which effectively reduces eye fatigue.
The audio quality of the loudspeaker is like your typical smartphone. It can get loud but no bass. There’s also some distortion when you maximize the volume. I recommend using headphones or an external speaker for better audio quality.
Camera
Rear Cameras
The realme 8 boasts a quad-camera set-up consisting of the 64MP primary camera with a super large size sensor, F1.79 aperture, supports Quad Bayer and pixel size up to 1.4μm. There's also an 8MP 119° F2.3 ultra wide-angle, 2MP macro lens with a 4cm shooting distance and 2MP B&W portrait lens. This setup is handy and versatile as it has ultrawide and macro cameras, both of which have proven to be useful.
Quality from the rear cameras under bright lighting conditions is pretty great as you get vibrant colors and sharp detail, though dynamic range can be better.
For low light, it performs well with the Night Mode feature in certain situations, but without turning it on, it’s generally a poor performer in low light.
Portrait Filters, Tilt-shift and Starry Mode
realme 8 camera features a cooler way to take portraits with three new Trendy Portrait filters:
- AI Color Portrait - This mode recognizes the subject and retains the subject in color while the background becomes black-and-white.
- Neon Portrait - As many of you know, background lights are a common feature of many night portraits. This mode helps enhance the blur effect to create a more “dreamy” shot.
- Dynamic Bokeh - Use Dynamic Bokeh to highlight your subject against a moving background, creating an eye-catching sense of motion.
First on the realme 8 series, the new Tilt-shift Mode can turn the real world into a miniature one, by using some optical illusion. Usually, this blurry effect is achieved with an expensive tilt-shift lens, which makes a photo part clear and part blurred. With realme's new tilt-shift photography algorithm, the realme 8 can now transform the real world into a magical miniature world. Tilt-shift Mode also lets you manually adjust the shape, angle, position and size of the blur effect. You can easily select and customize blurry effects to suit the scene.
Also present in the realme 8 is the iconic and improved Starry Mode. realme optimized the imaging process, separating the starry brightening step from the algorithm and processed by ISP in the SoC, which are promoted as surefire brightening effect and noise reduction.
Front Selfie Camera
realme 8 uses a 16MP in-display front camera with an F2.45 aperture and a Sony IMX471 sensor. The camera also supports different features such as AI Beauty, Portrait Mode and Super Nightscape.
The realme 8’s front camera photo quality is good, while details appear sharp. It fails to deliver accurate colors, especially for skin tones.
Video
For video, realme 8’s front and rear cameras support many trendy and fun video features as following: For the front camera: 120fps/1080P slo-mo video recording and UIS Video Stabilization; For the rear camera: UIS/UIS Max Video Stabilization, Ultra Wide-angle Video, Cinema Mode, 4K/30fps video recording, 1080P/120fps and 720p/240fps slo-mo video recording.
The all-new Dual-view Video allows users to record from the front and rear cameras at the same time. Making use of this feature, you’ll be able to take a variety of creative and interesting short videos with your families and friends.
realme UI, Apps and Security
realme 8 runs on realme UI 2.0, based on Android 11 out of the box. realme UI 2.0 brings more customization options for its Gen Z realme fans. It also enables realme users to customize their security features according to their needs, thus, improving the overall security of the smartphone.
Realme UI 2.0 has the latest features such as System Themes, Icon Customization, Dual Mode Music Share, Subtitle Stitching, DeepSea Privacy Plan, Sleep Capsules and Dark Mode, to name a few. Pre-installed are the standard Google suite of apps, as well as some bloatware apps.
In terms of security, realme 8 is equipped with an in-display fingerprint sensor. Compared with button unlocking, the in-display placement feels more natural and offers a more interactive and efficient experience. It is also equipped with facial recognition for unlocking the device. Both work well---the fingerprint scanner is pretty fast, and the accuracy is close to excellent. However, the face unlock feature can slow down in situations where there isn’t much light.
Hardware and Performance
MediaTek Helio G95 is exclusively designed to be the core of an incredible smartphone gaming experience. This processor is made using a 12nm process and is equipped with two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores at up to 2.05GHz and six high-efficiency Cortex-A55 cores at up to 2GHz, along with 900MHz Mali-G76 GPU.
realme 8 is also equipped with an advanced Copper Liquid Cooling System. Compared to the previous generation of Carbon Fiber Cooling System, the cooling efficiency is now increased by 14.4%, keeping the phone's performance up to speed.
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| realme 8 Gaming - Asphalt 9: Legends (Visual Quality in High) |
With the combination of the CPU, GPU and 8GB RAM, realme 8 performance is buttery smooth; resource-intensive apps are no problem at all and brings smooth gaming experience in various gaming applications such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, LoL Wildrift, PUBG and COD Mobile.
realme 8 is available in the Philippines in one storage variant - 128GB storage, with 111GB of available storage (17.1GB used out of the box). If you need additional storage, you can further expand the storage up to 256GB via its dedicated microSD card slot.
Below are the benchmark scores from this device:
- AnTuTu v9.0.5-OB – 349,947
- Geekbench 5 – 512 (Single-core), 1,694 (Multi-core), 2,296 (OpenCL), 2,402 (Vulcan)
- PCMark – 9,765 (Work 2.0)
- 3DMark – 2,371 (SSE – OpenGL ES 3.1) 2,447 (SSE – Vulkan)
- AndroBench – 524.67 MB/s (Seq. Read), 201.97 MB/s (Seq. Write)
30W Dart Charger, Battery Life and Connectivity
With realme 8’s 30W Dart Charge, the 5,000mAh battery can be charged up to 100% in 65 mins and nearly 50% in only 26 mins. However, room temperature may affect the charging time of the realme 8. realme 8 also supports 15W USB Power Delivery (USB PD) fast charging technology, making it even more versatile.
The charging algorithm developed for the realme 8 includes five layers of security protection and provides hardware-level security protection for the entire charging process.
The bigger 5000mAh battery provides longer battery life in daily use and can easily last you a whole day of moderate usage that includes multiple sessions of gaming, watching YouTube and scrolling through social media feeds. According to the test conducted by realme Lab, the realme 8 can last up to 39 days on standby mode, 43 hours of the call, 98 hours of music streaming, 23 hours of video playback and 10 hours of gaming. In the PCMark Work 2.0 Battery Life Test, the unit yielded a score of around 13 hours and 1 minute.
Deep software optimization like App Quick Freeze, Optimized standby, Optimized Night Charging, Power Saving Mode and Super Power Saving Mode are also available in realme 8 which could make a big difference in battery life.
Aside from the battery and charger, the realme 8 has your usual connectivity features, including 4G LTE, dual-band WiFi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, a 3.5mm audio jack and USB Type-C.
realme 8 Specifications:
6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display (1080 x 2400), 411ppi, 1000nits, 180Hz touch sampling rate
MediaTek Helio G95 octa-core SoC
ARM Mali-G76 MC4 GPU
8GB LPDDR4x dual-channel RAM
128GB of internal storage (UFS 2.1)
microSD slot (dedicated) up to 256GB
Quad-rear cameras (64MP F1.79 main + 8MP F2.25 ultra wide-angle + 2MP F2.4 B&W + 2MP F2.4 macro)
16MP Sony IMX471 F2.45 selfie camera
realme UI 2.0 (Android 11 based)
Dual-SIM (Nano) / 4G LTE
Wi-Fi 5/ Bluetooth 5.1 / GPS, A-GPS, BDS, GLONASS
USB Type-C port / Fingerprint scanner (In-display)
5,000mAh battery w/ 30W Dart charge
160.6 x 73.9 x 7.99 mm (dimension)
177 g (weight)
Colors: Cyber Silver and Cyber Black
What’s inside the box
If you haven't seen the unboxing of the realme 8 yet, the signature yellow colored box contains the realme 8, USB Type-C Cable, 30W Dart Charger, SIM card ejector tool, protective silicone case, quick guide and important information guide with warranty card.
Price and Availability
The realme 8 in 8GB+128GB storage variant will retail for Php13,990 and is now available in all realme authorized stores, kiosks and exhibits nationwide. Customers can also avail of the Php1,000 worth of discount on the realme 8 during the flash sale on Lazada starting May 12 at 12 midnight.
Verdict
For Php13,990, the realme 8 is a very balanced smartphone. It’s now slimmer and lighter; it has a Super AMOLED screen, a MediaTek Helio G95 SoC, a 64MP main camera on the back, excellent battery life and incredibly fast charging.
Is this the smartphone you are looking for? If you already have a previous realme number series smartphone, it's a “NO”. But, if you're looking for a very balanced gaming and entertainment midrange smartphone at this price range, the answer is “YES”. You would shortlist this and you won’t be disappointed once you get a hold of this best-value mid-range smartphone!
Edited by Michelle Villa
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