Budget gadgets: Lower price but at what compromise?

BUYING a new gadget these days may be the least of our priorities, but for those who need a replacement or a new device, this series aims to help our readers in choosing the best value-for-money devices worthy of their hard-earned peso. In this second Budget Gadget feature, we take a look at two of the latest phones from realme: the C11 and C15.

The C11 and C15 are targeting those who are either looking for their first smartphone or switching from a feature phone, or those who need a phone they could use for e-learning, and that means anything below 2GB RAM and 32GB storage is out.

YOUR NEW ‘C11 AS MATE’

POSITIONED as the “tech-companion for young Filipinos,” the realme C11 is priced at P4,990, making it more attainable to those who need a smartphone. It’s also worth mentioning that as part of its corporate social responsibility efforts, realme Philippines will be donating C11 units to the Young Focus Foundation for children in need of smartphones for distance learning.

■ DISPLAY AND DESIGN: The realme C11 has a 6.5inch, IPS LCD display with an HD+ resolution of 720 x 1600 and an 88.7 percent screen ratio. The panel is nice and vibrant with good color reproduction; viewing angles are decent and have good contrast, which makes it great for watching multimedia content or playing games.

While the realme C11 looks just like a lot of other phones on the front, its rear design helps it stand out. The back panel features a “geometric design” similar to the C3, but with a smooth vertical stripe that drops from its rear-camera module down to the realme logo at the bottom. I really liked this stripe design though I’m still undecided about that HUGE realme logo. It has a square camera module that seems to be thing for similarly-priced phones recently. It’s housed in textured plastic which gives an enhanced grip, and the matte finish makes it somewhat resistant but not totally impervious to smudge and fingerprints.

In terms of overall design and build quality, the realme C11 doesn’t look or feel like a cheap device and the color choices—mint green and pepper gray—give it a subdued and sophisticated look, something you rarely see in this price range. I actually prefer these shades better than that of the realme C15.

■ CAMERA: The realme C11 has a total of three cameras. You get a dual rear setup consisting of a 13MP primary sensor and a 2MP depth sensor and located in that dot drop notch in front is a 5MP camera for selfies.

I honestly had low expectations given that entry-level phones usually have terrible cameras; thankfully, the Redmi 9a I previously reviewed changed that perception. The realme C11 even has a slight advantage because of its dual cameras.

Shots taken with the rear camera are satisfactory, especially with HDR and AI Color turned on. It’s even comparable to the sameras of some midrange phones. Images have a nice pop of color, with considerable details especially in ideal lighting. Indoor photos are okay, while low-light photos are serviceable at best which is again typical for a phone in this price range, nothing a quick Snapseed edit can’t fix.

That said, the realme C11 cameras are best used for close to midrange shots with sufficient amount of lighting.

■ PERFORMANCE: Keeping things running is a Mediatek Helio G35 chipset with a Powervr GE8320 GPU, along with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of EMMC 5.1 storage. However, the unit we used for review is a special edition that comes with 3GB of RAM.

The realme C11 is a phone best used for the basics, like making calls, messaging, browsing the web, checking/updating your social-media feeds, simple photo editing, and playing casual games—you’ll have no problems doing any of that stuff. Multitasking is possible but it does take a toll on that low amount of

RAM, so I do suggest you keep a minimal number of apps running.

When it comes to gaming, the Helio G35 has proven to be able handle mainstream games. Mobile Legends, Call of Duty, PUBG Lite, Asphalt 9 are all playable, but on low graphic settings with some occasional lags.

The realme C11 has a 32GB storage which again should just be adequate for its intended user. The last big selling point of this phone is its 5,000mah battery with support for 10W charging.

According to realme lab tests, the C11 could last for 40 days on standby mode, up to 31 hours of talk time, 21 hours of offline video playback, 10 hours of PUBG gaming, 169.85 hours of listening to offline musice, and 19.11 hours of watching Youtube. In real-life use, I had no problems using it the entire day and still had lots of juice left in the evening. Oh, it can also function as a powerbank with special OTG reverse charge.

■ FINAL WORD: The realme C11 is a good choice for an entry-level smartphone. It’s well designed, has a capable processor, long-lasting battery life, and a camera that gets the job done. The 2GB RAM does seem to be a bit underpowered but as long as you are aware of its limitations, you won’t have any problems using it. It’s a fairly well-balanced device, and one of the best phones you can buy at its price.

MORE CAMERAS; MORE POWER

NOW if you have a bit more budget to spend and want a snappier experience, there’s the realme C15.

The realme C15 is the first 6,000mah battery smartphone and 18W Quick Charge in its price point. The large-capacity battery is ideal for heavy smartphone users such as online learners, sellers and content creators who rely on their device for digitalheavy interactions. According to realme tests, the realme C15 can last up to 46 hours of continuous calls, 28 hours of Youtube and a standby time of up to 57 days. In its most power-saving state—super Power Saving Mode—the phone can be on standby for up to 2.9 days and support 1.73 hours of Youtube and 2.45 hours of call with only 5 percent battery.

It shares the geometric gradient design of the C11 but this time instead of a stripe, a trapezoid divides the back cover into three areas with different angles of lines bringing out the colors with different gradation. That back cover is also said to be fireproof as the phone incorporates a power-monitoring sensor and a temperature-monitoring sensor that automatically checks the thermal state of the smartphone, eliminating users’ worry about battery explosions or other accidents during extensive use.

The realme C15 has a 6.5 inch screen and 88.7 percent screen-to-body ratio bringing a larger field of view for excellent game, audio and video experience with less visual disturbance for a near-full screen experience.

For budding content creators, the C15 has a quad camera setup with a 13MP AI main camera that features a Super Nightscape Mode, 119-degree Ultrawide Mode and Portrait Mode with hardware-level portrait-blurring effect to provide more shooting options for the artsy youth. A new addition are the B&W and Retro lenses that provide two more special artistic effect for portraits. These two lenses could reproduce portraits in black-and-white with higher exposure and enhanced contrast between light and dark parts of the images.

The 8MP selfie camera features f/2.0 large aperture, gesture command, AI Beauty options and 1080P full-hd video recording. It also allows users to achieve high-definition effects no matter how many self-portrait photos or videos are taken.

The realme C15 packs the Mediatek Helio G35 processor, which is the best in its price segment. It is an eight-core 12nm processor that clocks up to 2.3 GHZ and adopts Cortex A53 structure which makes it one of the fastest and latest in its category. Again, it’s ideal for mainstream smartphone users and gamers because it can handle most mid-to-heavy apps and games that are widely used.

Other notable features of the realme C15 is its ultra-fast rear fingerprint sensor, face unlock, dark mode, Focus Mode to help users concentrate and relax without getting distracted, 3-Finger Selected Screenshot; and Personal Information Protection wherein the system will provide empty information pages when the apps are requesting to access the user’s personal information. This ensures all call history, contacts and messages stay private to prevent any information leak. Dual Mode Music Share is extremely useful if two users are trying to enjoy the same video or song at the same time from the same device. Users can connect a pair of wireless earbuds and a wired earphone simultaneously to enable both users to listen to the same song played from the same realme smartphone provided that one user is listening to music in Bluetooth and the other with wired headphones simultaneously.

The C15 is available in two storage configurations: a 3GB RAM + 64GB storage (P6,490) and 4GB RAM + 64GB storage (P6,990); and two colors options—power Blue and Power Silver. ■