With the increasing number of smartphones users in India, most of the brands are coming up with budget smartphones to sustain in the competition. Xiaomi, Asus and Honor being a part who have successfully launched budget and mid-range smartphones in the market already. Oppo also joined the league by introducing its Indian sub-brand Realme recently. The introductory model of the new brand has been named as Realme 1.

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Through this brand, Oppo plans to attract customers by promising affordable smartphones with finest technology and designs. The brand will be exclusively sold online on the shopping website of Amazon India, unlike Oppo’s flagship models that are sold both offline and online. The price is also fixed to keep in mind affordability and customer preference. The base model is priced at ₹8990, while the top model is priced at ₹13990 and the phones are expected to go on sale from May 25 onwards. With Realme 1 Oppo brings some serious competition for the already popular Xiaomi, which launched its latest budget model Redmi Note 5 this year. Let’s find out how challenging it will be for Redmi Note 5 once Realme 1 gets launched.

Design and Display

The newly launched Realme 1 has a fibreglass body and a similar design to the latest Oppo F7 Diamond Back Edition. It has a very eye-catchy back design with diamond pattern and a glossy finish. When compared to Redmi Note 5, Realme 1 is much more attractive on its first appearance. Redmi Note 5 has a somewhat outdated outer design when compared to Realme 1. While Realme 1 has thin bezels on top and bottom and rounded edges, it also boasts of the back panel that may attract dust and fingerprints so has to be cleaned constantly. It also comes with a 6 inch HD display with 18:9 aspect ratios and a resolution of 2160 x 1080. In spite of a large screen, Realme 1 is quite handy too.

Hardware

Realme 1 comes with an impressive hardware consisting of octa-core Helio P-60 SoC, which is an excellent AI based chipset. The processor can perform based on your usage patterns. For example, it can increase efficiency as required, without overheating. The phone comes in 3 variants – 3GB RAM-32 GB storage/ 4 GB RAM- 64 GB storage/6GB RAM – 128 GB storage, ensuring smooth operation without any lag and enough internal memory to store media files and photos. Apart from ample internal memory, it also offers expandable memory with Micro SD card.

Software and Camera

Realme 1 comes with the latest Android 8.1 Oreo and EMUI 8.1. Its software also fares better when compared to Redmi Note 5 which comes with an older Android version 7.1 Nougat. The UI is preloaded with apps like Google Apps, Music, Video, Oppo App Store and Gallery. Apart from navigation buttons, the phone can also be operated with gestures. The cameras of Realme 1 are decent with 13-megapixel sensors at the back and 8-megapixel sensors at the front. The camera is also AI based with scene-recognition features that can adjust brightness and colour accordingly. Some popular features like beauty mode for selfies and bokeh mode are also present. The photo gallery app of Realme 1 is also AI based, where the phone can recognize the scene and arrange the photos based on trees, buildings, animals or humans in them.

Battery

The Realme 1 comes with 3410 mAh battery which ensures normal operation for a whole day, retaining the charge. It also promises lag-free gaming experiences thanks to the advanced chipset.

Final Opinion

Realme 1 definitely has everything to challenge the already established popular brands like Xiaomi and Honor. With attractive price ranges and latest technologies, it can be expected to revolutionise the budget smartphone market very soon. However, Oppo has done away with a fingerprint scanner at least for the latest model, instead opted for more other features, while Redmi Note 5 like its previous flagship models comes with a fingerprint scanner. But again Realme 1 scores over Redmi Note 5 once the prices of both the phones are compared. Hence, we have to wait until its launch at Amazon India’s shopping site to see if Oppo’s new Realme 1 can actually challenge Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5.