The Realme 9 is an excellent, reasonably priced Android phone with a great screen and longer-than-normal battery life. However, you may counter that there are currently more affordable phones available at both lower and higher price points.
At this point in the Realme story, we can pretty much predict what to anticipate from the brand: a large number of reliable, unimpressive, and reasonably priced smartphones. One of the newest models, the Realme 9, has several enticing features at the incredibly low price of £249 in the UK.
Comparing the phone we’re reviewing here to the Realme 9 5G, which adds 5G as the name implies, is an interesting exercise. Despite having an OLED screen instead of an LCD and a faster wired charging rate, the regular Realme 9 still has 4G. Realme appears to be attempting to cover as much ground as possible.
The Realme 9 runs the risk of being overshadowed by competing smartphones in this price bracket, such as the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G and the Oppo A74 5G, even if it is only in the current Realme line. It’s difficult to make a name for yourself in this industry, and the Realme 9 may not be up to par.
Despite not having 5G, it does offer a brilliant, clear OLED screen with a refresh rate of 90 Hz and an exceptionally long battery life; with judicious use, this phone can go up to two days between charges. Additionally, it boasts a back camera that is better than you might anticipate for this price range and can take pictures at night, which isn’t always a certainty when you’re paying this much money on a phone.
On the down side, you lose wireless charging and waterproofing in addition to 5G. Although the phone isn’t especially slow or sluggish due to its lackluster internal specifications, a more expensive phone will function better over a longer period of time.
Pay careful attention to the Realme 9’s price because it can be worthwhile to purchase if you can find a good offer. However, we would want to see a few more features that we can be enthusiastic about in general.
Design
The Realme 9’s design doesn’t provide any noteworthy surprises or improvements, nor does it include anything that would deter you from purchasing the phone. With the tiny bezels surrounding the screen, the punch hole notch in the corner, the softly rounded edges and corners, and the rear camera module positioned in the upper left corner, it looks about as standard as a smartphone can get in 2022. For simpler unlocking, a fingerprint sensor is also included into the screen.
When we say that the camera is just stuck on, we mean it: the rear camera module’s attachment to the Realme 9’s plastic back is not delicate. Although it’s not a total failure, it would have been lovely to see Realme do something a little more understated or elegant here. Nothing about the Realme 9’s design would draw your attention at a storefront or deter you from purchasing the phone, however the back of the device does have a really intriguing ripple effect that catches the light fairly well. The color options are black, white, and gold (the one we had).
The device weighs 178 grams (or 0.39 pounds) and measures 160.2 x 73.3 x 8 mm (6.3 x 2.89 x 0.31 inches), in case you’re unsure if it will fit in your pocket. You won’t drop this phone easily, and it feels sturdy and comfy in your hand. The smartphone itself isn’t waterproof or dustproof, but it does have a thin protective covering on top of the screen that is already there when you take it out of the box.
The power key is on the left side of the phone, while the volume keys are on the right when viewed from the front. Realme has included a headphone connector and a USB-C port for data transfer and charging at the bottom. A USB-C to USB-A charging cable and a power adapter are included in the box; the latter is not often seen these days, although it does come with a European-style two-pin connector instead of the UK’s typical three-pin plug. There is also a basic plastic case supplied.
Display
This phone has a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 90 Hz and a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. When you turn it up to the highest brightness, you’ll find that the screen is sharp, colorful, and clear. Vivid (P3), Natural, and Pro modes are available in the phone’s display settings, and a separate slider allows you to change the screen’s temperature.
We watched videos, browsed the web, looked through pictures, checked social media, used maps to find our way around, played games, and performed all the other activities that one typically performs on a smartphone while using the Realme 9. In every instance, the screen held up admirably.
You may argue that the display could be larger if you’re being extremely specific, but that really depends on your own tastes. We don’t believe that anyone who chooses the Realme 9 as their next smartphone will be dissatisfied with the display because of how nicely the OLED technology is working here.
Camera
A triple-lens 108MP wide + 8MP ultrawide + 2MP macro camera is included with the Realme 9. The 108MP primary camera lens is the most apparent feature of it. That’s comparable to flagship models in terms of megapixels, however obviously megapixel count isn’t the only factor in photo and video quality. The phone has a 16MP selfie camera on the front, although it’s not very good. Video recording peaks at 30 frames per second at 1080p.
When in operation, the rear camera may capture some excellent images. Images are crisp and detailed, and the colors are balanced and only sometimes oversaturated by default. The HDR processing effectively preserves the visibility of the photographs’ darker and lighter areas.
Although it doesn’t perform as well as the cameras on high-end flagship phones, the Realme 9’s rear camera nevertheless manages to capture passable images in low light. In addition to a pro mode that offers you more control over ISO, white balance, and other settings, the camera has a special night mode that helps highlight more details and lower noise in dim photos.
There are numerous modes and settings to experiment with, and the camera quality is extremely good for the amount you’re paying for the phone. You’ll typically get very good pictures.
Performance and Specs
When you purchase the Realme 9, you will receive specifications such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor, 128GB of storage, and 8GB of RAM. That is well below the high-end phones on the market in terms of raw speed, but it isn’t exactly scratching the surface in terms of specifications for an Android smartphone. The Realme 9 is by no means a powerful smartphone, as evidenced by its Geekbench 5 scores of 381 for single-core, 1566 for multi-core, and 431 for OpenCL.
Even though loading times may be noticeably slower than on a device like the Samsung Galaxy S22, you will still be able to run anything you need to run on the Realme 9, including demanding games. Everything runs smoothly, and you won’t experience any lag or delay like you would with less expensive phones than the Realme 9. However, you might notice a slight decrease in performance if you open thousands of tabs in your browser or maybe after a year or two of use.
This regular edition of the phone does not have 5G, in contrast to other Realme 9 series phones. Given that 4G speeds are quite decent, that might not be a deal breaker, but it does seem strange that phones are being released at this point without 5G capabilities. Given the increasing global rollout of these next-generation networks, we would prefer to have it included.
Software
Realme UI 3.0 is installed on top of Android 12 on the Realme 9. Though we have to admit that we like the pure, clean Android more than anything else, Realme UI is a reasonably simple and intuitive operating system. This is more a matter of personal preference, though, and your experience may differ.
Although there is some bloatware included, such as Booking.com and Amazon apps, it is rather simple to remove them. Although Realme offers its own apps for managing files, viewing photos, setting alarms, and other functions, it’s simple to switch to the better Google alternatives, and overall, everything feels clear.
There is a large Settings screen with extra features you won’t find in Android, such as a Smart Sidebar, floating windows, and a quick start panel, as is typical of Chinese Android phones. These features are available if you need them, albeit it’s questionable how helpful they are.
Battery Life
Without a doubt, one of the best features of the Realme 9 package is its battery life. If you don’t use it frequently, the 5,000mAh battery that comes with it lasts for two days. On the majority of days, you will be able to easily go from breakfast to evening with enough of juice left over before bed. One advantage of a lower-spec processor and the lack of 5G is longer intervals between battery charges.
The battery level only decreased by 5% during our typical one-hour video streaming test, demonstrating an amazing 20-hour total video playback time. You would be able to gain even more time if you lowered the screen and wore headphones, but that was with the display brightness pushed up to the maximum and the volume set very low.
The Realme 9 lacks wireless charging, which is to be expected for a phone in this price range. You won’t have to wait around for the phone to charge because the 33W charging should be sufficient for wired charging over USB-C to charge the phone from 0% to 100% in as little as 75 minutes.