Realme 8 5G comes in two colour options.
Realme 8 5G was recently launched in India. At the time of writing this review, it is the cheapest 5G enabled smartphone available in India. The key highlights of the smartphone include the 48MP triple rear camera setup, 90Hz display, a 5,000mAhn battery and more.
Realme 8 5G is also the first smartphone to be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC. Is all that enough to make it a good deal over its competitors? Let’s find out in this review.
Realme 8 5G Review: Specifications
Realme 8 5G sports a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display with an aspect ratio of 20:9 and a refresh rate of 90Hz. It is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 700G processor paired with 4GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. The storage is further expandable using a microSD card slot. It runs on Android 11 based Realme UI 2.0 out of the box. All of this is backed by a 5,000mAh battery.
On the optics front, the Realme 8 5G features a triple rear camera setup including a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. Upfront, there is a 16-megapixel selfie snapper.
Realme 8 5G Review: Design and Display
Realme 8 5G has a very vanilla design. The back is made out of plastic with a rectangle camera bump at the top with a 2x2 camera grid and vertical Realme logo on the left.
On the front, the Realme 8 5G sports a 6.5-inch LCD panel with a punch-hole cutout on the left for the front camera. With 5G support and a great battery capacity, the inclusion of only an LCD panel is a disappointment. It has thin bezels offering a great experience apart from a considerably fat chin, which is a design element common in this price range.
As for the placements, Realme 8 5G sports a USB Type-C port on the bottom edge. The charging port is surrounded by the 3.5mm headphone jack, speaker grille and the primary microphone. The right edge houses the power button which doubles as a fingerprint sensor. On the left edge, there is a SIM tray that can accept two SIM cards and a dedicated microSD card along with volume rockers. The top edge of the phone is left clean. The absence of a secondary microphone is noticed during phone calls on the other end.
Realme 8 5G sports a 6.5-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 2400x1080 pixels with an aspect ratio of 20:9 and a refresh rate of up to 90Hz. Overall, the display get’s bright enough to read in direct sunlight and the viewing angles are good enough for day to day usage. The display offers adequate colour accuracy. The 90Hz refresh rate makes quite a difference in day to day usage.
Realme 8 5G Review: Performance, Software and UI
Realme 8 5G is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 700 processor paired with 8GB of RAM. Considering the price point, the cheaper Dimensity 700 processor is great, especially as it offers 5G support. During the review period, the snappiness of the 90Hz display and the performance of the Dimensity 700 processor made the experience lag-free.
The RealmeUI offers quite a lot of customisation options.
I also tried playing Call of Duty Mobile and the smartphone ran just fine with minute lag and slight heating of the device. For the price you pay, the performance is more than adequate.
The Realme 8 5G runs on Android 11 based RealmeUI 2.0 out of the box. The user interface feels quite smooth. It also brings in some features including a system-wide dark mode, a themes store and much more. The option to choose a custom icon pack during the setup was a really nice touch.
Realme 8 5G Review: Cameras
It sports a triple camera setup at the back.
Realme 8 5G sports a triple-camera setup at the back. The setup comprises a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 2-megapixel macro-sensor.
The camera app is straightforward and offers a good amount of features. During our tests, the Realme 8 5G managed to click some decent shots. The shots are binned and there is a 48-megapixel mode if you want to click full 48-megapixel shots. The details aren’t that great and the colours feel a bit boosted. Turning the AI booster off makes a lot of difference with the colours but I still wouldn't call it natural. Under low light, the images come out to be a bit grainy, however, the overall image is more than usable.
The selfies are good, nothing special but nothing bad. A lot of smartphones at this price range provide the same selfie experience. There is a beauty mode on by default which enhances the skin colours. You can turn it down to zero per cent, but there is still skin tone lightening and skin smoothing that takes place.
Realme 8 5G Review: Battery
It features a punch hole camera design up front.
The battery segment is where the Realme 8 5G manages to impress. The handset comes with a massive 5,000mAh battery. During my time with the device, light to medium usage got me a little more than a day of usage. Even with heavy usage, the phone lasted for a workday.
With the battery being so huge, the charging speeds take a hit. The smartphone does support 18W fast charging and comes with an 18W charger which is nice. With the included charger, it takes a bit more than 2 hours to fully charge.
Realme 8 5G Review: Verdict
The chin on this one is on the thicker side.
The Realme 8 5G comes in at a starting price of Rs 14,999. For that price, you get a decent camera, good battery life, and a 90Hz display. However, the highlight of the phone is still 5G support. At the price point, the Realme 8 5G is the cheapest 5G phone in India. While 5G is still not available in India, buying this one could future proof you for the coming years. However, if you are planning to switch phones in a year or so, I would rather suggest you go for the non 5G version as it offers a better camera array.
In a nutshell, the Realme 8 5G seems like a good deal considering that the starting price of the phone makes it the cheapest 5G phone available as of now.
