Realme has added a new series to its portfolio and the first smartphone of this series is Realme U1. It is also the company’s first selfie Pro smartphone. It seems that Oppo’s sub-brand at one time Realme wants to repeat the strategy of its old company itself. There is no doubt Oppo’s F series has been very popular. Apart from high resolution front camera, this handset is the first smartphone to come with Helio P70 processor. This processor has been claimed to be more powerful and capable than Helio P60.
Realme U1 will clash in the market from Xiaomi’s Redmi Y series which is known for the selfie smartphone. Other than this Asus zenfone max pro m1 And Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro Will also be a challenge. Is Realme U1 a smartphone to buy? Let’s learn …
Realme U1 Design
Realme U1 was recently launched recently in appearance Realme 2 Pro As it sounds. There is no harm in this. The grip is good due to curved edges and due to matte finish it does not slip in the hands. The display is slightly out of the phone’s body. The same laminated back also has the same condition. The good thing is that during the review, there is no scratch marks on the back of this phone. It is comfortable to keep Realme U1 with a thickness of 8 millimeters and 168 grams cannot be considered very weight.
The position of the button is good. During the review, we did not have much difficulty in reaching the power and volume button. The SIM tray on the left has two nano SIMs and separate slots for microSD cards. The bottom of Realme U1 has speaker grill, micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone socket. Once again, we were disappointed to see USB Type-C. We have a complaint with the position of the speaker grill. Holding the phone is easily blocked by holding the phone. This means that the voice will not come clear while playing the game or watching the video.
The 6.3 -inch screen comes with a 450 knight brightness level. For this reason, there is no difficulty in reading on screen in sunlight. It is an IPS panel and the screen resolution is 1080×2340 pixels. Pictures on the display look sharp. You will also get the facility to control the color temperature in the Settings app. Realme has used Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which is slightly old. But nothing is better than nothing. The screen guard is already present on the phone. Scratch marks were easily on this. The fingers on the screen guard also easily fall. The same situation is with laminated backpanel. In such a situation, it will not be easy to always keep Realme U1 clean.
Waterdrop or Dudrop notch is beautiful in appearance. If you want, you can also hide the Nokia. There is a camera on the front panel. There are also earpieces and select sensors on top of it. There is no notification LED due to a limited space.
Laminated back light bounces gives good visual effects. We got the ambisheus black unit for review. You also have options for Brave Blue and Fiery Gold. The dual rear camera module is not high. The fingerprint sensor is capable of quickly identifying. Its texture is slightly different from backpanel taxes. Therefore it is easy to find the sensor. The face unlock is also fast and the display in low light is light up so that the phone can be unlocked easily from the face.
The Realme U1 handset comes with 10 watt power adapter, USB charging cable, Silkon case, SIM Easeer Tool and some paper. The quality of accessory is good.
Realme U1 Software and Specifications
One of the important features of Realme U1 is MediaTek Helio P70 processor. This is a faster version of the Helio P60 chipset. According to Realme, this chipset gives 13 percent better performance than its old variants. It claims to have a better version of MediaTek’s on chip ani processing engine. Reality U1 scored good scores in the benchmark test.
We have reviewed the 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage variants of this phone. By the way, you also have an option with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage. Other features include dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 AC, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-OTG, FM Radio, GPS and Glonas. Dual 4G dual VoLTE support is available. Proximity sensor, gyroscope, compass, ambient light sensor and acceler are part of this phone.
Like Realme 2 Pro, Realme U1 has Android 8.1 Oreo based Coloros 5.2. It has a security patch of October 2018. The company says that the phone will get the update of Android Pie early next year. It also has some new software features. Realme has finally removed two-step process and has given single right swipe facility to dismiss notifications.
You will get many app installs in advance. Most of these can be uninstall. Gesters for navigation, screenshots and split screen mode are given. This phone has features of work like smart scan and oroming.
Smart Scan now supports Hindi. By using this app, you can also scan the Hindi document, after which the picture will be converted into text format. It works well and does not require active internet connection for this. However, you will need internet for ‘scan and translate,’ which does real time translation.
Realme U1 Performance, Camera and Battery Life
Realme U1 never surprised daily use. The performance was as expected. Removing the fingerprint from this phone is a very difficult task. We would suggest you to use the cover given with the phone. The display is lively. The viewing angles are also very good. We have no complaint with call quality. The phone remained cool on most occasions.
The Helio P70 processor easily handles most games. Framerates also do not see a decline. ASPHALT 8: Legends also walked well in high graphics preset. PUBG Mobile ran smoothly in medium settings. The phone is hot when gaming and using camera for a long time, which is common. Most popular audio and video format went well.
Because it is a selfie camera smartphone, starts with front camera. It has a 25 -megapixel F/2.0 aperture sensor. Realme U1 captures a selfie with details in daylight. Skin tones are good and colors are good. AI beauty mode is also not very aggressive. It smooths your skin on most occasions.
If you like more saturated colors then you will like super vivid mode. If you want, you can activate the depth effect or portrait mode, which do good job to blur the background. In portrait mode, the camera uses four-in-one bining technology. You get better detail pictures, but the resolution remains with an 8 megapixel shot. You also get a preview of HDR version by shooting in bright lights.
Realme U1’s camera sample tap to see in full size
In low light, we found that the camera was having difficulty in capturing clean and detail shot. The shocking thing is that the camera here shoots in 25 megapixel resolution. Not in the pixel bining technique. This causes selfie granney. HDR mode does not provide much help. In this, bright lights in the background are burned out. Edge detection is also not very accurate in low light and bokeh mode.
The rear has a 13 -megapixel camera with F/2.2 aperture. It captures photos with details in natural light, but falls behind in low light. Autofocus is also not very fast. This focus consumes a few seconds before locking. Super Vivid Mode is an effective feature. HDR also works satisfactory. You will get modes like Panorama, Tylaps, Professional and Portrait. Portrait shots are good due to a 2 -megapixel depth sensor.
Shot Using Super Vivid Mode on the Realme U1
Realme U1’s camera sample tap to see in full size
With this phone, you will be able to record the most 1080 pixels resolution videos. But there is no electronic stabilization. Quality is good, but autofocus does not work fast. Framaret is very solid and low-light footage is also not very noble. Despite having a powerful processor, the rear camera cannot record 4K videos. This is disappointing, because many phones in this price segment are equipped with this feature.
The 3500 mAh battery easily accompanies the whole day. In our HD video loop test, Reality U1’s battery lasted for 14 hours 56 minutes. There is no fast charging, but the 10 watt adapter helps in charging rapidly.
Our decision
The price of Realme U1 starts at Rs 11,999. This price is of 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage version. Given the powerful processor and battery life, the price looks aggressive. At this price you Xiaomi Redmi Y2 Will get 4 GB variants. But keeping in mind the performance of the front camera of both phones in low light, Reality U1 is a better option according to us. Because it comes with the latest design and more powerful processor.
The price of 4 GB RAM variants we tested is Rs 14,499. In a way, it challenges the initial variants of Reality’s Powerful Reality 2 Pro. Reliami 2 Pro comes with better rear camera and has support for 4K videos. If both these things are primary for you, then we will suggest you to buy a Pro model. It was our hope that the performance of the Reality U1 camera would have been equal to or better than the Realme 2 Pro. In this phone market, Redmi Note 6 Pro and Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 (6GB) will also be challenged which give good performance in every department.
This phone of Realme also has some shortcomings. There is no video stabilization and the low light performance of both camera setup is very average. But powerful processor, powerful battery life, good camera performance in daylight, sharp display and beautiful designs, make this phone a good option.