In April this year, the 8 series from realme debuted on the Polish market. It was realme 8 and realme 8 Pro. Now a new representative joins the whole family, namely realme 8i. This model is the first smartphone in Europe with the MediaTek Helio G96 processor, which, in addition to good performance, in its price range also offers support for displays refreshed at a frequency of 120 Hz. This is exactly the screen that the new realme 8i is equipped with. From today, this smartphone can be purchased in two capacity variants: 4/64 GB for PLN 849 and 4/128 GB for PLN 949. Two color versions are also available: black (Space Black) and purple (Stellar Purple).
And how does the phone look in reality? I invite you to the review.
Technical specification:
Realme 8i– set
In the box of both models we will find:
The smartphone's construction is very similar to the models from the realme 8 series. On the back of the housing we find plastic backs, and in the upper left corner there is a protruding island with cameras. We can get Realme 8i in 2 colors: black (Space Black) and purple (Stellar Purple). The black version fell into my hands and I admit that it looks quite nice, although personally I don't like black color versions. The only thing you can complain about is the smooth texture, which may look nice in the light, but it is terribly fingered and collects dirt. Fortunately, the package includes silicone backs that will not only protect the protruding cameras, but also prevent the back from being fingered.
I would also like to add that the smartphone does not have any water resistance class, which is not surprising in this price range.
Front, we find a flat AGC DragonTrail glass screen with small frames on the sides and at the top and a slightly wider chin (Screen Ratio 90.8%) and a single camera placed in a circle in the upper left corner. The whole is connected by a frame in a color matching the housing. Of course, everything is perfectly matched, nothing creaks, nothing bends.
At the bottom of the housing you will find a microphone, multimedia speaker, USB C port and mini jack output.
As for the loudspeaker, it is mono, which is still very popular in this price range. The music coming from it is clear, loud and quite decent. Although we will not treat too much bass or depth here. And even at full volume, you can feel a slight impurity. No less completely sufficient for everyday use (listening to podcasts, hands-free calls, listening to short videos on YouTube). For those who want a better listening experience, I have good news. There is a 3.5mm mini jack output. So we can easily connect headphones to the phone via cable. But we have to buy them ourselves.
As for the quality of the calls, you can't have any objections - it's OK in this price class.
On the left edge we find a drawer for 2 SIM cards and an additional memory card (slots are separate) and volume buttons.
On the right edge, we find only an on / off switch with a built-in fingerprint reader. The reader itself works fast enough and correctly. I haven't noticed any problems with it.
In addition to the fingerprint reader and standard unlocking functions such as pin, pattern or password, you will also find here the ability to unlock the phone by scanning the face. It works quite quickly and correctly, except for individual cases, e.g. at night with very poor lighting, the smartphone had a problem with this option as standard. It is worth remembering, however, that such face unlocking is not the safest method.
Finally, I would like to add that all buttons are made in the color of the housing. And most importantly, they are clear to the touch and respond very well and quickly to all clicks.
The dimensions of Realme 8i are: 164.1mm x75.5mm x8.5mm, and the weight is: 194 g. The smartphone fits well in the hand, and all the buttons are exactly where they should be - within reach. Due to the fact that it is still not a small smartphone, one-handed operation is not the most convenient. Unless we enable one-handed mode.
The tested model received an IPS LCD screen, 6.6 "with a resolution of 2412 × 1080 FHD +, a pixel density of 401 PPI and a refresh rate of 120 Hz (it's great that such a refresh goes to increasingly cheaper models). The screen itself covers 90.8% of the front of the phone and includes a small circle-shaped notch in the upper left corner where the front camera is located.
I consider the overall reception of the screen to be quite positive for this price range. We don't have pixelosis here, websites are well browsed (especially at 120 Hz refresh rate) or working on applications, and even simple games look OK. The edges of the fonts are sharp, and the whole thing is legible and clear. What I could fault here is the possibility of working in the sun. It can be a bit tricky here.
Of course, the smartphone offers the ability to adjust screen parameters such as: screen temperature (cold, default, warmer), screen color mode (vivid, delicate) or brightness, but also has an additional dark mode and eye protection mode (Eye Comfort). What's more, we will not find a notification LED or AOD in it.In addition, the smartphone does not have any buttons (no one is surprised anymore). In fact, it's not even worth mentioning anymore. As in many models, we can enable gesture support. In addition to gestures, we can also turn on the standard bottom bar with buttons. Additionally, we can enable the smart sidebar. So everyone will easily find their favorite navigation configuration.
The tested smartphones were equipped with the following components:
Let's start with the fact that in Poland there is a 4 GB / 64 GB and 4 GB / 128 GB version (+ DRE function with the possibility of expanding the RAM by a virtual 3 GB). I, due to the fact that I have been testing this model for some time, have a pre-release version with 6 GB of RAM and a few applications that will not be present in our native version. And that's where the differences end. I regret a little that this version will not appear on our market, because looking from the perspective of 2-3 years, 4 GB of RAM may not be enough. Nevertheless, today everything in this phone works properly and quite smoothly. Of course, it's not lightning like the flagship models, but still, for this price range, I didn't notice that anything was clipping strongly, and the animations somehow slowed down excessively. A new processor may also be of great importance here. Realme 8i received a new CPU MediaTek Helio G96. This is a development version of the G95 processor (known even from realme 8). Thanks to this, the low-end model can not only count on smooth and efficient operation, but it has also become possible to use a screen with a refresh rate of 120 Hz in the smartphone. What's more, the G96 works with faster UFS 2.2 internal memory, which is also found in the tested model, and Bluetooth 5.2. VoLTE calls on both SIM cards in the smartphone are also supported. What we will not find in realme 8i is 5G connectivity. In the perspective of 2-3 years, it may not matter so much, but in a slightly longer future it should rather be a standard.
What will probably please some potential users is the presence of a slot for an additional memory card. Moreover, it is separated from the SIM cards. So here we have a real Dual SIM with an additional slot for a micro SD memory card up to 256 GB.
It's also worth thinking about a version with 128 GB of memory for files. Not only to have more space, but also because only this version supports the possibility of expanding the RAM by an additional virtual 3 GB. Thus, in this case, 4 GB of RAM may be less noticeable when overloading the phone with applications than in the 4 / 64 GB version, in which there is no such possibility. This is due to limited internal memory (ROM) resources.
In the AnTuTu benchmark, the smartphone scored over 329,000. points. In everyday use, the smartphone performed as expected - that is, fast enough for this price range and without any major problems.
Realme 8i is equipped with Android version 11 and realme UI 2.0 overlay. I don't really need to introduce them anymore. As for the system itself, it also runs quite smoothly. I haven't noticed any major problems.
In addition, the smartphone is equipped with:
When using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS I didn't notice bigger problems. GPS connectivity was very fast and allowed me to navigate while walking around the city (e.g. Wrocław) or driving a car. Similarly, when transferring a large number of files and photos via Bluetooth, this model performed flawlessly.
Realme 8i received a large 5000 mAh battery. However, we will not find in it the fast charging that we know and like in the realme 8 series. We have 18 W charging available and we will find such a charger in the package. Current standards of work on a single charge (realme 8i does not differ from them) will force us to connect to the charger practically every day, maybe every 2 days (reduced refreshment, less intensive use). So with such use, 18 W charging may be enough. Just for the record, I will add that we will not find inductive charging here, which is nothing strange in this price range. Maybe in time)
And finally, the standard camera. The tested model includes:
And how do the photos turn out in real life? And here at the beginning I have to grumble a bit. We have 4 circles (3 lenses and a diode), and in them there is really only one lens that is useful - the main 50 Mpx. I won't even repeat myself about the 2 Mpx macro - it's totally unnecessary and can be treated as a hole ☹. It would be much better if a wide angle appeared here, and unfortunately there is none. Zoom is also only digital - up to x10, although it can be useful up to x2. The main lens, on the other hand, does quite well for this price range. At times the frames are very pleasing to the eye with quite natural colors and a lot of details. However, there are times when some colors are slightly exaggerated, or even changed. The detail of the photo or blur in the portrait can also be accepted. We even have a night mode that allows for quite nice and clear frames after dark. In slightly darker places, noise appears, but in this price range we can turn a blind eye to it and take pictures in places that are at least slightly lit. However, you must remember about a stable hand, because unfortunately they can be moved. Anyway, see for yourself:
We can record videos from the rear camera in the following quality: 720p @ 30fps, 720p @ 60fps, 1080p @ 30fps, 1080p @ 60fps. In addition, we find electronic image stabilization (EIS) and the ability to record Sl-mo: 240fps @ 1080P. The quality of the movies may not knock you to your knees, but looking at the price shelf it is OK. They are enough for us for everyday use.
Summary
realme 8i is a smartphone from the mid-range to the budget segment (the so-called low/lower middle shelf), which complements the offer of realme 8 series devices. It is also the successor of realme 7i, which has gained:
All of the above is also its advantage. What I could fault here is the housing, which is very finger-fingered (smooth backs are not something nice, unfortunately ☹), the amount of RAM (4 GB is slowly starting to be little, and in the perspective of 2-3 years it will definitely be too little) and to the redundant 2 Mpx macro lens. Dear realme, this lens will not be useful to us. Think 5 Mpx or ultimately macro mode in wide angle. All in all, this model is a pretty good proposition for its price and it will certainly work well in the hands of many users. You just have to remember that this is not a gaming phone, and an excessive amount of memory-consuming applications may not serve it. And if you are looking for a cheap phone with 5G network support, this is not the model. Then take a look at, for example, realme 8 5G.
Let's recap. What distinguishes the tested model is primarily:
I would include:
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