realme 10 Review – Performance over Camera Specs

Is the new realme phone worth its price tag? The short answer is yes, but let me tell you why in this realme 10 review.

Now I’ve been using the realme as a daily driver for more than a week now. And these are my thoughts about the device. Let’s start with what it comes with out of the box.

realme 10 Out-of-the-Box

Inside the box, we have the device itself, a SIM Ejector Tool/Pin, USB-to-USB Type-C cable, the charger/power brick, an included clear jelly case, the user guide, as well as the warranty card. You can also check out my unboxing and first impressions video below.

Design, Build Quality, and Ergonomics

The first thing we notice about the device is its back’s design. They call it Light Particle Design, which is a gradient that has sparkly elements to it when it’s hit with the light. It’s a bit glossy but picks up less fingerprints than most. Overall, I think the design really looks good. It’s simple and minimalistic, but elegant as well. This particular color variant is the Rush Black, it will also come in Clash White.

Its build quality is pretty standard. I’d say it’s pretty much the same quality as its predecessors. But while most realme phones have curved sides, the realme 10 have flatter sides. It doesn’t get in the way of ergonomics though. Actually, along with its curved corner, it actually feels great to hold in the hand.

Button layouts are similar to most realme devices. The side-mounted fingerprint sensor, especially, is on a comfortable spot. It’s easy to reach with the thumb that I even unlock the device subconsciously.

Display Quality

For its display, the device features a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display. Just as any Super AMOLED screen, it shows sharp images with vivid colors and deep blacks. It also has 90Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate which makes scrolling and gaming smooth. These makes its display perfect for both mobile gaming and watching videos.

Audio Quality

To complement its amazing display is the device’s single firing speaker. It produces clear and loud audio that’s great for watching videos and listening to music. Not only that, it’s an UltraBoom Speaker that can be ramp up to 200% volume. It is loud enough to fill a large room and you won’t event need to have a separate speaker. Usually, the sound distorts when the volume is too high. But even at 200% volume, the sound doesn’t distort and still sound good, which is quite impressive of a phone speaker.

Performance and Gaming

Performance-wise, it runs really smooth. Its MediaTek Helio G99 chipset really does its job to run tasks without a hitch. The device is also able to run multiple apps simultaneously without lag, this is thanks to its Extended RAM feature. It can virtually extend its RAM for up to 8GB (after the recent update). This allows the user to multitask without worry.

The device also runs smoothly on games. I tested it out on Genshin Impact and was able to play without feeling any lag on mid settings. For benchmark results, you can refer to the numbers below.

• AnTutu v9 – 392,323 (CPU: 106,812, GPU: 92,147, MEM: 88,560, UX: 104,804)
• AnTuTu v9 Storage Test – 38,784 (Seq. Read: 15,056, Seq. Write: 11,560, Random Access: 12,168)
• Geekbench 5 – Single-Core: 567, Multi-Core: 1,746, OpenCL: 1,679
• PCMark Work 3.0 – 10,389
• 3DMark – Wild Life: 1,361, Wild Life Extreme: 377

User Experience

Running on the realme UI 3.0, the device is quite user friendly. Its interface are easy to understand and navigate, and has colorful icons. However, it does come with a lot of bloatware. You can, however, uninstall them if you like, but it becomes a hassle uninstalling them one-by-one.

Its RAM and internal storage are pretty fast which helps with the speed of opening apps. The device will also be available in two storage variants: 128GB and 256GB. You can also expand it up to 1TB via Micro SD, so storage isn’t really an issue.

Connectivity

The realme 10 has the usual connectivity features as most smartphones, except for 5G, much like its predecessor, the realme 9. realme will most probably release a 5G variant soon. If you really need 5G, this phone is probably not for you.

Battery Life and Charging

realme’s number series usually have great battery life, and the 10 is no exception. It houses a 5000mAh battery that can last a full day of use. Its battery life is also improved with the power efficiency of its processor. I’m a heavy user and found that I had enough power to spare at the end of my day. The device also support 33W SuperVOOC charging, which charges at 100% in less than an hour.

Cameras

On paper, its cameras is not that impressive. It doesn’t have the realme 9’s huge 108MP main shooter. What it does have is a 50MP Color AI Camera, which in my opinion is more than enough. It is paired with 2MP depth sensor, which works together with the main camera to capture crisp and clear images. For the front, there’s a 16MP Selfie Camera to capture great self-portraits.

To be honest I’m actually surprised by the quality of pictures that these cameras capture, especially the front facing camera. It features Clear Fusion Algorithm that make sure your selfies are clear. The rear cameras also capture excellent night shots. It feature ProLight Imaging Technology and Flash Night View Algorithm, which works together to capture photos in night mode with incredible speed. It’s the fastest night mode photo among the phone’s I’ve tried so far. I also like the fact that you don’t have to switch to Night Mode every time, the AI automatically detects the scene and switches to Night Mode on its own. You can check out the image quality on the photos below.

The only thing that I don’t like from its cameras is the lack of wide-angle. Now this not actually a deal breaker but I find wide-angle lenses to be useful in my case. realme has toned down on its camera hardware, but they certainly made up for it on the software side.

The Verdict

The realme 10 doesn’t seem impressive at first glance, but it was very surprising when you finally use it. Apps snappily open fast and runs smooth, even on demanding games. It also has great entertainment value thanks to its Super AMOLED display and UltraBoom Speaker. Battery life and charging is superb, as is the cameras. The only gripe I have is that it doesn’t have a wide-angle lens and 5G connection, but that just depends on the user if they really need those features.

Is the realme 10, in its price point, worth it? Absolutely. If you don’t necessarily need 5G or a wide-angle camera, then it certainly is one of top of the mid-range options out there. The realme 10 comes in two variants: 8GB+128GB, and 8GB+256GB. They are priced at PHP 12,999 and PHP 14,999 respectively.

realme 10 Specifications