Content
- TECH SPECS
- Positioning
- Equipment
- Appearance
- Display
- Battery
- Performance
- Communication capabilities
- Camera
- Operating system
- Impressions and competitors
| TECH SPECS | |
| Processor | Mediatek MT6785 Helio G90T (12 nm), Octa-core (2 × 2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6 × 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55), Mali-G76 MC4 graphics |
| Operating system | Android 10 shell Realme UI |
| Memory | 4/8 GB / 128 GB, separate slot for memory cards microSD |
| Screen | 6.5 inches, IPS LCD, 2400 by 1080 pixels, aspect ratio 20 by 9, dot density 405 ppi, declared brightness 480 nits, refresh rate 90 Hz, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Battery | Li-Po 4300 mAh, fast charging 30 W, 100% in 55 minutes |
| Main camera | 64 MP, f / 1.8, 26mm (wide), 1 / 1.72 ″, 0.8µm, PDAF 8 MP, f / 2.3, 13mm (ultra wide angle), 1 / 4.0 ″, 1.12µm 2 MP, f / 2.4, (macro) 2 MP B / W, f / 2.4, (depth) Video recording 4K @ 30fps, 1080p @ 30/60 / 120fps, gyro-EIS |
| Front camera | 16 MP, f / 2.0, 26mm (wide), 1 / 3.06 ″, 1.0µm, video recording 1080p @ 30fps |
| Sim card | 2 Nano-SIM |
| Network and data transmission | GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5, A2DP, LE, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, NFC, USB 2.0, Type-C 1.0 |
| SENSORS | side fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, lighting, compass, face unlock |
| Other | there is a 3.5 mm jack, there is NFC, there is an FM radio |
| Materials | plastic frame and backrest, glass front panel |
| dimensions | 162.1 x 74.8 x 8.9 mm, weight 191 g. |
| Price | from 17 990 rubles |
Positioning
In the brand portfolio, realme 6 is responsible for the middle segment. Slightly higher is the realme 6 Pro, followed by the brand’s flagships (realme X3 SuperZoom).
At the same time, realme, in accordance with its strategy, is trying to give the buyer more for less money. For example, in realme 6:
- Large screen with high brightness and 90 Hz refresh rate
- 4 main cameras, while the main camera is 64 MP
- There is NFC
- A complete set of modern communications – Wi-Fi 5 (2.4 + 5.0 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, compass
- Significant amounts of RAM and permanent memory 8 GB and 128 GB
- The presence of a 3.5 mm jack, a separate slot for microSD memory cards, 2 slots for SIM cards, there is an FM radio
- Battery 4 300mAh with 30W fast charging
- The last bonus is the realme UI shell, which I currently consider one of the best on the market among all manufacturers
Of course, for such impressive bonuses at such a price, compromises had to be made. So the model uses Gorilla Glass 3, and the body is made of plastic. For the chipset, we used a variant from MediaTek (relevant and with good performance, but less energy efficient than the Qualcomm variant).
The differences between realme 6 and realme 6 Pro are not so striking, and the price is 4 thousand less, which makes you think. The older model has a dual front camera, the main camera has a 2x optical zoom, a more premium Gorilla Glass 5 is used, there is an additional microphone for noise reduction and a Snapdragon 725G chipset, which is similar in performance to the Helio G6T chipset installed in realme 90, but approximately a third more energy efficient, this is evidenced even by the technical process by which the 8 nm chipsets are manufactured versus the 12 nm from Helio.
Equipment
Traditional equipment of modern smartphones. The bright yellow box contains:
- Realme 6 smartphone
- Silicone case
- Fast charging adapter with wire
- Documentation
- Clip for SIM tray
Appearance
- Front panel: 6.5-inch screen, Gorilla Glass 3, the camera is inscribed in the screen, speaker mesh
- Back panel: plastic, 4 cameras + LED flash
- Right side: power button combined with a fingerprint scanner
- Left-hand side: two separate volume buttons, SIM tray
- Upper butt: no items
- Bottom end: 3.5 mm jack, microphone, USB Type-C charging port, speaker
The appearance is typical for smartphones in this price segment. The front is Gorilla Glass 3 and the body is made of plastic. Backrest with overflow. The build is excellent.
Of the features is a fingerprint scanner on the right side. The reason for this decision is obvious. If the scanner were on the back, it would look trite, you cannot put the scanner under the screen (because it is expensive), and on the side it is inexpensive, but tasteful. It is convenient to use, but when you carry a smartphone in your hand, you regularly touch the scanner, which leads to unlocking. But that’s not a hot problem.
It’s nice that the smartphone has 2 slots for memory cards and there is a separate slot for microSD.
Display
The smartphone uses an IPS LCD panel with a size of 6.5 inches, a good resolution of 2400 by 1080 pixels, an aspect ratio of 20: 9. Thin enough frames that are not striking.
The camera fits neatly into the screen. It does not interfere with playing games or watching movies. Initially, the screen is covered with a factory film. If you play outdoor games on your phone, I recommend removing the film, because otherwise your finger will not slide on the screen. In other cases, you can leave – the Internet, a set of messages, scrolling video – the film does not interfere.
Factory film, speaker mesh, front camera module
The declared brightness of the screen is 480 nits. When measuring, I got an indicator of 470 nits, which, taking into account the measurement errors, confirms the data declared by the manufacturer. It’s sad that in auto mode, the brightness does not change. Sometimes it happens that in auto mode the screen is able to “accelerate” to higher values. In general, the brightness of about 500 nits is enough to comfortably use smartphones even on a clear day. Which I confirm from my own experience of using the device.
The IPS LCD panels in realme 6 have a couple of nice bonuses. First, the screen does not flicker when the brightness is lowered. Secondly, the minimum screen brightness is only 3.2 nits, coupled with a dark theme and a blue light filter, this allows you to use the smartphone even in complete darkness without fatiguing your eyes. My favorite reader, ReadEra, looks great on realme 6. Thirdly, fairly accurate color reproduction. 100% sRGB without distortion, plus the screen does not turn blue, does not yellow, etc.
In general, the display is one of the highlights of the device. Still, infrequently, in the range of up to 20 thousand rubles, there is a screen refresh rate of 90 Hz. The user has several options available: 60 Hz, 90 Hz and adaptive mode, when the smartphone itself decides in which situations to use 90 Hz, and when 60 Hz. I usually used this option, since in general the smoothness of the menus is not very important to me, but when playing Call of Duty Mobile I want 90 Hz. Perhaps this is self-hypnosis, but it seems to me that at a frequency of 90 Hz I react a little faster and more accurately to events (of course, you can explain in the comments that I am wrong). Below are 3 screenshots, in which the refresh rate selection menu, the screen settings menu, and the wallpaper picture from the splash screen. The smartphone has nice live wallpapers. For example, the ones in the screenshot change depending on the time of day. So in the screenshot it is sunset, and stars fly across the sky at night.
Battery
Immediately after the point about the screen, I decided to post a comment about the battery, since I think many people had a question, but how does 90 Hz of the screen affect the consumption.
First, about charging. The smartphone comes with a powerful 30W charger. Full charging time is just under an hour, and in half an hour it charges up to 72%. I will allow myself a negative comment in relation to the form of the adapter. Apparently, they did so for aesthetic reasons. I don’t know about beauty, but dust accumulates on the ledge. For the rest, of course, fast charging solves.
To measure the difference between normal mode and 90 Hz, I used the PC Mark Battery Test application, which simulates everyday activities. At maximum brightness with the mobile Internet turned on, the smartphone gave 6.5 hours in both modes. Please note that in the screenshot, the application says that the device is powerful, but the operating time is less than expected, suggesting that third-party applications be closed. I ran the test 4 times, and every time it was like that. Accordingly, 6.5 hours is the screen time you can expect from a device.
Other indicators:
- video viewing, maximum brightness, airplane mode – 13 hours
- page refresh (full reboot) on the Internet via Wi-Fi, maximum brightness, airplane mode – 16 hours
- Call of Duty Mobile game, Wi-Fi 5 GHz, maximum brightness – about 5 hours
I highly appreciate the autonomy of realme 6. Separately, I would like to note that the device is not very discharged in idle mode, so it loses around 3-4% overnight. It’s a mystery to me why the increased screen refresh rate does not affect battery life. But if this is so, then set the adaptive mode or 90 Hz in the settings and enjoy life.
Performance
Key Performance Facts:
- The smartphone uses the MediaTek Helio G90T chipset, well known, for example, on the Redmi Note 8 Pro. This chipset is slightly superior in performance to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 720G, but is made using a 12nm process technology, which makes it less energy efficient.
- Realme 6 is available in a version with a good amount of RAM 8 GB (price for 2 thousand more than 18 rubles). I recommend this option and take it.
- 128GB storage + dedicated microSD slot
- Below I will provide screenshots from the benchmarks, but in general, all you need to know about performance is that the smartphone is powerful. He pulls any games, becomes warm, but not scalding. I played Call of Duty Mobile quite a lot on my smartphone, after 40 minutes of playing, slight trotting becomes noticeable. No lags and freezes, but sometimes it seems that I could pick up my weapon and fire faster. In any case, playing on realme 6 is very good. By the way, due to a decrease in performance, the same Redmi Note 8 Pro was equipped with an advanced cooling system.
- In the AnTuTu test, the smartphone received about 288 thousand points, which is a decent result for this price segment.
Communication capabilities
In general, realme 6 is a very balanced smartphone, in which the minuses are perfectly hidden under the abundance of pluses. Communication capabilities are the strong point of the smartphone. A very good Wi-Fi module that supports 5GHz Wi-Fi, providing fast download speeds and fast response times. I can judge at least by playing Call of Duty Mobile. Latency 6-8 ms. There is a smartphone of another brand, also supports Wi-Fi 5 GHz, but the delay is 11-12 ms.
The Bluetooth 5.0 smartphone has a compass, that is, a designation appears on Google maps in which direction you are looking. As a minus, it can be said that since the chipset is from MediaTek, the smartphone does not support the aptX codecs. Here to each his own, I connect wireless headphones and don’t really notice the difference.
There is a headphone jack and an FM radio, which requires wired headphones to mimic the role of an antenna. I am always happy when smartphones have a radio, but I am upset if there is no built-in antenna for it, because wired headphones are a thing of the past in all price segments.
The main bonus is the presence of NFC. Paying at a store or refilling a travel card is not a problem.
There are no complaints about the work of realme 6 as a phone. The earpiece is conveniently located, you don’t have to look for a position. The smartphone, unlike the older model with the Pro prefix, does not have a second microphone at the top, which is traditionally responsible for noise reduction. But at the bottom it looks like there are two microphones. I wrote it “as if”, because it is not clear. Experiments show that there is some kind of intermediate solution. The smartphone, of course, does not block extraneous street noises as well as my Galaxy Note 9, but this is not the case when one microphone and the interlocutor hears every rustle.
Camera
A 16 Mp smartphone has a camera integrated into the screen and 4 main photo modules:
- 64 MP, f / 1.8, 26mm (wide), 1 / 1.72 ″, 0.8µm, PDAF
- 8 MP, f / 2.3, 13mm (ultra wide angle), 1 / 4.0 ″, 1.12µm
- 2 MP, f / 2.4, (macro)
- 2 MP B / W, f / 2.4, (depth)
Below are some examples of photography. Generally speaking, the overall camera is not bad. The 2 MP macro camera is rather mediocre, the 8 MP wide-angle produces “noisy” shots, the 64 MP main module shoots well, the 2 MP module for portraits does its job, the background is blurred as it should, but the question is, what role does the photo module play, and what algorithms?
The camera interface is standard. The modes are 0.5x (wide), 1x, 2x, 5x (crop), and the macro mode is hidden in the settings, but the system seems to be intelligent, and usually the smartphone itself guesses when you want to shoot macro.
A 2x magnification can be a useful thing.
Wide-angle shooting is great, but I can’t say that I am delighted with the resulting images.
Macro photography is one of the trends of the last year. But I would like a 5 megapixel camera.
Portraits are very good. First, just a cat, and then a cat with a portrait.
The front camera makes portraits just as good.
The 64MP shooting mode is good for capturing more detail. For example, two photos below. If you open the 64 MP photo, you can easily read all the pointers, car numbers. Another point is that usually photos go to social networks, where such details are not important. In my opinion, this mode is suitable when you need to quickly photograph some sign in the distance and be sure that the smartphone will cope.
For night shooting, the smartphone even has a separate mode. However, and so it copes well.
A few more shots from the smartphone gallery.
I caught myself thinking that, while studying photographs now, I do not evaluate them from the point of view that in front of me is a smartphone from a lower price segment. I expect to see quality that is not much worse than what the flagships give out. I appreciate this perception positively. It means that the quality of smartphone photography has already reached such a level, when there is no difference in how much a smartphone costs, there is a certain and rather high level that you expect to see.
Operating system
Yes, the shell has the ability to record calls.
The smartphone runs on Android 10 and realme UI shell. I consider realme UI to be one of the best skins out there. Fast, lightweight, with an abundance of features and so far no ads or annoying notifications. Another bonus is the ability to uninstall almost any application. For example, out of the box, the smartphone comes with a preinstalled search and application from Yandex. Removed in two seconds. And after MIUI from xiaomists, realme UI seems even better. To be fair, it should be noted that MIUI is not bad either, but you have to spend time on settings.
The shell has a lot of nice bonuses and goodies, in the form of quick access, launching additional windows, etc.
for example, suddenly during the game you want to count on a calculator …
Beautiful built-in weather application, it is not clear from the photo, but there is rain animation
I did a great overview of the shell, I suggest you check it out.
Impressions and competitors
Realme 6 is a smartphone not without flaws, but the overall impression of it remains positive. A very balanced and pleasant device. Good performance, decent cameras, NFC, super fast charging. Plus a clean shell realme UI, which has call recording.
If you look at the characteristics head-on, then the main competitor is Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro. Almost identical characteristics. On the side of which there is a more thought-out cooling system and, accordingly, better behavior in complex games. And the screen in auto mode has a brightness of 640 nits. Plus more premium materials – Corning Gorilla Glass 5 front and back on a plastic frame. Realme 6 wins with its design (I like the hole in the screen more than the “drop” in the center), as well as a nicer shell.
Of the current Xiaomi lineup, I would call the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9s as a competitor. Nice smartphone with Snapdragon 720G, but no NFC. Once again, I note that Xiaomi has overdone it with the Redmi Note 8 Pro. Last year’s smartphone turned out to be good this year as well, while completely breaking the current line of “laptops” from Xiaomi.
From the comments to the reviews, I noticed that many regular readers are annoyed when Samsung Galaxy A51 / A51s are indicated in competitors. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work without it. A successful model, which, apparently, by the end of the year will become the best-selling model in the whole world. Samsung has a well-known brand on the side, a nice price of 15 thousand rubles. For the rest, of course, it loses to realme and Redmi. Chipsets, amount of memory, battery – all this is better with realme 6.
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