Last week, Realme revealed two new phones, one of which, the Realme 8i, is now with us for a review. It has an appealing price tag and specifications that few other devices in the same segment can match.
Here are our initial thoughts on the 8i before we put it through our usual testing.
The Stellar Purple on the Realme 8i we have is a cool gradient of darker violet colours and silver-ish glares. The transition occurs present in the frame, which appears to be metal but is actually made of plastic. The phone is flat on all four sides, but not to an extreme, making it easy to grip.
Given that this is the first phone to use the Helio G96 processor, it will be interesting to compare its performance to that of its competitors. We're especially interested to see if it can handle the 120Hz 1080p screen, which is quite demanding.
The square camera island brings a 50MP camera and here’s where it gets interesting. Yes, it is an impressive sensor, but is the chipset good enough to process the large amount of data it produces. The photos take a bit long to process, but we are far from the point where we've seen enough of them to deliver a verdict on their quality.
What seems certain is that the Realme 8i is a major improvement over the 7i with higher screen resolution, better chipset and superior camera.
The 50MP camera on the square camera island is where things become interesting. Yes, the sensor is remarkable, but is the chipset capable of processing the massive amounts of data it generates? The images take a while to develop, and we're still not sure if we've seen enough of them to pass judgement on their quality.
With a greater screen resolution, a stronger chipset, and a sharper camera, the Realme 8i appears to be a significant upgrade over the 7i.
