Realme 9 5G Review: specs and features, camera quality test, gaming benchmark, user opinions and photos

Realme 9 5G - stability as the main enemy

The crisis in the current global economy is leading smartphone manufacturers to make difficult decisions. So, in order to contain the cost of production, developers have to either degrade the technical characteristics of gadgets, or simply re-release “old” models with minimal cosmetic changes. To create the hero of today's review, the second scheme was used, but how will the audience evaluate this approach?

The appearance resembles that of several representatives of the eighth generation of the main line of Realme phones. It's hard not to recognize the familiar minimalist block of three cameras, the colors of plastic cases that are familiar to the eye. The display bezels are small, the fingerprint scanner moved to the side face, I don’t want to find fault with the ergonomics of the candy bar. But there are questions about the quality of manufacturing materials - you will have to wear the device in a protective case to avoid scratches, chips and peeling paint. The IPS-screen reproduces a quite high-quality picture with a resolution of 2400x1080 pixels, endowed with a 120-Hz refresh rate. Brightness and contrast are not at the level of AMOLED panels, which is noticeable in direct sunlight. Unfortunately, the situation can be corrected only by replacing the mobile assistant with an analogue with an AMOLED display.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 CPU is slightly faster than the MediaTek Dimensity 700/810 CPU, and also organizes improved power efficiency. As a result, the processor, along with 4GB / 6GB of RAM and the Adreno 619 graphics accelerator, provides smooth operation of Android 12 and a number of resource-intensive applications like PUBG. Fans of Genshin Impact, of course, will be able to play the adored project, but we can talk about really stable gameplay only with low graphics presets. But fans of standalone Android smartphones will be delighted with a dozen hours of active screen time from a 5000mAh battery. The only pity is that fast charging has received power in a modest 18W. But they did not save on the amount of internal memory. The already excellent 64/128GB for the price category are expanded with MicroSD cards.

Not the most technologically advanced 50-megapixel Samsung JN1 photo module and virtually useless 2-megapixel auxiliary sensors gently hint at the mediocrity of the photographic capabilities of the device. It is recommended to use cameras for daytime shooting, even a special night mode does not really help in maintaining the detail and color reproduction of frames in poor lighting. Quiet mono sound should also be attributed to the minuses, but the treasury of pluses is completed by NFC contactless payment. Thus, the device came out, although not bad, but too mundane, without a bit of novelty and originality, even in comparison with its predecessors.