Folks in search of a brand new finances smartphone have many choices to select from at the moment. The sub-Rs. 20,000 and sub-Rs. 15,000 smartphone segments have been seeing unbelievable developments currently, with corporations launching extra units with 5G functionality, greater batteries, AMOLED shows, and extra. Nevertheless, the sub-Rs. 10,000 value section shouldn’t be ignored because it has gotten some respectable additions in current months.
One of many current launches is from Realme’s C sequence, referred to as the Realme C31. It options a sexy and slim design, a 5,000mAh battery, and a triple-camera setup on the rear. The Realme C31 is a part of the identical sequence because the Realme C35 (Review), however is priced decrease in an effort to enchantment to patrons with a finances of beneath Rs. 10,000. Is the Realme C31 well worth the asking value, and is there extra to this smartphone than simply the appears? Discover out on this assessment.
Realme C31 value in India and variants
The Realme C31 is on the market in India in two variants. The bottom variant launched at Rs. 8,999 in March 2022 however as of this assessment, its value has elevated barely to Rs. 9,299. This variant comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, whereas the upper variant comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and is priced at Rs. 9,999. The cellphone is on the market in Mild Silver and Darkish Inexperienced colors. I acquired the mannequin with 4GB of RAM for this assessment.
Realme C31 design
The Realme C31 appears and feels good within the hand for a tool that’s priced at beneath Rs.10,000. The Mild Silver color provides the cellphone a really refined look. Proper off the bat, I seen that the cellphone is kind of tall once I first held it. The again panel of the C31 sports activities a triple-camera setup which protrudes a bit, making the cellphone wobble when positioned on a desk. The polycarbonate again appears fairly minimalistic, with an fascinating texture for the whole panel, apart from the digicam module. The textured again doesn’t simply entice fingerprints, and doesn’t decide up scratches very simply both.
The Realme C31 appears fairly fashionable for a finances smartphone
The ability button on the Realme C31 is on the proper aspect, and it additionally has a fingerprint sensor embedded in it. I didn’t have any points comfortably reaching the fingerprint sensor for the reason that energy button is positioned effectively and sits in a bit groove. The left aspect of the cellphone has the SIM card slot and quantity buttons. The again panel homes the speaker grille. Personally, I’m not a giant fan of this speaker placement because it hinders the sound output every time the machine is positioned on a flat floor.
The underside portion of the Realme C31 homes a 3.5mm headphone jack, main microphone, and a micro-USB port. Realme ought to have supplied a USB-Sort C port as a substitute, contemplating that older telephones such because the Micromax In 2B (Review) provided it in the identical value vary. You get a 10W charger within the field, however no protecting case.
The Realme C31 has a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD show with a waterdrop-style notch on the highest that homes the entrance digicam. The show has comparatively skinny bezels, however the backside chin is a bit chunky. The show has a regular 60Hz refresh price. The C31 weighs 197g which is a bit on the heavier aspect, though I didn’t really feel any discomfort whereas utilizing it with one hand as the burden appears to be distributed effectively.
Realme C31 specs and software program
The Realme C31 is powered by a Unisoc T612 SoC, which relies on the 12nm fabrication course of. It’s an octa-core processor with a clock velocity of as much as 1.82GHz. The in-built storage is of the UFS 2.2 normal, which we do not see too typically on this value section and it is good that Realme went with this. The C31 can help two nano-SIM playing cards and a microSD card for further storage, concurrently. The storage is expandable by as much as 1TB.
As for connectivity, the Realme C31 helps 4G/LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, and solely 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. I confronted some points with Wi-Fi on my unit, because the C31 saved disconnecting from my router a number of instances even once I was in the identical room.
The Realme C31 runs on Realme UI R version, which is a extra fundamental model of the common Realme UI. This light-weight model is geared to optimise efficiency on lower-end units. Paradoxically, Realme nonetheless ships the machine with a number of bloatware apps reminiscent of Fb, Josh, Paytm, Sharechat, and others, though you’ll be able to uninstall these apps if wanted.
My unit was operating Android 11 with a safety patch from March 2022 once I first started utilizing it a month in the past. Nevertheless, I did obtain an OTA replace with the April safety patch just lately. The UI appears and feels so much just like the vanilla model of Realme UI, however with minor changes right here and there and never a whole lot of room for customisations. As an example, Realme UI R version didn’t enable me to customize icons, transitions and even layouts for the apps on the house display.
The Realme C31 sports activities a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD show
I discovered the UI straightforward and easy to make use of. All the required settings and fast actions had been straightforward to achieve. The C31 additionally comes with ‘Sensible Controls’ which contains some nifty options reminiscent of Sensible wake, Sensible movement, Pocket mode, and extra. The machine doesn’t include a devoted gallery app, so you may must both use the preinstalled Google Photographs app or obtain a third-party one.
Realme C31 efficiency and battery life
The Realme C31 didn’t give me any hassle in my day-to-day utilization. Nevertheless, I seen some minor stutter within the animations whereas opening the notification bar when apps reminiscent of WhatsApp and Instagram had been pushing out a number of alerts. Scrolling via the UI and switching between apps was not a difficulty for the machine. The Realme C31 presents two biometric authentication choices, fingerprint unlock and face recognition. The previous was decently fast, whereas the latter was a tad slower than anticipated.
As for efficiency, the Realme C31 managed to attain 197,830 in AnTuTu and produced a rating of 339 and 1279 in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core assessments, respectively. It additionally scored 7,348 within the PCMark Work 3.0 take a look at. These numbers weren’t notably nice and a few of them had been a bit decrease than Realme’s personal C25 (Review) which launched a 12 months in the past with the MediaTek Helio G70 SoC.
Other than the weak benchmark scores, video games ran superb on the Realme C31 for probably the most half. I performed a bunch of titles starting from BGMI, Call of Duty: Mobile, to PES 2021, Asphalt 9 Legends, and extra.
In my expertise, Name of Obligation: Cell ran decently effectively with low graphics settings and low body charges. Bumping up the graphics to medium and excessive body charges pushed the machine to some extent the place gameplay was uneven throughout shootouts, rendering the sport considerably unplayable. This additionally resulted in sure parts of the again panel getting fairly heat after taking part in repeatedly for quarter-hour. Asphalt 9: Legends ran effectively on the high-quality settings with minor stutters when utilizing shockwave boosts, however it was nothing that will hinder the gaming expertise.
Steady gaming on the Realme C31 precipitated it to get barely heat
The Realme C31 allowed me to play BGMI on ‘Easy’ graphics and ‘Excessive’ body price settings with none lag or stutter. Switching issues as much as ‘HD’ graphics precipitated a few hiccups throughout squad fights and whereas roaming round in autos since components of the map took a bit too lengthy to load. The gyroscope additionally labored superb and I used to be capable of management my recoil throughout gunfights.
Temple Run and Subway Surfers ran effectively with none issues. The cellphone permits you to allow ‘Auto Decision’ within the Settings app which lowers the display decision in video games to preserve battery and scale back heating. Nevertheless, I didn’t discover any distinction in efficiency or usability after enabling it.
The show of the Realme C31 has respectable viewing angles and it permits you to select between Commonplace, Heat and Cool color tone presets, relying in your desire. I most well-liked protecting the preset on the ‘Commonplace’ mode because it had probably the most balanced look. The HD+ decision will not be the sharpest for such a big display measurement, however viewing content material on it’s an honest expertise. The display has a brightness of 400 nits and I had no points studying content material outside, even beneath direct daylight.
Colors on the Realme C31’s show regarded good for probably the most half. Whites popped effectively and the movies considered on this display had good distinction. Sadly, the C31 doesn’t help the Widevine L1 normal, so you may must make do with normal definition high quality playback from OTT apps reminiscent of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The speaker high quality is respectable and it will get loud sufficient in case you are holding the machine in your hand. As for the earpiece, it labored superb and I used to be capable of hear voices correctly on cellphone calls.
The Realme C31 permits you to allow video show enhancement, which is a characteristic that’s alleged to make colors brighter and extra vivid when watching movies. Nevertheless, I most well-liked leaving it disabled since this made movies look a bit too synthetic.
The Realme C31 has a 5,000mAh battery which lasted for 13 hours and 53 minutes in our HD video loop take a look at, which was a bit decrease than anticipated. On common, the cellphone was capable of final for a complete day’s price of utilization, which included a bit little bit of gaming and media consumption along with common utilization, on a single cost. With lighter use, I used to be ready to make use of it for a bit multiple full day. The provided 10W charger was capable of cost the Realme C31 to 23 % in half-hour, and took 2 hours, half-hour to cost the battery utterly.
The Realme C31 sports activities a triple-camera system on the again
Realme C31 cameras
The Realme C31 sports activities a triple-camera setup on the rear, consisting of a 13-megapixel main digicam with an f/2.2 aperture, a 2-megapixel macro digicam with an f/2.4 aperture, and a black-and-white digicam with an f/2.8 aperture. On the entrance, there’s a single 5-megapixel digicam with an f/2.2 aperture. The digicam interface can also be a simplified model of the common Realme digicam app, and I seen some body drops within the viewfinder whereas making an attempt to seize some photographs.
The digicam app is simple to make use of and navigate between the given choices. Nevertheless, precise digicam efficiency of the Realme C31 was common at finest. Photographs taken in daylight had been respectable, however lacked good particulars which had been fairly evident upon zooming in. The 13-megapixel main digicam managed to maintain the colors pretty practical however the dynamic vary was everywhere. Switching to ‘Auto HDR’ mode oversharpened the picture and likewise oversaturated a number of the colors. The C31 has digital zoom as much as 4X, and as you may need already guessed, photographs captured with the utmost magnification had a whole lot of grain and weren’t superb.
Realme C31 daylight digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)
Macro photographs had been under common, with photos having a pink tint to them. Capturing a profitable macro photograph wanted a few makes an attempt because it wasn’t straightforward to get the proper focus. The pictures additionally lacked good element. Portrait mode solely works with the rear digicam and for some purpose, solely labored on folks and never on objects. Edge detection was respectable and considerably constant, though at instances it did blur some components of the topic which it did not must. The digicam UI permits you to set the blur degree earlier than clicking every shot.
Realme C31 macro (prime) and close-up (backside) digicam samples (faucet to see full measurement)
Photos taken with the entrance digicam towards the sunshine on the Realme C31 appeared overexposed and regarded very peculiar. The 5-megapixel sensor struggled to seize good particulars on the face and within the environment. Photographs additionally appeared to have noise in them, which wasn’t ultimate.
Realme C31 daylight selfie digicam pattern (faucet to see full measurement)
Low-light photographs weren’t good as photographs had a good bit of noise even in well-lit environments. Photographs regarded mushy and lacked good particulars. The digicam additionally struggled to lock focus in dimly-lit situations. Shiny mild sources had been typically blown out in low mild photographs. After switching to Evening Professional mode, low-light photographs regarded a bit brighter. It additionally managed to stability the overblown lights from the sunshine supply however tended to saturate the photographs, as you’ll be able to see within the samples.
Realme C31 foremost digicam pattern in Photograph (prime) and Evening Professional (backside) mode (faucet to see full measurement)
The Realme C31 can document movies at as much as 1080p decision at 30fps. Movies shot in daylight had been peculiar with common particulars, and photographs appeared shaky as a result of lack of any stabilisation. Footage shot in low mild had loads of seen noise. That stated, a bonus of not having digital stabilisation meant there wasn’t any shimmer impact even whereas strolling throughout recording, which was good.
Verdict
The Realme C31 carried out effectively as my every day driver. Switching between apps and multitasking on the Realme UI R version was an honest expertise, though I would not counsel taking part in graphics-heavy video games on such a cellphone as it is not designed to deal with such exercise. The cellphone appears fashionable and classy and at first look, it is robust to inform that it is really a finances machine. The 5,000mAh battery was additionally enough to ship good battery life.
The cameras on the C31 might’ve been higher and ideally, Portrait mode shouldn’t have been restricted to simply human topics. If you happen to plan on getting the Realme C31, I’d counsel shopping for the upper RAM and storage variant since that value distinction will not be a lot and it ought to provide higher efficiency in the long term. If you’re in search of options in the identical value bracket, the just lately launched Moto E32s (First look) could be an attractive possibility to think about.
