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Customer Review
Reviewed in India on 3 January 2024
I got this smartphone in December 2023 last year. I have the 12GB/1TB variant.
Performance:
It's the smoothest performing smartphone I have used to date. Even under heavy load(not super heavy like dolphin emulation, LLMs) it does not throttle(but, will turn off features like hotspot, high brightness for HDR to reduce heat)
I have played games like titan quest, Asphalt extreme, pocket rogues, dead cells, telsa vs live craft, undead horde. And they play fine. Most do not get above 60fps with the default auto refresh rate mode so you have to use the high refresh rate mode to get high fps if supported by the game. Some games like wreakfest need more powerful chipset.
For my usage of whatsapp, telegram, reddit, lemmy, email, web browsing(firefox), Netflix, hotstar, prime video, torrents, YouTube, messaging, and some emulation it works fine. Only in super heavy tasks(LLMs, high performance emulation) super high end games demanding flagship processors(snapdragon 865 or higher) will it bow.
With 12GB ram and 4GB virtual I can have lots of apps in the background and also run multiple ram heavy apps which take 2-3gbs for each. But, there are times where even with 12+12 of ram some apps reload while others don't. I'm guessing, realme app killing technology.
The storage provided is 1TB with a fast ufs 3.1 interface (no sdcard support). Not even the galaxy A54(costing 35k-40k) provides this fast storage(but supports sdcard). Unfortunately, it has USB 2.0 speeds. So, transferring all that data when the times comes will be slow and could be a chore 😅
Camera:
There is only one useful camera(108mp) vs the 2mp depth. Would've liked a ultra wide but oh well. The camera is good(25k smartphone good) but don't expect it to compete with 30k smartphone like the realme 11 pro plus 5g. The front facing camera is decent I did not have any complaints.
Display:
The display is awesome. It's a curved amoled display. It supports HDR on YouTube. Unfortunately, no hdr on Netflix or Amazon. While it is 120hz. The default auto restricts that in many apps. If battery is not an issue I recommend high for maximum smoothness.
Charging and battery life:
It can easily last the full day with some to spare for the next day depending on your use. Expect 7-8hrs of screen time.
It supports 67w supervooc fast charging and comes with a compatible 80w charger in the box. Takes less than 1hour for full charge. But, I would've liked if it supported 80w if not 100w fast charging like the 11 pro plus.
Now to the cons. While, It's running on the November security patch. The android 14 update is still in early access. Meanwhile, samsung has updated most of its portfolio to android 14.
One thing with the UI is bloatware/ads/recommendations and security app scanning. Disable, turn off based on YouTube videos.
Also, compared to Samsung's oneui, realme ui is not that feature rich and appears very much bare bones. You do not even get Live Transcribe a standard android feature from 2019. Or multi sound(samsung oneui).
The updates are only 2+3 so it will be outdated in a short period of time. Meanwhile, Samsung provides 4+5 yrs even on its lower midrange M34/A25 series smartphone. And 2+4 on budget smartphones. All this hardware but not that long support 😕 At least provide 4 years of security updates.
If you've never used a upper mid-range samsung smartphone or only used stock android go for it. Just remember the UI comes with bloat and ads and needs to be set up to disable those. Alternatives like Motorola edge 40 Neo, Samsung galaxy F54, can be checked depending on your needs.
Performance:
It's the smoothest performing smartphone I have used to date. Even under heavy load(not super heavy like dolphin emulation, LLMs) it does not throttle(but, will turn off features like hotspot, high brightness for HDR to reduce heat)
I have played games like titan quest, Asphalt extreme, pocket rogues, dead cells, telsa vs live craft, undead horde. And they play fine. Most do not get above 60fps with the default auto refresh rate mode so you have to use the high refresh rate mode to get high fps if supported by the game. Some games like wreakfest need more powerful chipset.
For my usage of whatsapp, telegram, reddit, lemmy, email, web browsing(firefox), Netflix, hotstar, prime video, torrents, YouTube, messaging, and some emulation it works fine. Only in super heavy tasks(LLMs, high performance emulation) super high end games demanding flagship processors(snapdragon 865 or higher) will it bow.
With 12GB ram and 4GB virtual I can have lots of apps in the background and also run multiple ram heavy apps which take 2-3gbs for each. But, there are times where even with 12+12 of ram some apps reload while others don't. I'm guessing, realme app killing technology.
The storage provided is 1TB with a fast ufs 3.1 interface (no sdcard support). Not even the galaxy A54(costing 35k-40k) provides this fast storage(but supports sdcard). Unfortunately, it has USB 2.0 speeds. So, transferring all that data when the times comes will be slow and could be a chore 😅
Camera:
There is only one useful camera(108mp) vs the 2mp depth. Would've liked a ultra wide but oh well. The camera is good(25k smartphone good) but don't expect it to compete with 30k smartphone like the realme 11 pro plus 5g. The front facing camera is decent I did not have any complaints.
Display:
The display is awesome. It's a curved amoled display. It supports HDR on YouTube. Unfortunately, no hdr on Netflix or Amazon. While it is 120hz. The default auto restricts that in many apps. If battery is not an issue I recommend high for maximum smoothness.
Charging and battery life:
It can easily last the full day with some to spare for the next day depending on your use. Expect 7-8hrs of screen time.
It supports 67w supervooc fast charging and comes with a compatible 80w charger in the box. Takes less than 1hour for full charge. But, I would've liked if it supported 80w if not 100w fast charging like the 11 pro plus.
Now to the cons. While, It's running on the November security patch. The android 14 update is still in early access. Meanwhile, samsung has updated most of its portfolio to android 14.
One thing with the UI is bloatware/ads/recommendations and security app scanning. Disable, turn off based on YouTube videos.
Also, compared to Samsung's oneui, realme ui is not that feature rich and appears very much bare bones. You do not even get Live Transcribe a standard android feature from 2019. Or multi sound(samsung oneui).
The updates are only 2+3 so it will be outdated in a short period of time. Meanwhile, Samsung provides 4+5 yrs even on its lower midrange M34/A25 series smartphone. And 2+4 on budget smartphones. All this hardware but not that long support 😕 At least provide 4 years of security updates.
If you've never used a upper mid-range samsung smartphone or only used stock android go for it. Just remember the UI comes with bloat and ads and needs to be set up to disable those. Alternatives like Motorola edge 40 Neo, Samsung galaxy F54, can be checked depending on your needs.
I got this smartphone in December 2023 last year. I have the 12GB/1TB variant.
Performance:
It's the smoothest performing smartphone I have used to date. Even under heavy load(not super heavy like dolphin emulation, LLMs) it does not throttle(but, will turn off features like hotspot, high brightness for HDR to reduce heat)
I have played games like titan quest, Asphalt extreme, pocket rogues, dead cells, telsa vs live craft, undead horde. And they play fine. Most do not get above 60fps with the default auto refresh rate mode so you have to use the high refresh rate mode to get high fps if supported by the game. Some games like wreakfest need more powerful chipset.
For my usage of whatsapp, telegram, reddit, lemmy, email, web browsing(firefox), Netflix, hotstar, prime video, torrents, YouTube, messaging, and some emulation it works fine. Only in super heavy tasks(LLMs, high performance emulation) super high end games demanding flagship processors(snapdragon 865 or higher) will it bow.
With 12GB ram and 4GB virtual I can have lots of apps in the background and also run multiple ram heavy apps which take 2-3gbs for each. But, there are times where even with 12+12 of ram some apps reload while others don't. I'm guessing, realme app killing technology.
The storage provided is 1TB with a fast ufs 3.1 interface (no sdcard support). Not even the galaxy A54(costing 35k-40k) provides this fast storage(but supports sdcard). Unfortunately, it has USB 2.0 speeds. So, transferring all that data when the times comes will be slow and could be a chore 😅
Camera:
There is only one useful camera(108mp) vs the 2mp depth. Would've liked a ultra wide but oh well. The camera is good(25k smartphone good) but don't expect it to compete with 30k smartphone like the realme 11 pro plus 5g. The front facing camera is decent I did not have any complaints.
Display:
The display is awesome. It's a curved amoled display. It supports HDR on YouTube. Unfortunately, no hdr on Netflix or Amazon. While it is 120hz. The default auto restricts that in many apps. If battery is not an issue I recommend high for maximum smoothness.
Charging and battery life:
It can easily last the full day with some to spare for the next day depending on your use. Expect 7-8hrs of screen time.
It supports 67w supervooc fast charging and comes with a compatible 80w charger in the box. Takes less than 1hour for full charge. But, I would've liked if it supported 80w if not 100w fast charging like the 11 pro plus.
Now to the cons. While, It's running on the November security patch. The android 14 update is still in early access. Meanwhile, samsung has updated most of its portfolio to android 14.
One thing with the UI is bloatware/ads/recommendations and security app scanning. Disable, turn off based on YouTube videos.
Also, compared to Samsung's oneui, realme ui is not that feature rich and appears very much bare bones. You do not even get Live Transcribe a standard android feature from 2019. Or multi sound(samsung oneui).
The updates are only 2+3 so it will be outdated in a short period of time. Meanwhile, Samsung provides 4+5 yrs even on its lower midrange M34/A25 series smartphone. And 2+4 on budget smartphones. All this hardware but not that long support 😕 At least provide 4 years of security updates.
If you've never used a upper mid-range samsung smartphone or only used stock android go for it. Just remember the UI comes with bloat and ads and needs to be set up to disable those. Alternatives like Motorola edge 40 Neo, Samsung galaxy F54, can be checked depending on your needs.
Performance:
It's the smoothest performing smartphone I have used to date. Even under heavy load(not super heavy like dolphin emulation, LLMs) it does not throttle(but, will turn off features like hotspot, high brightness for HDR to reduce heat)
I have played games like titan quest, Asphalt extreme, pocket rogues, dead cells, telsa vs live craft, undead horde. And they play fine. Most do not get above 60fps with the default auto refresh rate mode so you have to use the high refresh rate mode to get high fps if supported by the game. Some games like wreakfest need more powerful chipset.
For my usage of whatsapp, telegram, reddit, lemmy, email, web browsing(firefox), Netflix, hotstar, prime video, torrents, YouTube, messaging, and some emulation it works fine. Only in super heavy tasks(LLMs, high performance emulation) super high end games demanding flagship processors(snapdragon 865 or higher) will it bow.
With 12GB ram and 4GB virtual I can have lots of apps in the background and also run multiple ram heavy apps which take 2-3gbs for each. But, there are times where even with 12+12 of ram some apps reload while others don't. I'm guessing, realme app killing technology.
The storage provided is 1TB with a fast ufs 3.1 interface (no sdcard support). Not even the galaxy A54(costing 35k-40k) provides this fast storage(but supports sdcard). Unfortunately, it has USB 2.0 speeds. So, transferring all that data when the times comes will be slow and could be a chore 😅
Camera:
There is only one useful camera(108mp) vs the 2mp depth. Would've liked a ultra wide but oh well. The camera is good(25k smartphone good) but don't expect it to compete with 30k smartphone like the realme 11 pro plus 5g. The front facing camera is decent I did not have any complaints.
Display:
The display is awesome. It's a curved amoled display. It supports HDR on YouTube. Unfortunately, no hdr on Netflix or Amazon. While it is 120hz. The default auto restricts that in many apps. If battery is not an issue I recommend high for maximum smoothness.
Charging and battery life:
It can easily last the full day with some to spare for the next day depending on your use. Expect 7-8hrs of screen time.
It supports 67w supervooc fast charging and comes with a compatible 80w charger in the box. Takes less than 1hour for full charge. But, I would've liked if it supported 80w if not 100w fast charging like the 11 pro plus.
Now to the cons. While, It's running on the November security patch. The android 14 update is still in early access. Meanwhile, samsung has updated most of its portfolio to android 14.
One thing with the UI is bloatware/ads/recommendations and security app scanning. Disable, turn off based on YouTube videos.
Also, compared to Samsung's oneui, realme ui is not that feature rich and appears very much bare bones. You do not even get Live Transcribe a standard android feature from 2019. Or multi sound(samsung oneui).
The updates are only 2+3 so it will be outdated in a short period of time. Meanwhile, Samsung provides 4+5 yrs even on its lower midrange M34/A25 series smartphone. And 2+4 on budget smartphones. All this hardware but not that long support 😕 At least provide 4 years of security updates.
If you've never used a upper mid-range samsung smartphone or only used stock android go for it. Just remember the UI comes with bloat and ads and needs to be set up to disable those. Alternatives like Motorola edge 40 Neo, Samsung galaxy F54, can be checked depending on your needs.
Images in this review
