realme 10 Hands-on Review

Having dominated the Philippine smartphone market for six consecutive quarters (according to IDC's Q2 2022 sell-in report), realme Philippines has released the realme 10, the latest flagship in its number series.

This is an important release for the brand since it marks the first time the Philippines has joined in a realme global launch, making it one of the first countries to get realme10 upon its official release. Just in time for the holiday, you can add this new midrange device to your Wishlist.

Also read realme 10 Unboxing and First Impressions

realme 10 Specs

Android 12, Realme UI 3.0

6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display, 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, 409ppi

90Hz refresh rate, 160Hz touch sampling, 600 nits brightness

Corning Gorilla Glass 5

2.2GHz MediaTek Helio G99 Processor

Mali-G57 MC2 GPU

8GB RAM

128GB / 256GB UFS 2.2 internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 1TB

50MP Color AI + 2MP black & white rear cameras, LED flash

16MP selfie camera

Side mount fingerprint scanner

Face unlock

Single loudspeaker

Hi-Res audio

3.5mm Headset Jack

Dual SIM, Dual standby

HSPA+, 4G LTE

Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot

Bluetooth 5.3

GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS

USB Type-C

5,000mAh battery, 33W SUPERVOOC charger

Colors: Rush Black and Clash White

178g

Now, let's take a look at the new realme 10 features and capabilities.

realme 10 Design and Built
Weighing in at just 179 grams and boasting a sleek design, the realme 10 is a pocket-friendly smartphone that makes an impressive first impression. It's available in Rush Black and Clash White color schemes which stands out from the crowd.

 Its Ultra-Slim Light Particle Design makes the realme 10 the thinnest device in the number series, measuring in at just 7.95 millimeters in thickness. This Light Particle finish brings to mind an image of scattered light from distant starbursts. Depending on the angle of the light, the colors might appear white, blue, pink, orange, or purple.

The back of the device looks stunning, featuring two cameras housed in unicover rings: a primary 50-megapixel shooter and a secondary 2MP monochrome depth sensor with an LED flash. You can also find a microphone on top.

The primary microphone, the speaker, the 3.5mm jack, and the USB-C port are located at the bottom of the device.

Due to the protruding cameras, the realme 10 wobbles when put face down on a table. Thankfully, it comes with a protective case to resolve this minor issue.

The realme 10 features a flat, Gorilla Glass 5-protected display, a flat, multi-layered plastic back, and a flat, matte-finished frame. Both ends of the frame include subtly rounded corners that enhance the overall grip.

In contrast to the realme 9, which incorporates a fingerprint reader beneath the display, the realme 10 has incorporated the sensor into the power button. Which is much faster or more accurate than a conventional fingerprint scanner. It also has a volume rocker on the right side.

To its left is a triple card slot that accommodates two nano-SIMs in addition to a microSD card (up to 1TB in capacity).

The realme 10 is a stylish smartphone that is well-built and easy to hold. It's not too bulky in terms of size or weight, so it can easily fit in a pocket.

realme 10 Display and Audio
The front is dominated by the vivid 6.4-inch AMOLED display. The panel has a refresh rate of 90 hertz, and a touch response time of 360 hertz, and a DCI-P3 color gamut. 

While The 16-megapixel front-facing camera sensor is placed on the upper left corner punch hole.

The screen has minimal bezels, with the exception of the chin. With a contrast ratio of 4,000,000:1, and up to 1,000nits of peak brightness, it provides an optimal viewing experience thanks to the AMOLED display. While Viewing angle is also excellent and outdoor use is also good.

The screen can be set to one of three color modes: Vivid (DCI-P3 color space), Natural (sRGB color space), or Pro (which offers the warmer P3 and Brilliant color gamuts). The color temperature can be adjusted using the slider.

The standard frame rate for video playback is 60fps. Technically, high refresh rate gaming might allow for more than 60fps, but the GPU isn't powerful enough to make games run at that rate. Support for Widevine L1 DRM means that this device can stream in Full HD from Netflix and other video streaming apps.

The Ultra Vision Engine is a feature of the Realme UI that converts standard dynamic range (SDR) videos to high dynamic range (HDR) ones. Perhaps we are not using it with the right app or content, but we didn't see much of a difference.

In terms of speaker audio, realme equipped this device with a 200% UltraBoom Speaker with Hi-Res on its single speaker at the bottom. When the high frequency is amplified, the sound becomes much louder and may even be unpleasant to the ears. Without the amplification, the sound seems to be focused on the midrange.

Performance and realme UI 3.0
The realme 10 is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 chipset with a 2.2GHz maximum clock speed which is manufactured using the TSMC N6 (6nm-class) manufacturing process and a Mali-G57 MC2 graphics processing unit (GPU).

The base configuration has 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage, with an 8GB + 256GB variant also available. This is a significant performance improvement over the Realme 9 Snapdragon 680 chipset.

Additionally, it enables RAM expansion up to 8GB, resulting in 8GB RAM + 8GB Virtual RAM.

For Benchmark apps, below is how the realme 10 performs:

AnTuTu 9 - 394518
GeekBench 5 - 1689 (multi-core) / 545 (single-core)
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 - 16
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 - 25
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 - 1319

When using the realme 10, you won't experience any hiccups in gameplay or user interface. With the default settings, we were able to play action games at a frame rate of standard 50fps or higher, which is more than sufficient for enjoying a smooth gameplay experience.

In addition, the Chipset stress score is 85%, while the 3D Mark stress score was 98.3%. This means that the realme 10 will not slow down after continuous peak performance. We are also impressed that after running benchmark apps for about an hour, it barely warmed up in the backside.

realme UI 3.0

It runs on Android 12 with realme UI 3.0 out of the box. It's the 3rd version of the brand's launcher, which has an improved and more fluid user interface, more extensive customization options, an improved privacy panel and privacy indicators, a better floating window, and more.

realme personalizations

The realme 3.0 allows for a wide range of customization options. All of your preferences can be saved on a dedicated Settings page. The overall Realme UI can be given a new look by selecting a new color scheme, font, or icon pack. But it does not seem to support live wallpapers. 

Now you can choose between black, dark gray, and light gray for the Dark Mode option, giving you a lot more customization options. If you choose Automatic Contrast, Dark Mode will select its style based on the ambient light.

It's cool that the app can be closed or minimized to a floating window, thanks to the Flexible window feature. Its size can also be adjusted as needed. You can also transfer data between two app types, simply drag and drop the files you want to transfer. Flexible windows are available within the Task Switcher or the Sidebar.

While Sidebar is merely a little icon at the screen's edge that, when swiped, reveals additional options. You have control over what this menu does and which apps are given quick access through it.

If you want complete control over your phone, the settings menu is where you can modify some of the settings, this is only recommended if you know or have knowledge of how the Android system works. However, the majority of users should utilize AI algorithms to keep things running smoothly.

When compared to other phones in its price range, the realme 10 excels in both reliability and performance.

50MP Color AI Camera

The realme 10 sports a 50-megapixel main shooter and a 2-megapixel depth sensor on the back. This is a downgrade from the realme 9 triple camera setup. The brand claim that the main sensor can provide images comparable to those produced by the 108MP sensor. Sadly, the realme 10 lacks an ultrawide camera. For snapping selfies  It features a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.

The main sensor uses a Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN1 1/2.76" sensor with a Tetracell filter and 0.64m pixels. It comes equipped with a 27mm f/1.8 lens and PDAF.  While the second camera use monochrome OmniVision OV02B1 sensor for depth images. It supports Night, Street, Photo, Portrait, 50m, Dual video, Time-lapse, Panorama, and Slow-mo camera modes.  

On the other hand, the front camera is equipped with an OmniVision OV16A1Q 1/3.06" sensor with 1.0m pixels and a Quad-Layer filter with a 25mm f/2.45 lens fixed focus.

Our outdoor photos include dramatic contrast and virtually minimal noise. The dynamic range is adequate, although in certain cases it could use a little improvement. The colors are sharp but not always very vibrant.

You can have a lot of fun with the Night and Street modes, and the variety of filters available in the Street mode will make shooting photos a real treat. While the 50-megapixel high-resolution mode offers some intelligent upscaling since there is noticeably more detail than on the 2x upscaled photos.

The front-facing camera can capture good, detailed images with low noise, excellent contrast and dynamic range, and accurate colors.

Sample Photos

The back camera is capable of recording 1080p video at 30pfs and 60 frames per second.  front camera is limited to 1080p at 30fps. Both camera offers no electronic stabilizing feature.

The 1080p daytime video has sufficient resolved clarity, appropriate sharpening, little noise, and true colors. We liked the contrast, and the dynamic range is particularly impressive.

Overall we love using the realme 10 camera to shoot photos and record videos. 

Battery Life

The realme 10 has the same 5,000mAh battery capacity as the most of midrange smartphones on the market today. We're able to get a total endurance rating of 120 hours.  The realme 10 passed our battery tests, which included phone calls, web browsing, video playback, gaming, streaming videos, and listening to music with wireless headphones, with flying colors.

The realme 10 comes with a power adapter and a 3A-rated charging cable, and it is capable of fast-wired charging at 33W. By default, you'll be using a charging optimization that slows down charging during the night to preserve battery life.

Using the included 33W charger, the Realme 10 battery was charged from 0% to 30% in just 15 minutes. After 20 minutes, the indicator showed that the battery was at 48% capacity. With just 75 minutes, the battery is fully charged at 100% capacity. 

Pros

Eye-candy  design

Sharp 90Hz AMOLED display

Premium look and feel

Capable camera

Fast and stable performance

Impressive battery

Fast charging

Cons

Supports only 4G LTE 

Average screen brightness

No wireless charging

Downgrade camera compared to realme 9

No ultrawide camera

No 4K video recording

Final Thoughts

Despite its shortcomings, the realme 10 is a stylish smartphone that we can confidently recommend for the value it offers. We love its attractive design, and its sharp AMOLED screen, battery life, fast charging speed, great performance, and even stable realme UI 3.0 all exceeded our expectations. Other notable features include the audio jack, a dedicated MicroSD slot, and Street Photography Mode 2.0. If you are looking for a reliable smartphone pack with features and with stylish design, the realme 10 is a good option.

The realme 10 (8GB+128GB) variant is priced at only ₱12,999, and it's now available on both Lazada and Shopee as well as realme’s official stores and dealers nationwide.

While the realme 10 (8GB+256GB) variant, it will retail for only ₱14,999. Pre-orders will start on November 26 to December 2, 2022! Every purchase will come with a FREE realme Cobble Bluetooth Speaker worth ₱1,590!

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