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The Realme Narzo 30A has been officially revealed recently and the Philippines is one of the first to have it.

Priced at Php6,490, it’s geared towards the entry-level market where a lot of people want the best value they can get for their hard-earned money. If you’re one of those people, should you consider this device? We find out in our Realme Narzo 30A review.

Realme Narzo 30A Specs

  • Android 10, Realme UI 1.0 (Android 11 coming soon)
  • Dual SIM, Dual standby
  • 6.5-inch HD+ IPS display, 1600 x 720 pixel resolution, 269ppi
  • 2.0GHz MediaTek Helio G85 octa-core processor
  • 4GB RAM
  • Mali-G52 GPU
  • 64GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
  • 8-megapixel front camera
  • 13-megapixel (f/2.2, PDAF) + monochrome rear cameras, LED flash
  • Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
  • HSPA+, 4G LTE
  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
  • USB Type-C
  • Dimensions: 164.5 x 75.9 x 9.8mm
  • Weight: 207g
  • Colors: Laser Blue, Laser Black
  • 6,000mAh non-removable battery, 18W fast charging

Unboxing and Video Review

Design and Build Quality

Whether it’s a flagship or a budget smartphone, Realme always tries to come up with new designs for its smartphones. As you can see, a major part of the back panel has a diagonal stripe design that replicates a laser light look. In fact, the color that we have here is called Laser Blue, which has a teal-like appearance. A Laser Black option is also available.

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Like other budget phones, the Narzo 30A is made with plastic. Despite that, it doesn’t feel cheap or fragile. In fact, it’s surprisingly solid. The textured back panel keeps it clean and free from fingerprint smudges and marks.

The key highlight of the Narzo 30A is its enormous 6,000mAh battery. It should give impressive longevity (more on that later). On the downside, it made the device noticeably bulky. It’s 9.8mm thick and weighs 207g, while most phones averages at around 7.9mm and 185g, respectively.

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Moreover, we have the Narzo logo on the back. There’s also a square glass that houses two cameras, LED flash, and an AI logo for symmetry. The fingerprint scanner is also here, which may be a little high for those with smaller hands to reach conveniently.

On the front, there’s a 6.5-inch HD+ screen, a standard size for most phones today. There’s a waterdrop notch on top for the selfie camera, with the earpiece above it.

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On the top left, there’s a tray that can house two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card. While on the left, we have the volume controls and lock/power buttons. The physical keys feel plasticky, but do have a tactile sound when pressed.

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The top is clean, while at the bottom, we have the headphone jack, microphone, USB Type-C port, and loudspeaker.

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Overall, we’re impressed with the look and build of the Realme Narzo 30A. It looks unique and feels really solid.

Display and Sound Quality

The Realme Narzo 30A has a 6.5-inch HD+ IPS screen with 1600 x 720-pixel resolution. There are already a few devices in this price range that managed to have an FHD+ screen, so if the screen resolution is a top priority, then skip this one right away.

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Being an affordable phone, there’s nothing much to expect on the device’s screen. With the HD+ screen, sharpness is not the best, but we doubt an average consumer can notice the difference.

The colors are fine, and the decent size is enough for watching videos and multitasking. Realme also brags its peak brightness of 570-nits so that you can see it better on sunny outdoors. It did work well during our tests.

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As for audio, the bottom-firing loudspeaker has a surprisingly loud volume, but not too loud to entertain guests. Sound quality has decent clarity, no noticeable distortion at max volume.

Hardware and Performance

Powering the Realme Narzo 30A is a 2.0GHz MediaTek Helio G85 octa-core processor with a Mali-G52 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of expandable storage.

Realme Narzo 30A benchmarks

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AnTuTu Benchmark, GeekBench, 3DMark, and PCMark on the Realme Narzo 30A

No immediate issues with the performance. Social media browsing, taking pictures, watching videos, and any basic tasks you’d be doing daily were pretty smooth on this device.

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Call of Duty Mobile on the Realme Narzo 30A

We also tried playing Call of Duty Mobile at the highest possible settings (Graphics Quality: Medium, Frame Rate: High), and the game ran smoothly with no noticeable frame drops or lag. After minutes of playing, you can feel the device starting to heat up, but nothing too alarming.

With that, you can expect other popular games like League of Legends Wild Rift and Genshin Impact to also run nicely on this device.

Software and User Interface

The Realme Narzo 30A runs on the old Android 10-based Realme UI 1.0 out of the box. But don’t worry, as Realme also promised the Android 11-based Realme UI 2.0 update to arrive in Q3 of 2021.

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It may not be the cleanest interface around, but it does the job fine without much nonsense. Bloatware was also kept at a minimum.

A couple of notable features are the App Cloner for multi-account management, Game Space and Game Assistant for the best possible gaming experience, easy split-screen launcher, and OPPO’s HeyTap cloud.

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Related: Realme price list in the Philippines 2021

Cameras

As you already know, the Realme Narzo 30A was made for gaming, which is why it’s no surprise that the camera has been left out.

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This thing has two shooters on the back. There’s the 13-megapixel main camera with f/2.2 aperture and a monochrome sensor. No ultra-wide, no macro, no depth sensor.

The camera quality is fine for casual snaps, but definitely nothing to brag about. The colors are a bit washed out, and the sharpness quality is unsurprisingly lacking. On the upside, the HDR mode can help up the dynamic range if you need it.

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13-megapixel main camera
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13-megapixel main camera

Night Mode didn’t have a noticeable impact in shots taken at night, and the lack of a dedicated depth sensor was hard for the portrait mode to get things right. But if you want to get creative, modes like Expert, Slo-mo, Timelapse, and Panorama are present.

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13-megapixel main camera | Night Mode
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13-megapixel main camera | Portrait Mode
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13-megapixel main camera | HDR On

Meanwhile, the 8-megapixel front-facing camera can take and relatively sharp selfies, for as long as you turn the AI face beauty mode off. TikTok videos, video calls, an selfies should look fine on this camera.

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8-megapixel camera | AI Face Beauty settings
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8-megapixel camera
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8-megapixel camera

Battery

Now let’s talk about the key highlight of the Realme Narzo 30A, its enormous 6,000mAh battery. It got a score of 15 hours and 19 minutes in PCMark’s battery loop test.

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This means that you can get a solid 2-3 days of light to moderate use out of this device. But if you’re a hardcore gamer or loves to binge-watch Netflix all day, then you might have to reach for the charger before the day ends. Not bad.

As a bonus, the reverse charging feature lets you turn it into a power bank, so you can share battery charge with a friend or any of your other gadgets, giving you more uses for its enormous battery. But, you’d need to purchase a USB OTG cable for this to work.

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Getting an 18W fast charger on a sub-Php7,000 smartphone is a huge plus. However, for a battery as large as this one, expect longer charging times. A full 0%-100% charge may take 3-4 hours.

Verdict

An entry-level smartphone should prioritize the main thing that people care about: performance. With that, the Helio G85 chip on the Realme Narzo 30A is not just powerful for basic and day-to-day tasks, but also in gaming.

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Partner that with robust battery life, and a distinct design as a bonus, then you have a smartphone that should justify the money you’re paying for it.

However, there’s no denying that there are some alternatives out there that already offer some things that this device lacks. But for what it is, the Realme Narzo 30A is still worth the shot.

Realme Narzo 30A pricing and availability in the Philippines

The Realme Narzo 30A has an official price of Php6,490 and is now exclusively available in Lazada.

Pros

  • Distinct design
  • Powerful processor for gaming
  • Long battery life

Cons

  • Average cameras
  • Ony HD+ resolution
  • Large and bulky

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2 Comments

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  1. Definitely a good set of features especially for a budget segment gaming phone. Mediatek helio G85 with massive 6000mAh battery and the camera setup makes a good combo of specs

  2. With the Mediatek Helio G85 chipset along with the 6000mAh big battery, Narzo 30A comes as a good addition to this price range as well as a powerful gaming phone