realme Note 50 Review

Entry-level phones are a big seller in a lot of markets, especially in countries like the Philippines. realme is banking on that as it launched a new line of smartphones, which starts with the realme Note 50.

When we first heard that realme is coming up with a “Note” series, we were expecting a high-end device. Instead, we got the cheapest line from the company — even cheaper than the popular realme C series. Now, let’s see what this device is all about in our realme Note 50 review.

realme Note 50 Specs

Android 13, realme UI T Edition
Dual SIM, Dual standby
6.74-inch HD+ LCD display, 1600 x 720 pixel resolution, 260ppi
90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling
1.82GHz UNISOC T612 octa-core processor
4GB RAM
Mali-G57 GPU
64GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
5-megapixel front camera
13-megapixel + monochrome sensor rear cameras, LED flash
Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
Single loudspeaker, Headphone jack
IP54 dust and splash resistant
HSPA+, 4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Bluetooth 5.0
GPS
USB-C
Dimensions: 167.7 x 76.67 x 7.99mm
Weight: 186g
Colors: Sky Blue, Midnight Black
5,000mAh non-removable battery, 10W charging

Design and Build Quality

The realme Note 50 looks very identical to the realme C51 that came out in September of 2023. It has two textures: the one on top is shiny and glass-like, which boosts the glittery panel behind the surface. The bottom texture has a matte finish and dominates around 75% of the rear panel. Both attract fingerprints but are barely noticeable.

It also has the same iPhone-like camera layout as a lot of smartphones we’ve reviewed recently. Like them, the lens islands look unnecessarily large, but I guess it was done for symmetry and aesthetics. The third glass on this device is just for the LED flash instead of a tertiary camera.

What we liked here is the flat frame, which makes it easier to hold when you’re taking pictures or watching videos. It also feels made of solid metal and has the same glitter effect that of the rear panel and matches its color.

While the frame feels solid, we did hear creaking when we tried flexing the realme Note 50. It’s a bit worrying but shouldn’t be an issue unless you deliberately try to break the device. realme included a case in the box, so you might want to use that for added protection.

At 7.99mm, the Note 50 is thin enough to be comfortable to hold. The 186g weight is pretty average for its size. But in actual use, it feels lightweight.

Now, let’s take a tour. On the front, we have a large 6.74-inch display. It has a waterdrop notch instead of the more modern punch-hole, which is acceptable considering the price. The bezels are not the thinnest, but definitely acceptable for the price point.

We have the SIM tray on the left for two nano SIMs and a microSD card. On the right, there’s the volume control and the lock/power/fingerprint scanner.

The buttons are thin and flat, which makes the sides visually seamless, albeit did make the buttons a bit harder to press.

The top portion is clean while the bottom houses the 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in microphone, USB-C port, and a single loudspeaker.

Display and Sound Quality

The realme Note 50 has a 6.74-inch screen that has a 1600 x 720 pixel resolution, with only 83% color coverage and 560-nits of peak brightness. Surprisingly, realme managed to pack it with 90Hz refresh rate.

It’s really hard to complain about display quality for an affordable device like this. Sure, the colors and screen brightness are not that good, but it’s probably decent enough for most people. The 90Hz refresh rate also doesn’t feel as smooth as it should be, although that’s to be expected for a budget smartphone.

For the price, we do appreciate the large size, giving you more room for consuming content.

As usual, budget limitations mean it only has a single speaker instead of a stereo setup. Fortunately, the bottom-firing driver gets pretty loud, which is all you need.

Sound balance is not the best, but not irritating to the ears. There’s also a 150% volume boost mode, which is a welcome inclusion, but barely brings improvements to the standard 100% volume.

Hardware and Performance

The realme Note 50 is powered by a 1.85GHz UNISOC T612 octa-core processor with Mali-G57 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. It also supports microSD card expannsion of up to 2TB.

realme Note 50 Benchmark Scores

Performance is quite good, at least for the price. You can browse the web, make video calls, watch TikTok videos, take pictures, and a whole lot more smoother than other phones in this category.

Gaming was fine at Low to Medium settings, even in demanding and popular titles. However, the limiting 64GB of storage can be an issue. Games like Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact already eat around 30GB of space, while the system memory takes about 17GB of space for some reason. This means that you can only install at least one game at a time, unless you purchase a microSD card. They have gotten cheap days, so that won’t probably be an issue for those who like to expand it further.

Now, back to gaming. For shooter games like Call of Duty Mobile and Farlight84, we prioritized frame rate over graphics quality, which turned out fine as they were very playable under Low and Medium settings.

Meanwhile, the demanding game Genshin Impact barely runs on the lowest settings. It runs, but be ready for lags and stutters during fights and on busy locations.

Game	Graphics Settings
Call of Duty: Mobile	• Graphics Quality: Low • Frame Rate: High
Farlight84	• Graphics Quality: Minimal • Frame Rate: Very High • Resolution: Medium
PUBG Mobile	• Graphics Quality: Balanced • Frame Rate: Medium
Genshin Impact	• Graphics Quality: Lowest (Default)
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang	• Graphics Quality: Medium • Frame Rate: High • HD Mode: Off

Software and User Interface

The realme Note 50 runs on Android 13-based realme UI T Edition. It just looks like a stock version of Android, which is nice since we don’t want anything slowing down the entry-level chipset.

We liked the App Drawer, especially the accurate app suggestions on top that gave us quick access to what we were planning to use.

What we don’t appreciate is the amount of bloatware. Apps like Booking.com are there, but most of them can fortunately be removed to save on space.

We also like how clean the Settings is, which easily shows you the battery percentage, estimated usage time, as well as the storage capacity, right from the main menu.

As you can see on the screenshot above, the the System is taking 18GB, which is already 28% of the realme Note 50’s small 64GB storage.

We also tested both the fingerprint scanner and face unlock, which both worked fine and well during our time with it.

Plus, we liked how the device received a software update in the middle of our review. Prompt updates are rare on budget phones and we hope realme is consistent with this.

Oh, and we also have realme’s Mini Capsule, which works like Apple’s Dynamic Island, only this time, it has very limited use as it only shows charging status, data usage, and step stats.

Camera

As you might expect, the realme Note 50 doesn’t have the most exciting camera setup. It’s understandable, as the limited resources were put into performance-related hardware.

That said, the Note 50 only has a lone and low-resolution 13-megapixel main camera and 5-megapixel on the front.

Image quality from the main camera is nothing to brag about, but still usable. Again, price is to be considered in judging the image quality. With that, we can say that photos have a decent amount of details, and colors are fine, albeit the dynamic range is quite bad. Portrait mode also worked well.

Shooting in low-light environments make it struggle a bit more, but it still produces decent enough photos for social media usage.

Meanwhile, the quality of the 5-megapixel front camera is something you’d expect. Like the main one, it’s decent and usable, even for video calls.

Battery and Charging

Despite being a budget phone, it still has the standard 5,000mAh battery that most phones have today. However, the budget limitation is still apparent, as seen in the charging department.

With the low-resolution screen and underpowered processor, the Note 50 unsurprisingly has great battery longevity. It was able to last for 16 hours and 40 minutes in PCMark’s battery test. The highest we got on this test was about 18 hours.

In actual usage, it was able to last for up to two days of casual web browsing, messaging, and calls. Heavy gamers will have to charge every night or at the middle of the day of they are gaming non-stop.

Speaking of charging, the 10W adapter surely takes its sweet time to fully charge the device. Based on our tests, it was able to juice up from 0 to 100% in around 2 hours and 50 minutes. See our detailed charging test results below:

15 minutes: 0-11%
30 minutes: 21%
1 hour 15 minutes: 53%
2 hours: 83%
2 hours 50 minutes: 100%

Verdict

The realme Note 50 is possibly the brand’s most value-oriented smartphone to date. We were impressed by the amount of hardware that realme was able to cram on a device at this very low price point.

It may be cheap, but the design says otherwise. It even has a large display with a loud single speaker, robust battery life, and a satisfactory performance even for gaming.

Sure, the charging speed is awfully slow and the storage is small for modern standards, but both are small compromises that can be overlooked considering how cheap the realme Note 50 is.

So, if you really are on a tight budget for a brand-new phone, a backup device, for business, or just want a simple phone to gift to a friend or family member, you can’t go wrong with the realme Note 50.

realme Note 50 pricing and availability in the Philippines

The realme Note 50 has an SRP of Php3,599 in the Philippines. It launched in TikTok Shop with an introductory price of only Php2,499, so we expect it to get some discounts in the near future.

Pros

Attractive design for a budget phone
Good single loudspeaker
Satisfactory performance for basic tasks and gaming
Long battery life

Cons

Limited storage space
Very slow charging speed