Realme, which recently became a stand-alone company after being a sub-brand of Oppo for months since its May 2018 inception, has released the latest smartphone from its coffers. Dubbed the Realme U1, the device is the first member of the Chinese company “Realme U” series. Also, the Realme would be the first smartphone in the world to sports MediaTek’s new Helio P70 SoC.
This system-on-chip translates into smooth processing prowess as well as unruffled gaming performance. The Realme U1 is, however, a selfie-focused smartphone as it comes with a stunning 24-megapixels selfie camera laced to high-end features and image processing capabilities.
Again, the device is the first “Selfie Pro” smartphone from the brand. Competitively priced, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if the Realme U1 becomes the people’s favourite selfie smartphone in no time. In the meantime, let’s have a look at what the device is made of.
Realme U1 Key Specifications
- 6.3-inch IPS LCD 19.5:9, FHD+
- Primary 13MP, f/2.2 lens; Secondary 2MP depth sensor
- 3GB or 4GB RAM
- 32GB or 64GB storage
- Micro SD card slot (up to 256GB)
- MediaTek Octa-Core Helio P70
- 25MP SONY IMX 576 sensor with f/2.0 aperture
- Color OS 5.2 based on Android 8.1 Oreo
- 3,500mAh, 10W charging
Design
Aesthetically, the Realme U1 wears the same design pattern we see on modern-day smartphones from Chinese OEMs: full view display with waterdrop notch, polycarbonate plastic body curved to the edges, and Corning Gorilla Glass covering on the front.
Design-wise, the device shares a lot in common with the Realme 2 Pro. However, Realme is spicing things with colours as the U1 is available in three variants: Brave Blue, Fiery Gold, and Ambitious Black.
There are hard buttons to the left and right of the device; loudspeaker grill, micro USB, and audio jack are on the bottom; the (Always-on) fingerprint reader and dual camera are on the rear.
Display
The Realme U1 sports a 6.3-inch display with 1,080 x 2,340 pixels resolution and 450nits brightness. This allows the U1 be used conveniently outdoor during the day, under the effect of sunlight, withiu having to squint your eyes to make meaning of texts and images.
To protect the screen from shattering, the Realme U1’s display is covered with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3. The Gorilla Glass 3 is a bit dated but if it’s any point, the Realme U1 comes pre-installed with a screen guard out-of-the-box.
Processor and Storage
As earlier mentioned, the Realme U1 comes with MediaTek Helio P70 chipset. Being the device to debut the SoC, this is one of the highlight features of the Realme U1. The Helio P70, basically, is a ‘speedier’ version of the Helio P60 chipset.
The processor comes with improved AI-engine and about 13% better performance than its predecessor. Teaming up with the chipset is the Mali G72 GPU, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. There’s a bigger variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.
All variants, however, run the Android Oreo v8.1 out-of-the-box. There’s no official word yet on the possibility of an Android Pie update but that should happen in the coming months.
Camera
The Realme U1 is a selfie-focused smartphone with, obviously, stunning selfie camera. The dewdrop notch at the top of the display houses the 25MP SONY IMX 576 sensor with f/2 aperture with features like AI beauty mode, Super Vivid mode, HDR etc.
On the rear, the dual camera setup bulges out a little bit. Though not a big deal and doesn’t affect the camera performance and resulting image quality in any way, it’s worth pointing out.
The lenses comprise of a primary 13-megapixels f/2.2 sensor and a secondary 2-megapixels depth sensor for Bokeh effects. Features of the camera include Autofocus, Portrait mode, Panorama, Professional mode, Timelapse, HDR, and videos @ 1080P.
Battery
The Realme U1 will be powered by a 3,500mAh Lithium-Ion battery. The battery is not removable and, sadly, doesn’t come with support for Quick charge. The company, however, says the included 10W charge should fasten up charging to some reasonable extent.
Price and Availability
Official sales of the Realme U1 will commence on December 5th on Amazon with the 3GB RAM/32GB variant selling for about $170 (Rs. 11,999) while the 4GB/64GB variant will set users back by $207 (Rs. 14,499).
