Realme 9i review: Should this be your choice of smartphone under Rs 15,000?

Realme 9i is entering a segment that is not for the meek. Not at least in the Indian market. With loads of competitors in this segment, some even from Realme itself can Realme grab the attention of the buyer. Or the question is, should it? We are here to answer all your queries about the device.

Design

The Realme 9i may be in the mid-range category, but you can’t really tell that by just holding it. The touch and feel are more than decent. And while the weight may seem less, it doesn’t really feel cheap at all. The striped texture on the back of the phone gives it some distinction in the sea of smartphones with glass back and shimmery colours.

The phone is slim to hold and could be slippery as well. It will be ideal to grab a decent back cover for the Realme 9i. The buttons are placed ergonomically and the power button doubles as a fingerprint sensor. The sensor works well and sometimes it even unlocked the device unintentionally.

Performance

The Realme 9i is the first smartphone to launch with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset, which can be considered to be a successor to the Snapdragon 662. The processor is built over a 6nm architecture. A Geekbench test yielded a single-core score of 375 and a multi-core score of 1554.

Keeping the numbers away, the Realme 9i never seemed sluggish in any way. The 90Hz refresh rate helped make it feel snappier than most phones in the same budget. Gaming on the device is also great. You can’t expect to play games like BGMI on high graphics but on the Balanced level, it did not have any trouble keeping the frame rates steady. The touch responsiveness also makes for a good mid-range gaming device.

Display

The Realme 9i gets a large 6.6-inch LCD display with a FullHD+ resolution. The screen also gets a 90Hz refresh rate which is good for the price you pay. The brightness levels may not be as much as you expect but the display does just fine in bright sunlight. The touch sampling rate of 180Hz and decent haptic feedback also make the overall experience pleasant.

The large display is assisted by a dual speaker setup which is great for consuming media and gaming. It also makes for a great case for Realme 9i as a device to consume media.

Camera

Let’s get straight to the point with this one. The camera may be the weakest link for the device. The headline feature, a 50MP sensor in a mid-range does sound good but the numbers don’t really translate to good pictures.

The daylight shots are overexposed, the details around the edges get impacted. However, in some situations, the HDR does its job well even against extremely bright backgrounds. You shouldn’t get excited about lowlight images either. The phone does its job just fine. The details may be a bit fuzzy but the color composition is good.

The front-facing camera performs better with a good amount of detail. The images look better if the various skin filters are turned off. Check some of the images clicked using the Realme 9i.

Battery

The battery is another area where the Realme 9i excels. The phone comes with a 5000mAh battery unit. Despite the size of the battery, the device just weighs 190 gm.

In my day-to-day use, the phone easily lasted over a day on a single charge. And when the battery dropped eventually, the 33W charger was of great use to push back the charge relatively quickly.

Price

The Realme 9i comes at a starting price of Rs 13,999. The phone will be available in two variants. The 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant comes at a price of Rs 13,999. However, the better deal will be the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant which is priced at Rs 15,999. The first sale will happen on 25 January.

Verdict

The phone sits under the Rs 15,000 price bracket, which is undoubtedly one of the most fierce price segments right now. The Realme 9i does a good job at most things that an average buyer is looking for. Right from the display to battery performance, the phone is more than just satisfactory. However, the camera could be its Achilles heel. Realme uses a Samsung S5KJN1SQ03 sensor for the primary lens which could get some future improvements via OTA. But, buyers shouldn’t rely on that to make their buying decision.

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