Realme on Thursday, April 15, added to their budget lineup with the launch of the C25. It’s priced at P7,490, making it highly accessible to most budgets.

What I immediately liked about this sub-P10,000 phone is that its screen is big at 6.5 inches. It’s always great to find an inexpensive phone that doesn’t scrimp on display real estate. Mind you, it’s not full HD though, only 1,600 x 720. Phones with full HD displays are often found in the P10,000 and above price range.

The build is mostly light plastic, with a fingerprint sensor and square camera array at the back. The feel is just about right for the price, with a textured finish to help you get a good grip on the phone. Realme says that the back cover uses a five-axis precise radium engraving machine to get that soft-touch finish.

But while the build feels light, that’s not to say that the device isn’t tough – realme boasts of the C25 as being the first smartphone in the world that passed the TÜV Rheinland Smartphone High-Reliability Certification. That just really means we’re supposed to expect that the phone is super tough, but that’s not to say you should douse it in acid or put it under a hydraulic press. If it breaks much easier than normal, we’re giving realme a call.

Just a quick explanation about the TÜV Rheinland certification in case we find it in future phones: The test encompasses 23 major tests, including 10 daily use test scenarios, such as drop, wear, and tear; 7 extreme environment test scenarios, including super extreme temperature, extreme humidity, voltage fluctuation, button life, static electricity, air pressure; and six component reliability test scenarios.

Compared to the most expensive phones, expect average performance with the phone’s MediaTek Helio G70, supported by 4GB of RAM, when gaming. Don’t crank up the settings on games such as PUBG and Call of Duty Mobile so as to retain the smoothness. You also have to avoid switching between windows when gaming or you might get some stutter when you return to your game. The same can be expected for newer mobile MOBAs such as League of Legends: Wild Rift.

These games are very much playable on the phone – and the big screen is really a plus – but just don’t expect seeing games at their best. In its price range though, the Helio G70 does give you that bang for the buck.

For daily use though and for browsing on Facebook or Chrome, and switching between apps, everything was pretty smooth.

Its camera array (48MP wide + 2MP macro + 2MP depth sensor) nets solid results in most applications, and especially in well-lit surroundings, but does not have the impressive night-taking capabilities of the more expensive phones. We did like the 5x digital zoom though, and found its shots to be stable and usable.

The C25 also doesn’t cut corners when it comes to battery life. It’s got a large 6,000 mAh battery, and 18-watt fast-charging. The phone has 64GB of storage, which is par for the course.

Realme also launched the Buds Air 2 (P3,990) and the Buds Air 2 Neo (P2,490) alongside the C25. While both wireless earphones have active noise cancellation – a feature that’s not very common in this price range – the more expensive Air 2 has bass audio co-engineered with music duo Chainsmokers, has fast charging, and ambient audio listening mode. – Rappler.com

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