Each month, the market of affordable 5G smartphones is getting more and more competitive. Last month, we tested the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G and now it’s time for a direct competitor: realme 8 5G. For a similar price point, realme 8 5G wants to offer a better screen, slightly faster charging, and an exciting camera system. Does this phone manage to outmatch its competition? Find out in this detailed review:

realme 8 5G: Who is it good for?

This smartphone is a solid choice for:

• People who want a 5G smartphone at an affordable price
• Users who need a smartphone with a long battery life
• People who want a 90 Hz display on their smartphone

Pros and cons

There are a lot of good things to appreciate about the realme 8 5G:

• 5G mobile connectivity
• Affordable price
• Better processor than on the 4G variant of the same model
• Excellent battery life
• Good quality display compared to similar 5G smartphones
• Fast unlocking (fingerprint sensor and face recognition)
• The latest Android version

There are some downsides to consider as well:

• The display is not as great as on the 4G variant of the same model
• The camera system is slightly weaker than on the 4G version
• No headset included in the box

Verdict

Do you want a smartphone with an affordable price tag, a generous battery, and good performance that works with 5G mobile networks? Then realme 8 5G is a solid choice that you should consider. It performs well for most users, and its camera system does what you expect from a smartphone in its price range. However, the same smartphone without 5G has a better screen and a slightly improved camera system. Therefore, if 5G isn’t something that you must have on your smartphone, you may also want to take a look at the “standard” realme 8.

Unboxing the realme 8 5G smartphone

The realme 8 5G smartphone comes in a beautiful yellow cardboard box, with the device name printed on the top cover and the sides. On the bottom of the box, there are stickers with information about the exact model that you just bought, its IMEI number, color, serial number, and hardware configuration.

realme 8 5G comes in an elegant yellow box

When you open the box, you see a smaller box welcoming you to the realme product family. Inside it, you find the quick setup guide translated into several languages, the PIN for ejecting the sim tray, and the product information guide. Beneath the smaller box, you find the smartphone itself nicely packaged into a protective plastic bag.

Unboxing the realme 8 5G

Beneath the smartphone, you find the charger (18W fast charging), the USB cable, and a protective case. Unfortunately, there’s no headset included in the package.

What you find inside the box

Realme’s packaging for the model 8 5G looks great and is easy to unpack everything. We appreciated the protective case included in the box, but we were disappointed by the lack of a bundled headset.

Design and build quality

realme 8 5G is a large 6.5-inch smartphone with rounded corners and the following dimensions: 6.4 x 2.94 x 0.33 inches or 162.5 x 74.8 x 8.5 mm. It is not a heavy smartphone, but it doesn’t feel light either, as it has 6.5 oz or 185 grams. It is available in two color variants: Supersonic Blue (pictured below) and Supersonic Black. The back of the smartphone is made of glossy plastic that tends to be a fingerprint magnet. On it, you find the camera system and the realme logo. It is simple and relatively good-looking in our opinion.

The back of the realme 8 5G

The frame is also from plastic, but it feels a lot tougher than the back. Also, it doesn’t have the gloss shine but more of a matte finish, and we like this better. The positioning of the buttons is different than on most Android smartphones. You find the SIM tray and the Volume buttons on the left side of the realme 8 5G.

The buttons on the left side

On the right side of the smartphone, you find only the Power button that also acts as a fingerprint sensor.

The buttons on the right side

On the bottom bezel, you find the headphone jack, the microphone for taking calls, a USB Type-C 2.0, and a speaker.

The bottom bezel

On the top bezel, there is no jack or port. On the top side of the screen though, you see another speaker, used only for taking phone calls, and the selfie camera on the left corner.

The top bezel

The display uses an IPS LCD panel, with a peak brightness of 600 nits, a high refresh rate of 90Hz, and a Full HD resolution of 2400x1080 pixels. The screen to body ratio is 83.9%, and the density is 405 ppi. If you want to know more about ppi and what it means, read: What is PPI and does it matter?

Turning on the realme 8 5G

Unfortunately, the screen is a downgrade from the 4G version of realme 8, which has a Super AMOLED display with higher brightness and a higher pixel density. However, the realme 8 5G display is better than that of the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G, its direct competitor from a price perspective.

Hardware specifications

This smartphone has an eight-core System on a Chip MediaTek MT6833 Dimensity 700 5G, with two Cortex-A76 cores running at 2.2 GHz and another six Cortex-A55 cores running at 2 GHz. The graphics chip is a Mali-G57 MC2 that is adequate for casual gaming.

The SoC inside the realme 8 5G

The realme 8 5G is available in configurations with 4, 6 or 8 GB of RAM and 64 or 128 GB of storage space. We tested the version with 8 GB of RAM. The non-removable Li-ion battery has a generous capacity of 5000 mAh, and it supports fast charging at 18W. Unfortunately, there is no support for wireless charging built-in.

The details about the battery

Spec-wise, the camera system on the realme 8 5G is relatively impressive for a smartphone in its price range:

• A primary wide camera with 48 MP, an f/1.8 aperture, a field of view of 80°, and 6P lens.
• A 2MP macro lens, with an aperture of f/2.4.
• A 2MP depth lens with an f/2.4 aperture.

There’s also a flash available for night photography. The main camera system can record videos in 1080p resolution, at 30 frames per second, or in 720p resolution at 30 fps or 120 fps (for slow-motion recording only), with built-in image stabilization. The in-display selfie camera on the front has 16 megapixels, a 5P lens, an aperture of f/2.1, and it can record Full HD videos at 30 frames per second with video stabilization.

The camera system on the realme 8 5G

realme 8 5G is a Dual-SIM smartphone that allows you to use two nano-SIM cards simultaneously and extend the storage capacity with a microSD card. Many users are going to find this helpful.

The SIM tray on the realme 8 5G

This smartphone works with 5G mobile networks, but it doesn’t have support for Wi-Fi 6. It can use only the older Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 4 standards. There’s also Bluetooth 5.1 available, GPS, NFC, Wi-Fi Direct, and USB Type-C support. In terms of sensors, it includes the following: accelerometer, fingerprint sensor, gyro sensor, light sensor, and a magnetic induction sensor.

If you want more details about all the features and hardware specs, visit this page: realme 8 5G Specs.

Read the second page of this review for details about the smartphone experience offered by the realme 8 5G, its cameras, operating system, and bundled apps, as well as its performance in benchmarks.