It’s the annual tradition where realme decided to make a smartphone where it prioritizes looks without compromising its performance
And that’s not a bad thing because, after all, a first impression should leave a lasting mark, and most of the time– people are buying such devices for their excellent aesthetic choices.
Last year’s realme C35 kicked things off within the entry-level and mid-range class design wise, ditching its conventional looks for a modern, trendy design language. And it worked, realme C35 became one of 2022’s bestsellers within the Philippines.
The same can be said with last month’s realme C55 with its funky Mini Capsule feature, inspired by Apple’s Dynamic Island from their iPhone 14 Pro Series. And there’s no shame to that– realme again, starting trends and leveling the playing field by introducing these “premium” features to entry-level and mid-range audiences. That’s a beautiful thing because the more these companies adapt these features, gimmicks, and whatnot– the more they shape these consumers’ experiences into a better one.
But we aren’t talking about the realme C35 or the C55; we’re here with the youngest member of the C family, the C53. Yes, the realme C53 might be a nerfed-down version of the C55 or the rightful successor to the C35, but with its affordable price comes a set of valuable perks and features you don’t usually find within that price range.
In a sea of hyper-competitive brands vying for your attention with enormous battery capacities, more extensive storage, and other tricks in their magic hats– the realme C53 manages to deliver features that are not only useful but well integrated within the realme ecosystem.
Let’s see whether the realme C53 is up for the challenge with our in-depth review. If you’re looking for the unboxing aspect of this review, we have a dedicated article just for that: https://unboxdiaries.com/realme-c53-unboxing-be-stylish-without-splurging/
With that out of the way, let’s review the smartphone itself.
Design and display
We notice the gorgeous back design that is definitely on par with the “stylish design” philosophy the realme C Series has. It looks like rain frozen in time while passing through a prism, and we love it for that– it’s unique and nothing we have seen on other phones until now.
We have the Champion Gold variant, which looks better in actuality. If, for some reason, you want a more subtle look, there’s also a Mighty Black option.
The camera island is as elegant as ever: lined with gold-tone edges encircling each camera bump, although only two are actual sensors since the third one is an LED flash. We aren’t sure if the camera island is made of glass, but we think so.
The entire back and frame are plastic; the back is smudge-proof. The SIM tray is on its left side, holding two SIM cards and a space for microSD expandability.
The right side houses the volume rockers and power button, doubling as a fingerprint scanner. The bottom part has a single loudspeaker, a microphone, and a Type-C charger.
Speaking of its display, the realme C53 departs from the punch-hole cutout of the C55 for a reasonably standard water drop notch; this notch is much more pleasing to the eyes and looks cleaner and refined. The screen has a 720p 6.74-inch IPS LCD with 90Hz refresh capability. The 8MP selfie camera occupies the notch.
The screen bezels are mostly equal for the most part, except for a thick chin. The screen isn’t the brightest, and outdoor usage isn’t the best– but indoors, there’s no problem with it.
The realme C53 has YouTube HDR support for up to 720p, which is impressive. Colors pop out, images are sharp enough, and it has a wide range of dynamics regarding color accuracy and how it mixes various shades and tones throughout the video. It doesn’t feel like you’re watching through a 720p display.
HD Netflix viewing, however, isn’t possible because of its Widevine L3 rating (you need Widevine L1 for HD streaming).
Audio, battery life, and charging
The realme C53’s single loudspeaker isn’t as loud or detailed as we hoped for, but it’s serviceable. There are no mids, highs, or bass, but it’s okay if you can hear the music clearly.
It has a 5,000mAh battery, like most phones today, and can take up to 33W with its included charger. A full 100% charge from 0% took us around 85 minutes to complete. This is one of the only phones within that price point that offers 33W charging.
With its Unisoc Tiger T612 chipset made on a 12-nanometer process, battery consumption is just right, but it should last a whole day before charging it (if you’re using it moderately).
Gaming, software, and benchmark scores
The realme C53 runs on a Unisoc Tiger T612 processor with max clock speeds up to 1.82GHz.
Being an upper entry-level SoC (system-on-a-chip), it runs most apps and games smoothly for the most time. Of course, it isn’t designed for intense usages such as mobile video editing and gaming, but if you play by its strengths, it’s more than capable of just being a handheld device running essential apps.
Call of Duty: Mobile (MEDIUM GRAPHICS / HIGH FRAME RATE) – Gamers might raise their eyebrows upon hearing “Unisoc,” but this is a capable chipset because of its Mali-G57 GPU. We played three multiplayer sessions, and it was smooth with no issues. Battle Royale and Zombies are much more graphics-hungry; there are noticeable frame drops and lags, but nothing too drastic to say it can ruin your gameplay.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (HIGH GRAPHICS/ HIGH REFRESH RATE) – As we repeated time and time, Mobile Legends is much more forgiving of a game when it comes to processors. Despite some heating, frame drops, and lag, we played three games and rarely visited our gameplay session. It doesn’t mean there are no issues, but they were kept at bay.
Genshin Impact (LOWEST PRESET, HIGH RENDER, 24FPS) – Anything higher than that will lag and experience heavy throttling, such as our experience while playing the game. It is not recommended to play Genshin Impact on the realme C53. You can play it with this device, but it’s far from the best.
It scored 254,885 points via AnTuTu Lite v10.0.1. It isn’t the latest, and maybe the score isn’t that accurate; it cuts close to the realme C55, which packs a slightly more powerful MediaTek Helio G88 chipset.
Camera and video quality
The realme C53 has a 50MP primary rear sensor plus an additional camera (macro or depth) to aid in blurring effects.
Features in the camera app include the standard photo mode, portrait, video, and night mode. It also has the following: time-lapse, manual or pro mode, panorama mode, slow-mo, QR code scanner, and a native full 50MP mode.
Functions include volume action buttons (shutter), gesture recognition, smile shutter, AI portrait recognition, mirror reflection, and more.
The standard photo quality is excellent, with a nice vibrance and tasteful contrast. Be sure to turn off the beauty mode if you don’t want the extra boost since it’s on by default.
Portrait mode is also a hit with its detailed approach; shooting from the 50 MP rear is preferable to the lackluster 8MP selfie shooter.
Night mode shots from its rear camera produced some terrific results. It’s far from the best, but the fact that we see a ton of information on its night shots for an entry-level phone is saying something.
Video quality caps off at 1080p@30fps in the rear and 720p@30fps for the front camera. Both aspects are decent during the daytime, with varying degrees of consistency at night, but the realme C53 hits more than it misses on the camera side.
Clean, stock-ish realme T Edition OS based on Android 13
A different flavor, for once. realme traded off their signature Realme UI for a more minimalistic and appropriate realme T Edition UI for the realme C53 which isn’t the most powerful phone, so giving it a near-stock skin is the best decision.
Every corner of this phone feels like a Pixel phone or rocking the same stock Android UI. That means no realme Lab or other quirks, but we often prefer this.
RAM can be expanded to a maximum of 6GB for 12GB (6+6), but only 4GB is on by default through settings.
Besides that, some things could be improved. One is the swarm of bloatware this thing had since booting up. Yes, it has 128GB storage, and you can delete most of it, but if you commit to a stock-ish Android experience, you better leave it as is.
Mini Capsule
And at last, the Mini Capsule also graced the realme C53, introduced initially from the realme C55. Due to the recent software updates (June 11), the Mini Capsule features some valuable functions, but we are thrilled if they would include more uses for it soon. Capsule Ping-Pong, anyone?
What we like about the realme C53
✅ Trendy design
✅ Good 50 MP main sensor
✅ 33W fast charging rate
✅ Capable Unisoc Tiger T612 chipset inside
✅ Clean stock Android experience
✅ 90Hz refresh rate
What we dislike about the realme C53
❌ Lackluster loudspeaker
❌ Bloatwares
❌ Mini Capsule is cool but lacks function
❌ Mediocre front camera
❌ No Widevine L1 support
CONCLUSION
The realme C53 is another surefire addition to its C Series. It is anchored by a new dazzling design, a new approach to software, decent features, and a promising experimental feature that will expand its functions for many uses.
Sakto Lang – 3.5/5
The realme C53 is priced at PHP7,999 (6+128GB) with an early bird offer of PHP6,999 until June 23.
