realme 6 review: unboxing, first impressions


realme 6 is coming to the Philippines! Last week, we revealed that the realme 6 Pro will be arriving on May 27. Guess what? That’s not the only phone launching on Wednesday because the realme 6 will be released along with it.

In the meantime, let’s unbox the realme 6 and give you our quick, first impressions review.

Right off the bat, realme 6 offers several sought-after features. Most notably, it comes with a full HD punch-hole screen running at 90Hz. It also runs Android 10 out of the box on the Mediatek Helio G90T platform, which comes with gaming optimizations.

WATCH: realme 6 review: unboxing + hands-on first impressions

Our unit came with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage, though there are two other variants released worldwide with 4GB+64GB and 8GB+128GB memory and storage options. Check out the highlights below or skip ahead for our full review of the realme 6.

Handheld about phone - realme 6 (Philippines)
Handheld about phone – realme 6 (Philippines)

Snapshot

  • Display: 6.5” 1080×2400 IPS LCD (90Hz)
  • OS + UX: Android 10 + realmeUI 1.0
  • CPU + GPU: 8-core MediaTek Helio G90T + Mali-G76 MC4
  • Memory + storage: 8GB RAM + 128GB storage
  • Camera: 64MP wide + 8MP ultrawide + 2MP macro + 2.4MP depth; 16MP selfie
  • Battery: 4,300 mAh (30W fast charging)
  • Price: TBA (Philippines); Rs 13,999 (India)

Screen, design

The phone has a 6.5-inch full HD IPS LCD display panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. You heard us: 90Hz is finally here.

It also comes with a punch-hole in the upper-left corner where the selfie camera can be found. Realme calls it the “in-display selfie”.

READ: realme 6i review: 60FPS gaming for less than P10,000!

For us, having a full HD 90Hz display with a punch-hole is a big step forward from the 60Hz 720p “mini-drop” display on both realme 5i, realme C3, and the realme 6i.

In-display selfie punch hole display - realme 6 (Philippines)
In-display selfie punch hole display – realme 6 (Philippines)

On first look, the 90Hz IPS LCD display appears to be of a higher quality than most. It even supports OSIE (Object & Semantic Images & Eye-tracking) Vision Effect, which uses AI to enhance the visual experience which to us, kind of makes things brighter and more vibrant.

The chin though, is still a little thick, but no complaints here.

READ: realme C3 review: Best entry-level gaming phone?

Bottom chin - realme 6 (Philippines)
Bottom chin – realme 6 (Philippines)

 

It also comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner which is also an improvement over the rear-mounted scanner. It’s a great compromise for those who are looking for an in-display scanner – it’s fast and unlocks the phone almost instantly.

Side-mounted fingerprint scanner - realme 6 (Philippines)
Side-mounted fingerprint scanner – realme 6 (Philippines)

The back of the phone is beautiful: although made of plastic, it has a multi-layered effect that looks gives of a pearly-white or a ceramic feeling. It’s subtle and not too flashy.

You can probably get away without a case, though the package also comes with one in case you need it. Very thoughtful of realme to do this.

Handheld back - realme 6 (Philippines)
Handheld back – realme 6 (Philippines)

Both the realme 6 and the realme 6 Pro come with a triple-card slot for two Nano-SIM cards and one microSD card. We also get an audio jack. Just like the realme 6i, we also get a USB type-C port for wired data communications and power delivery.

WATCH: realme 6i review: 60FPS gaming for less than P10,000!

Audio jack, USB Type-C port, speakers - realme 6 (Philippines)
Audio jack, USB Type-C port, speakers – realme 6 (Philippines)

Software

realme 6 runs Android 10 with realmeUI 1.0 on the MediaTek Helio G90T SoC, the same chipset that we saw on the Redmi Note 8 Pro.

It also supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi which is great for those who are into gaming and need that extra speed boost.

Flatlay front - realme 6 (Philippines)
Flatlay front – realme 6 (Philippines)

READ: Redmi Note 8 Pro review: A serious mid-range threat

Gaming performance

From our experience, Helio G90T is a very capable chipset and why wouldn’t it be, it was designed and marketed specifically for gaming.

Gaming Marvel Super War - realme 6 (Philippines)
Gaming Marvel Super War – realme 6 (Philippines)

So far, the phone had easily ran any game that we threw at it. On our reference game Marvel Super War, the phone does 55-60 FPS at maximum graphics settings.

Gaming frame rate closeup - realme 6 (Philippines)
Gaming frame rate closeup – realme 6 (Philippines)

Camera

We get a quad-camera module on the realme 6 with 3 usable lenses: 64MP wide, 8mp ultrawide, and 2MP ultra macro. The fourth lens is a depth sensor, just like on the realme 5i.

Rear quad camera close-up - realme 6 (Philippines)
Rear quad camera close-up – realme 6 (Philippines)

READ: realme 5i unboxing first impressions + camera samples

Generally, the shots look good. We also get a 16MP selfie camera which is a step forward from the usual 5-8MP selfie sensors in most budget phones.

Check out the samples below.

Battery

The phone comes with a 4300 mAh battery which we’re confident will last at least a day for mixed use scenarios. Thanks to VOOC 3.0, it can go up to a full charge in just an hour at 30W via the USB Type-C port.

30W VOOC 3.0 Flash Charge - realme 6 (Philippines)
30W VOOC 3.0 Flash Charge – realme 6 (Philippines)

Price, release date

As a mid-tier phone, realme 6 offers forward-looking features like 90Hz high refresh rate display, good quality quad cameras, great performance, and very fast charging along with sufficient battery life. So the question now that remains it the price.

So far we know that the realme C3, the realme 5i , and the realme 6i have been priced at P5,990, P6,990, and P7,990, respectively.

READ: realme C3 vs realme 5i: Which one is better?

From the Indian launch we know that realme 6 is priced from 13,999  Rs or around 9,3333 Php, so it’s not too far-fetched for the realme 6 to be end up being priced at P8,990 or P9,990 in the Philippines.

Rear design with realme logo - realme 6 (Philippines)
Rear design with realme logo – realme 6 (Philippines)

At the moment, we don’t know if they’ll be releasing any other variant other than the 8GB+128GB model that we have. We do know that there will be a Comet Blue colored realme 6 aside from the Comet White unit that we have with us.

Stay tuned for the price reveal on May 27!

realme 6 technical specifications (Philippines)

  • Display: 6.5 inches; 1080 x 2400 pixels; IPS LCD; Gorilla Glass 3; 90Hz refresh rate
  • SIM: Dual SIM (nano-SIM, dedicated slots)
  • OS Android 10 (Q); realmeUI 1.0
  • Chipset (SoC): MediaTek Helio G90T (12nm)
  • CPU: Octa-core (2×2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 + 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55)
  • GPU: Mali-G76 MC4
  • Memory (RAM) + internal storage: 4GB+128GB, 8GB+128GB
  • Expansion: microSD (dedicated slot)
  • Main camera (rear): 64MP f/1.8 (wide) 26mm + 8MP f/2.3 13mm (ultrawide) + 2MP f/2.4 22mm (macro) + 2MP f/2.4 (depth)
  • Selfie camera (front): 16MP f/2.0 26mm (wide)
  • Connectivity: 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac dual-band; Bluetooth 5.0 A2DP
  • I/O: USB 2.0 Type-C 1.0; 3.5mm audio jack; side fingerprint scanner
  • Battery: 4,300 mAh; 30W
  • Colors: Comet Blue, Comet White
  • Price (Philippines): TBA; Rs 13,999 (India) or around Php 9,333
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