Clearly, Realme is trying its best to shrug off the Oppo-sub-brand tag on it and find a raison d'être of its own. To be fair, the Chinese brand has been making all the right moves, adding new features, enhancing the hardware and finding appealing copy for its marketing campaigns. Realme U1, which ostensibly targets the young generation, comes with a lot of improved specs both in terms of design and content.

The U1 is starkly different from the Realme Pro 2 , which was released a few months ago, sporting strong hardware muscle and rugged looks. The U1, which according to Realme is customised for India, looks chic, is handy and appears elegant.  The device weighs just 168 gm and uses the screen real estate efficiently, offering an aspect ratio of 19.5:9mm for a device dimension of 157 x 74 x 8mm. No doubt, it’s a good looking phone and the shiny exterior (in Ambitious Black, Brave Blue and Fiery Gold variants) can easily please young eyes. Evidently, the Realme U1 is trying to take on rivals Redmi Y series and Honor’s 8x and other budget and mid-range phones.

Selfie-camera, a delight

Realme is positioning the U1 as a selfie-camera phone with its 25 MP front camera (SelfiePro) which is powered by a Sony IMX576 light sensor. The front shooter works really well in convenient daylight conditions, and the results are impeccable at times. The photos look honest, well-saturated and neatly curated. But if you are not a pro with selfies, RealmeU1’s night selfies can be a task. You’d need some training on that front and may end up wondering about the efficacy of the 25MP machine. The bokeh effect looks more real than in most similar cameras and the AI function seems well in sync. The camera focuses fast and negotiates light with alacrity.

The U1 has a 6.3-inch dewdrop screen with a screen-to-body ratio of 90.8 per cent, and the viewing angles are perfect. The phone’s 2340X1080 resolution (FHD+) renders images and video really beautiful.

The selfie camera is a delight during video chats. It adjusts to changing lighting conditions really well, offering uninterrupted results. The selfie videos are also impressive. The real-time HDR preview, which helps users check photos even when they are taking them, is a great feature in the Realme U1. This comes handy while checking the quality of photos you’ve just taken. There is also a Groupfie beauty mode, if you want to spruce up a group photo.

The 13 MP + 2 MP rear shooter is not so great but does justice to most of its functions. The photos come out natural and suitably saturated. Videos in HD are blemishless and the way the camera captures sound is really superior. The camera's 90fps/720P slow-mo video capture faculty is a blessing, if you want to shoot some great videos for services like TikTok. The U1 is powered by MTK’s Helio P70 processor, which does an impressive job especially with the AI functions. The Helio P70 has the so-called TSMC 12nm FinFET process, which essentially cuts power usage. The octa-core architecture has a clock speed of up to 2.1GHz and 900MHz ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU goes for image processing.

Audio quality

The phone is optimised for gaming. The frame rate of 60fps helps avoid frame-drop in games. Most graphics-rich games run smoothly on the U1. The audio quality of the Realme U1 is good, but not as good as in the Realme Pro 2, which has an incredibly beautiful surround sound faculty.

Our experience suggests the dual-SIM phone’s WiFi reception skills are much better than many of its peers, but the battery performance needs an upgrade. If you are a gamer and clicker, you need to carry a power bank.

Verdict : With stylish looks and rich hardware, the Realme U1 meets most of the requirements of a millennial smartphone user. It's call quality is great, signal reception is much faster and stronger; camera focuses fast enough, and there are loads of useful software.

Price : ₹14,999 (4 GB, 64 GB)

Pros : Good design, Gorilla glass screen, impressive front camera, video, premium AI features

Cons : Battery, slippery body

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