Realme C3 smartphone review – Rock-bottom pricing with charm
With its pretty looks, a triple-camera setup and an almost bezel-less 6.5-inch display with a minimal notch for the front-facing camera, the C3 really doesn't look like a budget phone. A MediaTek chip from the current year decides on the performance of realme's entry-level model. We are excited to see how it performs.
Comparison devices
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Drive | Size | Resolution | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76.9 % v7 (old) | 06 / 2020 | Realme C3 Helio G70, Mali-G52 MP2 | 195 g | 32 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 | |
| 77.5 % v7 (old) | 04 / 2020 | Umidigi Power 3 Helio P60, Mali-G72 MP3 | 218 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 6.53" | 2340x1080 | |
| 78.1 % v7 (old) | 03 / 2020 | Motorola Moto G8 Power SD 665, Adreno 610 | 197 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 6.40" | 2300x1080 | |
| 75.3 % v7 (old) | 03 / 2020 | Wiko View 4 Helio A25, PowerVR GE8320 | 180 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 6.52" | 1600x720 |
Case - Not the typical budget phone
The bright red of our test device is really impressive. A sunrise design on the back refines the plastic case and gives it an almost metallic look. We can't find anything in the realme C3's materials that would need to be justified by its low price, on the contrary: The workmanship is good and the switches are tight in their place. At the most, the edges of the protective foil are a bit sharp; this is factory-applied over the Gorilla Glass and is, of course, a bonus in itself. The weight is also in order at 195g (~6.5 oz).
Connectivity - Mobile phone without NFC
A fingerprint scanner on the back not only unlocks the smartphone but also apps and private files if the user wishes. As an alternative to using a fingerprint, realme offers a 2D facial scan. Positive: The combined memory card/SIM drawer has three slots, so you don't have to decide between the dual-SIM functionality and a memory card.
Next to a mono speaker, there is also a micro-USB port on the bottom. The 3.5 mm jack next to it wouldn't have been expendable in the C3 either. The Chinese make compromises in terms of infrared and NFC; in addition, certificates for case protection (IP) and rights management according to DRM Widevine L1 are missing.
Our test device came with 32 GB of ROM. But the C3 is sold in Germany with 64 GB, according to the manufacturer.
Software - ColorOS became realme UI
The manufacturer's own realme UI, which replaces Oppo's ColorOS and is also based on Android 10, provides individualization options for gesture control and optical adjustments for the launcher on the realme phone. For example, the app drawer can be deactivated.
No bloat software, such as the usual travel apps, is installed on our test device, but there are some additional packages that can't be removed. For example, three dedicated store apps for special apps and games can't be deleted; the HeyTap app, which provides cloud services and belongs to the BKK Electronics empire, and the weather app from the Huafeng-AccuWeather joint venture are both unremovable too. With 32 GB of storage, our test device possibly doesn't conform yet to the preset for the German market in terms of software, though.
Communication and GPS – Slow WLAN
The realme C3 has a few gaps in regard to LTE network, but all the frequencies that are important for Europe are there. In WLAN, the mobile phone only operates in the 2.4 GHz band; the ac standard for higher data rates is missing. Therefore, the C3 only achieves just over 50 Mb/s for downloading and 66 Mb/s for uploading data in the tests with our Linksys Nighthawk AX12 reference router.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
| Umidigi Power 3 | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| iperf3 receive AX12 | |
| Umidigi Power 3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
With the help of satellites from GPS, BeiDou, Galileo and GLONASS, the realme C3 can determine a very accurate location under favorable conditions. This is, at least, what the GPS Test app shows. On a bike tour, to which we also take the Garmin Edge 500 professional navigation system, things look different. Especially when looping around a lake, the C3 deviates considerably from the path. That doesn't make it useless for navigation, but it can cause problems in a narrow road network.
Telephone and call quality - Dual-SIM and VoLTE
Realme didn't go with the Google app for making phone calls; instead, it offers its own yet very similar phone interface. The voice quality is good in both directions, and a high volume is especially beneficial for outdoor calls. The C3 supports VoLTE and VoWiFi.
Cameras - Moderate triple-camera setup
Thanks to the advances of high-quality smartphones, models in the lower price segments are also constantly evolving. In this way, even the inexpensive realme smartphone features three lenses, one of which is supposed to be particularly fast with an aperture of f/1.8. In reality, however, the realme C3 doesn't produce good photos in low light. The image noise is high, and the image sharpness is correspondingly weak.
Even in daylight, the images taken with the 12 MP main camera only look moderately sharp in the overall view; this can be confirmed when zooming in. Photos taken with the 4x zoom of the realme C3 don't provide enough detail for further magnification.
The front-facing camera pleases with a natural color reproduction. The C3 doesn't do a good job distinguishing between the subject and the background, which is a problem for many selfie cameras in portraits, especially in the hair area. Despite an active HDR mode, the right half of the picture is also heavily overexposed in our test shot due to the daylight coming in from the side.
We take a photo of a test chart in the laboratory under controlled lighting conditions. While the pixelation increases strongly at 1 lux, shadows are noticeable between high-contrast image areas when enlarging the chart under good illumination. The realme C3 represents colors consistently brighter but without creating a specific color tint.
Accessories and warranty
The test device comes with a 5 V/2 A charging adapter and a micro-USB charging cable as well as a factory-applied protective foil, a SIM tool, a warranty card and paper documentation.
The warranty period for the smartphone is 24 months.
Input devices and handling - Haptic feedback in the entry-level class
The realme C3's fingerprint scanner sits on the back and responds reliably in the test. Realme relies on Google's GBoard for input with the virtual keyboard. The display acknowledges every key input with a haptic feedback if desired. Instead of the conventional navigation bar at the bottom edge of the screen, you can alternatively activate a gesture navigation, in which, for example, swiping from the edge of the screen to the center corresponds to the back key.
Display - Bright IPS display with a slight blue tint
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 88 %
Center on Battery: 531 cd/m²
Contrast: 2042:1 (Black: 0.26 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 6.1 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.91
ΔE Greyscale 7.4 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
93.8% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.14
| Realme C3 IPS, 1600x720, 6.5" | Umidigi Power 3 IPS, 2340x1080, 6.5" | Motorola Moto G8 Power IPS, 2300x1080, 6.4" | Wiko View 4 IPS, 1600x720, 6.5" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | -24% | -23% | 22% | |
| Brightness middle | 531 | 443 -17% | 462 -13% | 546 3% |
| Brightness | 492 | 450 -9% | 483 -2% | 504 2% |
| Brightness Distribution | 88 | 91 3% | 93 6% | 84 -5% |
| Black Level * | 0.26 | 0.46 -77% | 0.65 -150% | 0.2 23% |
| Contrast | 2042 | 963 -53% | 711 -65% | 2730 34% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 6.1 | 7.13 -17% | 5.7 7% | 4.19 31% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 11.6 | 13.56 -17% | 8.9 23% | 9.21 21% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 7.4 | 8 -8% | 6.5 12% | 2.3 69% |
| Gamma | 2.14 103% | 2.512 88% | 2.303 96% | 2.24 98% |
| CCT | 8028 81% | 7192 90% | 8073 81% | 6922 94% |
* ... smaller is better
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8705 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
The color deviations are not small, especially at wavelengths between 470 nm and 500 nm. But since they are partly over 6 even with warmer color tones, the overall image is cooler but only slightly bluish.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 21.6 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 6.8 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 14.8 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 43 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 52.8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 23.6 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 29.2 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 88 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.8 ms). | ||
The good brightness of the IPS display, especially in the center of the screen, also benefits the realme C3 outdoors where it's readable despite the reflection. Color fogging isn't visible even when viewing from the side.
Performance - Realme C3 with the new MediaTek SoC
MediaTek's Helio G70 combines two ARM Cortex-A75 cores at 2 GHz and six ARM Cortex-A55 cores at 1.7 GHz. The graphics are handled by a Mali-G52 GPU at 820 MHz.
According to realme, the C3 is the first smartphone with the new SoC. The Moto G8 Power is now the only interesting candidate in our comparison that doesn't have a weaker MediaTek SoC from the start. The Snapdragon 665 is also left behind by the Helio G70; we find it to be rather on a par with the Snapdragon 670.
As soon as there are more phones with the new SoC, their memory will also influence the actual performance. The realme C3 only works with 3 GB of RAM, and realme doesn't offer an alternative.
| Geekbench 4.4 | |
| 64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (844 - 9574, n=84, last 2 years) | |
| 64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (2630 - 34246, n=84, last 2 years) | |
| Compute RenderScript Score (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 (3231 - 4825, n=2) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (5192 - 28121, n=60, last 2 years) | |
| PCMark for Android | |
| Work performance score (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Umidigi Power 3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Work 2.0 performance score (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Umidigi Power 3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
| T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (23 - 166, n=175, last 2 years) | |
| 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (19 - 791, n=175, last 2 years) | |
| GFXBench 3.0 | |
| on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (6.8 - 166, n=175, last 2 years) | |
| 1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 (1 - 21, n=2) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (12 - 502, n=175, last 2 years) | |
| GFXBench 3.1 | |
| on screen Manhattan ES 3.1 Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (3.7 - 166, n=175, last 2 years) | |
| 1920x1080 Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (8.3 - 365, n=175, last 2 years) | |
| AnTuTu v8 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Basemark GPU 1.1 - 1920x1080 OpenGL Medium Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Wiko View 4 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| VRMark - Amber Room (sort by value) | |
| Realme C3 | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (2523 - 10071, n=6, last 2 years) | |
The Helio G70 ensures smooth scrolling in the browser and loads images and videos in a reasonable time.
| Jetstream 2 - Total Score | |
| Average of class Smartphone (13.8 - 387, n=169, last 2 years) | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Realme C3 (Chrome 81) | |
| Wiko View 4 (Chrome 80) | |
| JetStream 1.1 - Total Score | |
| Realme C3 (Chrome 81) | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power (Chrome 80) | |
| Wiko View 4 (Chrome 80) | |
| Speedometer 2.0 - Result | |
| Average of class Smartphone (15.2 - 569, n=152, last 2 years) | |
| Realme C3 (Chrome 81) | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Wiko View 4 (Chome 80) | |
| WebXPRT 3 - Overall | |
| Average of class Smartphone (38 - 347, n=80, last 2 years) | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power (Chrome 80) | |
| Realme C3 (Chrome 81) | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Wiko View 4 (Chrome 80) | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score | |
| Average of class Smartphone (2228 - 100368, n=209, last 2 years) | |
| Realme C3 (Chrome 81) | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power (Chrome 80) | |
| Wiko View 4 (Chrome 80) | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total | |
| Wiko View 4 (Chrome 80) | |
| Motorola Moto G8 Power (Chrome 80) | |
| Realme C3 (Chrome 81) | |
| Average Mediatek Helio G70 () | |
| Average of class Smartphone (277 - 28190, n=167, last 2 years) | |
* ... smaller is better
The realme phone reads and writes on the internal storage a bit slower than the competition in our review. Our test device was equipped with 32 GB and reported possible slowdowns due to a full storage at the end of the test. According to the manufacturer, the C3 will only be sold with 64 GB, though. If this isn't enough, you can use a memory card but can't format it as internal storage. The card can be used parallel to two SIM cards.
| Realme C3 | Umidigi Power 3 | Motorola Moto G8 Power | Wiko View 4 | Average 32 GB eMMC Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | -15% | 19% | -17% | -25% | 611% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB | 294.1 | 290.5 -1% | 300.9 2% | 235.7 -20% | 242 ? -18% | 1887 ? 542% |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 122.2 | 207.8 70% | 181.9 49% | 133.5 9% | 100.5 ? -18% | 1474 ? 1106% |
| Random Read 4KB | 51.8 | 78.5 52% | 57.7 11% | 46.2 -11% | 43.2 ? -17% | 279 ? 439% |
| Random Write 4KB | 68.5 | 16.4 -76% | 132.6 94% | 18.5 -73% | 22.4 ? -67% | 312 ? 355% |
| Sequential Read 256KB SDCard | 84.6 ? | 39.6 ? -53% | 69.4 ? -18% | 81.8 ? -3% | 71.8 ? -15% | |
| Sequential Write 256KB SDCard | 63.5 ? | 13.3 ? -79% | 49.7 ? -22% | 60.7 ? -4% | 52.9 ? -17% |
Games - "Game Space" games suite
The Helio G70 uses a proprietary Hyper-Engine technology. It's designed to optimally distribute the power supply between the CPU and the GPU (ARM Mali-G52) and especially to improve performance during gaming. Realme also wants to underline the gaming suitability of the C3 with a game launcher: If games are started through the "Game Space", the system increases the processor performance if necessary; alternatively, you can also adjust this manually. Although there were occasional short term lags in the test, for example with collisions in Asphalt 9, this didn't result in longer game freezes or in the frames coming to a general halt. Additionally, we analyzed some games with the GameBench benchmark tool.
PUBG
Asphalt 9 Legends
Temple Run 2
Emissions - No heat development with the realme C3
Temperature
We measured an average temperature of 28 °C (~82 °F) on the C3's case in idle usage. It only heats up slightly under load and stays under 38 °C (~100 °F) on the whole. The GFXBench battery test doesn't indicate a throttling of the CPU performance even under longer sustained load.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 37.6 °C / 100 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 37.3 °C / 99 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 28.5 °C / 83 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
The mono speaker has a high volume and not only in relation to our chosen comparison smartphones. This is especially advantageous for hands-free talking; the sound pattern should be even more balanced for playing music. There is also an equalizer on board, but you can only activate it for headphones.
Realme C3 audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (88.9 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 32.8% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (8% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids - on average 5.2% lower than median
(+) | mids are linear (6.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 5.5% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (7.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (22.4% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 43% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 50% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 37%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 62% of all tested devices were better, 6% similar, 32% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Wiko View 4 audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (79.2 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 27.1% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (12.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 8.2% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (7.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 3.4% away from median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (7.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (25.8% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 61% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 32% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 37%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 77% of all tested devices were better, 5% similar, 18% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Battery life - Energy consumption - Smartphone with large battery
Energy consumption
An average standby consumption of 1.65 watts is not much in a class comparison. Under load, the consumption of other smartphones is often over 4 watts - so realme also scores well here.
| Off / Standby |   0.01 / 0.09 Watt |
| Idle |  0.44 / 1.65 / 1.69 Watt |
| Load |
3.81 / 6.22 Watt |
    
| |
Key:
min: ,
med: ,
max: Metrahit Energy | |
| Realme C3 5000 mAh | Umidigi Power 3 6150 mAh | Motorola Moto G8 Power 5000 mAh | Wiko View 4 5000 mAh | Average Mediatek Helio G70 | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | -15% | 0% | -43% | |||
| Idle Minimum * | 0.44 | 0.9 -105% | 0.44 ? -0% | 0.885 ? -101% | ||
| Idle Average * | 1.65 | 1.3 21% | 1.65 ? -0% | 1.451 ? 12% | ||
| Idle Maximum * | 1.69 | 1.6 5% | 1.69 ? -0% | 1.608 ? 5% | ||
| Load Average * | 3.81 | 3.2 16% | 3.81 ? -0% | 6.55 ? -72% | ||
| Load Maximum * | 6.22 | 7.1 -14% | 6.22 ? -0% | 9.92 ? -59% |
* ... smaller is better
Battery life
Among the comparison devices, the C3 completes our WLAN test, a uniformly defined usage scenario for all devices, even better than the Umidigi Power 3, which has a considerably larger battery.
| Realme C3 5000 mAh | Umidigi Power 3 6150 mAh | Motorola Moto G8 Power 5000 mAh | Wiko View 4 5000 mAh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | ||||
| WiFi v1.3 | 1371 | 1124 -18% | 1002 -27% | 1074 -22% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
Out of the three phones with which realme officially entered the German market in April, the realme C3 is the Editors' secret favorite. Naturally, it's not the warm red or the successful metallic look that's important for a decision; it's the hardware instead.
A storage capacity of 32 GB is simply no longer up to date.
Performance is good, but 32 GB, as is the case with our test device and is still often offered in this class, would be little. With 64 GB, with which the C3 should be sold, things look better. However, those who care about a good camera shouldn't consider the realme C3.
Realme C3
- 05/29/2020 v7 (old)
Inge Schwabe
Price comparison
