Realme U1 Smartphone Hands-on Review

OPPO's sub-brand Realme has had a good outing in the Indian smartphone market. The Realme U1 launched late last year and has managed to make a name for itself in the sub-₹10,000 (~$145) segment. The Realme U1 sports a modern design language and is the first phone in the world to be powered by the very power-efficient MediaTek Helio P70 SoC, making it an enticing buy at this price. However, it is not without equals.
We have the Samsung Galaxy M10 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 as some of the bestsellers in this price bracket alongside the Realme 3. The Asus ZenFone Max (M2) is also not far behind and OPPO's recently announced A1k is also jostling for space in this segment despite sporting a much more entry-level MediaTek Helio P22 SoC and mediocre specs. The competition is high so we've decided to evaluate the Realme U1 to see how well the phone actually performs. We also compare the AI performance of the Helio P70 with rivals SoCs from Qualcomm to see the benefits, if any, of MediaTek's dedicated AI Processing Unit (APU). So without further ado, let's check out all that the Realme U1 has to offer in this detailed hands-on review.
Note — This is more of an extensive hands-on than the typical smartphone review usually found on Notebookcheck. We've incorporated most of the performance benchmarks that we think will give a fair performance estimate of the phone. All tests were done on the latest software version RMX1831EX_11_A.08 (ColosOS 5.2 based on Android 8.1.0 Oreo with April Security Patch).
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Design
In the box we find the Realme U1 itself, a regular 10 W charger, USB to microUSB cable, a TPU case, a SIM ejector tool, and the usual paperwork. The phone comes with a screen protector pre-applied.
The Realme U1's design reminds us of its budget demographic. That is not to say that the design is a compromise, but it is the same plastic build that we've come to expect from phones at this price. Realme has disguised all the plastic in a clever reflective finish that is available in Brave Blue, Fiery Gold, and Ambitious Black variants. We have the Brave Blue variant with us for review, and it looks and feels premium-ish for a mid-ranger. The phone's rear is a dust and fingerprint magnet for sure so you might have to clean it often or use the bundled TPU case. The rear also houses the 13 MP + 2 MP camera arrangement accompanied by an LED flash and a highly responsive capacitive fingerprint sensor. At just 168 g, the phone does not feel heavy at all.
While the back is made of plexiglass (aka plastic), the sides are given a matte finish. On the left we find the volume rockers and a SIM tray that can take two nano SIMs and a microSD at once (thankfully). Towards the right, we just have a power button that can also double up as a Google Assistant invoke button. At the bottom, we have a speaker grill, a microUSB port, microphones, and a headphone jack. The top surface is clean without any additional noise-cancellation mics or antenna lines.
The Realme U1 sports a 6.3-inch IPS FHD+ display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The glass is a 2.5D glass that curves around the edges. However, the transition from the frame to the glass feels jarring and Realme could surely improve in this regard. The bezels are slim and so is the bottom chin. Towards the top of the display we find the teardrop-shaped notch that houses the 25 MP selfie camera and neatly eclipsed ambient light and proximity sensors. The earpiece is present just above the notch between the frame and the glass.
Overall, the Realme U1 won't be winning any accolades for design but the attempt to give a faux premium look deserves some appreciation.
Features
The Realme U1 is powered by the MediaTek Helio P70 SoC. The Helio P70 is a mid-range SoC that is designed with AI and better sustained performance in mind. It features four 2.1 GHz Cortex-A73 cores and four 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 cores along with a Mali-G72 MP3 GPU. On paper, the Helio P70 is more or less a rehashed Helio P60 with a 100 MHz clock boost for the A73 cores and the GPU. The Realme U1 comes in 3 GB/32 GB and 4 GB/64 GB variants; we have the 3 GB/32 GB variant for review. The lower RAM does have a perceivable negative impact on some of the scores, as we will see shortly. The internal storage can be expanded up to 256 GB via a microSD card.
Connectivity-wise, the basics are well taken care of. Both SIMs support VoLTE and dual-SIM dual-standby (DSDS). The phone supports 802.11n 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 but there's no NFC. Given that the Helio P70 fully supports wireless-AC, we are not sure why Realme chose to go with just single-band Wi-Fi. The phone also has most common sensors available. Fingerprint and face unlock work really well and you also get the option to brighten the screen in the dark to compensate for the lack of a front LED flash.
The rear camera is a 13 MP + 2 MP setup with f/2.2 and f/2.4 apertures, respectively, while the front camera is a 25 MP f/2.0 Sony IMX576 sensor. Clearly, Realme has prioritized selfies more than conventional photos. There are no stereo speakers on-board but the single speaker offers loud enough output for indoor use. Powering all this is a 3,500 mAh battery that offers excellent standby and runtimes thanks to the power-efficient chipset.
Software
Realme uses ColorOS for all its handsets and the U1 is no different. The U1 is still running ColorOS 5.2 based on Android 8.1.0 as of date and is yet to receive the Pie update. In the U1, Realme has kept the bloatware to a minimum and offers a handful of India-centric apps and some tools such as a voice recorder, FM Radio, and Clone Phone to help you get started. These apps can be uninstalled if needed. Both gesture-based navigation and the standard Android button-based navigation are available. A Sidebar can be invoked by swiping left from the right edge of the screen to provide handy app shortcuts. Swiping right from the Homescreen reveals the Smart Assistant that offers an at-a-glance display of the Weather, Steps Tracker, Quick Functions, and Favorite Contacts.
There is no built-in Themes store but you do get OPPO apps such as Phone Manager, Smart Scan, Game Space, and ORoaming along with a Realme community app. Unlike the OPPO phones, Realme uses the TouchPal software keyboard as default, which can take some time to get used to if you are already used to Gboard or SwiftKey. Realme also includes a Realme Secure Keyboard that automatically pops up whenever you tap on a password field or enter sensitive information. When the Secure Keyboard is invoked, screenshots and screen recording functions are disabled. Of course, you can also use any of the plethora of keyboards available in the Play Store if you don't like TouchPal.
Bear in mind that using ColorOS is a far cry from using stock Android, and it can take some time to get used to all the available options. ColorOS, while being feature-rich, isn't too benevolent on low RAM devices and it shows in our 3 GB RAM unit. UI navigation can start to get sluggish if multiple UI operations are performed at the same time or while clearing multiple notifications at once. That being said, most features that you expect to find in an OEM ROM are available so you need not go app hunting.
Telephony, Networking, and GPS
The Realme U1 does not struggle with basic telephony. Network reception was good even in areas with shoddy signal strength and we never experienced any call drops or clarity issues with the other party. Call quality is fine for the most part and noise-cancellation works well. Wireless functionality is fine for regular use, although the phone could only hit an average of 26 Mb/s when connected to a 100 Mb/s router.
The phone supports GPS, A-GPS, and Glonass. There was absolutely no signal lock indoors, but it did have a very good accuracy of up to 2 m outdoors. Battery drain during continuous GPS use was as expected and not too drastic.
Display
The Realme U1 sports a 6.3-inch FHD+ IPS 19.5:9 display with a pixel density of 409 PPI. Images and text look sharp with deep blacks (for an IPS panel). Colors look fine and carry enough punch. The overall brightness is high at 520 nits, which should help with better legibility in direct sunlight. However, colors appear washed-out when the screen brightness is set to max. The auto brightness does a good job of minimizing the display backlight to comfortable levels for night usage. There is no ambient display functionality so you will have to unlock the screen every time for viewing notifications. There are no additional color tuning utilities apart from color temperature adjustment and a Night Shield mode.
Like most OPPO phones, the Realme U1 lacks Widevine CDM L1 support, which means you are restricted to streaming Netflix and Amazon Prime content at less than 720p resolution.
Cameras
The Realme U1 does a decent job in the imaging department. The camera app is reminiscent of that of OPPO's so if you are coming here from any OPPO mid-ranger, things should be instantly familiar. It even has a Super Vivid mode akin to OPPO's Dazzle Color for saturated colors. The app navigation feels a bit cumbersome, though. There is no obvious way to select camera settings from the UI and there is no dedicated night-shooting mode. Hopefully, Realme will address this in an app update.
The camera does make good use of the Helio P70's AI features for scene detection and adjusts the settings accordingly. You can also use real-time effects as well as fun stickers. For those who know how to extract the best possible performance, there is an Expert mode for adjusting white balance, shutter speed, ISO, exposure, and focus.
Rear Camera
The U1 uses a 13 MP + 2 MP camera arrangement as its primary shooter. The 13 MP camera is an f/2.2 autofocus lens while the 2 MP camera is a depth sensor with an aperture of f/2.4. Keeping in mind the budget range this device is in, photos in sufficient lighting come out fine with good color reproduction. The AI does an acceptable job of identifying the scene and even turning on HDR as needed. However, we do find that the overall sharpness in the image is somewhat on the lower side especially in Portrait mode. The bokeh effects aren't out of this world so you will have to resort to Expert mode to get a better control over the focusing.
The camera app offers a Super Vivid mode that does what it says — increase color saturation. The results, however, depend largely on the scene. It might work alright for indoor lighting but doesn't come across as much use outdoors. Also, this is done post-capture and is not a live effect so expect to see some quality loss at 100% crop in the final photo. HDR does help in highlighting some of the darker areas of the scene but tends to overexpose the already brighter areas. Outdoors, the HDR does a fairly good job and can actually come across as useful.
While pictures in daylight are serviceable, the low-light performance is very disappointing. There seems to be no dedicated Night mode in the camera UI so you are left at the mercy of the camera automatically trying to identify a night scene, or you have to use manual controls. The shots appear grainy and washed-out, and they lack detail. Shots in city street lighting at night are strictly okay if you can forgive the lack of sharpness.
For video recording, the maximum resolution supported is 1080p @ 30 fps despite the Helio P70 itself being capable of 4K recording. Videos come out well with good detail and colors albeit a bit shaky due to the absence of any form of stabilization.
Front Camera
In contrast, the front camera performs much better thanks to the 25 MP Sony f/2.0 IMX576 sensor. There is no soft LED flash but you can turn on Screen Brightness Compensation to make up for it. Selfies come out fine with good enough detail and the portrait mode works well. Night shots can get a bit noisy, though not as noisy as those taken with the rear camera.
You also get the option of using AI for 'Smart Beauty' or can select the Custom Beauty mode to adjust specific facial features. Other features such as HDR, Depth effect, Flash and Super Vivid modes are available. There's a Stickers mode for those who like to add some pizzazz to their selfies before sharing on social media.
Performance
The MediaTek Helio P70 is a slight upgrade from the Helio P60 in terms of clock speeds. However, the company claims significant improvements in terms of performance in AI and gaming. The newer SoC is also touted to bring ISP improvements including better HDR and depth-mapping. In regular use, we found that the overall experience of using the phone would suffice for most budget use cases despite occasional UI lags. This could be in-part due to the lesser amount of RAM in our device and in-part due to lack of required optimizations in ColorOS. All said and done, we would recommend opting for the 4 GB RAM variant to minimize some of these stutters.
CPU and GPU Benchmarks
We evaluated the performance of the Helio P70 using a variety of CPU and GPU benchmarks. For this comparison, we evaluated the performance figures of the Helio P70 in comparison with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 and the Helio P60. Quite a few Helio P70 devices have launched in the past few months and we look forward to evaluating them in the days to come.
In most CPU-intensive benchmarks, we find that the Helio P70 scores very well and is within range of the Snapdragon 660 and even the Kirin 710 in the Honor 8X. Due to the lesser RAM in our review unit, we find that certain AnTuTu scores such as the UX tests have considerably lower scores than the competition. The Snapdragon 660, Exynos 9610, and Kirin 710 post better single-thread scores but the Helio P70 manages to lessen the gap with good multithread performance. The speed difference in the Cortex-A73 cores between the Helio P60 and P70 is just 100 MHz, as a result of which we find that there's a 10% performance advantage to the P70 over the P60.
The Helio P70's Mali-G72 MP3 is also clocked 100 MHz higher compared to the P60 but we find the Realme U1's P70 lagging behind in most GFXBench on-screen and off-screen tests. 3DMark seemed to be a bit forgiving, though. While synthetic GPU benchmark performance is not exactly chart-topping, regular gaming should not pose much of an issue as we will see shortly.
We also evaluated throttling aspects of the SoC by running GFXBench Long Term T-Rex ES 2.0 and Long Term Manhattan ES 3.1 for about 30 iterations. Temperatures hovered around a reasonable 40 °C during both runs. In Long Term T-Rex ES 2.0, we find a drop in performance on the fourth iteration but the SoC quickly recovered and sustained well throughout the test with occasional dips. The clocks could reach the highest 2.1 GHz mark for about 400 seconds after which they dropped drastically to 1 GHz with momentary spikes to 1.3 GHz.
In the Long Term Manhattan ES 3.1, we see a major performance drop after the fifth iteration but the SoC recovers quickly. We also see much better sustained max clocks with the P70 frequently hitting the 2.1 GHz mark.
Overall, we find that the Helio P70 performs well under sustained loads without much throttling. The thermals are also under check, which is a good thing.
Web Benchmarks
The Realme U1 offers Opera Mobile based on Chromium 72 as the default browser, and it comes with features such as a personalized news feed on the home page, a built-in VPN, an ad-blocker, and a Crypto Wallet. We used the Google Chrome browser for running the web benchmarks. Web-browsing on the Realme U1 poses no issues as long as you don't have too many tabs open.
The Helio P70 seems to score less than the competition in most web benchmarks except for Mozilla Kraken where it tops the list. Loading graphics-heavy websites and streaming FHD videos in the Chrome browser posed no issues. We also played a game of Interland in the Chrome browser and didn't have issues with fluidity or touch responsiveness in the game.
JetStream 1.1 - Total Score | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (Chrome 72) | |
Elephone A5 (Chrome 71) | |
Honor 8X (Chrome 70) | |
Umidigi Z2 Pro (Chrome 69) | |
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 ZB630KL (Chrome 71) | |
Ulefone Armor 6 (Chrome 71) | |
Average Mediatek Helio P70, ARM Mali-G72 MP3 (34.3 - 50.2, n=7) | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (Chrome 67) | |
Nokia 5.1 Plus (Chrome 71) | |
Oppo Realme U1 |
Jetstream 2 - Total Score | |
Average of class Smartphone (13.8 - 387, n=166, last 2 years) | |
Umidigi Z2 Pro (Chrome 74) | |
Sony Xperia 10 Plus (Chrome 73) | |
Oppo Realme U1 (Chrome 74) | |
Average Mediatek Helio P70, ARM Mali-G72 MP3 (21.2 - 27.4, n=4) |
Octane V2 - Total Score | |
Average of class Smartphone (2228 - 100368, n=208, last 2 years) | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (Chrome 72) | |
Samsung Galaxy A50 (Chrome 73) | |
Honor 8X (Chrome 70) | |
Elephone A5 (Chrome 71) | |
Average Mediatek Helio P70, ARM Mali-G72 MP3 (6269 - 9863, n=8) | |
Nokia 5.1 Plus (Chrome 71) | |
Umidigi Z2 Pro (Chrome 69) | |
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 ZB630KL (Chrome 71) | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (Chrome 67) | |
Ulefone Armor 6 (Chrome 71) | |
Sony Xperia 10 Plus (Chrome 73) | |
Oppo Realme U1 (Chrome 73) |
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total | |
Oppo Realme U1 (Chrome 74) | |
Average Mediatek Helio P70, ARM Mali-G72 MP3 (4198 - 5659, n=8) | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (Chrome 67) | |
Sony Xperia 10 Plus (Chrome 73) | |
Nokia 5.1 Plus (Chrome 71) | |
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 ZB630KL (Chrome 71) | |
Ulefone Armor 6 (Chrome 71) | |
Elephone A5 (Chrome 71) | |
Umidigi Z2 Pro (Chrome 69) | |
Honor 8X | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (Chrome 72) | |
Samsung Galaxy A50 (Chrome 73) | |
Average of class Smartphone (277 - 28190, n=164, last 2 years) |
WebXPRT 2015 - Overall | |
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 ZB630KL (Chrome 71) | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (Chrome 72) | |
Umidigi Z2 Pro (Chrome 69) | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (Chrome 67) | |
Honor 8X (Chrome 70) | |
Nokia 5.1 Plus (Chrme 71) | |
Average Mediatek Helio P70, ARM Mali-G72 MP3 (106 - 137, n=3) | |
Oppo Realme U1 (Chrome 74) |
WebXPRT 3 - Overall | |
Average of class Smartphone (38 - 347, n=78, last 2 years) | |
Samsung Galaxy A50 (Chrome 73) | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (Chrome 72) | |
Honor 8X (Chrome 70) | |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (Chrome 66) | |
Umidigi Z2 Pro | |
Sony Xperia 10 Plus (Chrome 73) | |
Nokia 5.1 Plus | |
Average Mediatek Helio P70, ARM Mali-G72 MP3 (35 - 55, n=8) | |
Oppo Realme U1 (Chrome 74) |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Benchmarks
The Realme U1 uses eMMC flash storage and our unit came with 32 GB of onboard storage of which 21.45 GB is available to the user. The U1 posted some of the lowest random write and read speeds compared to similar phones in its class. However, sequential write and read were better than most phones in this segment. The performance of the U1's storage sub-system won't win any awards and we feel Realme could have used a better flash memory. That being said, the impact of this in daily use is not easily perceivable and since the sequential reads are on par with the competition, loading games or large files doesn't take too long.
Oppo Realme U1 Mali-G72 MP3, Helio P70, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Nokia 5.1 Plus Mali-G72 MP3, Helio P60, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Elephone A5 Mali-G72 MP3, Helio P60, 64 GB eMMC Flash | Umidigi Z2 Pro Mali-G72 MP3, Helio P60, 128 GB eMMC Flash | Ulefone Armor 6 Mali-G72 MP3, Helio P60, 128 GB eMMC Flash | Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 ZB630KL Adreno 512, SD 660, 64 GB eMMC Flash | Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Adreno 512, SD 660, 64 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy A50 Mali-G72 MP3, Exynos 9610, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash | Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Adreno 509, SD 636, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Honor 8X Mali-G51 MP4, Kirin 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash | Sony Xperia 10 Plus Adreno 509, SD 636, 64 GB eMMC Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AndroBench 3-5 | 8% | 22% | 27% | 24% | 86% | 24% | 50% | -11% | 41% | 22% | 811% | |
Random Write 4KB | 26.72 | 25.65 -4% | 24.35 -9% | 20.34 -24% | 19.87 -26% | 88.2 230% | 16.06 -40% | 18.2 -32% | 16.3 -39% | 59.9 124% | 16.77 -37% | 316 ? 1083% |
Random Read 4KB | 48.7 | 77.7 60% | 60.4 24% | 86.2 77% | 81.3 67% | 74.9 54% | 82.9 70% | 98.9 103% | 48.9 0% | 49.54 2% | 77.7 60% | 277 ? 469% |
Sequential Write 256KB | 121.7 | 88.9 -27% | 213.9 76% | 188.1 55% | 188.4 55% | 198.9 63% | 204.7 68% | 192.1 58% | 121.6 0% | 170 40% | 205.2 69% | 1522 ? 1151% |
Sequential Read 256KB | 296.5 | 301.6 2% | 291.9 -2% | 292.9 -1% | 290.8 -2% | 285.5 -4% | 283.4 -4% | 507 71% | 287.6 -3% | 283.9 -4% | 280.3 -5% | 1902 ? 541% |
AI Benchmarks
Comparing AI performance among phones is not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison considering that some OEM ROMs do not expose AI SDKs for developers, prompting benchmarking tools to fall back on Google TensorFlow Lite, which is not entirely reliable. Also, while SoCs from Huawei's HiSilicon have dedicated NPUs, others like Qualcomm just make use of the DSP. Complicating matters is the fact that each Android version adds more AI capabilities, so comparing AI scores amongst devices between different OS versions can merit some skepticism as we see below. Still, it helps to have an overview as to how different SoCs can fare in AI tests.
MediaTek touts improved AI performance thanks to a dedicated AI Processing Unit (APU). We decided to compare how the Helio P70 in the Realme U1 fares in comparison with SoCs powering some of the phones we have with us currently, including the Snapdragon 660, Snapdragon 632, and the Snapdragon 710. We tested AI performance using AI Benchmark and AnTuTu's AI benchmark, AITuTu.
From the results, we gather that AI scores are heavily influenced by the chipset and OS combination. The same Helio P70 in the Realme U1 and the Realme 3 shows vast differences in scores in both benchmarks, which could possibly be due to better support for AI in Android 9. The Snapdragon 710 in the OPPO R17 Pro scored the highest in AITuTu but trailed behind significantly in AI Benchmark. Interestingly, the Snapdragon 660 lagged behind the Snapdragon 632, which could probably be due to the fact that our test unit has an underclocked SD660 SoC. Overall, MediaTek seems to have done a good job with the Helio P70's AI capabilities, but they seem to work best when paired with Android 9.
Gaming
Gaming on the Realme U1 posed no big constraints even with just 3 GB of RAM onboard. That is not really surprising considering that the Mali-G72 MP3 is capable of running most modern mobile games with ease. Of course, higher RAM would help in minimizing the occasional stutter. Nevertheless, we found no issues at all even during extended gameplay. Games like Shadow Fight 3 can easily hit 60 fps on High settings while PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends could be played comfortably close to 30 fps at their highest settings. We did experience frame drops in Asphalt 9: Legends in scenes with many cars and visual effects, but overall the gameplay did not suffer. Touch response during gaming was excellent as well.
Realme includes OPPO's Game Space software that claims to dedicate hardware resources and not let notifications bother during a gaming session. Game Space even adds installed games to its launch screen for easy access. In our testing, we did not find much of a benefit in using Game Space. In fact, it interfered with the GameBench benchmark software requiring us to disable it in order to record frame rate counts. All said and done, the Realme U1's budget status does not impede its gaming capabilities and we'd recommend going for the 4 GB RAM variant if you find yourself wanting to play modern games on this device.
Shadow Fight 3 | |||
Settings | Value | ||
high | 60 fps |
PUBG Mobile | |||
Settings | Value | ||
HD | 30 fps |
Asphalt 9: Legends | |||
Settings | Value | ||
High Quality | 25 fps |
Emissions
Temperatures
The Realme U1 barely got hot during our tests. However, there was no way of measuring the exact CPU temperature in monitoring apps. AnTuTu reported a CPU temperature of 60 °C at idle, which is obviously incorrect. MediaTek claims lower operating temperatures in the P70 courtesy of the CorePilot 4 task scheduler but we could not monitor it in real-time using software. We asked MediaTek if this has got anything to do with any unexposed thermal sensor APIs and will report back once we hear from them. Nevertheless, handling the phone during sustained workloads such as gaming is not something you need to worry about while using the Realme U1.
Speakers
The U1 sports a single speaker near the microUSB port. The speaker is loud enough for indoor use and has good clarity (in this price segment). It lacks bass and distorts at the higher range but the audio is serviceable. Audio from the headphone jack is good and you get a native system-wide EQ, which Realme refers to as Real Original Sound Technology developed jointly by Dirac Research AB. We used the SoundMagic E10C earphones for testing and were pleased with the overall sound stage. The bass is adequate and the mids are rightly represented along with the highs.
Battery Life
The Realme U1 is powered by a 3,500 mAh battery that can easily outlast a typical workday. Realme bundles a regular 5 V/2 A USB charger that takes quite a bit of time to top up the battery (~1.5 hours from 0 to 80%). In the age of fast charging, this feels like an eternity. ColorOS offers information as to which apps are draining the battery and offers good power management features. It uses AI to predict when you are less likely to use the phone and adjusts the power consumption accordingly.
In the PCMark Work 2.0 battery test, the U1 recorded a battery life of 9 hours 19 minutes with screen brightness set at approximately 200 cd/m2 and all connections on. This is a very good runtime and in most cases you will be left with plenty of charge before you hit the bed.
Pros
Cons
Verdict
We have been evaluating the Realme U1 for over a month and found no major issues in regular usage. The screen is great for an IPS panel, offers excellent touch response, and the overall build quality is very good for a device of its class even though it is fully made of plastic with a jarring transition between the frame and the glass. The teardrop-shaped notch is a welcome development in this price range and helps offer a nearly uninterrupted viewing experience.
The U1 is the first MediaTek Helio P70-powered smartphone and its availability is restricted to the Indian market. The choice of opting for the Helio P70 seems to have paid good dividends as can be gleaned from our tests. Sure, it does not always top the charts but we'll also have to consider Realme's implementation of the chip and the underlying software, which we feel can surely benefit from some fine-tuning. The camera is a sore point, though — it works okay for daytime shots but suffers badly in low light, not to mention the limited options in the camera UI. The phone does a great job in the battery department and offers most power management features found in the more-expensive OPPO offerings.
If you are in the hunt for a mid-ranger with good overall performance, the Realme U1 can be recommended as long as you aren't too worried about camera quality, aesthetics, and a somewhat polarizing Android experience. The U1 is a great debut for the Helio P70, but MediaTek's new SoC certainly deserves a lot better.