Realme C35 price in India
Realme C35 comes in two variants. The base variant has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage and is priced at Rs 11,999 in India. Its 128GB storage variant costs Rs 12,999. Both the variants are available in two finishes – Glowing Black and Glowing Green. I got the base variant in Glowing Green for this review.
Realme C35 design
The Realme C35 gives a very fresh feel compared to the smartphones that came before the C-series. Even though this phone is also made of polycarbonate like the rest of the models in the series, it still feels premium. Keeping in mind the current design trends, the company has used a matte frame in this which has flat sides and sides. The rear panel is also flat but in a glossy finish.
The camera module on the rear panel is protruding from the body but I was surprised that despite this the phone did not move from its place on a flat place. The polycarbonate body finish of the phone in a light green shade is attractive but fingerprints are visible very quickly in it. Its sharp look makes the phone look modern but it is not so comfortable to hold, as the edges of the phone are quite sharp.
The power button is given on the right side of the phone, on which fingerprint scanner is also present. At times it was difficult to recognize it as it seems to be embedded in the frame.
This Realme phone has a 6.6-inch FullHD+ LCD panel that comes with a standard refresh rate of 60Hz. Dewdrop notch has been given in the phone. It doesn’t budge while watching content, but feels a bit outdated. There are thin bezels all around the display but the bottom chin is thick. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom of the phone. Along with this, primary mic, USB Type-C port and speaker are also provided.
Realme C35 specifications and software
Realme C35 is powered by Unisoc T616 processor with a maximum clock speed of 2GHz. Two nano SIMs can be used in the phone and a dedicated microSD card slot is also available in the SIM tray. Storage can be increased up to 1TB in this. For connectivity, this phone has 4G / LTE band, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5 and satellite navigation system.
Talking about the operating system of the phone, it is based on Android 11. It runs on the Realme UI R Edition, which is the lite version of the regular Realme UI. For smooth performance, it has been reduced to some customization options. The phone also comes with many preinstalled apps which can be removed later.
Realme C35 performance and battery life
The overall experience of the phone was not very special as it seemed as if the hardware was not fully able to support its software. Suddenly there was a lag while scrolling between the list and the apps. Overall, the phone performed like an entry level smartphone rather than its price level.
It performed as expected in the benchmark test. The phone scored 2,12,939 points on AnTuTu. The phone scored 368 points in Geekbench’s single-core test and 1382 points in the multi-core test.
The display of Realme C35 gives saturated colors in default settings. But the results were much better when changing from Vivid to Gentle mode. The panel is FullHD+ LCD and looks bright even when outdoors or in direct sunlight.
The gaming experience in this phone was not very good. The processor could not play any game smoothly. Simple games like Subway Surfers and Temple Run 2 were also running with mild lag. Call of Duty: Mobile was getting stuck heavily even on the lowest settings.
The phone’s 5,000mAh battery lasted 10 hours and 56 minutes in our HD video loop test. This is below average for a budget device. The phone could last a little more than a day in regular use. This will also be said to be less than average. The phone took 2 hours 7 minutes to fully charge with the 18W fast charger.
Realme C35 cameras
Three cameras have been given in the rear panel in Realme C35. In which there is a 50 megapixel main lens, 2 megapixel macro shooter and 2 megapixel black and white camera. The phone is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera for selfie. The features of the camera app have been reduced a bit. The icon has been removed for quickly changing settings in the viewfinder.
The camera captures good photos in daylight. The dynamic range of the primary camera is quite good but the details were very less even in daylight. The HDR system was shooting very aggressive photos at times making the sky look too blue. Macro shots were seen with oversharpness.
You will find portrait mode only in the rear camera. Edge detection was good but the background was getting over exposed. Portrait mode only worked on humans and didn’t work on things for some reason.
Image quality dropped significantly in low-light. The camera struggled to focus in low light and the photos looked quite soft. Contrast got a bit better in Night mode but photos became very soft and blurry. Overall a disappointment in Night Photography.
The Realme C35 smartphone can record videos up to 1080p at 30fps. Video quality was average in daylight. The footage looked quite shakey, meaning there was no stabilization. A lot of noise (grains) was seen in the video in low-light. The camera was also having trouble focusing, especially when panning.
Verdict
There is no dearth of options in the bottom line of budget smartphones these days. Reality has many phones in this segment. Prices of many of these are around this. Realme C35 beats out due to its average battery life and below average camera performance. Only its design in the phone is going to attract the user.
If you talk about its options, then you can see Realme Narzo 50 which starts at Rs 12,999. It has a MediaTek processor, 120Hz display, high resolution selfie camera and 33W charging. We haven’t reviewed it yet, but looking at the specifications, it looks better than the Realme C35.
Also you can check out Micromax In 2B. It gives smooth software experience. Now Moto G31 is also available for Rs 11,999. This phone gives an experience similar to stock Android. It has an AMOLED display and a water resistant design. All these options prove to be better than Reality C35, so it becomes very difficult to suggest this phone of Reality.