Full Review: realme C55 “Mini Capsule”

realme, the no. 1 smartphone brand for 2 straight years, elevates the entry-level by bringing more modern and fresh-looking unique designs made accessible to its market. They continue the promise of bringing Leap–Forward technological and innovative features to its market. Thus, it is the first Android brand to locally launch a smartphone with a “Mini Capsule” feature – the realme C55.

The realme C55 features a sleek design with round edges for an easier grip on the user’s hand. In terms of everyday use, it performs admirably. Additionally, it boasts excellent primary and selfie cameras for taking pictures outside. The mini capsule, the first among local smartphones, will caught the attention of many and can really be a game changer. There are drawbacks in a few areas, though.

Verdict

The realme C55 features a sleek design with round edges for an easier grip on the user’s hand. It is a decent performer in terms of casual usage. Also, it has capable primary and selfie cameras for daylight photography. The mini capsule, the first among local smartphones, will caught the attention of many and can really be a game changer. However, there are downsides in some areas.

The Lowdown

Despite its plastic body, the realme C55 is a beautiful smartphone in terms of design. With a dual-tone finish on the back panel and a glossy accent surrounding the cameras, it exudes a luxury appearance and feel. Not only does the matte surface’s delicate texture add to its overall attractiveness, it also makes it easier to hold onto. The phone’s smooth sides and rounded corners fit well in the hand, making it simple to hold for prolonged periods of time without getting tired. The realme C55 is remarkably thin and light, weighing only 189.5 grams. realme claims that the C-series model is the thinnest in the company’s lineup, which is remarkable given the long battery life it offers.

Color Variants

There are three color options available for the realme C55: Sunshower, Rainforest, and Rainy Night. For evaluation, I received the Rainforest version, which emits various hues depending on how the light strikes the surface. It is a nice color variation to admire and display in public. Additionally, the matte coating keeps fingerprints and smudges off the surface. When placed flat on a surface, the handset is also fairly stable. You won’t enjoy typing, but you’ll manage to do the task.

Ports and Buttons

The USB Type-C port for charging is located at the bottom edge of the phone, sandwiched between the 3.5mm headphone socket and speaker grille. The volume rocker and power button are located on the right spine of the phone and are easily reached with the thumb. The realme C55 is an overall well-designed phone for its price, though I wish the enormous rear camera rings weren’t there.

Display

The realme C55’s front features a 6.72-inch IPS LCD screen with a punch hole in the middle. The screen offers a peak brightness of 680 nits, a refresh rate of 90 Hz, and a touch sampling rate of 180 Hz. The high resolution more than makes up for the typical budget panel’s shortcomings by providing a pleasurable viewing experience while playing games or watching TV shows and movies.

Although the colors and details are attractive, the viewing angles may be better. However, unless in direct sunshine, the 680 nits brightness enables comfortable outdoor viewing. Although the bezels are not incredibly tiny, they are adequate for the price and the touch responsiveness and animations are fluid. The punch hole is a typical size and has no discernible impact on how well you can see. The punch hole can additionally be converted into a small capsule via software magic, which we shall cover later.

Chipset and Storage

The MediaTek Helio G88 SoC, which debuted in 2021 and has since been used in a number of other smartphones, is the brains behind the realme C55. The chipset doesn’t perform any worse than those in other smartphones, but it also doesn’t perform worse either. In other words, the Helio G88 gives the realme smartphone performance on par with that of its rivals. With only a few instances of slowness or stuttering, the phone manages to handle practically everything that is thrown at it.

The gadget can run moderately demanding games like Subway Surfer and Hill Climb Racing without overheating, despite not being designed for heavy-duty duties. Two RAM and storage configurations are available for the realme C55: 6GB+128GB, 8GB RAM+256GB. With the use of a microSD card that fits in a specific slot, the storage can be increased by up to 1TB. You can add up to 8GB of virtual RAM by using a portion of the phone’s storage.

Cameras and Photography

The realme C55 has two back cameras, one with a 64MP main sensor and the other with a 2MP depth sensor. It has an 8MP camera up front with a punch-hole arrangement for selfies and video calls. Impressive camera performance is seen in daytime.

The 64MP sensor produces clear, detailed images with vivid colors that are well-managed in the highlights and shadows. The same is true for the front camera, which, while not as detailed as the back camera, nonetheless produces respectable selfies with skin tones that look natural under harsh lighting.

Even though the sensors lag a little in low light, the phone is still able to snap photographs with respectable accuracy. In addition, there is graininess in the images as well as a slight loss of color vibrancy and highlight brightness. Also, the phone offers a special night mode. Additionally, the realme C55 has a portrait mode that works, but its edge recognition is not particularly reliable.

Battery

A full day of casual use on the realme C55, including web browsing, gaming, and social networking, will not drain the battery. The phone’s 5,000mAh battery only received a score of 10 hours and 25 minutes on the PC Mark battery test. Thus, its battery life isn’t the best. The battery may not last until the end of the day with moderate to heavy use, such as utilizing Google Maps for navigation all day. The battery may be fully charged in less than an hour and a half thanks to the device’s compatibility for 33W fast charging. The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for security, although it isn’t very dependable. Sometimes more than one try is needed for the scanner to find the fingerprint. Next, the phone’s sole bottom-firing speaker is at best mediocre. The audio output is not loud or crisp.

Operating System

The realme C55’s operating system is the most recent version of realme UI 4, which is based on Android 13. However, in terms of bloatware and advertisements, the customized Android skin is comparable to earlier generations. The software also comes with several unpleasant notifications. Despite this, a number of new features have been added, including auto-pixelate. This feature can obscure or pixelate sensitive information, dynamic widgets, flexible windows, and big folders.

The realme C55’s mini capsule, which is now undergoing testing, is one of its unique features. You must access realme Lab in the Settings app to turn it on. Once enabled, each time there is a notification for charging or battery information, a tiny pill will show up around the punch-hole. realme asserts that it can also display data use and daily steps. Contrary to the dynamic island feature on the iPhone 14 Pro, the alerts cannot be interacted with; they can only be quickly glanced at. With the realme UI 4, new wallpapers are also accessible.

Final Verdict

A few Infinix gadgets, especially the Note 12i and Hot 20, are in the running. The Infinix Note 12i has an AMOLED panel with a typical 60Hz refresh rate, while the latter is 5G enabled. The realme C55 will do you well if you don’t need those features and are willing to put up with a poor portrait mode, a picky fingerprint scanner, and bloated, ad-filled software.

But given that you can acquire a more potent realme 10 that offers higher specs and capabilities for the same price, it might not make sense to get the top-end model of the phone unless storage is your top priority. The 6GB and 8GB RAM options seem to offer greater value.

Pros

Beautiful design
The Mini capsule appears promising
Reasonable Battery Life
Outstanding Daytime Photography

Cons

Portrait mode could be better
Fingerprint scanner has difficulty sometimes

Price and Availability

First-Selling Offers

Availability: April 18, 2023 at 7:30 PM until 11:30 PM on realme’s Official TikTok Shop(@realmePH) the realme C55 is priced at P10,999 (6GB+128GB) and P8,999 (8GB+256GB). Purchase this smartphone at this given time and get to have these also:

P1,000 OFF for both variants
realme C55 (6GB+128GB): free realme Mobile Game Finger Sleeves for first buyers
realme C55 (8GB+256GB): free realme Mobile Game Trigger for first buyers

Availability: April 19 to April 21 on realme’s Lazada Flagship Store

Flash Sale discount of P1,000 OFF for both variants in limited quantities only, until April 21

Availability: April 19 on realme E-store

realme C55 (6GB+128GB):
https://realmeph.com/products/realme-c556gb-128gb-android-smartphone

realme C55 (8GB+256GB):
https://realmeph.com/products/realme-c558gb-256gb-android-smartphone

For both variants:

5% Upfront discount AND free TechLife Power Bank worth P799 from April 19 to 25, 2023