Launched in February this year, realme narzo 30a Still offers good value for money (at Rs 9,999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant). It combines practical design with good daylight camera performance, and offers good battery life. Still, a lot has changed since then, and other brands have managed to offer even better value. For example, the Infinix Hot 11S has a 90Hz refresh rate display, stereo speakers, and decent specifications. 10,999.
The Realme Narzo 50A is not the successor to the Narzo 30A (Review), but a completely different model which fits comfortably between Narzo 20 (from Rs 10,499) More expensive Narzo 30 5G (Review) (from Rs.14,999). After using the Realme Narzo 50A for a week, it is clear that it offers great battery life. However, compare it with similar priced smartphones such as Infinix Hot 11s And this redmi 10 prime (Review), and it doesn’t come out as a clear winner. Is it still good enough for those looking for a basic budget smartphone with good battery life?
Realme Narzo 50A price in India
The Realme Narzo 50A is available in two finishes: Oxygen Blue and Oxygen Green. There are two types to choose from. The 4GB RAM, 64GB storage option is priced at Rs. 11,499, but you can also get it with 128GB storage for Rs. 12,499. Should you decide to go for the Narzo 50A, the 128GB storage variant offers a better value than the competition, mainly because the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant of the Redmi 10 Prime costs Rs. 14,499.
realme narzo 50a design
The Realme Narzo 50A sticks to the company’s familiar design principles, with a simple yet practical back panel made out of polycarbonate. The back has a fine groove-like texture that helps with grip, which is important, as this is a big and heavy smartphone at 207g. The rear camera module extends to the center of the phone and surrounds the fingerprint reader. Since it doesn’t protrude much from the rest of the back panel, I often struggled to find a hard-to-find fingerprint reader.
The back panel of the Realme Narzo 50A is made of polycarbonate
The fine grooved texture along with the matte finish of the plastic body kept the back of the smartphone smudge-free. I didn’t like how chunky this device felt in daily use. The 6.5-inch display has a waterdrop-style notch. It’s a smudge magnet, and I had a hard time keeping it clean because those spots weren’t easy to erase.
Specifications and software of Realme Narzo 50A
The Narzo 50A offers a MediaTek Helio G85 SoC, but in two storage variants 64GB and 128GB with 4GB LPDDR4X RAM standard. The phone has a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion (up to 256GB). Communication standards include Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5 and various satellite navigation systems.
The triple rear camera setup of the Narzo 50A includes a 50-megapixel primary camera.
The Realme Narzo 50A runs Realme UI 2.0, which is based on Android 11. From a visual standpoint it is no different from what is available on other Realme smartphones. The focus of UI is on customization. There are also plenty of preinstalled third-party apps, most of which can be uninstalled. While third-party apps never pushed out any annoying notifications (unless I activated them), the Theme Store never failed to push out a promotional notification or two on a daily basis. I was also a bit surprised to see ads showing up in the default file manager app (there are two such apps).
Realme Narzo 50A Performance and Battery Life
The Realme Narzo 50A managed 55fps and 16fps, respectively, in GFXBench’s T-Rex and Manhattan 3.1 tests. It also garnered scores of 356 and 1,352 in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests.
When it comes to gaming, the Narzo 50A is good for a casual title, but demanding games don’t run smoothly. Call of Duty: Mobile was simply playable on the default low graphics and medium frame rate settings. The phone also heated up rapidly during gameplay, after which performance was affected. Asphalt 9: Legends fared better, but with skipped frames and some lag, especially when there was a lot of on-screen action. If you are looking for a budget gaming device, then Infinix’ Hot 11S There is definitely a better option.
Realme Narzo 50A’s 6.5-inch HD+ LCD display is quite sharp
The waterdrop-style notch of the Narzo 50A looks a bit outdated as compared to the hole-punch display offered by the competitors. With the HD+ resolution spread across the 6.5-inch display, I was surprised to find text and icons sharp enough. Viewing angles were good and the display was quite bright on the outside.
The Widevine L3 certification was a bit disappointing, allowing only SD video streaming playback quality. Streamed content on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix did not show Sharp. There are no stereo speakers, but the single speaker was loud and clear enough for watching movies and making calls. If you use your smartphone as your primary device for watching videos, redmi 10 prime Offers a superior full-HD+ display with Widevine L1 certification for HD playback quality.
Realme Narzo 50A has an 8-megapixel selfie camera
The Narzo 50A’s 6,000mAh battery lasted a full two days with regular usage including taking photos and playing casual games. With light usage (calls and messaging), the phone can last up to three days on a single charge. Our HD video loop battery test lasted 30 hours and 12 minutes, which is great for even such a large battery. With no improvement in terms of charging, the included 18W charger took the phone from a dead battery to 100 percent charge in 3 hours and 5 minutes.
Realme Narzo 50A Cameras
The Narzo 50A is equipped with a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel portrait lens for depth calculation and a 2-megapixel macro camera. Selfies are handled by an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. The camera interface remains unchanged. Video recording is limited to 1080p at 30fps for both the front and rear cameras.
Realme Narzo 50A daylight camera sample. top: primary; Middle: Ultra-wide-angle; Bottom: Close-up (tap to see full size)
Photos taken in daylight were low on resolved detail. Textures seemed flat when they made them a little bigger on the screen. Dynamic range was decent and colors were fairly neutral. Selfies came out with good detail and dynamic range, but looked a bit oversharp.
Realme Narzo 50A selfie camera sample. Up: Auto, Down: Portrait mode (tap to view full size)
Edge detection was below average when using Portrait mode, causing me to cut my hair and sometimes blur my ears. Macros taken with the 2-megapixel macro camera weren’t great either, and looked oversharp and dramatic with high contrast.
The level of detail dropped further when shooting indoors and in spaces with artificial light. Night mode managed to reduce the glare of bright street lamps when shooting in low light, but these photos lacked depth and didn’t look sharp.
Realme Narzo 50A Low 0ight Camera Samples. Top: Auto low light; Bottom: Night mode (tap to view full size)
Videos looked average with decent detail, but the lack of stabilization turned out to be quite choppy. Low-light video showed lots of blown out highlights and plenty of noise, along with vague details.
Decision
Despite its issues, the Realme Narzo 50A can still be a good smartphone if you only need a high level of battery life, and you only run basic apps. However, it’s hard to ignore the competition, most of which offer better performance and hardware at similar prices. NS Infinix Hot 11s Offers a full-HD+ 90Hz refresh rate display, smooth software and dual speakers for Rs. 10,999. there is also redmi 10 prime (Review), which offers a superior video streaming experience with support for the Widevine L1, stereo speakers, four rear cameras, and a 6,000mAh battery, and is priced at Rs. 11,999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant.
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