Realme C53

Realme C53 Review: A Solid Budget Option with Impressive Features

The Realme C53 is a budget-friendly smartphone that offers a solid mix of performance, design, and battery life for its price. Released in May 2023, it brings some notable features typically found in mid-range phones, making it an appealing option for anyone looking for a good value smartphone. See also Realme C55.

Realme C53 specs and price

Design and Build

The Realme C53 sports a sleek and modern design, featuring a glass front, plastic frame, and plastic back. The phone feels surprisingly premium for its price, with clean lines and a nice finish. Measuring 167.3 x 76.7 x 7.5 mm and weighing 182g, it’s comfortable to hold and isn’t too bulky. The phone comes in two attractive colors: Champion Gold and Mighty Black, allowing you to choose a look that suits your personal style.

Display

The 6.74-inch IPS LCD display is a standout for a budget phone, offering vibrant colors and decent brightness with a 560 nits peak brightness. It’s perfect for media consumption, such as watching videos or browsing social media. With a 90Hz refresh rate, the display feels smooth and responsive when scrolling through apps or web pages. The 1080 x 2400 pixel resolution delivers crisp visuals, and the 85.5% screen-to-body ratio maximizes the screen area, making it great for gaming and entertainment.

Performance

Powered by the Unisoc Tiger T612 chipset, paired with an octa-core CPU (2×1.8 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55), the Realme C53 handles daily tasks with ease. It’s not a powerhouse, but it’s more than capable of managing apps, social media, and light gaming. The Mali-G57 GPU ensures smooth graphics performance in moderate games, making this a good choice for casual gamers.

With 128GB of internal storage and 6GB of RAM (or 256GB and 8GB of RAM), there’s plenty of room for your apps, photos, and files. The dedicated microSDXC slot gives you the flexibility to expand storage if needed, which is a great feature in this price range.

Camera Performance

The Realme C53 comes equipped with a dual-camera setup on the back: a 50 MP wide sensor and a 0.3 MP depth sensor. The primary camera performs well in good lighting conditions, capturing sharp and detailed photos with good color accuracy. The depth sensor helps create decent portrait shots with blurred backgrounds. Features like HDR, LED flash, and panorama mode add to the versatility of the camera.

For selfies, the 8 MP front camera does a good job of delivering sharp and clear shots with natural skin tones. It’s also capable of recording 720p videos. If you’re a fan of social media or video calling, it will serve you well, though it’s not the best for professional-level photography.

Battery Life

A highlight of the Realme C53 is its 5000mAh battery, which provides all-day battery life even with moderate usage. The phone supports 33W wired charging, which can charge the device to 50% in just 31 minutes, making it quite fast for a budget phone. This is a convenient feature for those who need a quick power boost during the day.

Software and Features

Running Android 13 with Realme UI T, the phone offers a clean and user-friendly interface with some customization options. The software is responsive, and Realme’s UI doesn’t overwhelm with unnecessary bloatware.

In terms of features, the side-mounted fingerprint scanner is fast and reliable, and you also get the standard suite of sensors, including an accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor, and compass. Unfortunately, there’s no NFC support, which might be a dealbreaker for those who use mobile payments frequently.

Connectivity and Sound

The phone offers Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual-band support, which is excellent for smooth internet connectivity. Bluetooth 5.0 ensures stable pairing with accessories like headphones and smartwatches. The phone also has a 3.5mm headphone jack for those who prefer wired audio.

As for the sound, the loudspeaker performs decently for its class, but don’t expect booming audio. It’s sufficient for watching videos or listening to music at moderate volumes. The absence of stereo speakers might be a downside for some, but it’s expected in this price range.

Verdict

The Realme C53 stands out as a solid budget phone that offers great value for money. It features a large display, good performance, a competent camera, and impressive battery life. For its price, you’re getting a phone that can handle daily tasks without a hitch and delivers a smooth user experience. If you’re looking for a budget device that won’t disappoint, the Realme C53 is definitely worth considering.

However, if you’re after cutting-edge features like top-tier gaming performance or professional-grade camera capabilities, you may want to look elsewhere. But for general use, this phone is a fantastic option in the budget category. At a price of Ksh 17,000, the Realme C53 is a solid offering for anyone looking to upgrade their smartphone without breaking the bank.