narzo offers the 50i Prime below the sub Php 4K segment to bolster its adaptation rate in the Philippine market. Being an off-shoot brand of realme, narzo has a lot to prove; and the now-solo brand is jumpstarting its reintroduction in the market with bells and whistles.
narzo 50i Prime Review
The narzo 50i Prime is one of the company's best-sellers. Aside from the price, there must be reasons why the phone is preferred by consumers. Let's find out in this review.
Design
Just like majority of the handsets that came before it, the narzo 50i Prime sports a polycarbonate build with rounded corners. The backing features vertical lines which reflect light in a diamond pattern.
The camera module takes up the upper portion of the back panel, and is accompanied by the narzo branding across the opposite side. The rest of the back panel is clean and minimalist.
You can find the same set of buttons on their respective sides - the power button and volume rocker on the right; the 3.5mm jack, USB-C port, speaker grille, and microphone at the bottom. The SIM tray which houses two SIM slots and a microSD card slot is situated on the left side. Lastly, the top side has the secondary microphone.
The backing of the narzo 50i Prime is stylized with vertical lines that give the majority of the back panel a textured finish. There's also a rectangular section that frames the camera, narzo branding, and LED flash. This area has a different finish in contrast to the rest of the backing. The handset is a joy to use with one hand due to its angled edges and "grippier" back chassis.
Display
The 50i Prime is framed with 6.5-inch 1600 x 720 pixel resolution screen. It's an HD+ IPS LCD panel that features a waterdrop notch. The side bezels are thin but the chin is significantly sizable.
I find the display quite decent, better than any other HD+ panel actually. The display comes with good contrast and color saturation. However, the brightness could need a little cranking up. It could be a challenge to use this outdoors on a bright sunny day.
Overall, the display is quite commendable for a sub Php 4K smartphone. Users can take advantage of this display for content consumption and gaming. The phone also supports video display enhancement for supported apps like YouTube, Duo, and other Google apps; you need to activate it in the settings app under the display section.
Performance
The narzo 50i Prime is powered by the Unisoc Tiger T612 SoC. This entry level chipset is popular to devices in this class. Graphics-wise, the chip could hardly perform with ease. However, majority of the fair to moderate usage experienced solid system performance.
The handset uses a UFS memory tech which translates to fast data transfer speeds. This is another feat for a smartphone in this price.
The smartphone can also handle mobile games. Mobile Legends run by default with low refresh rate and smooth graphics settings. Subjecting the phone to higher graphics could result to overclocking and heating issues.
The mono speaker shoots passable audio quality with enough volume, and it also complements the wide display for content consumption. The phone uses WiFi 4 which is common on this segment. Likewise, there's LTE mobile connectivity.
The narzo 50i Prime scored 176456 in our AnTuTu Benchmark test which is quite a surprise on this segment.
Camera
The narzo 50i Prime only has a single rear camera. It maybe unusual for a 2022 phone, but I think this is a very smart move for the brand to cut costs. The 8MP SC800CS camera is a good sensor for an entry-level phone. With the f/2.0 aperture, it is expected to capture decent shots in good lighting condition.
In good lighting condition, photos come off with desirable amount of brightness, enough sharpness, and details. In short, the camera can give you good photos for social media use. However, the autofocus is inconsistent most of the times.
The rear camera can also do Panorama, Timelapse, and Night mode. As for the quality, I wouldn't expect much. Meanwhile, there's a 5MP selfie shooter on the front camera. It also take good photos for social media use in good lighting environment.
Check our sample photos below:
Software and Battery
The smartphone boots with realme UI "R Edition" which is based on the aging Android 11. There are stark differences between this version and the full realme UI build. The notable ones are the Game Mode and Split Screen. I am glad that the software still supports my favorite feature - the Gesture Navigation.
Visually, the software is almost the same as the full build. By trimming down the software, the phone enjoys a smoother interface. Personally, I am quite impressed by the absence of app crashes and frame drops.
The 50i Prime packs a whopping 5000 mAh battery. Users are only limited in 10 watts and it takes almost 3 hours to charge the phone from 0 to 100 percent. As for the battery life, you can get away with a full day of use with this phone. If you're a fair to moderate user, it could extend to another half day.
Should You Buy narzo 50i Prime?
There are many reasons why the narzo 50i Prime could be the best-value smartphone this season. It has a solid light-weight design, fast memory speeds, decent chipset, dedicated microSD reader, and more. The fact that it is priced below Php 4K makes it a steal buy. I also love the fact that it does not have gimmicks - just a plain solid phone that will not break the bank.
