realme 10 is now official in the Philippines. It marks the second release on the company's popular number series line this year. The realme 10 seems like a milestone release from the company who has been the undisputed number 1 smartphone brand in the country for quite some time now. We had our review unit way before its official announcement so we got an ample time testing the smartphone for our review; but in the meantime, join us in this unboxing and first impressions of the realme 10.
realme 10 Unboxing
The latest iteration of the popular number series comes in the usual yellow packaging with the imposing number 10 on the face of the box. The smartphone's marquee features can be found on the flip-side as follows:
- 90Hz Super AMOLED Display;
- MediaTek Helio G99 Chipset;
- 5000mAh Battery; and
- 50MP Color AI Camera.
Opening the box, you'll find a yellow packet which says "Hey, welcome to realme Family" and this contains some documentation inserts, a gray transparent case, and SIM eject tool. Underneath is the realme 10 unit wrapped in clear plastic. The bottom has the compartments provisioned for the power supply unit and USB-A to USB-C charge cable.
Inside the box items
- realme 10 unit
- documentations
- screen protector (pre mounted)
- gray transparent case
- SIM eject tool
- 33W adapter
- USB-A to USB-C charge cable
As usual there's no headphones included in the package; you can use either wired (yes, it has 3.5mm audio jack) or wireless realme / third-party headphones.
The realme 10 is a slightly boxy phone due to its flat railing which has an aluminum-like finish; but it is actually made of plastic material. It is accentuated with round corners and comes with 2.5D curved glass screen. The front panel is defined by a hole-punch provisioned for the selfie camera which is situated near the left corner. There are also tiny side bezels to support the screen but the handset comes with a sizeable chin.
On the rear panel, we have a durable plastic material which mimics glass. The branding is located at the lower left portion, while the protruding cameras are on the top left. We don't have a protruding module that frames the lenses like the realme 9, instead the company has updated the design for the realme 10 to mere "camera humps" which we actually love.
The two very protruded cameras are crammed in a vertical axis. The sensors are housed in big round sections with frames that have the same material and color as the phone's railings.
Aside from the cameras, we can also find the LED flash and tiny prints which labels "50MP AI Camera". Being an AI camera, it can intelligently identify objects and scenes, as well as auto adjust camera settings in order to boost quality of the outputs.
Getting the phone ready for use should be easy and you can use your old phone to transfer data to your new phone.
Initial Impressions
We have the Rush Black colorway which actually is a gradient of light and dark blue hues. It looks and feels premium with its minimalist approach in terms of design. However, the backing attracts fingerprints so you may need to wipe it often.
The phone does not feel heavy despite its large body and high battery capacity. It is also comfortable to use with one hand. Ports and buttons are in their no nonsense placement:
- right: volume rocker and power button (it doubles as a fingerprint scanner);
- left: SIM tray with dual nano SIM slots and a dedicated slot for microSD;
- top: secondary microphone; and
- bottom: 3.5mm jack, primary microphone, USB-C charging port, speaker grille.
The realme 10 frames a 6.4-inch screen, treated with an FHD+ Super AMOLED panel; thus you can expect great viewing angles, with great colors, details, and contrast. This also comes with up to 90Hz refresh rate for smoother animations and operations; this makes the phone also good for gaming. It also has an auto switch feature as the highest refresh rate can consume more power.
Under the hood, the realme 10 is powered by MediaTek Helio G99 chipset (6nm) that's designed for midrange devices. It operates on an octa-core processor clocked on 2.2 GHz. To be exact, we have 2 high-performing cores of Cortex-A76 clocked on 2.2 GHz and 6 cores based on Cortex-A55 clocked on 2 GHz.
Our unit comes with 8GB RAM and it can be further expanded with up to 5GB of virtual RAM to harness more power for processing needs. This is coupled with 256GB memory to give you ample space for apps and files with fast reading and writing speeds. The 8/256GB variant is already quite roomy for your storage needs but if that is not enough, it is also expandable via microSD up to 1TB in a dedicated slot.
We tested the realme 10 using AnTuTu Benchmark and it scored a whooping 397221 which is above average for a midrange phone.
It does not have a 5G support, but you can still enjoy 4G LTE speeds, together with WiFi 5 and Bluetooth v5.3 for your connectivity needs. The phone will also not die on you easily with its large 5000 mAh battery capacity in giving you long periods of use between charges; although this feature is becoming quite common with midrange and even entry-level devices nowadays. It is also supported by 33W fast charging, so you can expect about an hour to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100%.
Camera and Software
In terms of optics, the handset is equipped with a dual rear camera setup topbilled by a 50MP f/1.8 main camera. It does not have OIS but it does have a video stabilization feature. It can record up to 1080p videos at 30/60 fps. The second camera is a 2MP Black & White lens. To compare these camera specifications with the predecessor, we have a 108MP triple rear camera system on the realme 9 which includes an ultrawide sensor that is clearly absent in the current iteration.
On the front, we have a 16MP selfie camera defined by a punch-hole design which is aesthetically better than a notch while providing more screen real estate to users. Some of the modes and features that you can find in the native camera app are HDR, Night Mode, Street, Portrait, Pano, Dual-View Video, Slow-Mo, Pro, and more. It's capable of up to 10X zoom, and you can also play with fun retouch features and filters on your selfies.
Software-wise, realme 10 runs on realme UI 3.0, based on Android 12 mobile operating platform. Scrolling though the UI gives a smooth experience. I also like the appearance of flat icons; they look rich and more alive than ever.
Gesture navigations are very handy; swiping down from top, you'll get easy access to the control panel and your notifications; while swiping up and holding, offers you easy switching of apps, as well as clearing background apps. You can also add widgets on your homescreen and you'll instantly notice the harmony of the design with your wallpaper thru Google's 'Material You' feature in Android 12.
The Wrap
As of this writing, the realme 10 is an interesting release to kickoff this number series. It's a compact smartphone that's very snappy in terms of performance and display. Likewise, the realme 10's aesthetic also signals a shift in design with its candy bar chassis. This iteration also comes with a modest camera hardware which does more than expected. We'll discuss more about the device in our review. Stay tuned!
09 November 2022 Update: The realme 10 is priced at P12,999 for the 8GB+128GB variant and P14,999 for the 8GB+256GB version. The former is already available nationwide and in online stores. On the other hand, the 256GB ROM variant will start its pre-order on November 26 until December 2, 2022 on realme's Shopee Official Store.
