Last May 2021, we reviewed the budget entry-level Realme C25, four months later, in this review, it is now a better-upgraded Realme C25s. Still an entry-level device budget phone with a better gaming chipset, a large battery, and a 48MP snapper. But after looking at the spec sheet, there are no upgrades in the overall capability, only the chipset and the screen’s brightness. But what else was improved compared to the previous model?
Pros
- Better Gaming Chipset
- Huge 6000mAh battery
- Large storage
- Optimized Camera Quality
- Improved Camera Processing
Cons
- HD Display
- No Ultrawide
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Table of Contents
Design
The design is very identical to the Realme C25 with the same color variant–Water Gray and Water Blue. It is comfortable to hold thanks to the geometric design line pattern at the back. It is shiny but with prevention to fingerprint smudges. The characteristic of the back is quite premium looking at first glance, and the only problem is that it still looks cheap and similar to the budget phones at the price range.
The curvature is very noticeable as well. Realme C25s still weighs 209 grams. Again the build and design are pretty similar to the Realme C25. It is quite heavy due to its big battery, but the 3D curved back makes it easier to hold.
Around the frame, the power button and volume rocker are located on the right side, while on the left is the sim tray with dual nano sim slot and a dedicated slot that is expandable up to 256GB. At the bottom are the speaker grille, USB Type-C port, two holes for the microphone, and a headphone jack.
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Display
Heading to the front side, Realme C25s boasts a 6.5-inch HD+ IPS LCD screen similar to the older version. Again, the bezels are the same, and there are no improvements to the device’s overall look. The bottom chin is quite large but we’re okay with it. At the topmost part, it is in a dewdrop notch housing an 8MP selfie camera. More of the camera quality later.
Moving on to the quality, the colors are true to life, sharpness is acceptable, and we can improve its quality by making the display size small and adjusting the screen color temperature to a warmer tone. The dark mode isn’t reliable but it adds quality to the overall look of the display. The contrast is great but not the best, and since the device has a large 6.5-inch display, the elements inside the app drawer kinda look soft. But since it is a budget phone, it is quite acceptable for the price.
The Realme C25s also has TÜV Rheinland certification means that it has a Blue Light Filter to protect our eyes from harmful blue light. There’s also an Eye comfort settings to help you sleep at night. It is located on the display menu with a scheduled time option to make the feature active. There’s also an option to display colors or just a black and white screen. This theoretically improves battery efficiency, but I guess it is not noticeable.
Camera
Moving on to the camera, the Realme C25s is equipped with a triple camera set-up. 48MP f/1.8 on the main snapper with PDAF, 2MP Macro, and 2MP Depth. The fourth circle in the camera module is equipped with an LED flash. Upgrading to the Helio G85 means the chipset is pumped up with a better AI-Camera and the delay on the shutter button is far faster than the previous model. There’s a google lens built-in on the camera app, and I noticed some scene detection after taking the shot, the AI Scene Recognition is active and it’ll improve the overall picture quality.
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Fort the quality of the main camera, I noticed some improvements in the HDR processing and white balance detection. It oftentimes outputs a warmer tone, which gives a photo nice and alive images. Compared to the older variant, it still has sharpness, true-to-life colors, and no deeps blacks. With HDR on, there are an increase in shadows and a small decrease in the highlights. This means that in cloudy weather, there are no drastic highlights and lower light sources. So the HDR process is on point, and it adapts to the current scenery, which is cloudy.
Shooting at night, images are now sharper compared to the grainy picture of the Realme C25. But still, in the very low light scenario, there are noises and grains here and there. There’s also a drastic boost in color when night mode is on, which is a nice AI processing. I guess this is the capability of the chipset, and it gets the job done.
For the portrait mode, the colors are similar as it uses the main cam to capture the images. It outputs livelier photos and fewer blown-out highlights than the Realme C25. The edges that separate the subject to the background are pretty accurate, with no blurry sides making it look more natural.
As for macro shots, the blacks are also improved in the Realme C25s. The macro is a punchy image but with visible grains on dark parts. The colors are alive but the images are quite blurry due to circular blur, which the lens usually does to focus the tiny subject in the middle. The macro shots are not the best I’ve seen but it’s better.
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Switching to the 8MP selfie camera, skin tone color is true to life, and it is consistent. Sharpness is good but not the best, and detail is still visible for black parts. But I noticed when capturing behind the light source, white balance detection is a bummer. It will output a pinkish skin tone while colors are less alive. However, the other noticeable part is how it pulls the highlights drastically to reveal the details behind it, which is a great process. Meanwhile, subject to background separation is quite good with just a few misses. The process cleaned my baby hair floating around. It looks blurry but it also looks almost like a natural depth of field.
The device has AI beautification for the camera features, which is quite natural and looks sharp on every photo. It also has a night mode, 48MP Hi-Rez, slow motion, and an Expert mode with 1600 ISO and 16-second shutter speed. The ISO and Shutter dial on expert mode are limited, but it is on the Realme C25s. For video recording, it can shoot up to 1080p@60fps, which is better than another budget entry-level with only 1080p@30fps capability.
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Performance
A MediaTek Helio G85 chipset now powers the Realme C25s with a 12nm architecture. Our device is paired with 4GB of ram and 128GB of storage. Compared to the Realme C25 equipped with a Helio G70, the Helio G85 is almost 20% higher in GPU frequency with 820MHz vs. 1000MHz, respectively. Mediatek Helio G series is with Mediatek Hyper Engine Gaming Technology and boosted internet connectivity. By upgrading to the Helio G85, it will also upgrade the capability in games and connectivity.
As for the gaming test, it did exactly what Realme C25s does but better. Surprisingly it can go HD graphics in PUBG but with 30fps only. Most lesser graphic games can go 60fps smoothly, but when it comes to graphic demanding games like Mihoyo games and esports fps titles, the frames are reduced to 30fps but gives higher visual graphics. Apparently, Realme C25 is great in gaming.
For its software, out of the box, the device runs on the latest Android 11.0 with Realme UI 2.0 on top. The multitasking is fine thanks to the 4GB of ram, and the UI is enough to browse, play, and for day-to-day use. It also offers customization for fonts, wallpapers, etc. It’s smoother, more responsive, and has a lightweight UI but unfortunately, we don’t see any ram expansion and it feels like the option is limited to midrange devices. For security, the fingerprint scanner works fine and is reliable while the face unlock is just okay if there’s enough light source. For connectivity, it has a Wi-Fi AC dual-band and it can detect 5Ghz Wi-Fi for a faster response and lower ping when gaming.
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Battery
Realme C25s is backed by a large 6000mAh battery with 18W charging and reverse charging. The chipset is a lot more powerful, so it’s not surprising that the endurance is a little bit lower than the previous model. Daily average use can last for two days or so, while surfing and gaming can last for up to 9 hours and 30 minutes of usage.
As for charging, it still has an 18W fast charging and it also took almost 2 hours and a half to charge fully. It’s acceptable for the price and we don’t have complaints. It is the same if you charge it with the screen off, but charging while using the device will take longer than the Realme C25s due to higher power consumption.
Verdict
Realme C25s alone is even better when gaming or browsing. There’s no doubt that the Realme C25 will be obsolete, and the Realme C25s is the better reboot. I recommend choosing the Realme C25s if you are going to look for the latest C-series and into the Realme C25. Realme C25s is practically the best option. It still has the same starting price of P7,490 (4GB+64GB) and P8,490 (4GB+128GB). It is again another all-rounder device from Realme with better gaming capabilities, and even without an ultrawide lens, the image qualities are improved.
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Realme C25 specs, price, availability in the Philippines
- Display: 6.5 inches, IPS LCD
- Design: Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame
- Dimension and Weight: 164.5 x 75.9 x 9.6mm, 209g
- Chipset: MediaTek Helio G85 (12nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (2 x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6 x 1.7 GHz Cortex-A55)
- GPU: Mali-G52 2EEMC2
- RAM: 4GB LPDDR4x
- Storage: 64/128 GB, eMMC 5.1, microSDXC (up to 256GB)
- Main Camera: 48MP, f/1.8, 2MP Macro 2MP Depth, 1080p@30fps
- Selfie Camera: 8MP, f/2.0 | 1080p@30fps
- Connectivity & Ports: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, USB Type-C 2.0, USB On-The-Go, 3.5mm audio jack
- Security: Fingerprint (rear-mounted)
- Features: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
- Battery: Li-Po 6,000mAh, non-removable, 18W fast charging, Reverse charging
- Audio: with loudspeaker
- OS: Android 11, Realme UI 2.0
- Colors: Water Blue, Water Gray
- Price: ₱7,490 (4GB/64GB) | ₱8,490 (4GB/128GB)
- Release Date: April 16, 2021 (India, Philippines)
