Realme 5 is one of the best value phones out there right now, thanks to a starting price of P6,990 that gets you a massive 5000mAH battery and quad cameras. Challenging the current budget battery king is Vivo Y19(aka Y5s) with the same amount of battery capacity but with one feature that might entice you over the other.
Vivo Y19 and Realme 5 Differences
Advantages of Vivo Y19
- 1080p resolution
- 84.4% screen-to-body ratio
- 193 grams
- 6GB RAM
- 16MP f1.8 main camera
- 16MP f2.0 selfie camera
- 18W fast charging
- reverse wired charging
Advantages of Realme 5
- splash resistant
- Corning Gorilla Glass 3+
- scheduled upgrade to Android 10
- Snapdragon 665
- dedicated microSD slot
- four main cameras
- 4K video recording
Vivo Y19 and Realme 5 Similarities
- all-polycarbonate build
- IPS LCD panel
- Android 9 Pie
- microSD expansion support
- single selfie camera
- audio jack
- Wi-Fi ac
- Bluetooth 5.0
- rear-mounted fingerprint scanner
- 5000mAH battery
Which is a better buy between the Vivo Y19 and Realme 5?
Design and Display
At 6.5″, you won’t notice the difference in display sizes especially with the existence of the teardrop notch. Realme 5, however, has the advantage in durability, sporting Corning Gorilla Glass 3+ upfront with the splash-resistant build. In exchange, you do get a slightly heavier device at 198g.
When it comes to screen quality, with both rocking IPS LCDs, Vivo Y19 has better quality due to its 1080p resolution.
READ: Realme 5 Review – New Budget Battery King?
Performance
During our Realme 5 review, we didn’t have any problem with day-to-day tasks and even gaming. While more demanding games require graphics settings to be toned down a bit, for the most part, games are playable. The Helio P65 is a bit new on the market, so we really can’t tell how it performs. However, benchmarks suggest that it’s nearly, if not better, than the Snapdragon 665 (11nm). The only question left is how efficient MediaTek’s new chipset is, given the larger 12nm process node it’s based on.
Outside the chipset, Vivo Y19 has the advantage of running more apps in the background thanks to the 6GB of RAM vs 4GB of Realme 5.
Cameras
For the cameras, we have three vs four main lenses. In the case of Realme 5, it has everything you need — 12MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, and 2MP depth. It’s also capable of recording videos up to 4K @30fps with electronic image stabilization. As for Vivo Y19, it carries the same set of cameras but uses a 16MP main lens and drops the depth sensor. While we have no problem with the number of lenses, video recording is capped at 1080p @ 60fps only without stabilization. This is due to the limitation of Helio P65.
The story is a bit different yet similar when it comes to the selfie cameras. Both are using one lens housed inside a notch but the Y19 has a larger 16MP, however, Realme 5 has a wider field-of-view.
Battery, Charging and Ports
The main feature of these budget phones is the 5000mAh battery. They charge through MicroUSB port, sure, but you probably won’t bother when you can last a whole day or two without charging. Where Vivo Y19 stands out is the added support of 18W fast charging. In theory, you can go from flat to full in less than 2 hours. Additionally, you can do reverse wired charging for external devices and accessories.
Conclusion
Realme 5 is available for as low as P6,990 while the top model costs P9,990 which gets you 4GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. Vivo Y19 comes in one variant only — 6GB/128GB. While it’s not priced in the Philippines, in China, it costs CNY 1498 (~P10K). If Vivo somehow finds a way to price it for not more than Realme 5’s top model, some users might probably not mind missing out on 4K video recording for better screen and faster-charging speed.
READ: Top 6 Reasons Why Realme XT Is The Mid-Range Phone To Buy
Specs | Vivo Y19 (aka Y5s) | Realme 5 |
Display | 6.53-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ display with a teardrop notch | 6.5-inch IPS LCD HD+, Corning Gorilla Glass 3+, teardrop notch, all-plastic body, splash-resistant |
Dimensions | 162.2 x 76.5 x 8.9 mm, 193g | 164.4 x 75.6 x 9.3 mm, 198g |
Chipset | Mediatek MT6768 Helio P65 (12nm) | Qualcomm SDM665 Snapdragon 665 (11 nm) |
GPU | Mali-G52 MC2 | Adreno 610 |
Memory | 128GB 6GB RAM + microSD slot of up to 256GB | 3GB/32GB, 3GB/64GB, 4GB/128G + dedicated microSD slot of up to 256GB |
Main Camera | 16 MP, f/1.8, (wide), PDAF 8 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide) 2 MP, f/2.4, macro camera | up to 1080p@30fps |
12 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/2.9″, 1.25µm, PDAF 8 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/4″, 1.12µm 2 MP, f/2.4, 1/5″, 1.75µm (dedicated macro camera) 2 MP, f/2.4, 1/5″, 1.75µm, depth sensor | up to 4K @ 30fps video |
Front Camera | 16 MP, f/2.0 | up to 1080p@30fps | 13 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide), 1/3″, 1.12µm |
Connectivity | 4G LTE Wi-Fi ac, BT 5.0 A2DP, LE, GPS, MicroUSB Type-C, audio jack | 4G LTE Wi-Fi ac, BT 5.0 A2DP, LE, GPS, MicroUSB Type-C, audio jack |
Battery | Non-removable Li-Ion 5000mAh battery (18W fast charging) | Non-removable Li-Ion 5000mAh battery (10W charging) |
OS | Android 9 (Pie) with Funtouch 9.2 | Android 9.0 (Pie) with ColorOS 6, scheduled to receive Android 10 |
Official Price | CNY 1498 (~P10K) | P6,990 – P7,990 – P9,990 |
Nice comparison, as well as showing the pros and cons, not a lot of reviewers do this.
6,990 vs 10,990 is not even close. Vivo may have added features that the Realme 5 does not have, but the P4,000 difference is huge.
6, 990 is for the base model, get the top variant at 4 and 128 at 9,990 so the difference is now only 1k to choose between the two.