Realme Narzo 50i Review: Good Budget Phone with Stock Experience

Realme Narzo 50i, an entry-level phone from Realme’s sub-brand Narzo is the brand’s first phone in Nepal.

Narzo 50i price in Nepal is Rs. 12,999 (2/32GB) and Rs. 15,499 (4/64GB). This is an entry-level contender from Narzo that competes with the likes of Redmi 9A.

Can it compete with the offerings from Xiaomi? I’ll tell you all about it in this review of Narzo 50i.

Realme Narzo 50i Review

Good Build

• 165.2 x 76.4 x 8.9mm
• 195 g
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• Plastic back, polycarbonate frame

Realme Narzo 50i is an entry-level smartphone but the phone does have a good finishing touch to it. Yes, it uses a plastic body but that doesn’t make it cheap.

The rear has a huge camera module that houses a single camera, a flash, and “narzo” branding. Its speaker is also placed on the rear side.

The plastic frame houses a power button and volume rocker on one side and a hybrid slot on the other. On the bottom, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, mic, and a micro USB port.

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Narzo 50i has the same footprint as the Narzo 50A but it does have a slightly slimmer body as it houses a smaller body. But, it is still heavy for an entry-level phone at 195 g. Overall, the build quality of 50i feels solid for the price.

Good HD IPS Display

• 6.5 inches HD+ IPS LCD
• 720 x 1600 pixels 60Hz
• 570nits (HBM)

Narzo 50i comes with a standard 6.5 inches IPS panel with a screen resolution of 720X1600 pixels and a 60Hz refresh rate.

For the price, Narzo 50i has a very good IPS panel with good brightness, decent color reproduction, and good viewing angles.

Narzo claims peak brightness of 570 nits at HBM and the panel does back this claim. The phone is easy to use under direct sunlight and I never had any problems with its auto-brightness.

Narzo 50i is set to standard color profile by default but you can also choose a warmer and cooler profile. There’s also an option for increased contrast but that doesn’t give you a noticeable difference. Within this price segment, Narzo 50i’s display panel is really good.

Good Performance

• Unisoc SC9863A
• Octa-core (4×1.6 GHz Cortex-A55 & 4×1.2 GHz Cortex-A55)
• PowerVR IMG8322
• 32/64GB Storage
• 2/4GB RAM

Inside, the 50i is powered by a Unisoc SC9863A chipset. This is a 28nm chipset from Unisoc that is similar to MediaTek’s Helio G25 chipset. However, G25 is a 12nm chipset with much better efficiency.

Narzo 50i has decent performance when it comes to basic tasks like navigation and using the settings menu. But, you will notice lags when you open apps and it also takes slightly more time to load apps.

For gaming, I played COD Mobile and Free Fire on the 50i and I can say that it can run these games. But, the games won’t run smoothly. You will encounter frame drops and stutters even at minimum settings.

Decent Camera

• Rear Camera: 8MP, f/2.0, AF
  • Video: 1080p@30

• Front Camera: 5MP, f/2.2
  • Video: 1080p@30fps

Narzo 50i features a single 8MP camera on the rear and a 5MP camera on the front for selfies.

ALSO READ: Realme Narzo 50A Review: A Budget All-Rounder with Big Battery

NORMAL IMAGES

The main shooter of the 50i takes good enough photos given it is an entry-level smartphone. The colors look neutral and the sharpness is not bad. The daylight photos have surprisingly good sharpness.

It does a good job of properly exposing the shots most of the time but it will have a hard time maintaining the contrast of complex subjects.

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LOW-LIGHT IMAGES

As for the low light images, it is not as good as the Narzo 50A. But, I was not expecting this entry-level phone to have a good low-light camera performance anyways.

The images lack details and there are plenty of highlights on the light sources. Plus, it doesn’t have a dedicated Night mode to improve the low-light shots.

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SELFIES

Moving on to the 5MP front camera, the selfies do not have good details but they have good exposure and colors.

Some photos may turn out a bit overexposed and the HDR is pretty weak on the 50i.

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Video

50i can capture videos up to 1080p 30fps. As expected, the videos lack sharpness, detail, and the dynamic range is poor too. Plus, the videos are really shaky as it doesn’t come with any sort of image stabilization.

Battery Life

• Non-removable Li-Po 5000mAh Battery
• 10W charging

The 5000mAh battery on the Narzo 50i is on par with other top phones in this price segment. With moderate usage that includes an hour or two of gaming, you will be able to get 2 days of endurance.

Interms of charging, the 10W charger can take the 50i from 0 to 100% in almost 3 hours.

Speaker & Security

The speaker placement of the 50i is one of its downsides. The rear speaker gets blocked most of the time and it sounds muffled. Furthermore, it is just loud enough but sounds flat.

For security, you do not get a fingerprint sensor but you do have an option for face unlock.

Clean UI

• Android 11
• Android Go UI

Narzo 50i runs on the Android 11 Go Edition.

You get a clean android experience with the Narzo 50i. Realme has not modified the UI elements and has managed to keep it clean. It does have plenty of Google apps such as Gpay, Go Gallery, and Google Go. The only other pre-installed third-party app is Amazon Music.

Narzo has also provided some extra features within Smart Controls settings. It includes features like a lift to check and gesture controls.

Should You Buy Realme Narzo 50i?

The Narzo 50i is a very good entry-level smartphone that does everything right. Along with a good build, 50i is backed up by decent hardware, a good camera, and a clean UI experience.

ALSO READ: Realme Mobiles Price in Nepal: Features and Specs

If you want the best stock Android experience on budget, the Narzo 50i is one of the best Android smartphones under Rs. 15,000.

Hope you like our Realme Narzo 50i review. If you have any questions regarding the device, you can leave them in the comments!

In the meantime, you can watch our full review of the Realme GT Neo 2.