realme P1

The display is one of the standout features of the Realme P1 5G. The smartphone features a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 120Hz, 100 percent P3 colour gamut, and peak brightness levels of 2000nits. For its price, the inclusion of an AMOLED panel elevates the visual experience on the P1 to new heights. The display is also very bright and offers great visibility both indoors and outdoors.In extremely bright light, at noon, for example, the display remains legible, and it's not challenging to see what's happening on the screen. The in-display fingerprint scanner is very responsive and swiftly unlocks the phone. The stereo speakers are sufficiently loud and further enhance the multimedia experience. You can access most of the TWS settings from the Bluetooth panel itself if you are using a Realme TWS device.

For optics, the Realme P1 5G uses a 50MP Samsung JN1 sensor with an aperture size of f/1.8 paired with a 2MP B&W lens with an aperture size of f/2.4. At the front, the smartphone features a 16MP camera for selfies and video conferencing. Here's a comparison with Moto G64, which closely competes with the Realme P1 5G. The Moto G64 offers better dynamic range in the image below, with more details in shadowy sections compared to the Realme P1, but the results can be inconsistent, with the Realme P1 taking the edge in other images. The G64 also takes a slight lead when it comes to details, but personally, I prefer the colours in Realme P1's images. The primary camera on the Realme P1 captures some great-looking images in daylight, with ample details and sharpness. The colours are slightly boosted, and the dynamic range could be a bit better. HDR mode helps with the latter and improves the level of overall details visible in a shot. The portrait mode, however, was a hit or miss. The shots took a few attempts to deliver some good results, but often, the images ended up with a slight bloom around the subject.

Realme makes some bold claims when it comes to the performance of the Realme P1 5G. The brand touts it as the fastest chipset under Rs 15,000 with the MediaTek Dimensity 7050, which powers all its performance needs. The chipset is supported by up to 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of USF 3.1 storage, a rare find at this price point, with even pricier smartphones utilising only UFS 2.2 storage. To put that claim to the test, we evaluated the smartphone's performance across a variety of benchmarks and real-world tests. The Realme P1 5G stands up to its promises and offers one of the best performance outputs in its price range. I'll put some benchmark numbers below, comparing it with some of its key competitors.

While the performance is good, the software experience on the Realme P1 5G is a mixed bag. The device comes with Android 14-based Realme UI 5.0 out of the box. The UI is smooth and intuitive, with some good quality-of-life features. During device setup, Realme throws at you tons of app recommendations with pre-selected apps that you have to uncheck to proceed. Thankfully, you can uninstall most pre-loaded apps if you don't see a use for them. The 'Hot Apps' selection takes a little more work and needs to be removed from the Realme App Store. The smartphone also does not feature any app animations, with the exception of Mini Capsule 2.0 animations during music playback and charging, which is something that I feel could have added a nice little touch to the overall aesthetic.Moving onto what appeals to me about the UI, I love the File Dock and floating windows functionality, which elevate the software experience. It makes transferring files so much easier and is probably the feature that I used most often in my time with the device. The one-handed mode also makes the browsing experience more comfortable. The smartphone comes with a Link to Windows function to allow you to seamlessly connect your PC to your smartphone. The handset also includes a rainwater touch feature, which, based on my testing, functions reliably. There are smart sensing features, wherein you can double-tap the rear camera module to quickly scan any QR codes in front of the rear camera. Another feature tunes down the volume of an incoming call if you glance at the front camera. Now, the instruction says to 'glance' but it's more of a 'stare' in my experience. The functionality, however, did not extend to calls received over apps like WhatsApp and only worked for regular calls. The Realme P1 5G promises 2 years of OS updates and 3 years of software updates, which is standard at this price point, with the exception of Samsung phones like the Galaxy F15 5G.

A 5,000mAh battery fuels the Realme P1 5G, and comes with 45W fast charging support. On the PC Mark battery test, the smartphone registered a run-time of 16 hours and 20 minutes, which is respectable for its price. The device easily delivers an entire day of battery life with moderate usage levels, but with heavy usage, you may need to top up the device at the end of the day. With the 45W fast charger included in the retail box, it takes roughly 50 minutes to go from 20 to 100 percent.The smartphone registered a 3 percent battery drop in our 30-minute YouTube streaming test and a 19 percent drop in our gaming sessions, which lasted roughly 90 minutes. A battery drain of 22 percent during heavy usage over approximately 2 hours and a bit more is a very respectable result. During active charging, the punch-hole cutout expands into a dynamic island-style bar. You can expand it to showcase the current charge percentage, adding a neat little touch to the UI.