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realme Narzo 30A review

TL;DR: Here is our review of the realme Narzo 30A.

The Narzo 30A is realme Philippines’ latest budget gaming phone. Coincidentally, it is also the company’s first smartphone launch in the country this year.

The Narzo 30A is a great start for 2021. As a budget gaming phone, its equipped with a MediaTek Helio G85 processor, a large 6.5-inch display, and an even larger 6000mAh battery.

The specs look impressive enough on paper. So let’s see how it performs in real life.

realme Narzo 30A review

realme Narzo 30A Unboxing, Initial Review

In the box

  • realme Narzo 30A
  • USB-C cable
  • Charger
  • SIM eject tool
  • Documentation
  • Pre-installed screen protector

Price

The realme Narzo 30A is priced at Php 6,490. From March 25 and 27, it will have a limited-time sale price of Php 5,990 on Lazada. You can check it out on this link.

Design

Alluding back to what we noticed during our unboxing, the realme Narzo 30A has a layout similar to that of the Narzo 20. It differs in aesthetics, though, as this one features a diagonal stripe design, which represents motion and movement.

realme Narzo 30A review

The overall look is nice and clean. It’s simple, and yet veers away from looking too budget. The plastic build is quite sturdy, while the textured back (which covers a third of the surface) keeps fingerprints at bay.

In the hand, the Narzo 30A is quite large. But its sleek and thinner than past realme phones. At the front, we have a 6.5-inch HD+ mini-drop display with 1600 x 720 resolution and a water drop notch for the selfie camera.

realme Narzo 30A review

At the back, the phone’s double cameras are set on a square module that is slightly raised from the panel. It looks like there are four sensors, but if you look closely, two circles — one for the LED flash and another for the AI icon.

The fingerprint scanner at the back is fast. It’s conveniently located on an easy-to-reach spot. The phone also supports face unlock, in case you like that option better.

realme Narzo 30A Unboxing, Initial Review

All buttons are on the right of the phone. The volume rocker and power key are on an easy-to-reach area. The left-hand side has the SIM tray with three slots (two nano SIMs and one microSD card). And at the bottom, there’s the 3.5mm headphone jack, mic, USB-C port, and speaker grill.

Display

Being a budget phone, I was not expecting much from its 6.5-inch HD+ Mini-drop display. But I was pleasantly surprised. It’s actually decent with good and punchy colors. It’s bright as well, offering up to 570 nits.

realme Narzo 30A review

Of course, given the size and the 720p resolution, it obviously won’t be as crisp as 1080p panels. Text and icons will look a bit jagged if you look closely. But it’s something not everyone will notice, and I think it’s not a big deal for those looking to buy the phone.

Performance

Another pleasant surprise from the Narzo 30A is its smooth and fast performance. Basic operation is a breeze with no lag, thanks to the 12nm MediaTek Helio G85 processor running the show.

realme Narzo 30A Unboxing, Initial Review

RAM size at 4GB is quite common in budget offerings. Multitasking will be limited to a few apps running at the same time. You’ll notice some apps taking a second longer to start when switching to them.

Most games ran pretty well on modest graphics settings. The bright and colorful screen certainly helps with the experience.

Although there was some slight stuttering on heavy games, it’s easily mitigated by bringing down the graphics settings. This was evident in Genshin Impact. Adjusting the settings helped improve the performance.

Here are the benchmark scores, for those interested.

realme Narzo 30A benchmark

Cameras

This has become a trend in this review. I wasn’t expecting too much from the budget phone, but the 13MP main camera was surprisingly decent. Images look fine in good lighting with natural colors.

Low light photos exhibit a lot of noise with some smudging of details. I wasn’t expecting any surprises here, but its there when you need it.

Selfies are another surprise. The 8MP front camera is quite capable. Photos look good with nice detail and colors, albeit over-saturated at times.

Battery life

Battery life is excellent. The 6000mAh lasted me two days with moderate usage involving YouTube streaming, emails, social media, camera use, and some Internet browsing. You can theoretically get more if you’re a light user.

Charging from empty to full took a long time — almost four hours. It’s not a surprise, given the capacity.

As a bonus, it comes with reverse charging, which admittedly is handy from time to time.

Verdict

For a budget phone priced at Php 6,490, I was impressed with what the realme Narzo 30A has to offer. It’s quite a capable gaming device with enough power to run most games. Battery life is impressive, though, given the capacity, charging does take a while.

Camera quality are decent as well, which I suspect will satisfy those who chooses this phone.

So should you buy it? Yes. If you’re looking for a gaming phone on a limited budget, you can’t go wrong with the realme Narzo 30A.

realme Narzo 30A specs

  • Display: 6.5-inch HD+ Mini-drop Display, 1600 x 720, Up to 570 nits
  • Processor: 2GHz Octa-core MediaTek Helio G85, 12nm
  • GPU: Mali-G52
  • RAM: 4GB LPDDR4X RAM
  • Storage: 64GB Storage
  • Rear Cameras: 13MP Main + 2MP B/W Portrait, Dual AI Cameras
  • Front Camera: 8MP Selfie Camera
  • Network: 4G LTE
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi ac Dual-band, Bluetooth 5, GPS
  • Others: Rear-mounted Fingerprint Sensor, USB-C,
  • OS: realme UI, Android 10 (Update to realme UI 2.0 soon)
  • Colors: Lazer Blue, Lazer Black
  • Battery: 6,000mAh Battery, 18W Fast Charging, Reverse Charging

Bryan is a geek at heart and a tech enthusiast by choice. He has a strong background in corporate communications, marketing services, and customer relations having worked in the telecommunications and banking sectors for over two decades. In his spare time, he enjoys watching clips on YouTube and binge watching shows on Netflix.

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