Realme C55: Another Budget Smartphone?

There are three versions of the Realme C55. The variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage costs Rs 10,999; the variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage is offered for Rs 11,999; and the variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage is priced at a fairly affordable Rs 13,999 in India. Yes, having options is excellent, and it’s encouraging to see Realme offering such a wide range of options for a C-series gadget. Additionally, the Realme C55 is the first C-series device to include 8GB of RAM. The device is offered in Sunshower and Rainy Night finishes. For review, I was given the Sunshower finish 8GB RAM version.

With the C55, Realme has advanced the design process a little. With its flat sides, chiseled body, and straight lines, it seems slim and contemporary. The front of the phone has a flat display that, unlike the C35, is hole-punched to match the rest of the phone’s contemporary design. The bottom bezel is a little thicker than the ones on the left, top, and right. For two reasons, it is more difficult to see that this is a cheap smartphone when you flip the device over.

First, the back has a dual-tone finish, with the majority of it having a nicely striped matte texture and the polished area surrounding the protruding cameras. For a low-cost smartphone, this does seem refreshing. Additionally, its matte finish deters fingerprints fairly well. Since they are composed of polycarbonate rather than glass, the rear panel, and frame are less likely to break when dropped. Panda glass is used by Realme for its display. Although it is prone to smudges, these were simple to remove.

There is no IP rating and no stereo speakers, but there is a Type-C USB connector and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom. The power button has the fingerprint reader built into it, which I found find a little challenging to push because it is almost flush with the flat side of the frame.

Due to the MediaTek Helio G88 SoC in the Realme C55, 5G connection is not available. According to Realme, the phone has EMMC 5.1 storage and LPDDR4X RAM. It’s convenient to have a dedicated slot for up to a 1TB microSD card in the SIM tray, which contains two slots for two nano-SIMs. 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.2 are among the connectivity protocols available, in addition to the typical selection of sensors and GPS systems. A 33W wired charger and a 5,000mAh battery for the phone are included in the box.

Realme UI 4.0, which is based on Android 13, is used on the Realme C55. It has a tonne of Realme and third-party apps preinstalled. This entails having two ‘Messages’ programs for SMS messages, two file managers, two note-taking apps, and so on. For novice users, this could be very perplexing, and it’s also unpleasant because the majority of these unnecessary programs cannot be uninstalled. The majority of the third-party apps that come preinstalled can be removed, which you can do to free up some storage. The daily display of advertisements and marketing alerts from the Game Centre and App Market apps was also unpleasant.

The full-HD+ IPS LCD display on the 6.72-inch device offers a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz. Depending on the program being used and the information being seen, it alternates between 60Hz and 90Hz. The display offers outstanding viewing angles and is brilliant and bright enough to view content outside on a sunny afternoon. Regarding streaming, it was good to see Widevine L1 certification, which permitted playback in full-HD resolution.