Realme 1 Performance Test: Are there any worthy competitors in its price range?

With the launch of the Oppo-powered Realme 1 smartphone, the company is aiming squarely at the throne held by the Redmi Note 5 Pro, the 6GB/128GB version priced at least ₹13,990. We’ve been testing this phone for the past few days to see how it performs in everything from daily usage to gaming performance and even benchmark scores. So, if you are wondering whether Realme 1 is worth trying over Redmi Note 5 Pro, here is the performance test of Realme 1.

Note : Realme 1 price starts from ₹8,990 for 3GB/32GB version. The phone comes in 6GB/128GB versions and is priced at ₹13,990. Obviously, all the phones have the same specs, except for RAM and storage.

Realme 1 specifications

Before we get into the various tests we ran and the phone’s performance against competitors such as the Redmi Note 5 Pro, let’s quickly go over the specs.

Once that is done, let’s move on to the Realme 1 performance test.

benchmark

We ran several benchmarks on the Realme 1 smartphone to determine how it handles synthetic benchmark situations. For comparison, we also benchmarked the Redmi Note 5 Pro, which is in the same price range, and the very popular ZenFone Max Pro M1 (starting from Rs 10,999) to see how these phones perform against each other I wanted to.

Geek bench results

Realme 1 with Helio P60 AI processor performs very well on Geekbench. In fact, it beats the Snapdragon 636-powered Redmi Note 5 Pro and Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 in both single-core and multi-core Geekbench results. The Realme 1 scored 1,488 in the single-core test and 5,668 in the multi-core test.

In comparison, the Redmi Note 5 Pro scored 1,336 points in the single-core test and 4,879 points in the multi-core test . The ZenFone Max Pro M1 performed similarly, scoring 1,330 points in the single-core test and 4,796 points in the multi-core test. Both phones fall short of the Realme 1. Clearly, the AI-powered Helio P60 is a force to be reckoned with at its price point.

AnTuTu results

We also ran the AnTuTu benchmarks on all of these phones, including 3D tests like Refinery, Coastline, and obviously Marooned. Once again, the results tell an amazing story of how the Helio P60 outperformed its competitors.

The Realme 1 has an AnTuTu score of 138,321, which is pretty good for a phone in this price range. In comparison, Redmi Note 5 Pro had a score of 112,569 and ZenFone Max Pro had a similar score of 112,595 .

real world performance

When it comes to synthetic benchmarks, it’s clear that the Helio P60 with Realme 1 performs much better than its competitors, but benchmarks don’t always convey complete information, so all three phones We conducted a number of performance tests. Well, let’s start with the games (obviously).

game test

We tested three games on each of these phones. We’ll start with Asphalt 8 because even though it’s quite old, it’s still one of the most beloved games on smartphones. As expected, all phones performed equally well on Asphalt 8 while running on high settings by default . Asfalt 8 on the Realme 1 was great, with no lag or frame drops at all. I thoroughly enjoyed racing the Dodge GT around the Nevada circuit. Redmi Note 5 Pro and ZenFone Max Pro M1 showed similarly good performance on asphalt.

I then moved on to Marvel Future Fight, which is a very intensive game (which is a really great game, by the way). However, all three phones handled this very easily as well. I have no complaints about Realme 1’s performance while playing Marvel Future Fight . Gameplay was smooth and performance was on par with the Redmi Note 5 Pro and ZenFone Max Pro M1 .

Finally, I decided to test PUBG Mobile . Well, this game has exposed some rough edges of Realme 1. By default, the phone switched to the Medium setting , which I expected the game to run well enough (after all, the game chose Medium on its own). However, sadly, the Realme 1 drops frames quite a bit in PUBG Mobile . I mean, that game is in beta and it’s certainly a huge and detailed game with a lot of draw calls, but if you want to play PUBG Mobile on Realme 1, I recommend you to switch to “Low” performance Graphics settings to improve.

Redmi Note 5 Pro, on the other hand, showed good performance in PUBG Mobile . This also defaults to ‘Medium’, and since it’s powered by a Snapdragon 636, I wasn’t expecting anything more. ZenFone Max Pro M1 also outperformed Realme 1 in PUBG Mobile. I think this is because of the Mali GPU that Realme 1 needs to run. It’s probably not powerful enough to meet PUBG Mobile’s advanced graphical requirements.

daily use test

After finishing all the action in the game, we also compared the daily usage of the phone and the normal daily usage experience. Realme 1 is a great phone when it comes to normal tasks like navigating the phone, making calls, and launching apps . In fact, we found that Realme 1 is faster than Redmi Note 5 Pro and ZenFone Max Pro M1 when it comes to launching apps.

One performance issue with the Realme 1 in daily use is that for some reason the keyboard on the phone is very slow and typing on the phone doesn’t feel natural. Maybe it’s because of ColorOS 5.0, I don’t know. That’s what I noticed, but it’s really annoying to me.

SEE ALSO: Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 Review: The new budget king?

Realme 1 performance test: A smartphone worth paying attention to

To be honest, I wasn’t very confident about Realme 1 when I first started testing it. However, this phone managed to surprise me and many others here in that it rivals the Redmi Note 5 Pro, which is arguably the best smartphone in its price range. Powered by a Helio P60 processor and up to 6GB of RAM, the Realme 1 is definitely worth considering. So, if you are looking for a smartphone in this price range that not only performs well but also looks great, be sure to check out the Realme 1 before making your final decision.