realme has added yet another smartphone to the C series, the realme C15. This new and revamped device follows the realme C11 that endeavored to replace the realme C1, C2, and C3, all of which are powerful smartphones for the budget-conscious audience. The C15 aims at living up to the standards of its predecessors with a touch of a new experience at the same price range.
The phone is the first ever to have a 6000mAh battery backed by an 18W fast charging support. It also touts MediaTek Helio G35 SoC, HD+ display, up to 4GB RAM, and is available in two options, 32GB, and 64GB variants.
Unboxing
Unboxing the realme C15 smartphone reveals a SIM eject tool, a Micro-USB cable, an 18W(9V-2A) Quick Charge adapter, the phone itself, and some guides.
Design and Handling
realme C15, much the other smartphones in the C series category feature a three-part build. The back and the central frame are hard plastic, ergonomically put together, and very strong. The display is covered by a protective Gorilla Glass layer, the best there is on the market.
The screen itself is an HD+, 6.5-inch, 720 x 1560 pixels, 20:9 IPS panel. With this size, it can work well for games in landscape mode, or when using the split-screen function. The pixel density is 270, which stacks up well for a smartphone within its price range. The colors on realme C15 look good and the teardrop notch for the selfie camera is less obtrusive, unlike other designs out there.
Speaking of space utilization and the notch, realme C15 incorporates pretty reasonable bezels. They are, in fact, some of the features that will take you by surprise. The bezels give this new device a slick and pleasant design.
While holding the C15, one feels a bit of a heftiness, but that is because of the massive 6000mAh battery the phone carries. Other than that, the hands-on experience is confidence-inspiring.
In terms of ports and controls, everything is laid out perfectly. All the buttons; power, volume- and volume + and on the right-hand side. All three buttons offer snappy tactile feedback.
The fingerprint sensor is rear-mounted. This is a relief for those who cannot do without the feature, as was in the realme C11. The bottom side of the phone is cut out for the speaker, the main microphone, and 3.5mm audio jack. If, however, you are looking to have a phone with a Type-C port, this is not it.
The left-hand-side of realme C15 is a spacious SIM tray, the triple variety housing two SIM cards, and a MicroSD card. So, that’s a plus.
For connectivity, we are looking at MediaTek 4G LTE, which supports dual 4G SIM support and VoLTE/ViLTE for both. The Bluetooth version is 5.0, LE support, aptX, Wi-Fi n, GPS, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, and an FM radio receiver. You don’t get an LED notification or NFC.
Interface and Camera
realme C15 employs its UI on top of Android 10. The UI packs a clearly and precisely simplified home screen, notifications, and a user-friendly task switcher. The app drawer is simple, has no clutter, and is brought up by a swipe. On top of the Android 10 amazing features, what more could you desire?
The realme UI supports various icon packs including the material type, pebbles, or any customizations you want to make. The settings on realme C15 are also pretty handy for a DIY enthusiast looking to fully customize the phone. However, if you are not into that, you can leave it be and let realme’s AI do the rest.
Coming with lots of essential apps that are pre-installed, one would think that these applications will drain the battery fast, but they couldn’t be more wrong. realme UI always includes a Super power-saving mode, which can be toggled from the battery menu.
The feature renders the UI dark, much more like the Dark Mode in Android 10, but it doesn’t compromise on the visibility of the apps. It also allows you to select up to six commonly-used apps at a time that will be presented on the home screen.
realme C15 is powered by MediaTek Helio G35, which is a common chipset for the C series family, except the C#, which has a slightly higher chipset version at its disposal, the Mediatek Helio G70. The G70, like the G35, is a 12nm chip rocking 2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.7 GHz Cortex-A55. However, realme C15 comes with eight older Cortex-A53 units to work with. As a result, its performance is elevated to 2.3GHz, giving it good performance in terms of running apps and playing light games.
Inside realme C15 is a PowerVR GE8320 GPU. This GPU gives the device a decent on-screen performance that you didn’t expect. Its HD+ resolution is remarkably better than some other competing brands. Yeah, it will blow you away too!
Camera
The main improvement in terms of cameras for the realme C15 is the new 8MP, f/2.9 ultrawide camera. The field of view it offers is around 119 degrees, well, if you factor in distortion correction.
The main camera is a 13MP, f/2.2, which boasts a 5-piece lens design with PDAF. Realme has infused a fair share of its AI to give you the best performance it can handle. It comes with a Super NightScape, Chroma Boost for better quality images, Portrait, and HDR modes. Better yet, realme added Expert mode for those who love tweaking their photo settings or shooting in a manual mode.
We managed to shoot a few quick shots with the Realme C15. The following set is from the main 13MP camera, its auto mode, with Auto HDR enabled.
Here are some photo samples were taken with:
realme C15 ultrawide 8MP camera samples
Nightscape mode
Realme C15 also comes with additional lenses, the 2MP, f/2.4 monochrome sensor and a 2MP sensor with an f/2.4 “retro” lens. Together with the main lenses, this combination allows one to shoot videos of up to 1080p at 30fps.
Verdict
That being said, realme C15 delivers an exceptional battery performance which allows you to carry out a ton of activities better than in most smartphones in the category. The design is pleasing with a nice texture, and a clean, user-friendly UI. With improved camera systems and decent performance, realme C15 delivers what it promises.
