Realme 9 5G Speed (SE) Review – The Realme smartphones are usually rocked in the mid-range series, while the company releases a new device known as the Realme 9 5G Speed Edition or Realme 9 SE. For a while, the mid-range segment offered the same boring and similar specs device, which made the entire segment saturated. The Realme 9 5G Speed is finally available in the Indian smartphone market from March 2022.
Though, the company does release some similar specs smartphones in the global market. But the phone arrives with special features such as an advanced refresh rate option, an impressive hardware setup, and many more things. So, let’s head toward the detailed review of the Reame 9 5G Speed (SE) to understand whether this handset is worth your hard earn money or not.
Table of Contents
Realme 9 5G Speed (SE) Review
Highlights
- The Realme 9 Speed edition carries a regular 6.6-inches IPS LCD panel with an extraordinary 144Hz refresh rate.
- Following this, you will attain the Android 11 interface along with the Realme UI 2.0 as the custom skin.
- The hardware section equips the powerful Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset that clubs with Adreno 642L GPU.
- The phone also caters to a 48MP triple camera setup with a 16MP selfie lens as the front camera configuration.
- Under the hood, the Li-Po 5000 mAh battery grants decent battery life and offers a 30W fast charging support.
Design and Display
There’s no phenomenal change happened in the design aspect of the realm 9 5G Speed. But on the same note, there’s no denying that glossy pattern design does grant attractive features to the phone. Besides this, you can choose the color variant between the Starry Glow and Azure Glow. Both of them do look classics, but if you desire to go fancy, you can choose the Azure.
In terms of the dimension of the phone, you won’t feel like you are holding a brick, thanks to the lightweight layout of the Realme 9 5G Speed edition. As for the thickness, the phone reaches 8.5mm, while the weight goes up to 199-grams. On the other hand, you will attain a small punch hole screen at the front, and as expected it’s a 6.6-inches IPS LCD.
Hopefully, you are getting a decent 144Hz refresh rate with an immersive touch rate experience that might not feel in the regular 60Hz refresh rate phone. Moreover, the brightness nits go up to 600 nits, which makes the outdoor experience good, but it could have a bit more. Anyway, the phone offers IPS LCD, so it’s obvious that the phone brings a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Memory and Internal
Unexpectedly, Realme used the Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset in the Realme 9 5G Speed. However, it doesn’t mean that the company can’t do that, it’s good for the users as it brings top-notch performance with 5G connectivity on top. On the same note, the graphic is also worth noting as everything handle through the Adreno 642L.
With this setup, you can play high-end games without any problem while the smooth and touch experience enhances through the 144Hz refresh rate solution. The overall UI experience of the Realme UI 2.0 is impeccable with the Android 11. But most smartphone makers are releasing their phones with the Android 12 out of the box.
Therefore, the Realme 9 5G Speed does feel a bit behind the trends and it looks like the company will only provide two major android updates according to their policies. Thus, it’s become a hard choice for techie users. But as a normal user, you are getting 6GB to 8GB RAM with the same 128GB internal storage. Following this, you are also getting a dedicated secondary storage slot in the SIM tray.
Camera
The camera section of the Realme 9 5G Speed comes with a triple camera setup. As for the primary lens, the phone offers a standard 48MP lens that captures decent punchy photos in the proper daylights. Moreover, the native camera app provides night mode to improve the overall quality of the low light photo to some extent.
Apart from the primary lens, the camera module also houses the useless duo combo of 2MP macro and 2MP depth lenses. Instead of that, if the phone arrives with an ultra-wide camera while comprising a 2MP lens, it would have more depth and dynamic range to the overall photography experience. On the other hand, the device renders a 16MP selfie camera.
But the 16MP selfie photo results are not what you expect from the mid-range phone. Overall, you will be disappointed with selfie images. Now, let’s talk about the necessary video recording features of the Realme 9 5G Speed. From the experience, the video recording is good, and won’t be disappointed according to the price point as you can 4K videos. But there’s a need for improvement in video stabilization.
Battery and Others
The Realme 9 5G Speed Edition (SE) arrives with a Li-Po 5000 mAh battery setup that can provide more than 7 hours of screen time for daily usage. With this, you can use your phone for a day without thinking about charging again. Moreover, it only takes less than an hour to charge the battery from the 30W fast charging support.
Aside from this, the phone comes with deal-breaking comms and sensors that make the usage more impressive. But the audio output is something worth noting about the phone. As for the price point, the starting variant cost roughly $280 (Rs 21,499 in India) approx, while the higher variant will cost more.
Realme 9 5G Speed (SE) Pros and Cons
Realme 9 5G Speed (SE) Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Realme 9 5G Speed (SE) smartphone.
| Specifications | Realme 9 5G Speed Edition (SE) |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | March 2022 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.47 x 2.98 x 0.33 inches |
| Weight | 199 g |
| Size | 6.6 inches |
| Display | IPS LCD 144Hz 480-600 nits brightness 20:9 ratio ~400 PPI density |
| Protection | Panda Glass |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2412 pixels |
| OS | Android 11, Realme UI 2.0 |
| Chipset | 6nm – Qualcomm SM7325 Snapdragon 778G 5G |
| CPU | Octa-core 4×2.4 GHz Kryo 670 4×1.9 GHz Kryo 670 |
| GPU | Adreno 642L |
| Card slot | Yes (dedicated slot) |
| RAM | 6GB, 8GB |
| Internal | 128GB UFS 2.2 |
| Camera | 48 MP (wide), PDAF 2 MP (macro) 2 MP (depth) LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 4K@30fps |
| Selfie | 16 MP (wide) HDR, panorama Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes 24-bit/192kHz audio |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS |
| NFC | No |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, USB On-The-Go |
| Sensors | side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Li-Po 5000 mAh Fast charging 30W |
| Colors | Starry Glow, Azure Glow |
| Expected Price | $280 (Rs 21,499 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The Realme mainstream series are known for the overall great experience, and from our first-hand experience, we can say that the Realme 9 5G Speed Edition smartphone does live up to the legacy. Besides this, it’s can be considered one of the best phones under the 20k Indian INR budget. The phone is a great combo of 5G connectivity, impressive processing power, a long-lasting battery, suitable camera result, and a smooth interface layout.
Moreover, the single speaker audio output is better than some company’s dual stereo speakers. Overall, if you are looking for a worthy deal, the Realme 9 5G Speed is highly recommended. However, if you are looking for something with similar specs in a bit less budget, the Realme 9 can be considered a great deal.
