Realme 9i Review

Realme 9i Review – Realme, among others, consistently introduced budget-friendly smartphones in India and other countries. One such recent launch in January 2022 is the Realme 9i smartphone. It may be inferior to the Realme 9 Pro and Realme 9 Pro+, but it does share core qualities with both devices. The phone arrives with an exciting and elegant design layout that grabs attention at the first instance. On the other hand, the phone also renders decent processing power and ample battery capacity.

Overall, the Realme 9i smartphone includes all the necessary elements and supports 4G connectivity. Well, there are a few options in the same price range that fit the 5G network. So, to decide if it’s a worthy prospect, dig into the Realme 9i review further.

Realme 9i Review

Highlights

1. Realme 9i comes with a 6.6 inches IPS LCD display panel with 90Hz refresh rate support.
2. This Realme smartphone uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G processor.
3. In the software section, Realme 9i runs on Android 11 OS with Realme UI 2.0.
4. The smartphone has a triple rear lens, including a primary 50MP camera alongside a 16MP selfie camera.
5. It equips a big Li-Po 5000mAh battery and with 33W fast charging support.

Design and Display

At first sight, Realme 9i’s design emerges graceful and pretty. The smartphone is available in two classic colors – Blue and Black. The shiny rear panel creates a light beam move around when you hold it against the light. However, it is highly prone to dust & spots when used without the back case. But it’s up to your whether you desire to use the back case or not.

On the other hand, the glass front with moderate bezels and chin is protected by Dragontrail Pro Glass. Talking about the in-hand feel, the 190 grams device is neither oversized nor too small. In terms of thickness, the phone goes roughly 8.4-mm with a sleek build. But, it might not give a slim body experience since it got a colossal-size battery under the hood.

Let’s check the inside, the 6.6 inches IPS LCD panel arrives with a 90Hz refresh rate. The video visuals are great, but viewing angles are average because of LCD. Besides this, Realme 9i arrives with an average of 480 nits brightness. Thus, the design and display are fine. Although, it’s also one of the reasons for the fast battery drain. As we all know, nothing can beat AMOLED in terms of display quality and color saturation.

Memory and Internal

Let’s move to the performance aspect of 9i carried out by the 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G chipset. This processor can reach up to a 2.4GHz clocking speed allowing uninterrupted binge-watch, chat, and calls. Though there won’t be an issue with multi-tasking or daily use, you may not enjoy playing heavy games like BGMI and that is why the phone is not recommended for gamers.

Besides this, the Realme 9i fits the Android 11 OS and Realme UI 2.0 user interface. Although you will get updates, the latest Android 12 OS out of the box should have been offered. The interface is clean & simple but the device comes with lots of bloatware apps. So, you can’t expect an impressive user experience from the start.

As far as RAM and Storage are considered, the users attain three options varying between 64GB to 128 GB of internal storage and 4GB to 6GB of RAM. Apart from this, you get a dedicated SD card slot to extend storage limits. Regardless of this, the base variant would be insufficient for almost every user. Thus, the higher storage variant becomes an ideal deal.

Camera

You will be pleased to see a triple rear camera module on paper, whereas, unlike other Realme cameras, the Realme 9i’s 50MP primary camera clicks are a bit underwhelming. Despite good detailing, the photos retain superficial colors and are boosted with AI factors. Although, the overall image process unit does fall slightly behind the trendy aspects.

Other than this, the remaining 2MP depth and 2MP macro sensors are useless. Again, no ultra-wide lens is a big miss because there are mobile phones Under this segment that have this provision. In contrast, the 16MP front camera provides sound results.

The phone can record 1080p videos at 30fps with both the cameras and brings average results. But still, it manages to provide decent photo quality in the daylight. While on the other hand, there’s no denying that the native camera application also brings custom features, filters, and functions that make the photography aspect decent.

Battery and Others

The Li-Po 5000mAh battery capacity accompanied by 33W fast-charging support is more than enough for an average user. The battery will last a day easily with typical usage and can be refueled to 100% in 70 minutes. So, you can achieve your daily dose of YouTube, Netflix, Instagram, etc. The combination won’t disappoint you much as you are getting better screen time.

Besides all the necessary comms like Bluetooth, NFC, sensors like proximity, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a good stereo speaker. The quality of the audio is pleasing and loud. Lastly, The Realme 9i price starts at $197 (Rs 14,800 in India) approx for the 4GB/64GB model and goes up for the higher models. The handset is definitely underperforming at this cost.

Realme 9i Pros and Cons

Realme 9i Specifications Detail

Down below you can see the full specifications of the Realme 9i smartphone.

Conclusion

The Realme 9i smartphone specs look a lot like the Realme 8i smartphone. Even the 8i has much better offerings than this one at almost the same pricing. In fact, Realme’s 9 & 9 Pro+ were much more price-effective. Although the prism design is alluring, Except for a strong build, battery & appealing layout, everything else is just average or below.

So, if you are okay buying a 4G phone with a primary display and average camera under the mid-range, you may go for it. Or if you get discount offers, it can be a fair deal. But there are considerably more promising alternatives in the market including a favorable set of specifications such as the Oppo K9x. So choose wisely according to requirements and needs to pick the best option.