If you read our previous review on the unofficial Poco X4 Pro, you already know that our reviews are not limited to official phones only.
We often dive into the unofficial smartphone market — mostly while roaming around Bashundhara City and Motaleb Plaza — and often end up bumping into devices that look like a legit crime to have ever existed at such a price tag.
Yes, Realme 9 5G Speed is one of those devices. It is a shame that the smartphone manufacturer did not officially release it in the Bangladesh market.
When we checked it in mid-October, the price for the 6GB RAM and 128GB version of the phone was Tk24,500. While writing this review, we made a phone call only to find out that the price witnessed a drop of Tk1,000 in around 15 days. So, you will be able to get it for Tk23,500 only.
Rio International, the smartphone shop from which we received the price info, does not have the 8GB RAM and 128GB version right now. But they confirmed to us that the price for that will be around Tk27,000 (or less) when it gets restocked.
What does the phone have? A strong Snapdragon 778G chipset and a 144Hz refresh rate display. Yeah, you read it right.
Where does this smartphone come from, you ask? It comes from India, infamously known for a smartphone market that does not break the bank.
Aesthetics
When people look for a good value-for-money smartphone, appearance tends to be their least priority. And in most cases for such smartphones, appearance can be quite deceiving.
Realme 9 5G Speed is an 8.5 mm thin smartphone with around 200 grams of weight. Yes, it is on the heavier side of the Android spectrum, even after using the low-weight polycarbonate on the back.
The phone has very little visual appeal to it if you want to compare it with Oppo or Vivo or even other Realme handsets. It just looks like another average smartphone.
Unlike many other Realme handsets, especially the 9-series ones', this one does not have an in-display fingerprint sensor. Instead, the side-mounted power button acts as a fingerprint reader.
One thing that I really liked about this, and many other Realme phones, is the fact that they have two dedicated SIM slots and a microSD slot for external memory. Not like many other budget phones where you need to sacrifice one hybrid SIM slot to get external memory.
Display
The phone comes with a smooth IPS LCD panel with a 144 Hz refresh rate. If you are a gamer, this is something you may have experienced in your gaming monitor which might have cost more than this entire smartphone. I did not see any other smartphone with a 144Hz refresh rate within this budget range and this takes the user experience to a whole new level.
With the buttery smooth refresh rate comes a drawback, the phone has a typical brightness of 480 nits that can go only up to 600 nits in high brightness mode.
So, using it under direct sunlight on a hot summer day might be a little bit troublesome.
Apart from the 144Hz refresh rate, the phone also comes with a 240Hz touch sampling rate.
It is no surprise that using a phone constantly on 144Hz will drain the battery within hours. Realme does have a solution here. The adaptive refresh rate on the phone can scale between 30Hz and 144Hz depending on what you are doing on the device.
For example, when you stop scrolling the display and just look at some non-movable thing (like some text), the refresh rate will automatically go down to 30Hz. But while you are playing games, given that the game supports a 144Hz refresh rate, you will get the most out of it.
Here's a tip: if you go to buy a Realme smartphone. While buying the phone, you will get a case and a pre-installed thin screen protector. Do not remove the screen protector, even if the shop tells you that they will throw in an additional glass screen protector for free.
You see, the cover that Realme offers with the phone will be very thin and you will be able to only use it when there's no additional glass protector attached to the phone. I learned it the hard way.
It is better to use the transparent cover for a few months until it gets yellowish (trust me, it will), and then change the cover and add a glass protector since the pre-installed plastic screen protector will also get scratched up by then.
Performance
Powering the Realme 9 5G Speed is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G chipset, one of the stable and most heavily optimized chipsets made by Qualcomm.
Now, if we look at the official smartphone market in Bangladesh, the Snapdragon 778G is available in two other devices.
Number one is the Samsung Galaxy A73, which comes with a price tag of Tk74,499. Another is Realme's GT Master Edition, which comes at a price tag of Tk34,990.
Now, if you are a gamer, Realme 9 5G Speed's 778G chipset will definitely put a smile on your face since it will be able to load any games of your liking faster than any other devices you can buy spending this much money.
The phone comes with an AnTuTu Benchmark score of 536,604. You can throw anything at it, let it be PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, Mobile Legends or Asphalt 9, and it will be able to handle it well.
You won't need the 144Hz refresh rate in day-to-day usage, and Realme knows that as well. While scrolling around the UI, you will get 90Hz if you keep the adaptive refresh rate enabled. But while watching videos, the phone will bump up its refresh rate to match the refresh rate of the content you are viewing.
You definitely have the option to keep the 144Hz mode on. But we wouldn't recommend it since it will be very heavy on the battery.
Camera
The phone comes with a triple camera setup on the back. A 48 MP main sensor, a 2 MP macro and another 2MP depth sensor.
Well, for a smartphone with this price, sacrifices had to be made. For this phone, the sacrifice happened in the camera department, with the lack of an ultrawide camera and two unnecessary macro and depth sensors.
Nevertheless, coupled with the powerful 778G chipset for post-processing, the primary camera performs extraordinarily well. You will notice significant differences if you enable the HDR mode.
Then again, the low-light, especially nighttime performance wasn't up to the mark in my opinion.
The 16MP front camera also has HDR and can capture very decent selfies. No complaints here.
In the video department, this primary camera supports up to 4K recordings at 30fps and 1080p video recording at 30, 60 or 120fps.
Battery
Realme 9 5G Speed has a 5,000 mAh Li-ion battery which should easily provide at least 7-8 hours of screen on time on average. If you play games, that's a whole different scenario.
I couldn't play games for long periods of time on this phone. There should be some heating issues as well. I would recommend removing the case and sitting somewhere cool if you plan on heavy gaming for a long period of time.
The phone supports charging up to 30 Watts and the charging adapter will be available in the box. I was a little disheartened that Realme didn't offer a higher-watt charging with the phone. But then I figured that it is probably for the best.
According to Realme, the phone will charge 50% in 25 minutes. It would take around an hour and 15 minutes for the phone to fully charge from 0 to 100.
Verdict
Now comes the most important question. Who should buy this phone?
Well, if you are into mobile gaming and the raw performance of your device, and want a budget-friendly smartphone without breaking the bank, you should definitely go for it.
You should only look for something else if you want to buy a phone with a warranty via the official channel.
