Realme C31 Review: A Typical Budget Phone!

In July 2022, Realme launched a new budget phone, Realme C31, in Nepal. It was announced in March in Indonesia after the launch of the Realme C35, which entered Nepal in April.

The Realme C31 price in Nepal is Rs. 17,799 (4/64GB).

This phone replaces last year’s Realme C21. I have been using this phone for a few days. I will share my experience with the device in this Realme C31 review.

Realme C31 Review

Design

• 164.7 x 76.1 x 8.4 mm
• 197 g
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• Plastic frame and back

The plastic build of the Realme C31 does not give it a premium feel, but I like its design. It has a textured back and a rear camera bump with a glass cover, which made the design better for me. The glass panel covers three cameras and a flash.

The power button, which also serves as a fingerprint sensor, is on the right side of the device. The fingerprint works well and is reliable, but I did not find the power button to be very tactile.

The volume buttons on the left, on the other hand, feel clicky. Realme should have given the new USB-C port on the Realme C31, but instead, it has the Micro USB port. Along with the port, it has a headphone jack and a microphone on the bottom.

The speaker on this device is located at the back. The quality of the speaker is not that impressive, but sufficient. It sounds just like what an entry-level smartphone would sound like. The volume can get loud, but the sound is not that clear.

The phone has a waterdrop notch on the front and a big chin. The front design could have been better, but I can’t complain much considering the price.

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Display

• 6.5-inch LCD
• HD+ Display (720 x 1600)

The device comes with a 6.5-inch LCD display with a waterdrop notch. It’s an HD+ display, so the sharpness of the device is not that great when watching videos. But it does not affect much when doing day-to-day tasks.

It also only supports a 60Hz refresh rate, so no high refresh rate. The colour reproduction of the display is poor, while the viewing angles are great. For indoor use, the brightness of the display would also be just enough. But in direct sunlight, you may struggle a bit to read the display.

Performance

• Unisoc Tiger T612 (12nm)
• Octa-core (2×1.8 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55)
• Mali-G57
• 4GB RAM 64GB storage, supports microSD card

The Realme C31 is equipped with a Unisoc Tiger T612 chipset. It is an octa-core chipset with two big Arm Cortex-A75 cores (1.82GHz) and six LITTLE Arm Cortex-A55 cores (1.82GHz), built on a 12nm process node.

For the price, the processor is not that bad. It is an upgrade over the MediaTek Helio G35 chipset.

The phone is responsive and ran fairly smoothly during my light usage. I did not face any major performance issues.

Testing it on Geekbench 5, which is a CPU benchmarking utility, it managed to get around 350 points in a single-core score and over 1300 points in a multi-core score.

To test the graphics performance, I also ran 3DMark. There, it received over 400 score points, which is similar to the performance of the Snapdragon 680 found in devices such as Redmi 10, Redmi Note 11, and Samsung Galaxy A23.

Playing PUBG Mobile in “HD” Graphics and “High” Frame Rate, which is the highest it can go, the phone delivered a stable 30 FPS. There were minor stutters but the gameplay was enjoyable.

ALSO READ: Redmi Note 11 Pro 4G Review: Does it Surpass Redmi Note 10 Pro?

Camera

• Rear Camera: 13 MP, f/2.2 (main)
  • f/2.4, (macro)
  • f/2.8 (B&W)
  • Video: 1080p@30fps
• Front Camera: 5 MP, f/2.0

The device comes with three cameras at the back. There is a 13MP main camera, whereas the other two cameras are macro and B&W sensors.

NORMAL PHOTOS

In good lighting conditions, the photos are pleasant to look at. The photos lack some sharpness, but the details are good. The colours of the photos are also satisfying.

The camera tries to expose the photos correctly. However, its dynamic range is not that impressive. It struggles to expose the shadows and highlights at the same time.

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PORTRAIT PHOTOS

The phone does a decent job of blurring the background when shot in Portrait mode. The edges of the subject sometimes look rough.

In portrait mode, it blows the highlight in the background. I did not find much difference in terms of colours and skin tone of portrait photos compared to photos taken in normal mode. It takes decent photos for the price.

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MACRO PHOTOS

The macro photos are bad. The colours appear flat; there is no detail, and the photos look very soft.

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LOW LIGHT PHOTOS

In low light conditions, the phone captures purple-ish photos, which look unnatural. The photos lack good detail and clarity. The colours also look dull.

Turning on the night mode slightly improves the photo by boosting the colour and increasing the sharpness, but nothing that impressive.

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FRONT CAMERA

The front has a 5MP selfie camera. The selfies are mediocre. The photos taken from the front camera come out noisy and soft. The colours also do not appear that appealing.

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VIDEO

The Realme C31 can shoot up to 1080p video at 30FPS from the rear camera, while the front can only shoot at 720p@30FPS. The video quality is not good. The videos from the main camera are soft and jittery. And it has poor detail and flat colour.

Battery and OS

• 5000mAh battery
• Micro USB
• Android 11
• Realme UI R Edition

The Realme C31 has a 5000mAh battery. The battery life of this phone is amazing. It easily lasted me more than a day.

But like its predecessor, it also comes with a 10W charger. So, fully charging the device from 0% takes more than 2-3 hours. The charging port is also not upgraded as it has the same outdated Micro USB port.

The phone comes with Android 11 topped with Realme UI R Edition. The R Edition is a stripped-down version of the Realme UI designed for budget phones. The OS is clean, but it does not give many customisation options.

The camera app on the R Edition is also different from the Realme UI. It comes with a lot of bloatware, but thankfully, it can be removed.

Should You Buy Realme C31?

The Realme C31 is a typical budget phone that offers respectable performance. Its design is appealing, and the battery life is superb. In favourable lighting environments, it also produces good photos for the price.

But the charging time of it is very slow and it still uses a Micro USB port instead of USB-C.

So, if you are searching for an inexpensive phone with basic requirements that is capable of playing some light games, then the Realme C31 is a good option. But know that the display is average and the camera does not always produce good photos.

ALSO READ: Realme Mobiles Price in Nepal: Features and Specs

So this is my Realme C31 review. What do you think of the Realme C31? Let us know in the comments!

Also, watch our impression video of the Redmi 10A in Nepali.