Realme Narzo N55 Review: Budget Champ?

The Narzo Series from Realme is becoming increasingly popular due to its price-to-performance ratio. If you didn’t know, Narzo is Realme’s phone series that features good cameras, a gaming chipset, and a beefy battery. It’s all in the name really as Narzo is an acronym.

Let’s address this first. The Narzo N55 is a rebranded C55. Well, we used it extensively and have compiled the good and bad points of the phone. Keep in mind that this phone starts at just Rs. 20,499 (4/64GB). The one we tested was a tier above at Rs. 24,499 (6/128GB).

So, how is it? Is it worth that much money or is your money better spent elsewhere? Let’s find out in this Realme Narzo N55 review article. But first, let’s look at its specifications below.

ALSO READ: Realme Phones Price in Nepal (April 2024 Updated)

Realme Narzo N55 Review

Stylish Design

• 165.6 x 75.9 x 7.89 mm
• 188 g
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• Plastic frame and back with a two-tone finish

The Narzo N55 has one of the most beautiful designs we’ve seen. It’s simple but aesthetically pleasing. It doesn’t have any flashy RGB accents or color-shifting patterns. A simple minimalistic two-tone design with silver rings on the cameras. The plastic back is prone to smudges so you might occasionally need to give it a good rub.

Holding the phone, it has a certain heft to it. It feels like you’re holding a phone and the rounded corners make it easier to do so. It does get slippery when you pick it off the table while grabbing the plastic frame.

The Narzo N55 brings a minimalistic two-tone back with a hole punch on the front.

The volume rockers and power button, which doubles as a fingerprint scanner, are placed on the right side of the phone. The power button is a bit high for our liking and we often didn’t cover the sensor fully. Other than that, it’s fast and accurate.

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The left side of the phone houses the sim tray and the bottom has the single speaker, USB-C port, mic, and the elusive 3.5mm headphone jack. The top is clean.

Good Display

• 6.72-inches FHD+ IPS
• 1080 x 2400 pixels
• 90Hz refresh rate

The Narzo N55 has a large 6.72-inch 1080p display which is pretty standard stuff at this price range. The 90Hz refresh rate with a 180Hz sampling rate makes the phone feel fluid. There are minor animation lags here and there but the overall experience is smooth.

The bezels are relatively thin and the immersion is quite good. The phone had a vivid color preset applied which we switched to a more natural profile. We tried playing 1080p@60fps videos and the experience was pleasant. No lags or video glitches, just buttery-smooth entertainment. Well done to Realme for this.

The IPS display is large and offers good immersion for multimedia content.

Expected Performance

• Mediatek Helio G88 (12nm)
• Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55)
• Mali-G52 MC2
• 6GB RAM 128GB storage

The Helio G88 is a chip we’ve seen on other budget offerings. It’s a capable performer at this budget with a 12nm Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55) CPU and Mali-G52 MC2 GPU.

Narzo N55 is smooth in daily usage. App switching is fast and task killing is not overly aggressive. However, heavy apps tend to restart.

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To no one’s surprise, the gaming performance of this phone is average. With the main competitors already offering Helio G99, the Helio G88 feels lacking in raw gaming power. Also, gaming is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate.

GAMING

We ran PUBG Mobile and got an average of 38 fps with balanced graphics and ultra framerate. In HD graphics with high framerate, the phone managed 29.6 fps on average. The phone was heating above 40°C and after 20 minutes or so, the display was hot enough that it got uncomfortable to keep touching it. There were a few frame drops around high-density areas but the overall consistency was good.

The situation was quite different with Asphalt 9. We got an average of 27.4 fps with High quality preset. The phone again got over 40°C but as the game time is short, it was quite playable. We didn’t notice any major frame drops while playing the game even with a lot of particles and animations running at the same time.

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Casual games like Alto’s Odyssey, Subway Surfers, Reaper, etc all played smoothly as well. No issues to report here.

Surprisingly Good Camera

• Rear Camera: 64 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/2″, 0.7µm, PDAF
  • 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
  • Video: 1080p@30/60fps
• Front Camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, (wide)
  • Video: 1080p@30fps

The Narzo N55 has two cameras at the back. The depth sensor is redundant here, so we’ll talk about that main 64MP camera.

MAIN CAMERA

Well, color us surprised. The main camera produced some very good photos. The 16MP binned shots were detailed, and had good focus but were often over-saturated. The phone also had a chroma-boost mode which boosted the colors even more.

The 64MP shots had more details than the binned shots when zoomed in. The color profile was neutral and the shots came out pleasant.

HDR photos sometimes turn out overprocessed with visible artifacts. Low light is decent enough for social media. Well-lit areas preserve details with some noise whereas darker areas have visible levels of noise.

The low-light mode helps preserve details somewhat but occasionally crushes the shadows, it’s good enough for the price but not anything to be impressed by.

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PORTRAITS

The portrait mode struggles with complex scenes. The edge detection is decent but can be hit or miss sometimes. We had to take multiple shots of the same subject. Skin tone is natural which leads to more pleasing photos.

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FRONT CAMERA

The front 8MP camera has a natural tone. The colors are not boosted like with the rear. The camera has good exposure and retains details in bright-colored objects as well. When zoomed, you do see a bit of sharpening being applied in the image processing, and darker areas have noise but it’s still very usable.

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VIDEOS

The phone is able to shoot up to 1080p@60fps. There is no stabilization whatsoever which causes the footage to be quite shaky. Focusing is good and it focuses fast but tends to only focus on central subjects. If you don’t have the subject at the center, the autofocus will miss the focus and not attempt to refocus again. This is a pretty minor issue and can be addressed with a software update.

The front camera can shoot up to 1080p@30fps. Indoor videos have noticeable noise even in daylight. It’s not anything special, but at this price, it’s quite serviceable.

Incredible Battery

• Non-removable Li-Po 5000mAh battery
• 33W fast charging

The Narzo N55 has some incredible battery management. We ran benchmarks, did gaming sessions, and left it playing Youtube to drain the battery. The 5000mAh battery provided over 4 hours 30 mins of Screen-on time with 50% charge left at the end of the day.

Even if you’re a heavy user, the phone should last you at least a day. For lighter days, expect over a day of usage with at least 7 hours of SOT.

Juicing up the phone, Realme had advertised a 50% charge in 29 mins with the 33W fast charger. It took our unit just over an hour to charge from 0 to 100% which is in line with their claim. Of course, this depends on temperature and voltage so your mileage might vary.

Software

• Android 13
• Realme UI 4.0

The software is really where you notice how this is a budget phone. It does come with Android 13 out of the box with Realme UI 4.0 but it’s filled with lots of bloatware. LOTS. Fortunately, most of it can be uninstalled.

There are also ads that occasionally pop up when using the phone. This didn’t really impact performance but made the phone feel cheap.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom with Realme UI 4.0. There are lots of customizable options available to make the phone feel truly yours. Just like Material You, the phone has featured colors and wallpaper colors.

They’ve really thought of small details with the customization options. You have the double tap to wake/sleep the screen, hide the gesture guide bar, App lock and so much more. Heck, they even give you a customizable status bar.

The phone comes with Realme’s Mini Capsule, which is Apple’s Dynamic Island imitation. Currently, it shows up when charging or other battery-related status and is kind of gimmicky.

However, it does have potential with software updates. Speaking of software updates, we’re expecting one major Android update but Realme hasn’t really said anything about this. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Final Thoughts

So this was our Realme Narzo N55 review. For a phone starting just north of Rs. 20,000, the Narzo N55 packs quite the punch. It may not be the best among the competition but for what it offers, it executes well.

The 64MP camera is one of the best daylight shooters we’ve seen for phones in this price range. It games well, just don’t expect to run highly graphical intense games on a phone in this budget and you’ll be fine.

It comes with Android 13 out of the box and has support for 33W fast charging.

The only complaint we can really make is a lack of any sort of stabilization while shooting videos and no ultra-wide camera. Even an 8MP Ultra-wide camera would come in handy when needed.

It’s a phone you should consider if you’re shopping for phones under Rs. 25,000.

What do you think of the Realme Narzo N55? Let us know in the comments below!