Realme officially started operations in Kenya a couple of months ago. Since then, we have seen a number of smartphones from this brand including the realme 6, realme C3 and the realme C11. The latest addition to this list is the realme C`15 which was unveiled in Kenya a few weeks back.
The realme C15 is available in Kenya starting from Ksh 17,000 depending on the configuration you go with. I got the variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage space that is available on Jumia for Ksh 16,200.
The realme C15 has a 6,000 mAh battery which is bigger than most smartphone batteries we see these days. This is one of its key selling points and to be honest, one of the things I love about it. Using this as my primary phone was satisfying as I do not have to worry about charging my phone every single day.
Besides the big battery, the realme C15 has some very good specifications that make it worth looking at if you are looking for a smartphone within this price range. Before we get to the full review, let us first highlight some of its key specifications.
- Display: 6.5-inch; 720 x 1560 pixels
- Chipset: MediaTek Helio G35
- RAM: 3/4GB RAM
- Storage: 32/64 GB
- Rear cameras: 13MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP
- Front camera: 8MP
- Battery: 6000mAh
Also Read: Realme C15 Specifications and Price in Kenya
Design and Build Quality
The first thing you will notice about the realme C15 is how bulky and heavy it is. This can be attributed to the huge battery it packs underneath. It is not uncomfortably heavy but heavy enough for anyone to notice.
The build quality of the phone is pretty good. The back is made of plastic but isn’t very slippery. The edges are curved so holding and carrying the phone is very comfortable. I can easily use this phone with one hand and reach almost every corner of the display.
realme C15 back
To the back of the phone, it is textured and this is what makes it less slippery. At the back is also where we find the quad-camera module that is made up of a 13MP main sensor, 8MP and two 2MP sensors. The four sensors are housed in a rectangular module and there is no camera bump at all. The fingerprint scanner and LED flash can also be found on the back of the phone.
Some of the usual ports and buttons available include the power and volume keys on the right. The speaker grille, microphone, headphone jack and Micro USB port at the bottom. The dual SIM and MicroSD card slot is on the left of the phone.
Display
The realme C15 comes with a 6.5-inch display with a resolution of 720 x 1560 pixels. The display is good and bright but not necessarily the best to use when outdoors. It just does not get bright enough for these situations and this was very clear to me since I was coming from the more expensive realme 6.
This display is still usable for most people and even media consumption is not a problem. I did watch a few videos on this display and the experience was quite good. Colour reproduction is quite good.
Above the display is the waterdrop notch centred at the very top. The notch does not take that much space and you will rarely notice it is there.
Performance and Software
The realme C15 handled tasks with ease and I did not have any performance issues during my review period. This is acceptable if you think about some of its key specifications including the Helio G35 processor and 4GB of RAM. This combination seems to work well from running day to day tasks to some casual gaming.
The phone comes with Android 10 with realme UI on top. I am a big fan of realme UI as it seems light and is close to stock Android and that is always a good thing especially for a phone that is not very powerful. Realme UI is probably the first custom UI for anyone who is getting started with Android at this price. The smooth experience you get will leave you satisfied with the OS.
Realme UI comes baked with a few extra features including the split screen feature that allows you to run two apps on the display at the same time, an App cloner that lets you clone some popular apps like WhatsApp and let you have two different WhatsApp apps on the same phone and be signed in to two different accounts.
All these features ensure a smooth experience without affecting performance.
Cameras
The realme C15 is not a camera phone and that is very clear. The back camera still takes good shots but I feel it lags behind compared to some of the competing devices from Xiaomi. The shots you get are still good and you will have no issues sharing them on your social media.
The selfie camera is good too and stands out when outdoors or when the lighting is good. It does come with beauty mode and portrait mode too. You will get decent shots with the front facing camera but nothing out of the ordinary.
Battery
This is one of the things I loved as I have mentioned above. A 6,000 mAh battery is good any day and on any smartphone. The realme C15 is not very powerful and the display does not have a very high resolution and these add to the long battery life.
With this battery, I could consistently get it to last for up to 2 days on a single charge. Charging it takes a little over 2 hours and considering its size and the fact that the phone supports 18W fast charging, this is not so bad. You Can read my thoughts on this battery more on the link below.
Conclusion
The realme C15 is one good phone if you need a device with a very good battery that will last you at least 2 days even with heavy usage. The phone handles tasks well which surprised. I did not have any performance issues during my review period.
The C15 is also well build and even though it is bulky, it is comfortable to hold and use with one hand.
The cameras could have been better in my opinion but what is there still works. Speaker sound quality is not that good and should be improved in the next iteration.
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