ISSUE 71 • ANDROID ADVISOR 37section of the App Market. There’s really no reason to
use this over the Play Store in the UK, particularly if a
lot of your favourites are tied to a Google account.
But that’s not all. The Realme 5 has its own versions
of Contacts, Calculator, Weather and many more, all
of which can’t be uninstalled. Fortunately, this hasn’t
extended to a virtual assistant, as Google Assistant
can still be triggered by a long-press of the home
button or saying ‘Okay, Google’.
Our other main software gripe is with the process
for closing apps. This is very similar to many Android
devices, with a scrolling pane of open windows that
you can swipe to close. However, you could be
mistaken for thinking that the big ‘X’ would close all
open apps. In fact, it simply closes the apps that are
necessary to optimize the device, which essentially
means it’s pot luck as to which apps stay open.
It would make much more sense if this was an
option in settings, instead of it being such a major
element of the UI.
There’s a few other subtle design changes, but
none of these require a learning curve if you’re
familiar with recent versions of Android.
Cameras and battery life
Mobile cameras have long been a priority for Oppo,
with an added emphasis since its expansion into
the UK market. The Realme 5 continues this trend,
with a quadruple rear setup. The main 12Mp sensor
is supported by an 8Mp ultrawide lens and 2Mp
dedicated macro camera, while the fourth 2Mp lens
is for depth sensing.