ISSUE 71 • ANDROID ADVISOR 39However, as we have come to learn in recent
years, the megapixel count means little if the
software processing is lacking.
We were pleasantly surprised by photos taken with
the Realme 5, which have an excellent level of detail
and dynamic range. However, the quality of images
quickly declines whenever you zoom in on shots.
Realme has borrowed OnePlus’s moniker of
‘Nightscape’ for its dedicated low-light mode, and
these shots are similarly effective to its Chinese
competitor. Dusk shots which would usually appear
grainy and with lots of noise are far clearer and
more vivid. To see this sort of mode on a budget
handset is hugely impressive.
The camera UI is pretty simplistic, but all the
regular modes you’d expect are here. We particularly
enjoyed using slo-mo, but there’s also time-lapse,
pano and an ultra-macro mode. We didn’t have
much success using the latter, perhaps because it
requires a lot of natural light to work effectively.
The most surprising thing here is the quick
switching between 1x, 2x and 5x zoom. Without a
telephoto lens, this is achieved digitally, but there
is little noticeable drop-off in image quality as you
switch between them.
The 13Mp front-facing camera is pretty typical of
what you can expect in many modern smartphones.
Selfies have a decent level of detail, but might
not be Instagram worthy. Portrait mode shots are
possible thanks to the depth-sensor, but they lack
the attention to detail you can find on phones
which use a dedicated telephoto lens.