ISSUE 71 • ANDROID ADVISOR 41On the video side, the Realme 5 supports up to
4K footage at 30fps. However, at this resolution
the recording was incredibly juddery and almost
unwatchable, due in part to the lack of optical
image stabilization. Unless you plan on keeping
the phone in the same position throughout, we’d
recommend taking it down to 1080p, which offers
much more pleasing results.
The battery life on the Realme 5 is the single most
impressive thing about this phone, which is saying
something considering how much else we liked.
It’s potentially the biggest beneficiary of the
aggressive software tweaks, which when combined
with the mammoth 5,000mAh cell provides truly
stellar battery life. In Geekbench 4’s battery test,
we recorded an excellent 11 hours and 36 minutes,
ranking it among the top handsets on the market.
We were regularly getting two days of moderate
usage before reaching for the charger, even if it did
seem risky to leave the house with under 50 percent.
We hope that bigger batteries will become the
new standard, particularly as Realme has shown it’s
possible without adding much bulk.
The large battery becomes all the more important
considering the lack of fast charging. The 10-watt
adaptor in the box charges much slower than
modern standards, and we were only able to get 22
percent in 30 minutes after it was completely empty.
Verdict
There’s a lot to like about the Realme 5. You get a
beautiful design and great cameras, while the phone