OPPO’s RealMe 1 going on sale in June and it’s a worthy rival to the Redmi Note 5 Pro

OPPO recently joined hands with Amazon India to launch a new online-exclusive smartphone brand called RealMe. The debut smartphone under this partnership comes in the form of the RealMe 1, which happens to be the most affordable smartphone in the country to offer 6GB of RAM. OPPO already has an extensive offline presence in the country and with RealMe, it’s trying to grab a chunk of the online space as well. With its debut launch, the brand is taking the fight straight to the reigning budget smartphone from Xiaomi – the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Not only OPPO’s handset is more affordable, it also will be available with attractive introductory offers such as cashback for SBI cardholders, cashback of up to Rs 5,000 for Jio subscribers, no-cost EMI and more. But the real question is how the RealMe 1 stacks up against the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Let’s find out:

Design and display

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro sports a sturdy metal unibody design with a vertically-stacked dual camera module at the back, along with a fingerprint scanner. The RealMe 1 on the other hand, grabs your attention as it comes with a glass panel at the back and strays away from the normal metal design in the budget segment. Not only this choice makes the phone stand out from the crowd, it also makes the phone look and feel premium. The Diamond Black variant of the smartphone flaunts a unique finish on the rear panel, which adds further to the appeal of the smartphone.

In terms of display, the only difference between the two is in size. The RealMe 1 comes with a 6-inch screen compared to a 5.99-inch panel on the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Both screens offer 18:9 aspect ratio and a full HD+ resolution.

Performance and software

Coming to the performance, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor backed by either 4GB or 6GB of RAM depending on the variant. In contrast, the RealMe 1 is powered by the most powerful chipset from MediaTek – Helio P60, which is accompanied by 3, 4 or 6GB of RAM. While these processors are at par with each other in terms of performance, the RealMe 1 offers slightly better battery life compared to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro.

As for the software, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro boots the MIUI 9 based on Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box. The RealMe 1 ships with the newer Android 8.1 Oreo, which is layered with OPPO’s ColorOS. Both smartphones offer a number of features in their UIs.

Camera, battery and more

The Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with a 12-megapixel + 5-megapixel dual cameras at the rear panel and a 20-megapixel selfie camera. In comparison, the RealMe 1 offers a 13-megapixel shooter at the rear panel and an 8-megapixel selfie snapper. In terms of selfies, while Redmi Note 5 Pro emerges ahead in terms of the resolution, the RealMe 1 gets assisted by OPPO’s AI Beauty 2.0. The AI Beauty 2.0 scans 296 points on the face to recognise different skin tone, skin type, gender and age to offer enhanced selfies in any situation.

Both smartphones also come with the face unlock feature to authenticate the user.

In terms of battery too, while the Redmi Note 5 Pro seems to have an upper hand with a massive 4,000mAh unit, the RealMe 1 comes with an AI management feature with its 3,410mAh cell. This ensures that the phone manages the battery efficiently to offer a better backup.

Closing thoughts

Both smartphones are neck to neck with each other, especially when it comes to the performance. However, for those looking for a smartphone that can make a style statement, then the RealMe 1 is the real deal. Moreover, with prices starting from Rs 8,990, the RealMe 1 also happens to be a lot better value for money offering than the Redmi Note 5 Pro.