Realme 6 Review

The Realme 6 is a phone built to hit a price point. For the most part, it's kind of what you'd expect from a sub $500 phone; it has a reliable processor, a reasonably robust battery life, and okay primary camera paired with some superfluous extra lenses for sake of a spec sheet. It's not the kind of phone that will wow you, but even if not outstanding, it still represents good value.

While the Realme 6 has the hallmarks of being just another phone, it isn't exactly run of the mill. Priced at $469 outright, the Realme 6 is the cheapest phone with a 90Hz screen in Australia, by a decent margin.

For those not familiar with high refresh rate displays, a conventional smartphone has a 60Hz refresh rate, for comparison. This means the device displays 60 images per second, versus 90 images per second on the Realme 6. This makes all motion on the device look smoother, whether you're scrolling through apps or playing a game.

We first saw high refresh rate displays on the Pixel 4 locally, followed by devices like the Galaxy S20 family, the Huawei P40 Pro, and the OPPO Find X2 Pro. Of course, these devices all cost over $1,000. Being able to get a high refresh rate display on a sub-$500 smartphone less than a year after we first starting seeing the tech in devices is certainly impressive to say, the least.

The screen itself is pretty nice. It's sufficiently bright and vibrant. It doesn't have quite the same wow-factor that you'd get from an OLED panel in a pricier phone, but there's certainly nothing wrong with the Realme 6 display.

High refresh rate displays can have an unfortunate habit of obliterating battery life, which is understandable. If a display is showing a third as many or twice as many images per second, that's going to put strain on the battery. Yet even with the 90Hz set to always on (you have switch down to 60Hz or have the phone automatically decide on when to dial up or down the refresh rate), the Realme 6 should still comfortable get a day-and-a-half per charge.

At the very least, you won't be in need of a top-up during the day. Even if you were, the Realme 6 features pretty speed charging tech. A 30 or so minute juice will take you from flat to an almost nice 68%, or you can refill the phone completely in about an hour.

In terms of performance, it's hard to fault the Realme 6. It might not have the pure grunt of a flagship device, but it always felt zippy enough when it comes to day-to-day tasks. It certainly doesn't feel like you're compromising on performance by opting for a cheaper device in this case.

The Realme 6's primary camera is pretty much what you'd expect for a phone in this price bracket. It's fine. You'll get reasonably nice photos as long as you have adequate light, after which point the device will start to struggle. Regardless of whether you're using the phone's night mode or not, lowlight images all tend to be a little soft or blurry. It's a bit of a shame, because camera performance on the Realme XT was a little better, and the Realme 6 has replaced it in the local market.

You'll also find another three lenses on the back of the Realme 6, include an ultra-wide lens, a macro lens, and a depth lens. For the most part, the only reason these seem to be here is so that Realme can claim the phone has four rear-facing cameras. They'll certainly take photos, but the images captured by the ultra-wide lens and macro lens are markedly worse than what you'll get on the primary.

It's a small complaint, but I'm not a fan of the "glasstic" finish on the Realme 6's. Glasstic - a plastic back designed to look and refract like glass - has become increasingly popular on midrange phones, and it feels like the worst of both worlds. It picks up fingerprints and smudges like glass, while still a little cheap and plasticy. 

If manufacturers are going to go back to using plastic over glass, I'd rather see designs that mimic the reassuringly solid polycarbonate from the Lumia days than glasstic. Plastic phones can still look and feel great - even last year's Pixel 3a proved that - provided you embrace the material and its qualities. At the least, the bundled case will help minimise fingerprints.

All in all, the Realme 6 is a perfectly fine device. It's a capable enough phone that does pretty much what you expect at the price-point. Maybe even a little more thanks to the smooth 90Hz display. It's not a phone that's easy to get excited about, but reliable performance and a healthy battery life make the Realme 6 a solid option if you're looking for a phone under $500.

Realme 6 camera samples

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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