Realme 9i Review

The Realme 9i is a budget-friendly smartphone with several attractive features in its price range. It comes with great features and specifications and excellent performance, so it is for you if you want to buy a new phone in a decent price range.

This article will focus on the various specifications and features of the Realme 9i with a brief overview:

Specifications

• Display: 6.6-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 680
• RAM: 4GB or 6GB
• Storage: 64GB or 128GB (Expandable up to 1 TB)
• Rear camera: 50MP main sensor, 2MP macro sensor, 2MP depth sensor
• Front camera: 16MP
• Battery: 5,000mAh with 33W fast charging
• Software: Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0

Design and Display

The Realme 9i features a sleek, stylish design with a plastic body miming an excellent glass finish. It has a large 6.6-inch IPS LCD with a Full HD+ resolution, providing vibrant colours and sharp visuals. The display also has a punch-hole setup at the top-left area, which houses the front-facing camera. The display is quite great compared to other phones in the same price segment. However, it could have been better if the phone had an AMOLED display.

On the rear side, it houses the triple camera setup along with the LED flashlight. The power button is placed on the right side, while the volume buttons are placed on the left side of the frame. The fingerprint sensor is also attached to the power button.

Software and Features

Like other Realme phones, the Realme 9i runs on Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11. Realme UI is designed to provide a clean and intuitive user experience. It offers a variety of customization options, including the ability to change themes, icons, and fonts, allowing you to personalize the look and feel of your device. It also has features like Dark Mode, Digital Wellbeing, and several gesture options. However, it's worth noting that the Realme UI can feel a bit heavy and cluttered at times.

As already said, Realme UI is built on top of the Android operating system. This ensures you have access to the vast Android ecosystem, including a wide range of apps, games, and services on the Google Play Store.

Performance

Under the hood, the Realme 9i is powered by a Snapdragon 680 processor with 4GB or 6GB of RAM. Realme 9i performs well in most everyday tasks. The Snapdragon 680 processor is powerful enough to handle the basic requirement of regular calling as well as tasks. This hardware configuration ensures smooth multitasking and decent performance for daily tasks like browsing, social media, and light gaming.

Although the Realme 9i can handle most light games without issue, it struggles with heavier games. So, if you want to play high-end games, it is better to play at the lowest possible settings; otherwise, the game may lag. The phone also has a large and bright display that makes it enjoyable for extended periods.

The processor has eight cores, which provides smooth multitasking and smoothly handles opening and closing everyday apps. RAM optimization is also good with optimized UI, so you can access your work from the same step where it was left from, minimized application window.

Camera

The Realme 9i has a triple-camera arrangement on the back. The primary sensor is a 50MP sensor that takes good photos in daylight. The macro sensor is also decent, but the depth sensor could have been more helpful. The front-facing camera is a 16MP sensor that takes good selfies in daylight.

Rear Camera Setup

• 50-megapixel Primary Camera: The Realme 9i boasts a high-resolution 50-megapixel primary camera sensor. It captures detailed and vibrant images, allowing you to preserve fine details and colours in your photos.
• 2-megapixel Depth Sensor: The depth sensor lets the device capture portrait shots with a pleasing background blur (bokeh) effect. It typically helps to focus more on an object that looks like a professional photograph.
• 2-megapixel Macro Lens: The macro lens lets you take close-up shots of small objects or subjects. It lets you capture intricate details and textures, making it ideal for photography enthusiasts interested in macro photography.

Front Camera

The Realme 9i features a 16-megapixel front-facing camera, ideal for capturing selfies and making video calls. It offers decent image quality and supports features like AI beautification to enhance your selfies by smoothing out skin tones and improving facial features.

Dedicated Camera Modes and Features

• 50MP Mode: This mode allows you to take full-resolution photos, which can be helpful for cropping and zooming in on photos. It takes good photos in daylight and can take various types of photos.
• Night Mode: The Realme 9i includes a dedicated Night Mode, which enhances low-light photography.
• HDR (High Dynamic Range): The device supports HDR mode, which helps to balance the exposure in high-contrast scenes.
• Panorama: The panorama mode allows you to capture wide-angle shots by panning the camera across a scene.
• AI Scene Recognition: The camera of Realme 9i utilizes artificial intelligence to recognize different scenes and adjust the camera settings accordingly. It automatically detects scenarios like landscapes, portraits, food, and more to optimize image quality.
• Super Macro Mode: the super macro mode is one of the premium features in high-end smartphones, but you will get this feature in this budget smartphone of Realme as well. With the help of this feature, you can easily capture close-up shots with high detail and magnification.

Some tips to take better photos with Realme 9i

• Use the 50MP mode for the best possible image quality.
• Use the Night mode for low-light photos.
• Use the Ultra Macro mode to take close-up photos of objects.
• Use the Super Text mode to improve text clarity in your photos.

Overall, the camera arrangements and dedicated features of the Realme 9i provide a versatile photography experience, enabling you to capture high-resolution images, stunning portraits, macro shots, and more.

Battery

With a 5000mAH battery, the Realme 9i offers excellent battery life. It lasts a full day on moderate usage and can even stretch into the second day with lighter usage. The device supports 33W fast charging, allowing you to top up the battery quickly. Unlike most Samsung phones, the Realme 9i comes with a charger adapter within the packaging.

It has a large battery capacity, supports fast charging, and has several battery-saving features. It also has a dedicated power-saving mode to further extend the battery life.

The Realme 9i has several features that can help you extend the phone's battery life. These features include a power-saving mode, a screen-off gesture, and a dark mode.

Storage and Connectivity

The phone primarily offers two variants with either 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, which can be expanded using a microSD card slot. Likewise, the Realme 9i comes in two memory variants: 4GB of RAM and 6GB of RAM. The higher RAM option allows for better multitasking and smoother overall performance.

Regarding connectivity, the Realme 9i supports dual SIM cards, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. With dual Nano SIM cards, the Realme 9i offers 4G VoLTE connectivity for fast and reliable mobile data. Furthermore, Bluetooth enables the phone to wirelessly connect to wearable devices, such as earphones, earbuds, smartwatches, etc.

Pros

• It comes with a good software-hardware combination, allowing satisfactory performance.
• It also comes with a long battery capacity and duration.
• Its price is affordable, considering the distinct features it offers.

Cons

• The camera could have been better to perform well in low light.
• It does not support the ultrawide camera.
• The lack of an AMOLED display is a big drawback.

Verdict

The Realme 9i is an excellent budget-friendly smartphone with a good balance of performance, battery life, and cameras. It is a good option for those looking for a reliable and affordable phone.

The Realme 9i comes in two different variants. The first is a 4GB Ram and 64GB variant, and the second is a 6GB ram and 128GB variant. The price depends on which variant you like to purchase. The 4/64GB variant roughly comes under a price tag of Rs. 11,999, and if you choose to buy the 6/128GB, it comes under a price tag of Rs. 13,499; both variants are available on leading e-commerce sites and authorized stores.

Overall, the phone offers a smooth user experience, good multitasking capabilities, ample memory and storage, a variety of connectivity options, and excellent battery life, making it suitable for everyday use and moderate gaming. While it may not be the most powerful device in its price range, it performs everyday tasks well. The Realme 9i has several features that make it an excellent budget-friendly smartphone.