The number one smartphone brand in the country, realme just launched a new addition to the successful 8 series lineup. Say, hello to the new realme 8i. The best news, this beauty only retails below Php 10,000

I got to play and be creative with it before its official launch (November 16, 2021), and for someone who recently adores anything purple, the new realme 8i is a luxurious indulgence to my minimalist aesthetic preference.

Unboxing and First Impressions: realme 8i

The realme 8i comes with the unit, charger, cable, silicon cover and manual. The packaging is straightforward, but I didn’t expect to unbox something intricate like the new realme 8i.

The new realme 8i is designed for the future – simple, but not boring. It speaks eloquence, and I would say it is my favorite from all the realme smartphones that I got to review. The realme 8i comes in 2 colors – Space Black and Stellar Purple. The color reflects a good ray of purple, black and silver. An arc beam texture design gives the phone a shinier, smoother appearance, but it is light and thin at 8.5 mm and 194 g.

The right side has the ultra-fast fingerprint unlocking button, while the left side has the volume controls. The bottom is where you can find the microphone, SIM card slot and 3-card slot, USB-C port, and the speaker.

The back is where you can see the 50 mp camera, powered with Black and White and Macro Lenses.

Overall, the realme 8i feels and looks so premium and powerful.

realme 8i Specs

Color
Stellar Purple/Space Black

Processor
MediaTek Helio G96
12nm Production Process
2.05Ghz
Storage expandable up to 256GB

Display
Size: 6.6 inches

100% DCI-P3
Screen Ratio: 90.80%
Resolution: 2412*1080

Size & Weight
164.1mm75.5mm8.5mm, 194g

Battery
5000mAh (typical value)
18W Fast Charge

Storage
RAM: 4GB /6GB LPDDR4x
*(Only 6GB version supports 5GB Virtual RAM technology)
ROM: 64GB/128GB

Camera
Primary：
50MP
f/1.8
HDR
5P Lens

B&W Lens
2MP
f/2.4

Macro Lens：
2MP
f/2.4

AI Front Camera
16MP
5P Lens
AI Beauty
HDR
Panoramic View
Timelapse

Connectivity
SIM Card Type: Dual nano-sim cards
microSD Expansion/Triple Slot
VoLTE

Wireless：
Supports 2.4G/5G Wi-Fi
Supports Bluetooth 5.0

Sensors
GPS/Beidou/Glonass/ Galileo
Magnetic Induction Sensor
Light Sensor
Proximity Sensor
Accelerometer Sensor

Fingerprint

System
realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11

In the Box
realme 8i
9V2A Adapter1 Micro USB Cable1
Important Info booklet with Warranty Card1 Quick Guide1
SIM Card Tool1 Screen Protection Film1

realme 8i Features and Review

The realme 8i is marketed with the hashtag #InfinetelySmooth and it stays true to its brand and features. On the first boot, realme 8i quickly powered up and started with the set-up.

realme 8i is equipped with realme’s first Helio G96 chip. It’s manufactured using a 12 nm process and has two large A75 cores and 6 small A55 cores. Its main frequency reaches up to 2.05GHz.

The Helio G96 is also a processor that realme and MediaTek jointly oversaw and launched. To give a little history, realme assigned 7 senior engineers to guide the whole process. Over the course of 106 days, they had technically optimized 3 major performance features. Firstly, Helio G96 is the only G9 series chip that can power 120Hz displays. Secondly, it supports realme’s first screen whose brightness can reach as low as 1 nit. Lastly, its gaming performance completely surpasses that of realme 7i, providing a smoother gaming experience.

One thing that I noticed with realme 8i is it automatically adjusts its screen brightness according to my environment, especially on stand-by. A nice touch at saving energy.

For those who would get the 6GB+128GB version, you are in for a treat as it is supported with Virtual RAM, coming from computers to smartphones. Virtual RAM actually uses the phone’s internal storage as makeshift RAM and increases the total amount of RAM on your smartphone.

I mostly use a smartphone for communication and social media, but with the lockdown slowly easing up, I welcome the idea that I would soon find myself stuck in a car/traffic jam, and I would find entertainment on my smartphone. realme 8i provides an immersive visual experience with massive 6.6-inch LCD display, as well as a 100% DCI-P3 Color Gamut and a 180Hz touch sampling rate.

I use the realme 8i to watch a new series and movies in Netflix and it gives a good experience with no visual noise and delays.

One of the key features of realme 8i is the impressive 120Hz refresh rate, which is a feature you only encounter in high-price range smartphones. This gives a smoother visual effects (perfect for gaming), and provides 6 different refresh rates (30Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz) are supported to help the phone conserve battery power.

For users to better enjoy their contents and favorite media/videos, realme 8i offers is equipped with a 3-card slot for two SIM cards and one SD card (up to 256GB).

Accompanying the massive memory storage is the powerful battery life of 5,000 mAh. Based on the lab test, this could equate to 28 days in standby mode. Totally continuous 47 hours on calling, 40 hours on music, 11 hours on YouTube or
8 hours for MLBB. The realme 8i is also equipped with 18W fast charge. With this, it takes only 36 mins to charge to 50%.

In rare cases when you need to save energy, you may enable power saving mode, which will lower the screen brightness, shorten auto screen-off time to 15s, and disable background sync to greatly lengthen battery life. In this mode, you will be allowed to select 6 mostly used apps to keep active to achieve an extremely long battery life. At the same time, the phone will turn on a more aggressive power- saving strategy.

realme did a study that users only use 6 apps 70 to 80% of the time. Thus, the feature is helpful in saving battery without compromising the daily user experience.

One of the my favorite features of the realme 8i is the ultra-fast fingerprint unlocking. The smartphone is also equipped with facial recognition for added security and privacy.

50 mp Camera and Sample Photos

Do you guys remember the days when we buy digital cameras and we always look for higher megapixels? Now, we can enjoy 50 mp camera in the sleek realme 8i smartphone.

realme 8i ‘s main camera features 50 mp that secures enough light and makes the photo clearer and brighter. Although I mainly use my camera for taking and documenting life, I love the accessibility of a good camera to capture rare or spontaneous moments, like moments with dogs and babies.

Aside from 50 mp Main Camera, realme 8i also features the Black and White Camera for artistic effects on portraits. It reproduces portraits in black and white, providing higher exposure and enhancing the contrast between light and dark of images. In the Portrait mode, exposure, color temperature, hue, and other parameters are repeatedly fine-tuned. In conjunction with the simulation of master portrait works, photos are tuned to retro film style with wide applicability, adding texture to the final portrait-style photos.

I mainly used and tested the camera at home – to take my favorite things, document life and enjoy my me-time.

The photos came out good, despite my subject (dog) being a little rascal and tricky to take a photo of. I am quite surprised with the quality of photo taken inside my dark room, and how it captured even a moving object (TV show scene) quite perfectly.

Although I love colors in my photos, taking Black and White photos can add a little drama and story to the pictures.

One of the things I missed about the outside world is discovering things, creatures and life on Macro Lens. realme 8i’s Ultra Macro Lens enables users to get closer and discover the beauty of the micro world with the 4cm shooting distance. It will empower consumers with the possibility to shoot amazing macro photography with details, and enjoy exploring the charm of the micro world.

I love that the Macro Lens is easy to use, with just a quick point on the camera to focus.

realme 8i’s 16 mp Camera is a good reason to take selfies. For someone who mostly take photos on my own, it is good to have a nice Selfie Camera to take with me on my next adventures. The Panoselfie feature that can take wider selfies is perfect for travels and adventures. The camera also supports AI beauty function, HDR mode, and portrait mode.

The Verdict

Powerful, smooth and stylish. It may be hard for me to pick just one thing I love about the realme 8i, but I would go for the camera as I am all for capturing life and rare moments. It is even infinetely packed with powerful performance and battery life that helps provide a smooth user experience.

For its price, realme 8i provides high end features and smooth performance in a beautiful design and color.

Follow me @ruthilicious on Instagram for more photos and stories.

The realme 8i will be available
in 4+64GB and 6+128GB variant and in two colors, Space Black and Stellar Purple.

realme 8i 4+64GB

• The realme 8i 4+64GB will retail for P9,990.00 (SRP)
• As an early-bird offer exclusively on Lazada, the realme 8i 4+64GB will be available for P8,990
  (P1,000 discount) starting November 17, 12 MN onwards.

Shop realme 8i via Lazada

realme 8i 6+128GB

• The realme 8i 6+128GB will retail for P11,990.00 (SRP)
• As an early-bird offer exclusively on Lazada, the realme 8i 6+128GB will be available for P10,990
  (P1,000 discount) starting November 17, 12MN onwards.
  The realme 8i will be available online exclusively on Lazada, and in all realme offline stores and
  partner dealers nationwide.

Shop realme 8i via Lazada