realme has launched today its latest smartphone in India under its realme C-Series. The realme C55 is a midrange smartphone running the new realme UI 4.0 for the first time in its series. The smartphone highlights its 7.89mm slim design, 90 Hz Full HD+ display, 64 MP primary camera, and 33W SuperVOOC Charge. The realme C55 is powered by MediaTek Helio G88 with as much as 8 GB RAM (+8 GB additional RAM). A remarkable feature is the world’s first ‘Mini Capsule for Android’ on the realme C55 tweaked in the realme UI 4.0. Here’s more about the smartphone and what you need to know in our full realme C55 review.
realme C55 Specifications
- Display & Design: 6.72-inch IPS display, Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels), 90 Hz refresh rate, 91.4% screen-to-body ratio, 680 nits peak brightness, 16.7M colors, 7.89mm slim, 189.5 grams weight
- Software: realme UI 4.0 interface, Android 13 operating system
- CPU: 12nm MediaTek Helio G88 octa-core SoC clocked up to 2.0 GHz (2x Cortex-A75 + 6x Cortex-A55 processors)
- GPU: Mali-G52 MP2 Graphics
- Memory: 4 GB OR 6 GB OR 8 GB RAM
- Storage: 64 GB OR 128 GB internal storage
- Main Camera: Dual cameras (64 MP main + 2 MP depth), LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 8 MP
- Others: Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, 3.5 mm audio jack, Face Unlock
- Cellular: 4G network, dual SIM dual 4G, VoLTE support
- Battery & Charging: 5,000 mAh battery, 33W SuperVOOC Charge fast charging, 50% in 29 minutes
- Colors: Sunshower, Rainy Night
- Price: ₹10,999 (4 GB + 64 GB), ₹11,999 (6 GB + 64 GB), ₹13,999 (8 GB + 128 GB)
- Availability: 28th March 2023 at 12 PM on realme.com, Flipkart, and stores near you
- Offers: ₹1,000 off on ICICI and HDFC bank cards and EMI, an additional ₹1,000 on exchange during pre-booking from 21st to 27th March on Flipkart, Students get free realme Buds Q2 with C55 from 28th to 31st March at realme exclusive stores.
Design, Display, & Build Quality
About the design, the realme C55 uses a 7.89 mm slim design with flat edges making it easier to hold and carry, and is also the slimmest smartphone in its series. The backside uses reflective design textures and patterns, the back is matte finished while the camera area is made glossy. This is the Sunshower color while the phone comes in two color variants – Sunshower, and Rainy Night.
The rear side, as you can see, has two big camera modules having a dual camera setup. Other things on the phone are a fingerprint scanner on the power button and a punch-hole selfie camera in the top center of the screen which has a software optimization similar to Apple’s Dynamic Island. This is the world’s first ‘Mini Capsule for Android’ smartphone. The overall design of the phone appears to be sleek, slim, and pretty impressive.
The realme C55 comes with a 6.72-inch IPS display with Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels) and a 90 Hz refresh rate. Other display features include a 91.4% screen-to-body ratio, 8-bit color depth (16.7M colors), and 680 nits peak brightness. A 90 Hz screen refresh rate in this segment is great, a higher refresh rate adds-in smoothness and responsiveness while interacting with the user interface.
The right side has a power button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner and volume controls just above while the left side has a dual SIM tray with a dedicated microSD card slot. Moving to the bottom side, there’s a USB Type-C, a loudspeaker, a microphone, and a 3.5 mm jack for earphones/headphones.
Software, User Interface, & Features
You can see the realme UI 4.0 (Android 13) in the realme C55 out-of-the-box and it’s the latest interface from realme, the realme UI 4.0 was launched alongside the realme 10 Pro Series. The realme C55 has a new user interface compared to its predecessors. It’s based on the Android 13 operating system and comes with a security patch on the phone dated 5th January 2023.
The realme UI 4.0 is based on Android 13 which means you get many of the latest features of the realme UI 4.0 and Android 13 on the realme C55 with additional features from the customized interface including the Android’s first Mini Capsule for the first time ever, and Auto Pixelate chats for privacy.
The realme UI 4.0 is upgraded from the realme UI 3.0 with all the native features you get from the Android 13 build on top of customized perks from the interface. The realme UI 4.0 has been seamlessly optimized for Android 13 and it’s much more improved compared to its predecessors. realme brings in a refreshing UI experience with the new design, a new home screen, an Always-on display for multi-tasking, Dynamic Computing Engine, privacy and security, and more.
One feature specific to the realme C55 is the Android Mini Capsule, realme has tweaked the realme UI 4.0 for this special feature. Once deployed, can show you information such as a step count, data usage, or SuperVOOC charging status. The Mini Capsule effect works similarly to Apple’s Dynamic Island, it converts the punch-hole selfie camera into an elongated pill-shaped window.
The smartphone has some pre-installed apps that can be removed if not need them. Apps such as Facebook, Amazon, Snapchat, ShareChat, Dailyhunt, Josh, PhonePe, Moj, Public, Spotify, LinkedIn, and more come installed on the phone. The realme UI 4.0 on the realme C55 works fairly well in our initial usage, thanks to the 90 Hz refresh rate which delivers a smoother UI experience.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
For the specifications, the realme C55 is powered by the MediaTek Helio G88 octa-core SoC clocked up to 2.0 GHz. The SoC comes paired with up to 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM and 128 GB eMMC 5.1 internal storage, and a Mali-G52 MP2 GPU for gamers.
The SoC is a midranger manufactured in a 12nm FinFET process (unlike 6nm which we see nowadays) and consists of 8x Cortex CPUs (2x Cortex-A75 and 6x Cortex-A55 processors). The two performance ARM Cortex-A78 cores are clocked at 2.0 GHz, and the six power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores are clocked at 1.8 GHz or more (unverified).
The Helio G88 SoC is very similar to Helio G85, it looks very identical to the Helio G80 when comparing both of their specs and performance. You might get a similar performance as you see on the Helio G85, slightly on the higher side compared to Helio G80, but it all may not be noticeable in the real world. The performance of the CPU is below the 6nm Snapdragon 680, you can expect a decent performance for this price (₹10,999).
The GPU is clocked up to 1,000 MHz (up from 950 MHz found on the Helio G80). The SoC is upgraded to support 90 Hz displays and features HyperEngine version 2.0. The RAM is an LPDDR4x type and the storage is an eMMC 5.1 type. A UFS storage is significantly faster than eMMC, and hence you might want to choose a different SoC with UFS storage if you are looking for more performance.
About the variants of the phone, the realme C55 comes in three RAM variants and two storage variants i.e. 4 GB RAM with 64 GB storage as the base variant, 6 GB RAM with 64 GB storage variant, and 8 GB RAM with 128 GB storage as the top variant. The RAM can be expanded up to 8 GB via its RAM expansion technology and the storage can be expanded with a microSD card.
Cameras
The realme C55 equips a 64 MP main camera and it’s clear that the company has revamped the cameras from its previous generations, the realme C25 and realme C35 which used to have a 50 MP main camera. As for the cameras of the phone, you don’t get the fancy triple or quad cameras here, the realme C55 equips dual cameras onboard with a 64 MP main camera and 2 MP depth on the rear side while the front side comes with an 8 MP selfie camera.
We can see its two big camera modules, one housing a 64 MP main camera and the other a 2 MP depth camera. No dedicated wide-angle camera, no macro camera, and no telephoto. The camera specs seem to be average comparatively, it largely relies on the 64 MP primary camera while the other features you get might be minimal.
You can see the camera interface which is quite similar to what we see in the realme phones, you get a 64 MP Mode, Night Mode, Street Mode, Panorama Mode, Pro Mode, Timelapse Mode, Portrait Mode, HDR Mode, Chroma Boost, AI Beauty, Filters, Slow Motion, Bokeh Effect Control, and more. The main camera allows users to record 1080p videos at 60 fps, as well as, slow motion videos of 720p at 120fps.
Moving to the quality of the cameras, the 64 MP camera takes decent shots in the daylight. No wide-angle camera is available on the phone which limits its capabilities on the phone. Take a look at the camera samples below we took from realme C55.
realme C55 Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
Moving to its battery and charging features, the realme C55 uses a typical 5,000 mAh battery with support for 33W SuperVOOC Charge fast charging. As per realme, the 5,000 mAh can deliver up to 27 days of standby time, 65 hours of music, and 17.1 hours of video playback, you can expect the smartphone to last up to 2 days depending on your usage.
About its charging, it supports a 33W SuperVOOC Charge fast charging which we already saw in some realme smartphones, the recent one is the realme 10 4G. The phone can be charged up to 50% in 29 minutes (identical to the realme 10 4G) with its 33W SuperVOOC Charge fast charging.
Verdict – realme C55 Review
The realme C55 packs an impressive 64 MP camera, a fast 33W SuperVOOC charging, and a smooth 90 Hz display, as well as, comes in a slim form factor. Aside from these, it’s powered by a decent performer MediaTek Helio G88 CPU and offers several features from the realme UI 4.0 with a new addition of Android Mini Capsule.
For the price, it’s value for money, starting at ₹10,999 for its base variant with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage, this makes the smartphone a great choice for midrangers on a budget. If you are looking for a mid-range 4G smartphone under sub-₹10K price, you won’t go wrong with the realme C55.
realme C55 Price in India – Where To Buy?
The price for the realme C55 starts at ₹10,999 for its base variant 4 GB + 64 GB variant, ₹11,999 for its 6 GB + 64 GB variant, and ₹13,999 for its top-variant 8 GB + 128 GB variant. The realme C55 is available on realme.com, Flipkart, and stores near you. You can grab the ongoing offers which include up to ₹1,000 off on ICICI and HDFC bank cards and EMI, and pre-booking offers.
