Realme Narzo 50 5G — inexpensive but dependable

Let’s keep 5G aside for a few months because the rollout plan remains unclear. So don’t buy a phone thinking of a technology that will arrive at some distant date. In case you are in the market for a good entry-level smartphone that can do all that you can possibly want, there is a good option — Realme Narzo 50 5G. Sure, it has 5G but we won’t talk about it because it cannot be tested in India.

What we need to talk about is how Realme has managed to come up with an intuitive interface while delivering fluent performance in almost every department. It’s not the phone if you are big on photography or gaming; those things do get handled but that’s not the target audience. Realme is looking at customers who want a few things from their smartphones — perhaps a few videos on YouTube, a couple of hours of scrolling social media feeds and maybe play video games for 30-40 minutes. These are the things that Narzo 50 handles well.

I don’t mind the LCD display because if I am watching YouTube for one hour, I don’t need anything expensive. Yet, I get 90Hz display refresh rate on the 6.6-inch FHD+ screen. Plus, there is 180Hz touch sampling rate which makes the few games you will play execute smoother.