Realme 8S 5G Review and FAQ: 5G futureproofing but should you buy it now?

Realme 8S 5G and Realme 8i have entered the bustling sub-20K market. Both these would continue the number series of Realme for this year until the Realme 9 arrives in 2022. Anyways, here we will be focussing on the 5G-featured former. It is a successor to the Realme 8 5G and it wields the all-new 6nm-based Dimensity 810 processor from Mediatek. Besides the major new things also include a 64MP primary camera, a 33W fast charging support, and a novel look which Realme calls an Infinite Star design.

We will see what this means both aesthetically and build-wise. But before we get into that, let’s unbox the thing and see what all we get in a glance.

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Navigate this review:

Unboxing | Specs | Design | Audiovisual | Connectivity | Performance | Camera | Verdict | Buy or not | FAQ

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Beginning with the box contents and specs —

And here we begin the Smartprix review of the Realme 8S 5G —

I’ve got the purple variant of the Realme 8S 5G. Well, the purple from both sides fades into silver color in the middle. This gradient aside, the “Infinite Star” design has got a nice sheen although it’s a frosted matte to the touch. The color show is cool but sweat marks can show up easily. Also in hand, it doesn’t feel that premium. The plastic-ness of the body is a reason. But on the other hand, a polycarbonate chassis contributes to its lightweight. Realme quotes 191 grams. Not bad. The device’s got an 8.8mms of thickness and the slight curvature by the back helps in the one-handed operability too.

Speaking of which, the index finger and thumb can touch and quickly unlock the device without a stretch. On the other side, you’ve got a volume rocker which rocks a bit. The back-side camera bump doesn’t wobble the phone much. Put on a case and the thing would sit flat. The camera deck has a distinct glow from the rest of the rear surface and it feels rubbery to the touch.

Now on the top, there is a mic and its twin is sitting at the bottom. It is flanked by a 3.5mm jack, speaker grille, and USB-C 2.0 port.

Upon unlocking the device using finger or face, here’s what waiting for you —

Realme 8S 5G comes with a 6.5-inch IPS LCD screen with FHD+ resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, and 180Hz sampling rate. Scrolling and swiping feel smooth. The colors are fine but lack the punch and contrast you get from an AMOLED. It has got DRM L1 certification for HD streaming on Netflix. There is no HDR streaming though. After all, it is just an 8-bit panel. At 600nits max brightness, the display is viewable outside, although at times, you might’ve to cup your palm over it to read texts. The bezels are slim. And so you are getting a large 90.5% screen-to-body ratio.

Go into the settings, and there you’d be able to change things like the Dark Theme, Eye Comfort, Contrast and Colors, Timeout, refresh rate, etc.

As for the audio, you get a decent-sounding solo speaker, a headphone jack, a dual-mic setup, and Bluetooth 5.1-based wireless sound.

Moving on…

I had no problem with calls both directly and through Bluetooth. There is support for AAC codec as well. Wifi speeds were also on par with what I was getting on Z Fold 3 (review). Now due to auto WiFi selection, like other Realme phones I’ve tested, this one too often defaults to 2.4GHz instead of 5GHz channel automatically. I have to manually switch it then.

Rest, other goodies in the bag are dual SIM option, VoLTE, VoWiFi, GPS, and 5G. The supported 5G bands are:

• NR_NSA n41(2515-2675MHz)/n77/n78
• NR_SA n1/n28/n41(2515-2675MHz)/n78

There is no NFC in the mix.

Anyway, let’s see what else the device carries in its gut.

At the heart of Realme 8S 5G, you have the recently out Mediatek Dimensity 810 SoC. This is fabbed on a 6nm process and consists of 8 cores arranged so: four ARM Cortex-A76 performance cores clocked at 2.4GHz along with four ARM Cortex-A55 efficiency cores running at 2.0GHz. The chipset also houses an Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU and is compatible with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 standard for internal storage. However, on the 8S 5G, we only get up to 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage. The RAM selection goes up to 8 gigs and is dual-channel.

This chip, as you may know, is a slight iteration over the Dimensity 800U found inside Realme’s own Narzo 30 Pro (review). Now in a single gen upgrade, the 810 mainly benefits from its smaller transistor size. So, we expect it to perform better in CPU scores. As for the GPU performance, since the Mali -G57 MC2 is hardly different from MC3 within 800U wielding Narzo, the results should be similar.

Here are the synthetic results for your perusal:

Realme 8S 5G Benchmark	Scores
Antutu 9	378258
Geekbench 5 Single | Multi	611 | 1818
PCMark Work 3.0	11588
3DMark Wild Life	1223
3DMark Wild Life Stress Test	98.9%
Androbench Sequential R/W (MB/s)	953.28 | 348.36
Androbench Random R/W (MB/s)	204.2 | 229.46
CPU Throttling test (15 mins)	83% of its max performance
Conversion of 2:35min 1080p 60fps MP4 video to MKV using Video Transcoder app	5 Mins

The phone can pull its weight in eveyday tasks. I also tested popular titles like COD Mobile, BGMI, and Asphalt 9 on it. Half an hour of the latter consumed 10% of battery and rose in temperature by 9.5℃. Call of Duty is playable at Medium GFX and High FPS. Battlegrounds Mobile India, on the other hand, achieves HD graphics and High frame rates.

There is a very helpful Game Space and Game Assistant here. That and other perks of Realme UI 2.0 are present for your fun.

The Android 11 based skin endows a host of features like enhanced Dark Mode, Realme Share (besides Nearby Share), Screen Recording, Google Discover feed on the home screen, Smart Sidebar, Floating Window, App Lock, and Sleep Capsule.

Rest in case you’re wondering, the software is currently on July 05 security patch and March 1 Google Play System Update.

Realme 8S 5G stays on thanks to a 5000mAh battery that marked 14 hours 25 mins in PCMark Work 3.0 Battery test. The 33W Dart charger is also highly reassuring. It finishes the refilling job in about 1 Hr 15 minutes. The quality of the charger and cable is also good.

I also appreciate the presence of battery optimizations like Sleep Standby Optimization, App Quick Freeze, Super Power Saving mode, Screen Battery Optimization, and Optimized Night Charging. This should aid the battery well.

Next up, let’s see what camera specs you get with the Realme 8S 5G.

Although the 8S 5G only features three sensors, the camera panel by the back shows four circles, the fourth one is there just for symmetrical reasons.

The three active cameras are a 64MP primary, a 2MP (4cm) macro lens, and a 2MP black-and-white lens. The last one comes into play during portrait shots only. The macro one is also a token clicker found in even entry-level phones like Realme C21Y. So, you’d be mainly employing the main 64-megapixel shooter for shots and videos. Talking of which, you can only shoot up to 1080P at 30 fps from both sides. Meh.

Oh, the front snapper houses a 16MP sensor, btw.

The camera app opens and focuses fast. Inside you get shooting modes like AI Scene Enhancement, a wide range of filters, Night, Google lens, Portrait, 64MP, Slo-Mo, Time-Lapse, Pro, Panorama, and Macro.

Out in the open, the daylight samples present sufficient colors and sharpness. Dynamic range isn’t very exciting as details in the shadows were missing. Granted it was an overcast day, still…

AI Enhancement Mode can bring out more life out of the clicks.

There is no ultrawide or telephoto sensor here. So, you can make do with up to 5x digital zoom, the results from which would look something like the above pics. I think they are pretty decent. Look at that doggo ^_^

There is a 2MP macro mode which you can use to get ultra close to things and capture what the regular camera won’t.

Portraits from both front and back look good on surface although upon closer inspection you’d find irregular edge detection at places and brushed-up facial features. Even skin complexion come out inaccurate. But the bokeh effect and subject isolation is more than usable for social media.

Night mode work pretty effectively. It enhances the exposure and clarity of things in even highly dark environments. You have to just hold it straight for a few seconds for the processing to complete. But, the photos thus clicked are worth the wait.

And that brings us to —

The list of good things about Realme 8S include its light and elegant design, 90Hz FHD+ display, Android 11 based Realme UI software, 5000mAh battery with 33W fast charger, fairly smooth performance from Dimensity 810 processor, adequate memory choice, and a fair set of connectivity options including 5G. Now, to make this device future ready at this price, at present Realme has had to shave off some goodies like AMOLED panel, an ultrawide snapper, 4K res videos, etc off this list. So now you’ve to decide if you want these features in your next phone. Weigh both the mentioned reasons to buy and not buy this phone. And if you ask me, I’d like to elucidate my feeling with Thich Nhat Hanh’s quote that, “People sacrifice the present for the future. But life is available only in the present.” In other words, if you don’t want to spend on a 5G phone at the moment, you do have other options, even from Realme’s roster. While you’re at it, take the various sale deals and discounts into consideration.

Realme 8S 5G FAQ

Q. Does Realme 8S 5G has a dedicated microSD slot?

A. Yes, Realme 8S 5G has a dedicated expandable micro-SD Card slot.

Q. What is the SAR value of Realme 8S 5G?

A. Realme 8S 5G SAR values are: 1.131 W/Kg (Head); 0.986 W/Kg (Body)

Q. Does Realme 8S 5G feature Gorilla Glass Protection?

A. No, Realme 8S 5G doesn’t come with Gorilla Glass. Instead, it uses DragonTrail Glass protection.

Q. What are the 5G bands supported by Realme 8S 5G?

A. Realme 8S 5G supports the following bands:

• NR_NSA n41(2515-2675MHz)/n77/n78
• NR_SA n1/n28/n41(2515-2675MHz)/n78

Q. Does Realme 8S 5G support dual-band WiFi?

A, Yes, Realme 8S 5G supports dual-band WiFi 6 (2.4GHz + 5GHz).

Q. Does Realme 8S 5G support VoWiFi or WiFi calling?

A. Yes, Realme 8S 5G does feature VoWiFi.

Q. How many microphones are on the Realme 8S 5G?

A. Realme 8S 5G comes with two microphones.

Q. Which is the Android update on Realme 8S 5G?

A. Realme 8S 5G ships with July 05 security patch and March 1 Google Play System Update.

Q. Does Realme 8S 5G feature 4K60 FPS?

A. The maximum video quality supported by Realme 8S 5G is 1080p30 FPS. So, no 4K60 frames per second here.

Q. Does Realme 8S 5G support HD stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime?

A. Realme 8S 5G has DRM L1 certification and I did HD streaming on Prime Video and Netflix. There is no HDR support though.

Q. Does Realme 8S 5G support GCam or Camera2API?

A. Realme 8S 5G comes with Level 3 Camera2API support for GCam.

Q. Does Realme 8S 5G feature OIS?

A. No, Realme 8S 5G doesn’t feature OIS.