Realme Narzo 50A Quick Review and FAQ

Realme refreshes the Narzo lineup with two new phones namely Narzo 50A and Narzo 50i. Both of them are budget contenders with some competing propositions. Here, we will be focussing on the Realme Narzo 50A, which comes with a 50MP AI triple camera, MediaTek Helio G85 processor, a 6000mAh battery, and a familiar yet quirky look. We’ll be going through all of these highlights in a bit more detail in the coming paragraphs.

I’ve had my hands-on with the Realme Narzo 50A for some time now and here I’ll be sharing my initial impressions of it. So, let’s get down to the brass tacks:

And here goes our quick Realme Narzo 50A review —

As mentioned in the intro, Realme Narzo 50A has got a familiar yet quirky design. It sports a waterdrop notch, slim bezels, and a noticeably thick chin upfront which are all things we have seen in phones of this ilk. But, flip to the back and your eyes would fall on a larger than usual camera island, but if you pay closer attention, you’d see the colossal squircle engulfs the Narzo branding as well as the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner too. This is something I am seeing for the first time and makes me wonder how big and bizarre the camera panels can get in future phones.

The quirkiness of the design also extends to the split-tone pattern beneath the camera island. It has got diagonal strips on the left side and a plain matte texture on the right. What I really like about this design is its pleasing blue color. You can buy the device in a green variant too.

Now the whole chassis is polycarbonate but possibly because of the 6000mAh battery inside, the thing feels a bit chunky. It is 207 grams in heft and 9.6mm in thickness. But, the positioning of key switches and sensors are at the fingertip only. Both the volume rocker and power button are clicky and present on the right side. The left has got the card slot only.

At the bottom, there is a 3.5mm jack, USB-C port, a single speaker grille, and a solo microphone. So, the top is barren.

The front camera supports facial recognition and works fast and reliably as the biometric reader by the back. Anyways, unlocking the device takes you to:

Realme Narzo 50A comes with a 6.5-inch panel with HD+ pixels, 60Hz refresh rate, and mini-drop notch. The side bezels are thin while the chin is a bit thick but should benefit in landscape holding. The screen ratio is available up to 88.7-percent. At 570nits peak brightness, the display is readable outdoors. The colors and contrast are fine, but images lack the sharpness or details you get out of higher resolution screens.

Go into the settings, and there you’d be able to change things like the Enhanced Dark Theme, Eye Comfort, Color Temperature slider, Screen Timeout, etc.

Coming to audio, the sound from the bottom-facing speaker is loud enough for casual close-up listening. If you want to make out the sound elements better, plug in a headphone.

That brings us to —

From the upward earpiece, the other person sounds clear. However, a single downward-facing mic means the call experience on the Narzo 50A would be better off with a headphone. If not wired, you can go wireless over Bluetooth 5.0.

As for WiFi, there is dual-band but a thing I have time and again noticed with Realme and Oppo phones is that they tend to switch to the 2.4GHz channel and I have to manually select the 5GHz one. WiFi speeds are on point.

There is GPS and sensors like Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Magnetic induction sensor, and Acceleration sensor in the mix.

Narzo 50A is armed with MediaTek’s Helio G85 processor. It’s an octa-core chipset based on 12nm architecture and comprises two ARM Cortex-A75 performance cores running at 2.0GHz and six ARM Cortex-A55 efficiency cores clocked at up to 1.8GHz. The graphics are handled by ARM Mali-G52 MC2 GPU with up to 1 GHz frequency.

The memory components are 4GB LPDDR4x RAM and 64GB/128GB eMMC 5.1 storage. You can expand the storage using a microSD card up to 256GB.

In my brief use, the phone felt agile while opening apps and multitasking. We’ll have a better idea from the ensuing tests and long-term usage before the full review.

Above, you can see the max settings you get with BGMI and COD Mobile. I’ll be playing in length and share the frame rate and other deets from the built-in Game Assistant. This and Game Space are useful features of the Realme software.

Narzo 50A also boots with Realme UI 2.0 laid on top of Android 11. It’s a huge store of nifty tools that enhance the overall Android experience. Some of my favs are Realme Share (besides Nearby Share), Screen Recording, Assistive Ball, Smart Sidebar, App Lock, Split Screen, and Sleep Capsule.

The software is currently on July 05 security patch and August 1 Google Play System Update.

From performance, on to the power —

One of the best things about Realme Narzo 50A has to be its huge 6000mAh battery. You can refill it with an 18W fast charger. Within the battery settings, you would find things like Optimize battery use, Optimized standby, App Quick Freeze, Super Power Saving mode, Screen Battery Optimization, and Optimized Night Charging.

Moving on to the cameras of Realme Narzo 50A.

Narzo 50A employs three sensors and a flashlight lens at the back. Going with the trend, the primary snapper is a 50MP one with PDAF. The other two are a 2MP (4cm) macro lens, and a 2MP black-and-white lens. On the front, there is an 8MP selfie snapper.

Now it’s a typical setup save for the new 50MP sensor. I look forward to clicking photos and videos out of it. You get to take only 1080P footage from both front and back at 30 frames per second.

The camera app opening, focussing, and shutter speeds are nippy. Only the night mode appears to take 3-4 seconds to save the shot. Other tricks in the bag include AI Scene Enhancement, Macro, Portrait, Slo-Mo, Time-Lapse, Pro, Panorama, and a full-fledged 50MP mode.

Wait for the full review to see the real-world results.

And with that, we are at the end —

Realme has used the Helio G85 processor, 6000mAh battery, 18W charger, 6.5-inch HD+ LCD panel with a mini-drop fascia from the Narzo 30A. And for new, it has added a 50MP camera, updated the software to Android 11, increased the base variant memory to 4GB+ 64GB, and crafted a pretty, peculiar, plump and plasticky build. So, on paper, this looks like an iterative upgrade. What’s left to see is whether all these result in a good overall value, the answer to which will be in our full Narzo 50A review.

Realme Narzo 50A FAQ

Q. Does Realme Narzo 50A has a dedicated microSD slot?

A. Yes, Realme Narzo 50A has a dedicated expandable micro-SD Card slot.

Q. What is the SAR value of Realme Narzo 50A?

A. Realme Narzo 50A SAR values are 0.983 W/Kg (Head); 0.554 W/Kg (Body)

Q. Does Realme Narzo 50A support dual-band WiFi?

A, Yes, Realme Narzo 50A supports dual-band WiFi (2.4GHz + 5GHz).

Q. Does Realme Narzo 50A support VoWiFi or WiFi calling?

A. Yes, Realme Narzo 50A does feature VoWiFi.

Q. How many microphones are on the Realme Narzo 50A?

A. Realme Narzo 50A comes with a single microphone at the bottom.

Q. Which is the Android update on Realme Narzo 50A?

A. Realme Narzo 50A ships with July 05 security patch and August 1 Google Play System Update.

Q. Does Realme Narzo 50A support GCam or Camera2API?

A. Realme Narzo 50A comes with Full Camera2API support for GCam. But, whether there is a modded GCam for the Helio G80 processor is a different thing.