Realme Narzo 30 5G review with pros and cons
5G-enabled phones are increasingly making their presence felt in the Indian market, which makes sense to some extent since the country is gearing up to launch the next generation of broadband cellular networks. It has only been a few months since 5G capabilities started to trickle down to the affordable and mid-range phone segments after being privy to only higher-end devices. Realme has been actively launching 5G-ready smartphones, with the likes of the Narzo 30 Pro 5G, Realme X7 5G (review), Realme 8 5G (review), and others already in its portfolio. As of today, one more device can be added to its lineup of 5G products with the introduction of the Realme Narzo 30 5G. You should know that there is a 4G version of the device as well. The Narzo 30 5G is priced starting at Rs 15,999, making it one of the most affordable 5G-enabled phones in the market right next to the Realme 8 5G. Having reviewed the latter earlier, it appears that apart from the design, there is no other difference between the two. Let’s find out if the Narzo 30 5G is a worthwhile investment or if it is just another attempt by Realme to crowd the budget smartphone space.
Verdict
The Narzo 30 5G is refashioned Realme 8 5G with a slightly different design and a base variant with a higher RAM option. While the device offers good performance and a decent software experience, the in-hand feel of the phone and its night photography capabilities leave a lot to be desired.
The lowdown
A glance at the Narzo 30 5G shows Realme’s usual design elements which were also quite prominent on the Realme 8 series as well. The rectangular hump for the camera housing, the glossy polycarbonate design, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, 8.5mm thickness and the placement of the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C port, and speaker grille are a carbon copy of the Realme 8 5G. Even the dimensions and weight of the two phones are identical. The key difference lies in the Racing texture strip which stretches from the cameras all the way to the bottom on the Narzo 30 5G. The tactility of the buttons has been retained as has the triple slot for two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card.
The display is a 6.5-inch FHD+ panel with 90Hz refresh rate and 20:9 aspect ratio. The selfie shooter is housed in a slightly large punch-hole on the top-right corner while the display is surrounded by noticeably wide bezels. Just like the Realme 8 5G, the Narzo 30 5G offers a good, punchy, and slightly saturated viewing experience. The refresh rate can be locked at 90Hz but you can dynamically change it to switch to 60Hz for apps that don’t support it. Brightness levels are also identical at 600nits which allows a decent viewing on the phone’s display under sunny conditions.
On the optics side, there is a triple-camera setup that comprises a 48MP primary shooter along with a 2MP macro lens and a 2MP depth shooter. The 4G variant of the device also harbours the same camera setup, as did the Realme 8 5G. Here is a brief summary of the image-taking capabilities of the Narzo 30 5G.
