realme Note 50 Review: A NOTE-worthy challenger?

Here comes a new NOTE challenger as realme expands its portfolio, launching the realme Note 50. This phone will be the first in the Series and is bound to ‘make it real’ with its “long lasting value” as what realme claims it to be.

In this full review of the realme Note 50, we are going to find out if it is a REAL, noteworthy smartphone. Let’s begin!

Design & Construction

Starting with its design and build, the realme Note 50 comes in a simple yet familiar design language. At the back it features a two-tone finish: glossy material at the top and matte finish for the rest of the back panel.

There’s the realme moniker at the lower-left portion and dual-cameras sitting directly on the glossy material at the top. It may look like it has triple rear cameras, but the third circle actually houses the LED flash.

Our unit is in the Sky Blue colorway using a plastic build which looks sturdy enough. But I recommend getting a protective case to keep it away from unwanted dents and scratches. Thankfully, it includes a protective case in-the-box, so that’s a minor problem solved!

It’s IP54 rated for protection against dust and some splashes of water. Its frame is flat on all sides with the volume rocker and the power button — that doubles as a fingerprint sensor — are located on the right side.

Situated on the left is a triple-card slot with support for two nano SIMs and a dedicated slot for up to 2-terabyte microSD expansion. While at the bottom, sees a 3.5mm audio jack, a microphone for calls, a USB-C port, and the speaker grill.

Display & Multimedia

At the front, the realme Note 50 sports a 6.74-inch HD+ LCD panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. The display can also reach up to 560 nits of peak brightness.

There’s a dew-drop notch up top housing the front-facing camera. While this design looks outdated, it’s kind of expected—especially at its very affordable price point. Not to mention it’s very own Dynamic Island which realme calls the Mini Capsule.

So, expect to see some notifications and status indicators—like charging—being displayed on the screen with fancy animations.

Camera

Like I mentioned earlier, the realme Note 50 has a dual rear camera system: a 13-megapixel main camera complemented with a black & white sensor.

With good lighting, it produces decent images with vivid colors, although clarity looks a bit washed out to my liking especially during indoor or low-light captures.

Selfies taken with its 5-megapixel front-facing shooter are also decent and the colors still pop-off despite the low megapixel count. Meanwhile, video recording is capped at a resolution of 1080p at 30fps.

OS, UI, & Apps

The device runs the lighter version of realme UI which is the T Edition based on Android 13. The UI closely resembles Stock Android but expect to see bloatware here and there—some of which can be easily uninstalled or disabled.

There’s a second “App Market” that lets you install several, suggested apps in one tap but I would still rely on the Google Play Store to install more apps based on my preferences.

My one gripe is the lock screen customization. The phone defaults to a magazine type of lock screen where it shows different images on every unlock attempt.

Apparently, the app that handles this is nowhere to be found on the home screen, not even on the Wallpaper tab in Settings. I had to disable the app itself on the Apps Settings > Show system apps > Find “Lock Screen Magazine” app > tap disable just to turn the magazine off.

Performance & Benchmarks

Powering the realme Note 50 is an entry-level chipset, the Unisoc T612. It only comes with one configuration at 4GB of RAM with additional 4GB virtual RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.

Expect games to be playable at low settings. But other than that, navigation still looks smooth thanks to its 90Hz refresh rate. Below are the benchmark scores that the realme Note 50 got for those interested:

• Antutu – 247,239
• Antutu Storage Test- 12,303
• S. Read Speed: 312.0 MB/s
• S. Write Speed: 236.0 MB/s
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme – 115
• Geekbench 6 – Single: 422 | Multi: 1466
• Geekbench 6 GPU Vulkan- 440
• Geekbench 6 GPU OpenCL- 447
• PCMark Work 3.0 performance- 7795
• PCMark Work 3.0 battery life – 17 hours and 10 minutes
• Video Loop Test – 16 hours and 20 mins

Connectivity & Battery Life

It’s always a plus in my book when phones have the standard 5000mAh battery. Fortunately, the realme Note 50 just happens to have that much capacity, and it is paired with 10W of charging.

In our proprietary video loop test, the phone lasted a good 16 hours and 20 minutes. 

For connectivity, it uses 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, and dual-frequency Wi-Fi.

Conclusion

For only PHP 3,599, the realme Note 50 proves to be a noteworthy smartphone in the entry segment. It piques interest with its eccentric yet beautiful two-tone finish, a long-lasting battery life, and a smooth, large display.

The realme Note 50 launches in the Philippines soon on January 23rd, so stay tuned for its local availability details.