The Realme Narzo 10A is the most affordable smartphone in the Realme Narzo series that recently came into existence. The smartphone is getting a lot of attention due to the high-profile launch that it received. The Realme Narzo 10A is priced under Rs 10,000 and doesn’t come with the same level of offering as the better specced Realme Narzo 10. However, if you are looking for a budget smartphone then it is a solid competitor. While it might look very different and new for a first look, it is very similar and, in many ways, even identical to the Realme C3 that was launched earlier this year.
The Realme Narzo 10A comes in the exact size as the Realme C3 and when seen from the front side it is almost impossible to tell the devices apart. Realme has however gone in a new direction when it comes to the rear panel of the smartphone and has chosen against some bold patterns and textures along with the gradients of other Realme models and instead goes with a simple White or Blue design with a massive Realme logo across the length of the device. The logo looks significant on the images shown online during the release, however, it looks much more subtle in real life. On the white variant, the logo is so subtle that you might not even notice it if you are looking at the smartphone in an angle that the light doesn’t hit much.
The Realme Narzo 10A is pretty well designed and is pretty tall and relatively narrow with a 20:9 aspect ratio display that takes up 89.8 percent of the body. The rear panel of the smartphone comes with a decent grip which can be a very good thing allowing you to switch it between hands without the fear of dropping it. The smartphone does come with a pre-applied screen protector but doesn’t come with a case in the box. The smartphone has the power button to the right and the volume buttons to the left. The device has a dual SIM card slot and a dedicated microSD card slot, it was disappointing to still find Realme ship devices with a MicroUSB port. The bottom of the smartphone comes with a 3.5mm headset jack and the speaker setup, the fingerprint sensor in the device is placed on the back panel as the display doesn’t support an in-display fingerprint sensor.
The rear of the smartphone comes with a 12MP primary camera along with a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor. The vertical camera setup is in a bump and protrudes from the smartphone back. If you are looking for a well-designed smartphone under the Rs 10,000 price bracket then the Realme Narzo 10A delivers pretty well, it looks refreshing despite bearing striking resemblance to the Realme C3. While the massive Realme logo on the back isn’t something everyone would instantly like, you can easily use a protective case to cover it and hide it.
The Realme Narzo 10A comes with the MediaTek Helio G70 processor and the brand claims to offer an ultimate gaming performance at the price. The smartphone only comes in one variant with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, this smartphone did stutter occasionally similar to the Realme C3 that used the same processor. The battery on the smartphone is a massive 5,000mAh battery with no support for fast charging beyond 10W. The device also comes with Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 5, and GPS in terms of connectivity and supports Wired reverse charging using an OTG adapter.
The Realme Narzo 10A comes with a 6.5-inch display with an HD+ resolution and feels adequate for most usage given the pricing, the brightness, sharpness, and the color reproduction was pretty decent as well and met our expectations. However, the smartphone only comes with Widevine L3 DRM and does not support HD video streaming on some services such as Netflix. Realme Narzo 10A offers good value in terms of hardware and offers the same Realme UI from the more expensive variants running on Android 10. While the UI does look a little like stock Android, it offers good visual customization and a few value-added features.
We had no major issues with the Realme Narzo 10A in terms of performance and the UI was very smooth and fluidic for daily tasks. There was a little stutter while launching heavy apps and gaming, there was also a little lag while switching between apps and this is something you can expect with a budget smartphone under the Rs 10,000 price point. The AnTuTu benchmark returned a rather impressive score of 190,223 and Geekbench scores were at 349 for the single-core and 1,299 for the multi-core tests. While these are not the best results we’ve seen, it is commendable what the smartphone is able to pull off at the given price point.
Gaming is one of the selling points of this phone and we had a decent experience overall, PUBG could run decently at high graphics pre-set but we could see a considerable improvement in the performance by moving to a lower setting. Asphalt 9 worked decently albeit minor issues and was still enjoyable, the rear end of the smartphone did get a little warm after a few minutes of gaming, but it wasn’t unbearable.
The software was pretty well optimized and the biometrics worked pretty well for the unlock and was quick, the Realme Narzo 10A does stand out in terms of the battery life and we were very happy with the overall battery life even during gaming. The standby times were extremely good, and the power drain was very minimal, in most of our testing we were able to pull off at least 2 full days of usage with the phone being a secondary device for us.
The Realme Narzo 10A comes with a 12MP primary camera and has an f/1.8 aperture with AI beautification and PDAF. There is also a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro sensor, while the effectiveness of the secondary cameras wasn’t the most amazing it was good to have. The front camera on the Realme Narzo 10A is a 5MP shooter with an f/2.4 aperture. Realme cameras have generally been pretty decent with minor issues such as in the Macro mode. There are a few shooting options on the Realme Narzo 10 compared to the more expensive variants, the smartphone also missed out on the night mode.
The primary cameras are cent and can capture some good landscapes and closeups in daylight, however, in low light, the cameras do suffer a lot, and exposures are handled decently in the daylight. The colors are a little dull and the detail is lost in some cases especially in the shadows and highlights. The portrait mode was average, and it took some time and attempts to get the focus right.
Realme Narzo 10A does a pretty good job at the price of Rs 8,499 and has no major features missing. The battery life is excellent, and the smartphone also comes with a fingerprint sensor. The device is gaming-centric and does a pretty good job given the price it is being offered at. While the device is pretty good by itself, the Realme C3 is available for just Rs 500 more and comes with identical specs and design but has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage making it a better buy for a lot of users.
