Realme 6 review

Realme UI on top of Android 10

The Realme 6 is among the first devices to boot Android 10 with the brand new Realme UI launcher. The maker has promised us a new take on ColorOS that's made by Oppo, and with the most recent Series 6 and X50 it surely delivered.

The new launcher looks a lot like vanilla Android with no-nonsense homescreens, simplistic notification/toggles area, and easy-to-use task switcher. An App drawer is available, too, and it is as clutter-free as one could hope for.

Realme UI 1.0

The new Realme UI supports different icon packs, so if you are not happy with the default one, you can opt for material style, pebbles, or you can even fully customize them by your liking.

Customizing system and icons

There are a lot of powerful tools within the settings menu if you want full control over your Android OS. Or you can leave everything as is and enjoy hassle-free Android experience optimized by Realme's AI algorithms and machine learning.

Settings

Similar to the recent Galaxies, the Realme UI offers a Smart Sidebar on the edge of the screen - you can customize the actions and app shortcuts that appear there.

Smart Sidebar

The multimedia apps such as Gallery, Music, and Videos - are provided by Realme. There is also a redesigned File Manager, and even a Phone Manager app. And with that, the non-Google app list is complete.

Gallery • Music • Videos • Phone Manager • File Manager

Finally, the Realme UI supports 90Hz and is displayed with 90fps - meaning it looks buttery smooth and blazing fast.

Depending on the market your Realme 6 may or may not come with some pre-installed third-party apps that may or may not display annoying notifications. Worst-case scenario, you'd have to disable or remove such apps and services.

Performance and benchmarks

The Realme 6 employs the MediaTek Helio G90T - a gaming-centric SoC for mid-range purposes. It is fabricated on the 12nm FinFET manufacturing process from TSMC. The G90T packs an octa-core CPU with two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores ticking at 2.05GHz and six energy-efficient Corext-A55 cores working at 2.0GHz.

The Mali-G76 MC4 GPU takes care of graphically intensive tasks and should provide great performance for the class though we doubt any games will go beyond the 60fps mark and you'd need 90fps to utilize the full benefits of the 90Hz screen.

The Realme 6 here packs 8GB of RAM, but there are versions with 4GB and 6GB RAM.

So, we ran some benchmarks and the CPU scores are pretty much class-leading. The G90 CPU is a great performer, be it for single or multi-core tasks and you can clearly see the proof from the charts below.

GeekBench 4.4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei P40 Lite
  7846
• Realme 6
  7815
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  6999
• Realme X2
  6926
• Realme 6 Pro
  6513
• Realme 5 Pro
  6106
• Realme 6i
  5890
• Realme 3 Pro
  5881
• Realme 5
  5707
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
  5620
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  5401
• Honor 9X
  5345
• Realme 3
  4936

GeekBench 4.4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei P40 Lite
  2844
• Realme 6 Pro
  2639
• Realme 6
  2606
• Realme X2
  2508
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  2472
• Realme 5 Pro
  1913
• Realme 6i
  1835
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  1668
• Honor 9X
  1559
• Realme 5
  1537
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
  1519
• Realme 3
  1482
• Realme 3 Pro
  1471

GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei P40 Lite
  1862
• Realme X2
  1750
• Realme 6
  1726
• Realme 6 Pro
  1666
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  1622
• Realme 6i
  1349
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  1294

GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei P40 Lite
  591
• Realme 6 Pro
  565
• Realme 6
  548
• Realme X2
  545
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  493
• Realme 6i
  388
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  347

The quad-core Mali-G76 is quite a treat for the budget class and the Realme 6 once again aces the GPU tests. In fact, Realme has managed to deliver similar and consistent gaming performance across all three Realme 6 smartphones in spite of their completely different platforms. Impressive!

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Huawei P40 Lite
  49
• Realme 6
  45
• Realme 6i
  43
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  40
• Realme 6 Pro
  37
• Realme 3
  34
• Realme X2
  34
• Realme 5
  33
• Realme 5 Pro
  31
• Honor 9X
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  15

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 6i
  31
• Huawei P40 Lite
  30
• Realme 6 Pro
  27
• Realme 6
  27
• Realme 5
  26
• Realme 3
  26
• Realme X2
  24
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  24
• Realme 5 Pro
  22
• Realme 3 Pro
  20
• Honor 9X
  12
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  8.9

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 6 Pro
  19
• Huawei P40 Lite
  18
• Realme 6i
  17
• Realme 6
  16
• Realme 3
  15
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  14
• Realme 5
  13
• Realme X2
  13
• Realme 5 Pro
  12
• Realme 3 Pro
  11
• Honor 9X
  6.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
  5.9
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  5.6

Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 6 Pro
  11
• Realme 6
  10
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  9.4
• Realme 6i
  9.3
• Realme X2
  8.9
• Huawei P40 Lite
  8.6
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  5.6

Aztek OpenGL ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Huawei P40 Lite
  12
• Realme 6 Pro
  11
• Realme 6
  11
• Realme 6i
  11
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  10
• Realme X2
  9.2
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  5.6

Only one smartphone can beat the Realme 6 on the compound AnTuTu test and it's the more expensive and slightly more powerful Huawei P40 Lite.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Huawei P40 Lite
  325777
• Realme 6
  288931
• Redmi Note 8 Pro
  279355
• Realme 6 Pro
  268785
• Realme X2
  257443
• Realme 6i
  202275
• Honor 9X
  187528
• Samsung Galaxy A51
  175363
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
  167395

These benchmarks show the Helio G90T as one very potent chip, especially for this budget class. Sure, few, if any, games will be able to exceed 60fps and make use of the 90Hz display, but it will still deliver lag-free performance across the board and that's what really matters.

For a budget smartphone, we'd say the Realme 6 is over-equipped, and any user will be happy with it.