Realme C55 review

Design, build quality, handling

The Realme C55 is a primarily plastic smartphone, but one of a solid and grippy build, a good-looking one at that. The C55 uses the trendy flat design with flat panels and a flat frame, and it even allows it to stand upright on its own (for what's that worth).

The Realme C55 has a glass front, though the maker hasn't shared any specifics on its brand. Everything else - the rear panel, the frame, and the camera rings - is made of plastic.

The 6.72-inch IPS LCD screen is at the front, naturally, and its bezels are quite reasonable. It has a punch-hole perforation centered around the top, and here lies the 8MP selfie camera.

Above the screen is an almost invisible earpiece and a bunch of sensors.

The Realme C55 is available in two different colors - Sun Shower and Rainy Night. The first one imitates radiating sun starting from the camera and transitioning from yellow to orange/pink hues further away.

The review unit we have, Rainy Night, is dark gray/blue with this specific texture that looks like rain at night, literally. The texture itself consists of tiny squares, each one of different pattern intensity and hence the desired effect.

There are two jutting-out rings at the back, one for each camera. The rainy pattern stops there, and it's replaced with a glossy surface that imitates a larger camera island.

The Realme C55 has two cameras - a 64MP primary and a 2MP depth sensor, plus an LED flash. Because the two camera lenses are jutting out of the back, the phone wobbles when used on a desk or table. If that annoys you, you can use the supplied case, which will help even out the back.

The frame is made of plastic and has a matte finish. There is nothing on the top side.

The bottom one contains the 3.5mm audio jack, the USB-C port, the mouthpiece, and the loudspeaker.

The tri-card slot is alone on the left. It accommodates two nanoSIM cards and one microSD.

The volume and power/lock keys are on the right. The surface of the power key also contains the always-on fingerprint scanner. Its trigger can be set to either touch or press, depending on your preference.

The Realme C55 measures 165.6 x 75.9 x 7.9 mm and weighs 190 grams, in line with smartphones of its caliber.

We used the Realme C55 for a couple of weeks and we found no issues with its design and build. In fact, we liked its subtle rainy pattern a lot, and it's a solid phone with a good grip. The flat shape makes the C55 nicely comfortable to use all day long if needed.

Overall, the only thing we consider missing is splash resistance, and we hope Realme does eventually consider adding such protection, just like Xiaomi.