realme 13 5G Review – Pros and cons, Verdict

Realme has launched the complete portfolio of its number series smartphones in India, introducing the Realme 13 5G and the Realme 13+ 5G. Both new variants come with some upgrades over their predecessors, and our focus today is on the vanilla variant, the Realme 13 5G. The phone features the newer MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset, a higher storage variant, and more than Realme 12 5G. Let’s take a look at what the phone has to offer in this comprehensive review.

Verdict

Design and display

The Realme 13 5G comes in a dual-tone design with a plain finish towards the camera island and a textured finish on the rest of the panel. The design looks appealing, and the rear panel sports glossy edges. The camera island is quite large and holds the primary camera and macro lens, along with a flash unit and dummy sensor.

The volume rockers and power buttons are on the right edge, as usual, while the bottom edge houses the 3.5mm jack, Type-C charging port, and speaker grille. The top edge holds the second speaker, SIM tray, and noise-cancelling mic. The phone’s flat edges can be a bit uncomfortable if you tend to hold your smartphone tightly, like I do. The power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner and is swift and accurate.

The phone sports a 6.72-inch IPS display with 120Hz refresh rate, 580nits of peak brightness, and FHD+ (2,400 x 1,080p) resolution. The panel is surprisingly a downgrade compared to its predecessor, which shared the same specifications but had 950nits of peak brightness instead. The visuals are good indoors, but the limited brightness output masks the legibility of the device outdoors.

The panel choice is also a little confusing since even cheaper Realme offerings like the Realme P1 feature an AMOLED panel, as do most other phones in this price bracket. The panel’s multimedia experience thus feels a bit lacking as it doesn’t pack the punchiness of an OLED display. The paired speakers get pretty loud, so that’s a bonus at least. The panel is Widevine L1 certified and supports FHD streaming on OTT platforms like Netflix. 

Cameras

The Realme 13 5G primary camera is one of the major changes compared to its predecessor. Replacing the 108MP primary camera is a 50MP Samsung S5KJNS sensor with OIS paired with the same 2MP mono sensor. The front camera has also been replaced with a 16MP sensor instead of 8MP. The primary camera takes detailed images in daylight with slightly saturated colours and decent dynamic range. The low-light images also look good with a decent level of detail, albeit with some graininess around the darker parts.

The selfies on this phone look quite natural, with good colours and detail level. The primary camera can now record up to 2K 30FPS videos as opposed to the 1080p 30FPS videos on the Realme 12 5G. Thanks to an OIS primary camera, the videos shot on the phone have good stabilisation, so if you like to record videos, you’re good on that front.

I compared the phone’s cameras against some of its competitors:

Daylight

For daylight shots, both the Realme 13 5G and Redmi 13 5G take sharp images with similar sharpness level and dynamic range. The latter has a wider field of view and a warmer tone compared to the Reame 13’s cooler hues. In terms of colour accuracy, neither phone is accurate, but the Realme 13 represents the scene more faithfully.

The iQOO Z9x, in comparison, takes images with more pronounced colours, especially the blues but isn’t as detailed as the Realme 13 5G. The iQOO Z9x’s image is softer when you zoom in, and has slight grain that’s absent in the Realme 13’s image.

Selfie

The selfies on both the Realme 13 5G and Redmi 13 5G follow the same colour science as their primary cameras. The Realme 13’s colour reproduction is once again closer to reality, while the Redmi 13 enhances the image. The facial details look good in both images, but the Redmi 13 does a slightly better job and has better clarity.

The iQOO Z9x’s selfie is lacking compared to both of them, likely due to a lower-resolution lens. The image is not as sharp, and the facial details are softer compared to Realme 13. 

Low light

The Realme 13 5G takes much better night shots compared to the Redmi 13 5G. The colours, sharpness, and detail level are a lot better in the former’s image. 

The iQOO Z9x does a slightly better job than the Redmi 13 5G but fails to measure up to the Realme 13 5G in terms of details and sharpness. 

Performance and software

The MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC powers the smartphone, paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The mid-range chipset offers enough power to fuel everyday tasks like social media use, video streaming, calling, texting, etc. I did notice the phone lagging during my use, while scrolling through Instagram or YouTube comments, so the experience isn’t totally smooth. There’s a dynamic RAM (virtual RAM) option, which adds up to 10GB of additional capacity from the ROM. The feature helps smoothen things out a little. 

The phone’s benchmark scores are average for the price bracket, with competitors like the CMF Phone 1, iQOO Z9, and Samsung Galaxy M35 featuring more potent chipsets. Even the cheaper Realme P1 has a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 chipset, which has better results in benchmark scores. The gaming performance is in accordance with the benchmark results as well.

The device can play moderately demanding games like COD: Mobile and BGMI on medium graphic settings. In COD: Mobile, the phone delivers an average of 28FPS on ‘Medium’ graphics and ‘High’ frames preset. In BGMI, the device delivers an average of 53FPS on ‘HD’ graphics and ‘High’ frames. The phone is therefore ideal for casual games at best.

The Realme 13 5G comes with Android 14-based RealmeUI out of the box. The UI is well-optimised and has a lot of neat features that can elevate your day-to-day usage experience. A new feature is the AI loop, which helps you quickly share text and images across supported apps by dragging, selecting, and dropping them.

There’s a file dock, which remains one of the most useful features, and a sidebar for quick access to frequently used apps. You also get support for air gestures to receive or hang up the call with simple gestures, and these features work as intended. The brand promises 2 years of major OS upgrades and 3 years of security updates, which is standard for this price point. 

Battery and charging

A standard 5,000mAh battery fuels the smartphone and comes with 45W SUPERVOOC fast charging support. The battery registers 11 hours and 12 minutes on the PCMark battery benchmark, which is an average result for this price bracket. The battery life, however, is fine for regular users and easily offers around 6-7 hours of screen time.

In our gaming and video streaming tests, that total battery drain was around 20 percent with 2 hours of heavy usage, which are great numbers for a battery this size. The other phones with a similar battery size in this price bracket have a higher drain compared to the Realme 13 5G. The 45W fast charging takes just 57 minutes to recharge from 20 to 100 percent capacity and is a good charging time for the segment.

Final verdict

The Realme 13 5G comes in two storage options: 8GB+128GB for Rs 17,999 and 8GB+256GB for Rs 19,999. However, it’s up against strong competition like the Moto G85 (review), Redmi 13 5G (review), and iQOO Z9x (review). The Moto G8 delivers similar performance, with the added bonus of a sleek design and an OLED display for a better multimedia experience. The Redmi 13 5G matches the performance, takes better selfies, and comes at a lower price. The iQOO Z9x outperforms the Realme 13 5G and is also more affordable.

While the Realme 13 5G has its strengths in the camera department and battery life, it seems to be priced a bit high for what it offers. Many phones in the same price range come with OLED displays, comparable cameras, and similar or even better battery life, making the Realme 13 5G a tough sell at its current price. If you prioritise good cameras and long battery life, the Realme 13 5G could be worth considering.

Editor’s Rating: 7.5 / 10

Reasons to buy:

• The Realme 13 5G offers an excellent battery backup that will last most users an entire day.
• The stereo speaker setup gets reasonably loud and enhances the multimedia experience. 
• The phone has capable rear cameras that take appealing shots in daylight.

Reasons not to buy:

• The phone lacks an AMOLED display, which is common at its price point.
• The Realme 13 5G’s performance is a little underwhelming for its price.