Background
I have tried a Realme phone before, namely Realme 5. I bought it during Lazada's 12.12 sale last year, used it as my daily driver for about 3 months and sold it just two months ago in February. At that time, the Realme 5 ran ColorOS 6 on Android 9. Prior to getting this Realme 6, I was using the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite.

Unboxing and Packaging
I shared some pics of this in an earlier post. The package is pretty much as standard as you would expect when buying a mobile phone these days, except there are no headphones provided. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the phone though, but Realme wants you to buy their Realme Buds 2 @ RM49 or their Realme Buds Air @ RM299. I'll pass. I really like the silicon case that comes with the package. It is pretty solid and will provide adequate protection against accidental drops. There is also a factory-fitted film type screen protector that I didn't like so much though - for two reasons: Mine came pre-installed with a small air bubble inside and the screen protector is a fingerprint nightmare. The best part of the retail package is the 30W adapter. That's pretty generous. Bear in mind you only get a 25W charger with your Note 10 and don't get me started on the iPhone 11's 5W charger.

Design and Build Quality
"Glastics" is the new plastic/glass for midrange phones, I guess. I noticed even Samsung's newer A series phones which used to come with a glass back now comes with a plastic back. Heck, even my S10 Lite that costs 3x the price of the Realme 6 came with that same back. Props to Realme though for the awesome paint job in making the back of the phone look really attractive. The other good part about this glastic back is that it is less fragile than glass especially when it comes to drops. Lets say it together now... "Glass is glass and glass breaks!"



Glastic - the new glass/plastic. Realme 6 and S10 Lite

The phone feels pretty good in the hand, has a nice sturdy weight although I'm curious why shaving 700mAh off the battery compared to the Realme 5 only made the phone 7 grams lighter, while my 4500mAh battery S10 Lite weighs another 6 grams lighter than the Realme 6. Now the obvious competitor for the Realme 6 going around this neck of the woods is the Redmi Note 9S, and because it has a glass back, most would say it has a better build quality. I don't deny that but I can't confirm it either since I've not seen or held the Note 9S. I do have a Redmi Note 7 with me. It has a glass back too. Does it feel more premium in my hands than the Realme 6? Yes.

Realme UI
The Realme 6 comes with Realme UI on Android 10, which is a departure from ColorOS and yet you still see some bits and pieces of ColorOS there - and I'll get to that soon. It also feels like the folks at Realme has taken some cues from OxygenOS for the UI too, and that's nice! There are some pre-installed apps that I don't use (and won't use) but there is no option to remove these - and in my books, that's called bloatware. It's the same everywhere. MIUI, EMUI, One UI and to a certain extent, even iOS. So it depends on your preference and how many of these apps you can live with! I will say though compared to the Realme 5's ColorOS, the amount of bloatware has been substantially reduced and there are no annoying ads that suddenly pop up when using these so called pre-installed apps (I'm looking at you, Xiaomi), so that's good. The interface feels cleaner and smoother, and coupled with the 90hz screen refresh rate, Realme UI is a joy to use. The fingerprint reader is on the power button, which is a first for me - I've never had a phone with a fingerprint reader in this position before. It is however easy to use, fast and accurate. Being a right-hander, I registered my right thumb and my left index finger based on how I would usually hold my phone and it works great. In terms of customisation, there are plenty of options and settings too, so it's a bit much to go through everything.

Display
Compared to the predecessor, the Realme 6's display is a mile ahead. Not only is it at 1080p (405ppi) vs the previous Realme 5's 720p (269ppi) but it also features 90hz refresh rate, which is rare in this price range. Although it is not an AMOLED screen, the IPS LCD screen is pretty good. While many complaints have surfaced over the light bleed on the Realme 6's so-called direct competitor, there seems to be no light bleed on the Realme 6 - well, at least not on my unit. If I had to nitpick, the display isn't the brightest under direct sunlight (something which isn't a problem given the current MCO) and even at maximum brightness, it is pretty difficult to see the screen. This isn't a deal-breaker, but it's good to know.

Performance
In another first for me, this is the first phone I owned with a Mediatek processor. In the past, I've heard of horror stories of how the processor would hang, heat up, have massive battery drainage and is utterly useless when using GPS. Ok, first a disclaimer: I don't play games so I really can't share any personal experience on how putting heavy workload on the processor will cause it to stutter and what not as some people have shared here - be it personal experience or from those YouTube reviews. My usage is limited mostly to web browsing, social media, online shopping, food delivery (especially during MCO), some messaging and emails. In that sense, the performance isn't an issue. I also tried a couple of short trips on Waze, and GPS isn't an issue too. The concerns about the phone heating up is valid though. I had a 1.5 hour video call on Saturday using Google Meets, and the phone did warm up quite a bit. It didn't heat up till it was impossible to hold the phone but I have no idea if that would have happened if the video call was prolonged. And we know heat does cause some throttling of the processor so the reviews about the phone stuttering under heavy workloads are probably true. If this is an important point for you, then I guess the Realme 6 is best avoided. For me personally, well, I guess 3 out of 4 isn't bad - plus I don't play games

Battery Life
Battery life is outstanding. For three consecutive nights, it drains only 1% overnight (about 8-9 hours) with WiFi and mobile data left on but Bluetooth switched off. I've done an 8-hour SOT over a day with about 25% battery life remaining and have even done 11 hours SOT over two days. All this on 90hz display, full time. I must highlight however that my battery consumption achievement is not an indicator of real world performance because as everyone knows, using WiFi consumes far less power than LTE. Still even if you get an hour or two less SOT using LTE, the battery is still pretty great on the Realme 6. Another forumer here has already addressed the issue on charging speed so I won't go into that.



1% Battery drain overnight - I consistently got this number over three nights

Camera
This really isn't my forte as I am by all means the definition of a casual photographer. I did take some shots in comparison with my S10 Lite over here and the results are pretty OK for me. There is an option to boost the colour saturation (Chromaboost) and there is an option for a 64MP shot as well. Can't really try all of them right now coz I'm confined indoors - as most of you are too! I will continue updating this thread with more photos as and when I do take them, and you can judge for yourselves. Bear in mind it is a very midrange phone, so don't expect flagship level photography skills from the camera.

With Chromaboost	Without Chromaboost

Photos with and without Chromaboost.



Ultrawide

Other Stuffs
Lets see - what else? Audio - hmmm.. it's a single firing bottom speaker and so it's pretty mediocre in terms of loudness and quality. It is a massive improvement over the Realme 5 though, but that one was really sh*t, hahaha. I must say the audio quality from the 3.5mm jack is pretty OK if you use a decent pair of earphones - also, a massive improvement from the Realme 5. Signal strength is pretty good and on par with the Snapdragon counterpart. I can test it vs my wife's iPhone 11 Pro Max if anyone wants to know. Beyond that, if anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to oblige if I can.