Fully back in France after two rather discreet years, Realme is strengthening its catalog with the C75. This new model aims to be affordable, with a price starting at 199 euros at its launch. And yet, it even benefited from a discount at its launch and is now at an even more accessible price.
This desire to slash prices doesn't prevent the brand from paying attention to the features of its smartphone. The Realme C75 aims to be particularly durable, outperforming some high-end models in this specific respect. But is this enough to make it a good smartphone?
Summary
Design
The Realme C75 doesn't really surprise with a classic, but rather elegant design. It measures 165.69 x 76.22 x 7.99 mm and weighs 196 g, which places it in the market average. We could also expect it to be lighter with its (good quality) plastic body. The level of finish is very good and the smartphone is pleasant to hold, with a design that doesn't get dirty. We appreciate the manufacturer's effort, which is releasing its smartphone in gold (golden lightning) and black (black storm) in France. The screen occupies a good portion of the front panel, even if slightly wide borders are revealed at the bottom.
The great feature of this smartphone comes from its triple IP66, IP68 and IP69 certification. The IP69 rating is particularly notable, as it is still rare on mainstream smartphones, especially at this price point. Added to this is compliance with the MIL-STD-810H military standard for shock resistance and the “ultra-resistant smartphone” certification awarded by TÜV Rheinland.
Realme greatly highlights these elements, as does the presence of ArmorShell glass that is more resistant to drops and scratches.
IP69, shock resistance… the Realme C75 is not afraid of being abused
In concrete terms, the Realme C75 is designed to withstand immersion for 7 days at a depth of 0.5 meters, for 24 hours at a depth of 2 meters, and for 12 hours at 2.5 meters. The brand adds a SonicWave water expulsion device by vibrating the speaker at a specific frequency. Additionally, it boasts 360° shock resistance.
We didn't push the device to its limits, but we couldn't resist being a little less cautious. The C75 has been accidentally dropped in water and has regularly fallen from an adult height, without showing any signs of weakness. This does not mean that it is impossible to damage it, but these small tests and certifications can reassure the most clumsy.
Screen
The smartphone is equipped with a 6.72-inch IPS LCD panel. It offers a Full HD+ definition (2400 x 1080 pixels), or a density of approximately 392 pixels per inch. Fluidity is ensured by a 90 Hz refresh rate and the typical brightness is 580 nits, with a peak in high brightness mode (HBM) at 690 nits. This screen benefits from ArmorShell glass protection.
The C75's panel fulfills its mission adequately, without necessarily impressing us. The desire to rely on an LCD screen rather than an AMOLED panel represents a compromise obviously linked to cost, which allows the device to be kept under 200 euros. Realme has clearly chosen to focus on other aspects, agreeing to deal with the limitations inherent to LCD technology (color vibrancy, contrasts, etc.). The panel still holds its own on this last element, but you will have to go through the adjustment box to obtain better color rendering. Above all, we will regret the lack of brightness of the panel which will lack readability in full sunlight.
Among the good points, the size of the screen and its FHD+ definition are adapted to daily use and multimedia consumption.
Performance
At the heart of the Realme C75 is a MediaTek Helio G92 Max. Despite this name, we are dealing with a high-end SoC composed of an octa-core processor with two Cortex-A75 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores at 1.8 GHz. It is accompanied by a Mali-G52 MC2 GPU and the chip benefits from a 12 nm engraving, which does not really reassure in terms of its energy efficiency. The manufacturer adds 8 GB of RAM, as well as 128 to 256 GB of internal storage space.
Unsurprisingly, the Realme C75 is not a powerhouse and shows its limits, even in "classic" use. While the device's overlay runs smoothly, we regularly observe some difficulties, especially when we use the C75 a little too much. While decent for everyday tasks (web browsing, social networks, messaging, etc.), it doesn't really like multitasking and struggles to keep up when several applications are launched, with sometimes long execution times. The slowdowns are mainly seen on the most energy-intensive applications, which is not surprising on an entry-level model.
| Realme C75 | |
|---|---|
| SoC | - Mediatek Helio G92 Max (12 nm) - CPU: 2 x Cortex-A75 up to 2.0 GHz, 6 x Cortex-A55 up to 1.8 GHz - GPU: Mali-G52 MC2 |
| AnTuTu | - 279764 - CPU: 88518 - GPU: 41242 - Mem: 72977 - UX: 77027 |
| Geekbech 6 CPU (single-core / multi-core) | 429 / 1396 |
| Geekbech 6 GPU ( OpenCL / Vulkan) | 599 / 1080 |
| WildLife (score / average fps) | 738 / 4.42 |
| WildLife Extreme (score / average fps) | 187 / 1.13 |
| Steel Nomad Light (score / average fps) | 81 / 0.60 |
The smartphone is obviously not designed for gaming, even if many games are pre-installed. It can handle the least demanding titles on the Play Store, but you shouldn't expect to play games like Genshin Impact in good conditions. Even with all the settings lowered, the experience lacks fluidity.
The choice of the Helio G92 Max and the observed performance confirm that Realme's priority was not raw power. The phone is sufficient for its target audience (non-intensive users), but will not satisfy demanding gamers.
Software
The Realme C75 runs Android 14 with the Realme UI 5.0 overlay. The interface is modern, rather light and generally fluid.
On such an affordable smartphone, we focus on the essentials and Realme doesn't bother with superfluous features. We still note the presence of the Mini Capsule 3.0, a sort of Dynamic Islam that displays notifications around the front camera punch. The execution is good and the integration is successful, but the options are very limited.
Although artificial intelligence does not play a central role, Realme offers a content sharing function called AI Smart Loop.
However, one negative point greatly tarnishes the user experience: bloatware. These pre-installed applications and unwanted shortcut folders are very numerous, especially if you are not very careful during the first setup. Fortunately, it is possible to manually uninstall them to find a more refined interface, but this software overload harms the user experience despite the qualities of Realme UI.
On the update side, Realme mentions two years of Android updates and three years of security patches. The software tracking isn't impressive, but we're looking at an entry-level smartphone that won't necessarily support future updates to Google's OS.
Photo
The Realme C75's camera unit suggests the presence of three sensors on the back of the device, which isn't the case. The smartphone is limited to a single usable sensor, accompanied by a secondary sensor that the brand doesn't detail. It's probably dedicated to depth of field. And the third? There is no third sensor, it is an empty shell.
On the back, we find a 50 megapixel (Mpx) main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture. There is no ultra-wide-angle module on this smartphone, which is content with the bare minimum in photography, and this is inevitably felt in use.
Des performances photo entrait
The results are decent in daylight, and the photos offer a good level of detail and sharpness, with vivid colors. However, it's worth noting that dynamic range management is limited, and the camera tends to miss out on some details. Overexposure also tends to disrupt the capture, causing many details to be lost. Nothing impressive, then, and the quality quickly degrades beyond 2x, which manages to create an illusion when conditions are good. We'll forget the possibility of going up to 10x digital zoom; the C75 isn't capable of producing usable results at this level.
Obviously, a smartphone that struggles during the day (and indoors) isn't going to perform miracles at night. The Realme C75 manages well in good artificial light, but the quality drops, and noise quickly appears in the images. A Night mode is present to help a little, but it is quite temperamental and requires holding steady to be effective.
It is possible that the sensor does not fully exploit its potential due to the limited image processing capabilities of the Helio G92 Max. On the front, an 8 MP (f/2.0) front camera is present for selfies and video calls. It produces decent results.
Finally, you can film up to Full HD (1080) at 30 frames per second, both on the front and the back, with the Realme C75. Unfortunately, there is no optical stabilization (OIS) and the electronic stabilization (EIS) is not very effective.
Autonomy
The battery is one of the Realme C75's key selling points, with the promise of extended battery life and fast charging. The smartphone has a 5828 mAh battery, a higher than average capacity that suggests good endurance.
Unfortunately, this is not the case, and while the C75 does not necessarily fall short in this exercise, we could have expected better from it. Its Helio G92 Max does not seem to benefit from excellent optimization, and the absence of OLED does not help the smartphone. Indeed, the LCD panel is justified for economic reasons, but this technology turns out to be more power-hungry and penalizes the endurance of the C75.
Don't panic, the smartphone will be able to last a full day with intensive use. The most economical, which can be one of the simplest of this device, can even hope for a little more. We're still a little disappointed with a model that doesn't shine with its power and could make up for it in battery life.
The C75 supports 45W wired fast charging, and this makes us forget its solid battery life. Indeed, Realme does better than many direct competitors with this wired charging, even if the charger is not included in the box. With a suitable adapter, you can get a charge from 0 to 100% in about 1 hour 20 minutes.
Note that the smartphone offers reverse charging. Realme claims that the battery retains more than 80% of its capacity after 1,460 charge cycles, or about 4 years.
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