Realme 5s review

Big and power-efficient IPS LCD panel

The Realme 5s borrows the same 6.5-inch tall IPS LCD panel with an HD+ (720 x 1600px) resolution with a modest pixel density of just 269ppi. So if you look closely enough, you might notice some sharp edges around round icons, for example, but this is not the proper way to use a phone anyway. In short - it's still sufficient. And it's good enough for reading too without being too hard on your eyes. Now off to the tests.

As one would expect, the display performed quite similarly to the one on the Realme 5. Brightness wise, it goes up to 487 cd/m2, which is just enough for fairly comfortable outdoor use even in bright conditions.

Display test	100% brightness
	Black,cd/m2	White,cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Sunlight contrast	Min brightness	Max auto
Realme 5 Pro	0.273	512	1875:1		2.1
Realme 5	0.345	485	1406:1		1.8
Realme 5s	0.345	487	1412:1		1.8
Samsung Galaxy M10	0.34	402	1182:1	3.093	4.3	0
Huawei P30 Lite	0.39	480	1231:1		1.0	501
Huawei P30 Lite (Max Auto)	0.413	501	1213:1
Xiaomi Redmi Note 8	0.311	473	1521:1		1.1	631
Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 (Max Auto)	0.475	631	1328:1

When it comes to color accuracy, Realme 5s is not that great but few people would mind at this pricepoint. The average dE2000 is about 6.5, with the usual suspects like white and gray being a bit too blue-ish. You can adjust the color temperature in the display settings menu if you want, but that won't shift the average dE2000 all too much.

Battery life

Thanks to the humongous 5,000 mAh cell inside, the handset aced all of our tests - on-screen and off-screen ones. The endurance rating matches the one we got from the previous generation - 144 hours, which is mighty impressive. After all, the big battery doesn't even break a sweat with the rather efficient Snapdragon 665 SoC and the not-so-power-hungry IPS display.

Fast charging is out of the question because the provided charger caps the smartphone's capability to draw juice at 10W - 5V/2A. In our 30-minute charging test, the handset did 21% from flat - not very flattering, but it's about right considering the price range.

Loudspeaker

The Realme 5s comes equipped with a bottom-firing loudspeaker that can get loud pretty loud - enough for you to hear it in a crowded and noisy place. And upon subjective hearing, you can still hear the strong emphasis on the vocals, whereas the background music and beat fade out a little. There's lack of depth in a way, but this is a smartphone loudspeaker we are talking about here so let's not get too picky.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overall score
Samsung Galaxy M10	66.2	71.7	80.0	Good
Realme 5 Pro	66.3	72.9	85.8	Very Good
Huawei P30 Lite	71.5	73.8	83.1	Excellent
Realme 5s	66.5	73.2	89.2	Excellent
Realme 5	66.8	73.0	89.3	Excellent
Xiaomi Redmi Note 8	78.8	72.9	81.3	Excellent

Audio quality

When it comes to the output through its audio jack, the Realme 5s was identical to the Realme 5 before it. It did impressively with an external amplifier, delivering an output of perfect accuracy and very high loudness.

In stark contrast, headphones caused the stereo separation to decrease significantly, while our equipment also detected some intermodulation distortion. Volume dropped to average too, rounding up a rather unimpressive showing in this second part of our test.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Realme 5s	+0.02, -0.01	-93.5	93.3	0.0017	0.0073	-90.1
Realme 5s (headphones)	+0.59, -0.03	-91.1	92.2	0.0079	0.388	-45.8
Realme 5	+0.03, -0.01	-93.4	93.3	0.0018	0.0072	-88.1
Realme 5 (headphones)	+0.40, -0.27	-92.5	92.5	0.010	0.407	-49.8
Realme X2	+0.03, -0.06	-92.6	92.6	0.0020	0.0080	-88.1
Realme X2 (headphones)	+0.30, -0.37	-87.2	91.0	0.0081	0.356	-48.4
Realme 3 Pro	+0.03, -0.04	-92.9	92.7	0.0018	0.0078	-91.1
Realme 3 Pro (headphones)	+0.40, -0.27	-92.7	92.5	0.011	0.411	-50.2
Xiaomi Mi A3	+0.02, -0.01	-93.7	90.7	0.0015	0.0098	-93.0
Xiaomi Mi A3 (headphones)	+0.53, -0.22	-90.6	88.8	0.0048	0.302	-50.8
Samsung Galaxy M20	+0.02, -0.02	-90.5	90.4	0.0050	0.015	-91.7
Samsung Galaxy M20 (headphones)	+0.17, -0.25	-90.8	91.0	0.087	0.256	-58.9
Motorola Moto G7 Play	+0.07, -0.01	-90.0	90.1	0.0019	0.015	-92.9
Motorola Moto G7 Play (headphones)	+0.16, -0.10	-92.3	92.5	0.0069	0.164	-64.8

Realme 5s frequency response

You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.