Realme 8s 5G review

Design

Realme has a pretty consistent look going within its Realme 8 line. Well, with some minor styling variation, that is. To keep things fresh, as it were. We are happy to see that Realme didn't opt for a too "on the nose" and "over the top" look for the Realme 8s 5G, though. We wouldn't exactly appreciate a repeat of the "DARE TO LEAP" situation on the back of the vanilla Realme 8.

Instead, the Realme 8s 5G is rocking a rather dignified and subdued back panel design. It has a sort of frosted, smooth finish, as opposed to the glossier look of the older Realme 8 5G or the Realme 8i. The surface feels great to the touch, almost a bit silky and does not retain greasy stains or any other dirt in any obvious way.

Color options include Purple and Blue. Our review unit is the latter. Universe Blue, that is - a pretty dark tint, bordering on black.

Even though the camera island looks pretty plain, Realme has still managed to give it a bit of a recognizable, distinct style. One that includes four circular modules and a strip underneath that for an elongated single LED camera flash and some additional text to the side. The Realme 8s 5G does not deviate from the look, even if that means including a "fake" fourth camera on the back, just like the Realme 8 5G did.

Unlike it, however, the Realme 8s 5G has a colored island, matching its surroundings. A trait shared with the Realme 8i.

The overall silhouette of the Realme 8s 5G is quite familiar, including the sloping backside, into a slightly curvy middle frame and then a mostly flat front. The front is particularly familiar - the 6.5-inch IPS LCD is surrounded by pretty thick bezels on all sides but it does have rounded edges that make for a slightly trendier look.

The punch hole for the selfie camera is also on the bigger side and has that slightly distracting "cloudy" look near the edges.

Nothing out of the ordinary on a budget Realme, though.

Build quality

The Realme 8S 5G is rather unsurprisingly almost entirely constructed out of plastic. That includes the back panel, as well as the middle frame. But, this is not to say that the phone feels flimsy. Quite the opposite, there is little flex, and the overall construction is solid.

Tapping on the back does feel a bit hollow but perfectly acceptable, and we've felt way worse.

The front of the Realme 8s 5G is covered by some undisclosed protective glass, just like its siblings. The oleophobic coating is decent but not overly impressive.

There is no official ingress protection on the Realme 8s 5G.

Controls

There is nothing out of the ordinary regarding controls on the Realme 8s 5G either. You get a pretty standard overall layout - a clicky and responsive volume rocker on the left side and a SIM tray above that.

It is a versatile triple-slot design that can simultaneously take two Nano-SIM cards and a microSD, so you don't have to pick and choose.

There is just the fingerprint reader/power button combo on the opposite side of the frame. Realme 8 models with an AMOLED display get an under-display reader, whereas ones with an LCD, like the Realme 8s 5G, get a conventional, capacitive reader.

It is fast and consistent. No complaints there. The physical design, with its recessed area, is also ergonomic and easy to feel out.

The top side of the Realme 8s 5G just has a single microphone hole for the secondary noise-canceling mic. The earpiece is hidden away above the display on the front and doesn't really require any more space since there is, unfortunately, no stereo setup on the phone. Not even a hybrid one.

The bottom of the Realme 8s 5G houses the main microphone and the sole bottom-firing loudspeaker. Between the two - a USB 2.0, OTG-capable Type-C port. There is also a trusty old 3.5mm audio jack.

A pretty decent overall setup, if you ask us. One notable omission is a notification LED. Though, those have become incredibly rare as a whole.