Gadgets
Realme C25 and Realme C21 First Impressions: Price-Gap Fillers
We begin with the most interesting phone of the trio, the Realme C25. Pitched as the successor to the Realme C15, which was only really known for its stellar battery life and not much else, the C25 has some much-needed upgrades. It has the same 6,000mAh battery capacity and 18W fast charging as its predecessor, but Realme has upgraded to a USB Type-C port. The second big change is the MediaTek Helio G70 SoC, which should provide a much-needed boost to system and gaming performance.
The overall design of Realme C25, and for that matter the other new models, hasn’t changed much. There’s a new variation of the geometric pattern on the back, and some new colour names, but overall it’s very similar to the previous lineup. The C25 feels sturdy in the hand despite the all-plastic body, and it is noticeably heavier (209g) and thicker (9.6mm) than the C21. You get a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, a triple-slot SIM tray, and three rear cameras.
Interestingly, the Realme C25 is the only one of the three new models to run Realme UI 2.0 (Android 11) out of the box, while the C21 and C20 are still running Android 10. Eagle-eyed viewers might have already noticed a missing fourth rear camera on the C25, compared to the C15. Realme has dropped the ultra-wide angle camera, which might seem like a bad decision in terms of appealing to buyers, but given how poorly that camera performed on the C15, it’s probably not going to be missed. You still get a 13-megapixel main camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel monochrome camera. There’s an 8-megapixel camera up front for selfies.
The Realme C21 (left) and Realme C25 (right) have the same size displays with HD+ resolutions
The display on the Realme C25 is a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD panel, and this time, Realme has partnered with TÜV Rheinland to get it certified for low blue light emission. In terms of RAM and storage, the Realme C25 will be available in two variants: 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage priced at Rs. 9,999, and 4GB of RAM with 128GB of storage priced at Rs. 10,999.
The Realme C25’s biggest strength seems to be the upgraded SoC, which should help fix the poor performance of the C15. The other features are more or less the same as what we saw in the previous model, with some slight improvements.
We now come to the Realme C21, which isn’t a direct successor to any specific phone but is meant to complement the lineup, filling some of the existing price gaps. It’s essentially a Realme C12 with a smaller battery (5,000mAh vs 6,000mAh) and a slightly different pattern on the back. Some of the highlights here include the TÜV Rheinland display certification, a triple-card SIM tray, a rear fingerprint sensor, and three rear cameras similar to the C25.
The Realme C21 does not support fast charging and has a Micro-USB port. It’s powered by the MediaTek Helio G35 SoC, just like the previous C-series models. This doesn’t inspire too much confidence but we’ll have to wait and see if the experience is better when we put this phone through a full review. There are two variants on offer: 3GB of RAM with 32GB of storage priced at 7,999, and 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage priced at Rs. 8,999. The Realme C21 is a bit lighter and slimmer than the C25, making it easier to handle.
The Realme C21 has a triple rear camera setup, similar to the Realme C25
The Realme C20, which I don’t have with me, is essentially identical to the C21 except that there’s no display certification, no fingerprint sensor, and only a single 8-megapixel rear camera. It’s only available with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, and is priced at Rs. 6,999. Think of it as a refreshed Realme C11.
Realme’s new C-series offerings aren’t exactly game-changers for this segment, but more like complementary additions to its existing budget portfolio. The Realme C25 is possibly the most interesting of the lot, while the others are price-gap fillers more than anything else. In any case, we will be testing the Realme C25 and Realme C21, so check for the full reviews of these new phones, coming up soon.
“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”
The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.
Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.
Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.
In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.
To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.
Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.
The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.
Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.
The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.
For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
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