Realme’s Narzo series has always tried to offer consumers a good value for their money. Some models in the lineup have been better than the others, but the two new phones released this year are both solid options. The higher-end Realme Narzo 60 Pro punches above its weight with a sleek design and a whopping 1TB storage. But the Realme Narzo 60 5G, which I’ve been using for a while now, is also a great value at its price point.
After using it for more than two weeks, I’ve been impressed with how smooth the Narzo 60 runs. It’s powerful enough for most users and also brings a sharp AMOLED display, a good battery, and a premium-looking design. All of this starts at just Rs. 17,999 in India. But hey, it’s not perfect (what is right?). There are several flaws that might be the deciding factor for some. In this review, I’ll try to answer the good, the bad, and the maybes of this newly launched Realme Narzo 60 5G to help you make an informed decision.
Disclaimer: Realme sent us the Narzo 60 5G smartphone for the purpose of this review and didn’t have input into its contents.
Design: It doesn’t look like a budget phone
This year’s Realme Narzo phones certainly don’t look cheap. The Realme Narzo 60’s design takes some inspiration from the Realme 11 series, with a round camera module that is becoming increasingly popular in the industry. While the Realme 11 Pro (review) and 11 Pro+ (review) have a more refined and premium design, the Narzo 60 5G still doesn’t look half bad.
Realme sent us the Cosmic Black finish of the phone, which has a shimmering appearance. The rear panel and mid-frame are flat, like an iPhone, and are made of polycarbonate. Before we discuss the design and display in detail, let’s see what’s in the box.
Realme gives you pretty much everything you need in the box. Here’s the list of items inside the retail package:
- Screen protector (pre-applied)
- TPU case
- SIM ejector tool
- 33W charger
- USB-C to USB-A cable
- User manual
- Warranty card
The Realme Narzo 60 has a slightly different design from its Pro sibling. The Narzo 60 Pro has a narrow frame with curved edges on the display and the back panel, while the Narzo 60 has a flat back and edges. The front panel on smartphone is also flat. The polycarbonate back of the device looks like metal, thanks to its glossy finish. I have the Cosmic Black variant of the device, but there’s also a Mars Orange version with a vegan leather finish.
You get a large circular camera module on the rear that houses two sensors and an LED flash. Fingerprints and smudges can be seen on the back at a certain angle but are far from prominent. They are quick to clean off so that won’t be an issue. The blocky design and sharp edges of the device make it look premium. However, this also makes it uncomfortable to hold for extended periods of time.
The right side holds the volume rocker along with the power button. The placement of the buttons is appropriate and I didn’t have to stretch my thumb to reach them. On the left, you have the SIM card and microSD card tray, and on the bottom, there are the USB-C connector, loudspeaker grille, and a nice-to-have 3.5mm audio jack.
The Realme Narzo 60 has a punch-hole cutout on the top-left corner of the display, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. There’s an in-display fingerprint reader, which works fine in most scenarios. The bezels around the panel are thin, but the chin is particularly thick. This detracts from the look of the smartphone, but it is still a good-looking device overall.
The Narzo 60 is also quite lightweight, weighing in at just 183g.
A decent display and multimedia experience
Unlike last year’s Narzo 50, which uses an IPS LCD display, the Realme Narzo 60 gets a sharp 6.43-inch AMOLED panel. The screen looks fine in most situations. The FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels) makes the content look crisp indoors with vibrant colors and deep blacks. The phone is also sufficiently bright with 1000 nits peak brightness and you get a smooth experience with a 90Hz refresh rate.
The screen refreshes between 60Hz and 90Hz by default, but you can also set it to either. I didn’t notice any stuttering in the animations or when scrolling, but I would have been more impressed with a 120Hz panel like the Redmi Note 12 5G. Also, the phone doesn’t support HDR content, which is a bummer.
I found the loudpeakers on the Narzo 60 5G to be a little underwhelming. Although, Realme has packed the device with Dolby Atmos dual speakers, it is just not loud enough. But the company makes up for that with a 3.5mm headphone jack that support 24-bit/192kHz audio.
Narzo 60’s Cameras has its Flaws
The large circular camera module on the back of Realme Narzo 60 is a bit of misleading. Sure, there’s a 64MP main sensor inside, but that’s the only one that’s really usable. The 2MP depth sensor is just there to take up space. But considering the price point, the camera performance of the Narzo 60 is not bad. The primary shooter takes vibrant, detailed photos in daylight. And thanks to the 2x In-sensor zoom, you can get even closer to your subjects without losing any quality.
I found the zoom feature to be especially useful for portraits. The camera was able to capture sharp details on my subject’s face, even when I was zoomed in. The edge detection in the portrait mode is also quite good. But Realme’s software tends to sharpen the images a bit.
You ask about the low-light camera performance? Well, I don’t expect any mind-blowing photos from a budget phone in the dark. The main 64MP shooter on the Narzo 60 struggles to focus in low light, and even tapping on the viewfinder to try to focus the camera doesn’t always help. The dedicated Night mode can help to improve low light performance, but it’s not a perfect solution. I noticed the selfie camera manages to capture detailed shots without smoothening skin the too much.
Both the rear and front cameras can record 1080p video at 30fps. To sum up, the Realme Narzo 60 does a fair job in the camera department, as long as you can overlook the low-light performance. I would have liked an ultrawide camera, but that’s just me.
Performance and Software
I believe that if a smartphone performs well, shortcomings in the camera and display departments can be overlooked, especially on a budget-friendly phone. Many affordable phones struggle to keep up even with basic tasks. But the Realme Narzo 60 5G really surprised me with its smooth performance. The MediaTek Dimensity 6020 chip inside the smartphone handled most social media, YouTube, and other everyday tasks with ease. Apps load quickly and run smoothly.
The gaming experience on the device is also commendable. I played a lot of popular titles on the Narzo 60, including Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Call of Duty Mobile (COD), and Garena’s Free Fire. For what it’s worth, I also tried less-demanding games like Clash of Clans and Subway Surfers on the device. BGMI supported HD graphics with a high frame rate of 45 fps. While playing all of these games, I didn’t notice any lag, and the phone almost never got hot.
However, while playing BGMI, I did notice a gyroscope delay. When I enabled the gyroscope setting and tried to aim with the scope on, there was a delay. This made it difficult to play the game, but if you don’t use the gyroscope, you shouldn’t have a problem. It seems like a software issue that Realme could fix in a future update.
Benchmark scores of the Realme Narzo 60 5G can be seen below:
The software experience on the Realme Narzo 60 is not the best out there. Realme UI 4.0, which is based on Android 13, is cluttered with native apps and bloatware. You can disable or delete most of them, but it’s still intrusive. For example, Game Center, App Market, and Theme Store frequently spam the notification shade with recommendations. However, you can disable these notifications in the settings.
Realme Narzo 60 packs a large 5,000mAh battery and supports 33W charging. It takes less than 2 hours to juice up from 0 to 100. The battery easily lasted me around two days with 8-9 hours of screen on time.
Coming to the Big question – Should you get it?
Now that I’ve walked you through all the pros and cons of the device, the question arises: should you get it or not? The Realme Narzo 60 5G is not a very significant upgrade over the Narzo 50 on paper. However, the phone impresses with its premium-looking design and a powerful processor. If you like to play a lot of games but don’t want to break the bank, the Narzo 60 5G could be a good option.
The phone is a good daily driver, thanks to its long-lasting 5,000mAh battery and decent charging speed. It competes with the likes of the iQOO Z7 (review) and the Redmi Note 12 5G (review), and even outperforms them in some aspects. All in all, the Realme Narzo 60 5G is decent all-rounder of a smartphone that offers good value at its price.
Realme Narzo 60 5G is available for purchase in the following configurations:
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