Initial Verdict: Our quick review of the realme narzo 30A shows that it’s a great alternative for people who want a narzo 20 but failed to nab one. While the camera setup is a slight downgrade, many of the things that made the narzo 20 great is still there, including the powerful Helio G85 processor, along with the same 6000mAh battery with 18w wired charging.

The narzo 30A acts as a transitional model of sorts between the C11 and the narzo 20, trying to offer the best of both phones.

Pros

• Good processor choice
• Large battery with fast charging speeds

Cons

• Very basic cameras
• Little difference over the narzo 20

realme narzo 30A Specs:

• Helio G85 processor
• 4GB LPDDR4X RAM
• 64GB internal storage
• 6.5-inch HD+ IPS display
• 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera with PDAF, 2-megapixel f/2.4 mono camera
• 8-megapixel f/2.0 selfie camera
• 4G, LTE
• WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, rear-mounted fingerprint scanner
• 6000mAh battery
• 18w fast charging
• Android 10, realme UI

As a follow up to last year’s narzo 20, realme is adding a new model to the online-exclusive smartphone line with the narzo 30A. While it looks identical to the narzo 20, the narzo 30A scrimps on the cameras to offer a capable set of internals at a lower price point

Unboxing and packaging contents

While realme often uses yellow for the boxes of its phones, the brand decided to switch things up with the narzo 30A. This time around, you get a light blue box with bold narzo branding along with a smaller narzo 30A branding on one corner.

Inside the box, you get the phone itself, a 18w charger, USB-C cable, documentation, and SIM ejector tool.

Design

Since the narzo is related to the C-series, you get a familiar design language. On the front, you have a 6.5-inch display with a dewdrop notch for the 8-megapixel selfie snapper.

Going to the back, the square camera module is home to a dual rear camera setup even if the camera module looks to hold three. The fingerprint scanner is on the back, along with narzo written below the camera module. Unlike the C-series, you get a Pixel-like dual-tone finish on the narzo 30A. The upper part is plain, while the bottom part gets a unique design that comprises diagonal lines. The back doesn’t have a glossy finish, giving the phone a little bit of protection against smudges.

The narzo 30A shares the same button and port layout used on the narzo 20: SIM card tray on the left side, power and volume buttons on the right side, and headphone jack, USB-C port, and loudspeaker at the bottom. Like the narzo 20, the narzo 30A is a little on the thic and hefty side to the 6000mAh battery inside.

Display

A big chunk of realme’s entry-level phones use a 6.5-inch HD+ panel with a dewdrop notch, and the narzo 30A is no exception. It’s a default choice that’s starting to lose its luster–we hope realme steps it up next time by using a higher-resolution display or maybe shift to a punch-hole instead.

Since it is a display we often encounter on other realme phones (and with other brands too), the narzo 30A has decent colors despite the low resolution. The display’s overall brightness is a bit of hit-or-miss, but we need to spend more time with the narzo 30A before giving our final verdict.

Cameras

Unlike the narzo 20, you get a basic set of rear cameras on the narzo 30A: a 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera and a 2-megapixel f/2.2 mono sensor. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same setup used on the C11.

While they are not the most impressive set of cameras for a budget phone, keep in mind that the narzo 30A is intended more on raw performance when it comes to gaming–more on that in the next part.

Internals

Like the narzo 20, you get a Helio G85 processor on the narzo 30A. It is one of MediaTek’s better budget processors out there, having an overall performance that’s comparable to most phones rocking a Snapdragon 662 chip.

The narzo 30A comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, and while the internal storage is small (Genshin Impact alone consumes at least 10GB of storage), you get a dedicated MicroSD card slot for storage expansion.

While we have yet put the narzo 30A through our battery of tests, we expect it to perform very close to the narzo 20 since they practically have the same set of internals.

Like the narzo 20, you get a large 6000mAh battery on the narzo 30A that also supports 18w USB-C wired charging. realme bundles the right charger for the narzo 30A so that you can enjoy fast charging speeds out of the box.

Early verdict:

Our quick review of the realme narzo 30A shows that it is a great alternative to those who missed out on the narzo 20. While you get a big downgrade with the cameras, the narzo 30A is a promising phone for those who want to play some of the latest mobile games while not spending too much.

realme Narzo 30A Quick Review Price Philippines

The 4GB/64GB variant of the narzo 30A is priced at Rs 9,999 in India, which translates to around Php 6.7k when converted. That makes the narzo 30A over Php 1k more affordable than the narzo 20 when it was launched here. We’re not yet sure how much the narzo 30A will be priced in the Philippines, so stay tuned to the site for realme’s official announcement.