Review verdict: The realme Smart TV is a good first time at bat for the brand in this particular branch of consumer electronics, at least as far as the Philippines is concerned. It’s not perfect and it has its quirks but it has a great feature set that makes it a good option especially since we’re still trying to avoid going out too much. Just like their smartphone division though, they’re going to run into some seriously stiff competition and it may take a while to prove themselves in this space.

realme has slowly been venturing out of its smartphone comfort zone and has been expanding its “Tech Lifestyle” products. We’ve seen a couple of those products land on our shores last year and we’re finally getting their TVs that were announced in mid-2020. We’ve been using it for about a week now and here are our thoughts.

Pros

• Easy Access to Content via Android OS
• Convenient Navigation via Google Assistant

Cons

• ChromaBoost is a Double-Edged Sword
• Quirky UI 

Design

In terms of design, the realme TV can easily stand toe-to-toe with the competition. You’ve got really slim bezels that make it punch above its weight class and can easily be the centerpiece in any home. It’s also relatively light to make it easy to set up along but not so much so that it would be easily toppled over.

The stands are made out of plastic but haven’t been a cause for alarm given the weight of the unit itself. We’d like to also note that its mount points are also toward the edge of the frame rather than favoring the center. It isn’t a big deal but you do have to take that into account depending on where you plan on placing the TV.

There are VESA mounting points on the back though should you want to place it on the wall to save space.

Display and Picture Quality

As mentioned at the top of this article, you have two sizes for the realme TV – a 32-inch and a 43-inch. They both share a lot of features but apart from their price and size, they also differ in resolution, the 32-inch is at 720p and the 43-inch is at 1080p. We have the latter for review.

The initial experience was jarring since we are spoiled by a UHD TV that we use on a daily basis but after we checked out privilege, the overall sharpness and overall image quality were on point.

One thing to remember is that realme also uses their Chroma Boost Technology on their TVs and, yes, it’s the same post-processing tech that they use for their cameras on their smartphones. The result is that — as the name suggests — colors get a lift and become a bit more vibrant, it’ll tweak the overall contrast, and brighten up the image.

It is a bit of a double-edged sword though since there were times — especially when I was trying out the PS5 on the TV — where I felt the picture quality was a bit too oversaturated and you can also see the difference while watching movies. Things are easy enough to tweak in the menus if need be and we understand that these things are a matter of preference as well.

We would like to have the option to turn off Chroma Boost like on the cameras of their smartphones though.

Audio

For audio, realme kitted their Smart TVs out with Quad Stereo Speakers, which is made up of a tweeter plus a full range speaker on both sides of the unit. To further enhance your experience, it also supports Dolby Audio.

It does produce a good amount of volume that can easily fill up the living room of our 2-bedroom apartment but it did lack a bit of oomph in the bass department; making it sound a little thin.

Thankfully, realme Philippines also sent over their 100W Soundbar to test out with the set as well. It exponentially improved our experience with the TV but you do have to be mindful of the neighbors because it gets plenty loud.

OS

The OS of the realme smart TV is one of its biggest boons and the company is right to heavily push this on the reviewer’s guide that was sent along with the TV and the soundbar.

Not only do you have easy access to all the streaming services that we normally see on most Smart TVs — that have dedicated buttons on the remote too — but having the Google Play Store on hard also means that downloading additional apps to increase your library or keep you entertained is literally within your fingertips.

You also have access to things like built-in Chromecast so you can easily share content from your phone to a TV or you can even put up that funny video on a larger screen for everyone to enjoy.

There’s also Google Assistant which comes in really handy when looking for videos on YouTube so you no longer have to fidget with the remote to search for them. It’s not perfect but it works.

It’s not all sunshine and daisies for the UI though since there are some things we noticed that were a little inconvenient. For instance, you don’t have quick access to TV settings when you’re on YouTube or Netflix in case you want to adjust things on the fly.

You have to jump out to the home screen to be able to tweak them, which breaks the momentum if you’re really getting into the movie that you’re watching. If you’re a set it and forget it type of person, this might not be so much of an issue but it’s well worth noting.

Wrap Up and Conclusions

As mentioned above, this was definitely a good first outing for realme in the Smart TV department for the Philippines, at least for our review. There are things that need to be tweaked and reconsidered but they’ve also hit a lot of the right notes. Our main concern is that there are a lot of established names in this particular arena of technology and Realme has to iron out those kinks to really put them in contention.

We are excited to see what else they’re going to be coming up with their Tech Lifestyle products though and hopefully one of them is a UHD TV to better pair with the now current generation of consoles.

Realme Smart TV Review Philippines: Price

The Realme Smart TV is available in two sizes. There is a 32-inch model and one at 43-inches, which are priced at Php 11,990 and Php 18,990 respectively. Realme Philippines is giving massive discounts when this launches to get it at an even better price point.

realme is cutting the price for both TVs by Php 3,000 during the 3.3 Mega Shopping sale when it goes on sale in Shopee, with the new SRPs being Php 8,990 for the 32-inch model and Php 15,990 for the 43-inch model by simply using the voucher code GADGETZONE8 at checkout.

10 lucky buyers on March 3 of the realme Smart TV will get a free realme Soundbar; with free 12 months extended warranty worth 3,990 for the 1st batch buyers.