Realme 13+ 5G review: Fast performance, solid battery life

Realme 13+ 5G

Realme’s latest phone in India is the Realme 13+ 5G, in India. It marks a notable upgrade in its number series from the previous generation and the new device promises better gaming performance, improved battery life, and fast charging speed. While the 13 Pro series saw subtle changes in cameras and design, the Realme 13+ 5G aims to grab eyeballs in the midrange with its performance.

We used the smartphone for some time now. Read on below to know how it performs.

Realme 13+ 5G review: Design and Display

We received the Victory Speed Green variant of the Realme 13+ 5G which has a clear matte plastic back and wave-like etched patterns at the bottom. The smartphone also comes in Dark Purple and Rose Gold colour variants. It offers a sleek and comfortable grip with flat edges on the sides. The best part is that the back is not a fingerprint magnet and doesn’t attract scratches or scuff marks.

The top half features a big circular camera module two camera lenses and an LED flash. This module is encircled by a slightly protruding silver outer ring, which has the camera specifications engraved on it. On the sides, we get the usual volume rockers and the power button on the right. The top part has a secondary speaker, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a secondary mic.

The bottom features the USB Type-C port, speaker grille, and the SIM card slot. Moving to the front, we are greeted by a large 6.67-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution with up to 120Hz fast refresh rate. The display is impressively bright, boasting a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, and has minimal bezels at the bottom. The Realme 13+5G like the 13 Pro smartphones, has the ’Rain Water Smart Touch’ feature, allowing the touchscreen to function even in rainy conditions.

For security, the Realme 13+ 5G features an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is fast and accurate. We also played some HDR videos from YouTube on the phone and they had ample details and colour accuracy. The smartphone also supports HD video playback on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Overall, it is an impressive display and has adequate screen brightness. The AMOLED panel also ensures great colour and contrast support.

Realme 13+ 5G review: Performance

The Realme 13+ 5G runs on the latest Realme UI 5.0 operating system, which is a highly customised skin based on Android 14. It has plenty of personalisation options, allowing you to customise the icons, apply themes, apply different Always-On-Display (AOD) wallpapers, use multiple AI features, and much more. Other notable features include a File Dock, Flash Capsule, and Smart Sidebar. The phone has AI Boost 2.0 which optimises app performance based on usage patterns.

Despite Realme’s claims of reducing bloatware in their premium number series phones, you’ll find multiple pre-installed apps like Reelshort TV, Finshell Pay, PhonePe, Spotify, and lots of unnecessary apps that aren’t used by most users. Moreover, these third-party apps send unnecessary notifications and recommendations, which sour the overall experience.

Performance wise the Realme 13+ 5G is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Energy SoC, coupled with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. The storage can be expanded via a microSD card slot, which takes up one SIM card slot out of the available two. The Dimensity 7300 Energy SoC ensures that the day-to-day operations such as opening or closing daily apps, watching movies, and browsing on the internet are a breeze, with no lags or stutters.

Benchmark scores of the Realme 13+ 5G are also impressive as the phone scores close to 7,50,000 points on Antutu and 1149/2534 in Geekbench 6’s single/multi-core tests. You can also game at 90 FPS on popular titles like BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile, with the phone running smoothly for long hours and without excessive heating because of its dedicated vapour cooling chamber. The smartphone also has a GT mode that lets you get smooth gameplay with support for features like Game Focus Mode, Voice Changer, and more.

Realme 13+ 5G review: Camera

The Realme 13+ 5G has a 50 MP Sony LYT-600 primary with an unspecified 2 MP secondary shooter. The practice of adding nominal 2 MP shooters in place of useful ultra-wide cameras or telephoto sensors is something we hope brands completely remove in the future, as they present no practical use. The photos clicked from the main 50MP sensor exhibit good dynamic range in the daytime and have adequate details even under low light.

However, we did notice some HDR issues in the shadow area, and the phone struggled under extremely low light situations. Overall, the colours are punchy and the saturation is on point. Close-up photos have good natural bokeh and portrait photos have great skin tone. The inbuilt 2X zoom sensor mode helps in clicking far-off photos with sufficient detail and dynamic range too.

The Realme 13+ 5G also has a 16MP front snapper that has adequate details and has several beautification modes. For videos, the front snapper maxes out at Full HD 30FPS without any stabilisation. However, the back camera offers stable videos at Full HD resolution and can even shoot detailed videos at 4K 60FPS resolution without any major stutters.

Realme 13+ 5G review: Battery

The Realme 13+ 5G shines in the battery department as it has a 5000mAh battery with 80W fast charging support. In our testing, the phone easily lasted for close to two full days and gave us more than seven hours of screen-on-time. Even while playing games like Call of Duty Mobile or BGMI, the battery only dropped by 10% in an hour of nonstop gaming.

The phone can instantly juice up to 100% in about 45 minutes using the supplied 80W charger. For a quick top-up, it also provides up to half a day of battery life with a ten-minute charge and takes about twenty minutes to charge half the battery.

Realme 13+ 5G review: Verdict

The Realme 13+ 5G is an impressive phone in the mid-range segment. With the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Energy processor and 90 FPS gaming support, the phone could be the right choice for mobile gaming enthusiasts. It also has a bright 6.67-inch OLED display, which has great contrast and accurate colour output. The battery life is also impressive, with excellent endurance and fast charging capabilities. The smartphone starts at Rs 22,999.

However, the Realme 13+ 5G with its single 50MP usable camera struggles under low light and we would have wished it came with an ultra-wide snapper since its predecessor the Realme 12+ also came with that. Nonetheless, if you are looking to buy a strong gaming smartphone with long battery life and fast charging, the Realme 13+ 5G is an excellent choice, especially if you have a budget of less than Rs 25,000.