Realme 16

At Rs. 116,499 for the 8GB + 256GB model, the Realme 16 is priced as an upper mid-range phone, but much of its hardware belongs to a cheaper class. You pay mainly for the design, the battery and the toughness, not for speed or camera range.

Main advantages:

• A 7000 mAh battery inside an 8.1 mm, 183 g body
• IP68, IP69 and IP69K dust and water protection
• A 120Hz AMOLED screen, stereo speakers and a 60W charger in the box
• A microSD slot for extra storage

Main compromises:

• The Dimensity 6400 Turbo is an entry-level 5G chip, paired with slower UFS 2.2 storage
• No ultrawide camera and no 4K video
• Plastic frame and back, and a hybrid SIM tray
• Pakistan gets only the 8GB RAM version

The Vivo V70 FE (Rs. 121,999) costs only a few thousand rupees more and brings a stronger Dimensity 7360 Turbo chip, a 200 MP + 8 MP rear camera setup, 90W charging and a larger 6.83-inch AMOLED screen, with the same 7000 mAh capacity. It has no memory card slot, which is its one practical drawback here.

Verdict: the Realme 16 suits buyers who want a slim, light and very water-resistant phone with long battery life and who do light gaming at most. Buyers who care about performance or camera flexibility get more from the Vivo V70 FE at this price.

The Realme 16 has a 6.57-inch AMOLED panel at 1080 x 2372 resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate. It is a compact screen by today's standards, which keeps the phone easy to hold in one hand. Scrolling and animations look smooth, and AMOLED gives deep blacks and punchy colours.

Brightness: high brightness mode reaches 1400 nits, and Realme rates the peak at 4200 nits. Outdoor visibility should be strong for this class.

Comfort: 2160Hz PWM dimming helps people who feel eye strain from flicker at low brightness.

Video: Widevine L1 support allows HD streaming in apps such as Netflix, and YouTube plays at up to 1440p. HDR support is unclear: reports differ, and Realme's Pakistan page does not list it.

Gaming: in game mode, the touch sampling rate is boosted, which makes taps register faster in shooters.

The glass is AGC DT-Star D+, and a screen protector comes pre-applied. One limitation: the Always-On Display stays on for only 10 seconds after a tap, so it is not a true always-on screen.

The MediaTek Dimensity 6400 Turbo (6 nm) has two Cortex-A76 cores at 2.5 GHz, six Cortex-A55 cores and a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. In real-world use it performs close to the Helio G100 class: fine for social apps, calls, browsing and streaming, but clearly below the Dimensity 7000-series chips found in many phones at this price.

Storage is a weak point. The 256GB storage is UFS 2.2, which is slower than the UFS 3.1 common in this price range. Large apps and games take longer to install and open.

Gaming: PUBG Mobile offers Extreme frame rate at Smooth graphics and Ultra frame rate at higher settings, so casual gaming is comfortable. Heavy games at high settings are not this chip's strength. A vapor chamber helps with cooling, but no reliable long-session heat test is available yet.

RAM: Pakistan gets only the 8GB RAM version. Many buyers expected 12GB at this price, which matters if you keep many apps open.

Bottom line: smooth for everyday use, modest for gaming, and weaker than the price suggests.

The rear camera is a 50 MP Sony IMX852 main sensor (f/1.8) with a small 2 MP helper sensor. There is no ultrawide and no telephoto lens, and no optical image stabilisation, so wide group shots and zoomed photos are not its strengths.

Photos: daylight shots look good, helped by Realme's strong processing. A Vibrant mode and a Normal mode let you choose between bolder and more natural colours. Overall, the camera is average for the price, and much of the improvement comes from the editing tools rather than the hardware.

Selfies: the 50 MP front camera (f/2.4) has a slightly wide view, which helps with group selfies. Colours out of the box are a little dull, and there are few skin-tone controls. It handles changing light smoothly, without sudden exposure jumps.

Selfie mirror: a small mirror with a ring light sits in the rear camera module, so you can frame selfies with the main camera.

Video: both cameras record at up to 1080p 30fps. The chipset does not support 4K, which is a real drawback at this price.

Editing: AI Edit Genie lets you edit photos with voice or text commands, such as adding glasses to a face, and AI Portrait Glow improves lighting in portraits.

The Realme 16 has a 7000 mAh silicon-carbon battery, which is impressive in a phone only 8.1 mm thick. Battery life is a key strength: a typical user can expect around a day and a half to two days on a charge. The efficient 6 nm 5G chip also helps it last longer than older Helio G-series phones with similar capacity.

Charging: the phone supports 60W wired charging, and a 60W charger with a USB-A to USB-C cable comes in the box. Realme has not published a full-charge time for this model, so charging time is not verified yet.

Extras:

• Reverse wired charging lets you top up earbuds or another phone, though Realme has not stated its speed
• Bypass charging sends power straight to the phone while gaming, which reduces battery heat
• There is no wireless charging

The Realme 16 runs Android 16 with Realme UI 7.0. The new Flux theme adds depth animations and a glass-like look across the interface.

AI features:

• AI Edit Genie for photo edits by voice or text
• AI writing tools and AI gallery search
• Google Circle to Search and Gemini
• AI Portrait Glow for portrait lighting

These features are useful extras, but results from generative editing can vary from photo to photo.

Bloatware: some preinstalled third-party apps come on the phone. Most can be removed after setup.

Sound: a 300% volume boost is available for the stereo speakers. The bottom speaker is louder and clearer than the top one, so the balance is uneven.

Updates: launch information points to three years of major Android updates and four years of security patches. Realme's Pakistan product page does not state an update policy, so treat this as unconfirmed until Realme publishes it.