realme 7 Pro Review

Thanks to realme for loaning the realme 7 Pro for this review. This is my first time to review realme’s smartphone and I am actually quite excited as to what to expect.

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First Look

The realme 7 Pro is lighter than I thought. It has nice round corners and the screen is not curved. I like the color (Mirror Blue). It is not glossy (a kind of matte look but not matte) and there is some pattern on it that looks unique.

If you do not like a protruding camera module, the realme 7 Pro actually has one, abet not a big one. You can check out the camera specs below.

It has 4 cameras: 64MP Primary Camera, 8MP Ultra wide-angle lens, B&W Portrait Lens, Macro Lens.

On the front, it has a front-facing camera (32MP) on the top left corner. Not a very big one to distract you.

Here is a close up of the camera. Do note that the screen already comes with a screen protection layer. That is why the camera cut-out looks like this.

The top part is the speaker for you to listen in when receiving a call.

On the bottom, it is quite typical. If you love the 3.5mm jack, it is there. The rest are the USB-C port, microphone, and speaker grille.

On the top, it is quite clean and I can only see a microphone on it.

On the side, it has volume buttons and the SIM card tray.

One interesting thing about the SIM card tray is that it is a triple tray. It can house 2 Nano SIM cards and a MicroSD card. This is my first time to see such a long SIM card tray.

On the other side, it has the Power on/off button.

Overall, it looks like the typical smartphones that are available in the market. One thing to mention is that the “chin” on the bottom is slightly larger than the top. Usually, you won’t even notice it.

It comes with a silicon protection cover which I think is very useful if you don’t want to spend money to invest one. I like the cover provided. It is one of the most fitting ones I have seen.

Here is how the realme 7 Pro looks with the cover.

And this is the back. Notice that once you put in the cover, the back looks glossy. Unfortunately, the cover did not flatten the camera module. There is still a slight protruding part.

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It comes with a very powerful 65W SuperDart Charger to charge the 4,500 mAh battery.

It is supposedly to charge from 0 to 100% in 34 minutes. I did not try to time it but the charging speed is really fast.

Specifications

Here are the specifications of the realme 7 Pro.

Processor: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 720G

  • Gaming Mobile Platform
  • CPU: 8nm, Octa-core, Up to 2.3GHz GPU
  • GPU: Adreno 618
  • AIE:5th Generation Qualcomm AI Engine

Charging & Battery: 65W SuperDart Charge

  • 4500mAh(typ) Massive Battery
  • Includes a 10V/6.5A Charging Adaptor
  • USB Type-C Port

Display: 16.3cm (6.4”) Super AMOLED Fullscreen

  • Resolution: 2400×1080 FHD+
  • Screen-to-body Ratio: 90.8%
  • PPI: 409
  • Corning Gorilla Glass

Rear Camera: Sony 64MP Quad Camera

  • 26mm, f/1.8
  • Sony IMX682 Sensor, 1/1.73” Sensor Size

B&W Portrait Lens: f/2.4

8MP Ultra wide-angle lens: 16mm, FOV 119°, f/2.3

Macro lens: 4cm Focal Distance, f/2.4

Photography function

  • 64MP Mode
  • Pro Nightscape
  • Starry Mode
  • Super NightScape
  • Panoramic View
  • Expert Mode
  • Timelapse
  • Portrait Mode
  • HDR
  • Ultra Wide-angle Mode
  • Ultra Macro mode
  • AI Scene Recognition
  • AI Beauty, Filter
  • Chroma Boost
  • Slow Motion
  • Bokeh Effect Control

Video recording

  • UIS Video Stabilization
  • UIS Max Video Stabilization
  • Ultra Nightscape Video
  • AI Color Portrait Video
  • Ultra Wide-angle Video
  • Real-time Bokeh Effect Video
  • 4K/30fps Video Recording
  • 1080P/120fps 720p/240fps Slo-mo Video Recording

In-display Selfie: 32MP Wide-angle Camera

  • FOV 85°, f/2.5

Photography function:

  • Time-lapse Photography
  • HDR
  • Front Panorama
  • Beauty
  • Flip Selfie
  • Nightscape
  • Portrait Mode

Video recording

  • Support 1080P/30fps Video
  • Support 720P/30fps Video Recording
  • Support 120fps Slo-mo Video Recording

Storage & RAM: 8GB + 128GB

  • RAM:8GB LPDDR4x Dual-channel
  • ROM:128GB UFS 2.1

Cellular & Wireless

3-Card Slot: 2 SIM Card + 1 MicroSD

Wireless network

  • 2.4/5 GHz
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
  • Bluetooth 5.0

Frequency Band

  • 2G Network: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
  • 3G Network: Bands 1/2/8
  • 4G Network (LTE): 4G
  • FDD-LTE: Bands 1/3/5/7/8/20/28
  • TD-LTE:Bands 38/40/41
  • NFC

Navigation

  • GPS/AGPS, Beidou, Glonass

Size & Weight

  • Height: 160.9mm
  • Width: 74.3mm
  • Depth: 8.7mm
  • Weight≈182g

* Data provided by realme Lab. Due to different measurement methods, the actual
data may have a reasonable tolerance range.

Sensors: Magnetic Induction Sensor / Light Sensor / Proximity Sensor / Gyro-meter / Acceleration Sensor

Operating System: realme UI Based on Android 10

Packing List:

  • realme 7 Pro
  • 65W SuperDart Charger
  • USB Type-C Cable
  • Protect Case
  • Protect Film
  • SIM Card Tool
  • Important Info Booklet with Warranty Card
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Usage

User Interface

I like the realme UI. It looks clean and neat. Response-wise, it is average. Nothing wrong with it but nothing spectacular. It has dark mode (which is what I used for most of my phones).

Specs and usage

As mentioned earlier, the weight at 182g is good for a 6.4-inch smartphone. It does not have wireless charging and it is not waterproof. However, the SuperDart charging is very useful if you need to charge it quickly. It is interesting that they equip this phone with such high-end charger.

The specs in the camera are good. However, if you are thinking about capturing the moon with it, don’t (I tried and failed) because it cannot zoom close enough.

Camera

However, if normal photography, it does work perfectly. If you need to capture an image in a dark room or without ambient lighting, use the NIGHT feature. It helps and the end results is that the image is quite clean (not a lot of noise).

Here is a sample of with and without the Night mode feature. Do note that the image is resize and compressed but without editing done.

Next, I tried the Starry mode. It is supposed to capture stars. My setting is pretty simple. Pointing directly to the sky with blocks nearby with the phone on a tripod. This test is between Night and Starry mode (do note that Starry mode is found in the Night mode settings).

The top is using Night mode without Starry mode turned on. As you might be able to see, the Night mode is able to capture some stars. However, Starry Mode is unable to do so. I suspect that there is too much ambient lighting.

The Night mode requires a few seconds for it to capture properly. Usually, it can be done if you hold the camera in a stable position. The Starry mode requires a few minutes to capture. You will need a tripod to ensure it does not move during the shoot.

And as for video, it has an Ultra Night feature which is able to capture video in low light condition. I tried it. It is able to boost the light to be brighter. However, in terms of quality, it is very noisy and with the usual video lagging found in most smartphone cameras.

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For the selfie camera, it can take in normal photo mode, portrait mode, night mode, and in Photo or Portrait mode, you can use the AI beautification feature to smoothen the skin, enlarge the eyes or thin your face and etc. These features are commonly found in 3rd party apps but now, it is available in the smartphone.

Speakers

The realme 7 Pro uses dual stereo speakers and supports Hi-Res Audio and Dolby ATMOS. I love it. It is loud (not noisy) and has treble and some bass. If you are watching a movie with it, I am sure the experience will be good.

Summary

Overall, I love that the realme 7 Pro comes with features that are relatable in our daily usage of the phone. And with its price-point of S$499 (currently sold-out on Shopee as of this writing), it will appeal to many people.

Unfortunately, it has not received Android 11 update and I think there are room for improvement for the realme UI. Some features should be automatic. For example, I would prefer that it can switch lens when it detects a close-up object instead of having to go to the settings to set the Ultra Macro mode.

I also think that the Swipe Gestures need some time to get use too. For example, in other brands of smartphones, the gestures are similar (or the same). For realme UI, a swipe up in the middle means back to Home screen whereas a swipe up to the left or right means the Back command. It is not a big deal but it will be more intuitive to swipe left or right to execute the Back command.

Thanks again to realme for loaning the set for review.

Click Here to Check out realme 7 pro