Chinese smartphone giant Realme shared its motto "Dare to Leap" and with the launch of Realme X and Realme 3i, the brand has dared to take a leap of faith in the world of premium-level smartphones. The device has entered the Indian borders two months after being launched in China. However, it took everyone by surprise when it came with the same hardware as its China version for a lesser price.
After weeks of anticipation, Realme X's launch is about to change the face of premium smartphones with its sleek look, affordable price and latest technology. The phone comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor and a pop-up camera, which sets the expectations of a first impression very high for the Oppo sub-brand. Realme took a leap in its specs clearing its priorities to provide all-around features within a minimal price quote by adding the massive VOOK 3.0 power adapter into the box.
Nevertheless, Realme has made some bold changes and added new elements to their previous designs which are not available in other smartphones of the same cadre. The other variants are the promotional "Spiderman: Far from Home" edition which comes with a Spiderman protective case, and two variants of the master edition designed by Naoto Fukasawa representing the minute details from the onion and garlic peels.
Looks matter
Going by the looks, Realme's premium unibody is moulded with precision. The ombre back panel merges with the front elegantly due to the full-body display. The details catch the attention. The phone is engineered with utmost attention to detail with the placement of the lock button and the volume rockers within the engraved button cuts to facilitate better grip and usage of the phone. The glossy back in the variants attract fingerprints but the curve and sleek edges help the phone get a premium look.
Brightness in display
Realme X comes with a 6.53-inch AMOLED display with 1080 x 2340 pixels resolution that shows over 16m colours. Clear and vibrant display underneath the Gorilla Glass 5 gives the colours a balanced look and minimises over-saturation. The actual feel of the display technology can be tried out by viewing HD videos. It has negligible bezel at the head, sides and corners with a small bezel at the chin. The side and lower viewing angles of the display in daylight or artificial light conditions mark the better display standards brought by the Realme team.
Storage and performance
Realme through its tagline had created hype about its plan on launching the best performing mid-range phone that can tackle the premium specs of some high priced phones. The phone is packed with the latest Snapdragon 710 octa-core chipset with two RAM variants – 4GB and 8GB boxed with the base internal storage of 128GB. The phone allows a smooth functioning even after multiple minimised app trays in the background due to its optimised apps and processor that kills the heavy functioning application in the background boosting its speed and power. Realme has introduced the UFS 2.1( also known as the fast storage) storage system in the phone segment to smoothen the process of saving the large files within the device that does not allow external storage.
The optimised ColorOS 6 operating system also allows the phone to boost in speed to the device. It allows additional features like split-screen and app clone by using the splitting core usage technology, that allows negligible lag during heavy usage of the same apps in multiple app trays. We will be testing this out more thoroughly during our review.
It's all about the camera
The phone's major attraction is the 16MP pop-up selfie camera and the dual 48MP+5MP rear camera that facilitates capturing 4K images.
The camera captures sharp and vivid pictures in the daylight with great dynamic range producing saturated colours for people who need pixelated details in their pictures. The auto white balance provided by the device in the artificial light conditions raises the bar of expectations from the camera by its next software update. The pictures clicked by the rear camera produces clear images with negligible noise whereas the front-facing portrait camera produces accurate skin tone. The image processing and stabilisation in portrait mode are managed such that it does not kill the background with extensive blur, perfect conditions for playing around with the bokeh effect.
The phone provides the ultimate focus with the best stabilisation while recording videos. The EIS works well, maintaining the best exposures and doesn't alter the dynamic range.
However, the ultra-wide angle lens with the soaring megapixels would have provided a new benchmark for the camera-centric phone makers in the future. Considering the price range and the new end processor unit packed in the device, the wide-angle view can be spared. The phone also comes with features such as night mode and slow-motion that can keep the photographer in you on the toes.
Phone engineering
The smartphone packs in all the important features such as Type-C port, 3.5mm earphone jack, Dolby Atmos speakers and all the prime sensors. Its in-display fingerprint scanner is ultra-fast, responsive and accurate.
The LED notification light seems to be missing the console and could have given the phone an edge over its competitors. The sleek narrowing of the thickness from the head to the chin in the phone helps the phone loose weight against its bulky battery and pop-up camera features.
The phone is engineered with a monitoring sensor that typically helps the pop-up camera from damaging after the fall when it is opened. Multiple and rigorous engineering on the pop-up camera provides the longevity of 10 years to it.
Smoothening the experience
The ColorOS 6-based on Android 9.0 pie provides additional security features like cloning the apps and splitting user screens.
But what's important is the battery backup and Realme X's 3765 battery produces almost a day's power till you reach the bed charger with normal usage. It does not discharge because of heavy optimisation on the software level for sustaining the battery life for long. It also kills apps running in the background which saves battery.
Money speaks
The Realme X is the first premium smartphone by the cellphone giant priced at Rs 16,999 for the base variant providing 4GB RAM and the 8GB RAM is priced at Rs 19,999. The rare disclosures of the master edition will also be priced at Rs 19,999. At the same time, the limited edition of Spiderman icon pack is priced a little above the margin at Rs 20,999.
With better functions provided by low-end pricing, the basic concept of maximising technology while lowering the price is hyping the expectation for the next-gen phones from different companies. The prospects of Realme X are looking good. It is a value-for-money phone but remains to be seen how well it performs against sub-Rs 20,000 phones in the market. Stay tuned for our full review soon.
