realme, for the first time in India, has launched its two new 5G smartphones, the realme X7 Pro being the flagship in its segment and the realme X7 as the midranger. The realme X7 Pro equips the new and powerful Dimensity 1000+ CPU which is the flagship chip from MediaTek, a 120 Hz Super AMOLED screen, and 65W fast charging. Here’s what we have to say about the realme X7 Pro in our review.
realme X7 Pro Specifications
- Display: 6.55-inch Super AMOLED display, 120 Hz refresh rate, 240 Hz touch sampling rate, 1200 nits brightness
- Software: realme UI 1.0, Android 10
- CPU: 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ octa-core CPU up to 2.6 GHz Cortex-A77
- GPU: Mali-G77 MC9 (9-core) Graphics
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Storage: 128 GB on-board, no microSD card support
- Main Camera: Quad Cameras (64 MP Sony IMX686 primary + 8 MP ultra-wide-angle + 2 MP macro + 2 MP depth), LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 32 MP
- Connectivity: USB Type-C, 3.5 mm port (via adapter), Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS
- Security: In-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
- Cellular: Dual 5G network, nano SIMs, no microSD card slot
- Battery: 4,500 mAh, 15 hours video playback
- Charging: 65W SuperDart Charge fast charging, 100% in 35 minutes
- Price: ₹29,999 (8 GB RAM + 128 GB Storage)
- Availability: 10th February 2021, 12 PM on Flipkart, realme.com, and offline stores
realme X7 Pro: Design, Display, & Build
The realme X7 Pro features a glass finish design, the backside, and the front side is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 with a glossy reflective 3D design. The back offers a quad-camera setup on the top-left and the bottom-left has a realme branding as usual. The sides are plastic, non-metallic but the overall build quality is solid and comfortable to hold. It’s 8.5 mm slim and light in weight – 184 grams.
What’s surprising here is its display, the front side offers a 6.55-inch Super AMOLED almost bezel-less display with a fast 120 Hz refresh rate, 240 Hz touch sampling rate. It offers a 1200 peak brightness which is comparable to flagship devices like iPhones.
realme says this is the most cutting-edge phone screen to date in its family, it uses a Super AMOLED panel from Samsung with 100% DCI-P3 color space, 4096 levels of brightness adjustment, and hardware-levels of low blue light. The screen offers an in-display fingerprint scanner for securing the phone.
You will find a punch-hole camera on the front with a single selfie camera. The bottom side has a USB Type-C port with fast charging support, a loudspeaker, microphone, and dual SIM tray, whereas the top side has nothing but a second microphone.
The SIM tray here has two 5G slots both on dual 5G standby, and the speakers are stereo, another speaker is the earpiece which couples with the loudspeaker to give a stereo effect, good for the multimedia experience.
Take a look at our unboxing and first impressions of the realme X7 Pro.
realme X7 Pro: Software & User Interface
On the software side, the realme X7 Pro runs on the home-grown realme UI version 1.0 based on Android 10 with a security patch dated 5th December 2020. It would be great if we see Android 11 out-of-the-box, but that’s what the realme X7 Pro has to offer for now. realme seems working on the realme UI 2.0 based on the Android 11 operating system, and hopefully, we expect it to air on the realme X7 Pro.
The realme UI 1.0 on the realme X7 Pro feels super smooth, thanks to the 120 Hz display and 240 Hz touch sampling rate, you will feel the interface is fast and light. The transitions and the animations appear to be ultra-smooth when you interact on the screen or with the UI. There’s nothing much to say, the realme UI 1.0 seems identical to the other realme smartphones.
Speaking of the pre-installed apps on the phone, you get a bunch of third-party apps like Facebook, Flipkart, Amazon, WPS Office as well as a few apps from realme. You may remove the ones you don’t need, most apps can be removed from the system.
realme X7 Pro: Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
The main highlight of the phone is its CPU, it packs a 7nm MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ flagship CPU clocked at 2.6 GHz coupled with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB onboard storage. There’s no other storage and RAM variant as of now, and this is by far the second Android smartphone with the Dimensity 1000+ CPU, the first being the OPPO Reno5 Pro 5G.
The Mediatek Dimensity 1000+ is a high-end SoC with 5G support consisting of four ARM Cortex-A77 cores clocked at 2.6 GHz and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2 GHz (octa-core with heterogeneous multi-processing). Furthermore, the chip integrates a 9-core ARM Mali-G77 MC9 GPU for graphics application.
On the performance side, in a nutshell, it lies between the Snapdragon 855+ and the Snapdragon 865, both being the flagship chips competing the Dimensity 1000+. Our benchmarks suggest that the Dimensity 1000+ crosses over 5,21,000 points in the AnTuTu benchmark, higher than the Snapdragon 855+.
The Geekbench 5 CPU benchmark scores 714 points in single-core and 2,355 in multi-core. Geekbench 5 GPU benchmark scores 4851 points. The read-write speed of the UFS storage is at a peak of 967 MB/s (read) and 490 MB/s (write).
On the gaming front, the Dimensity 1000+ packs a Mali-G77 MC9 9-core GPU for gaming with Vapor Cooling System and Tactile Engine for vibrations in the games. The GPU is powerful and, no doubt, remarkable, it’s as good as the Adreno 640 and optimized for the games. The overall performance of the GPU is one of the fastest in its segment and therefore able to run all games fluently.
realme X7 Pro: Cameras
On the camera’s front, you will find a quad-camera setup at the rear side and a single camera on the front. There’s a 64 MP main camera utilizing the Sony IMX686 sensor, 8 MP ultra-wide-angle, 2 MP macro sensor, and 2 MP depth sensor. Pretty much the same configuration you see in their midrangers, however, the primary sensor is from Sony instead of Samsung, hence the performance could be slightly better. The front side has a 32 MP camera for selfie needs.
Speaking of the camera interface and features, you will see the usual modes with the new and enhanced ultra night mode, Movie mode, and 64 MP manual mode. You will find Portrait, 64 MP (with manual), Ultra Macro, Panorama, Slo-mo (240 fps), Time-Lapse, Movie mode, wide-angle, bokeh video, ultra steady video, as well as ultra night mode in video.
The camera records 4K at 60 fps and slow-motion videos at 240 fps on a 720p resolution (120 fps at 1080p). You can record the wide Cinema view using the Movie mode with manual controls, the camera utilizes the full screen in this mode.
Speaking of the camera quality, the primary sensor i.e. the IMX686 is a charm in its quad setup, it captures amazing still shots in the daylight, and using decent night shots or low-light shots. You may use the ultra night mode, but need to hold the phone still for a couple of seconds as it doesn’t offer you stabilization.
Selfies turn out to be good and better than expected. The portraits are good in the daylight, but you can’t zoom in the portrait mode, wide-angle and macro shots are just okay, nothing special, their performance can be comparable with the midrangers.
Take a look at these samples we took from the realme X7 Pro camera.
realme X7 Pro Camera Samples
realme X7 Pro: Battery & Charging
The realme X7 Pro offers a battery of 4,500 mAh capacity with fast charging support. The battery performance is fair, the 4,500 mAh battery should provide a battery life of up to 2 days on average use, or 1.5 days if you are using it mode often. With the Full HD+ Super AMOLED display and stereo speakers, you can enjoy as much as 15 hours of continuous video playback on a full charge battery.
You will find that there’s the 65W SuperDart fast charging which is among the fastest charging smartphone technologies in the world and it merely charges the battery in 35 minutes from 0% to 100%. Sounds cool, isn’t it? Although we saw the same charging tech on its midrange realme 7 Pro. Aside from this, it offers you about 55 minutes of heavy gaming in 3 minutes of charging, handy if you are a gamer.
Other things about its battery, the realme X7 Pro can survive as much as 89 minutes on texting if there’s only 5% battery remaining and in power-saving mode. It supports OTG reverse charging 2.5W (5V, 5A) meaning it can be used as a power bank to charge other phones.
realme X7 Pro: Verdict
realme X7 Pro’s 65W ultra-fast charging, the amazing 120 Hz Super AMOLED, and the flagship-level performance from the Dimensity 1000+ are some really nice and impressive traits, not forgetting the stereo speakers’ experience. The price for the realme X7 Pro is ₹29,999 for its 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant and competes with the ₹27,999 OnePlus Nord, and it’s clear that the realme X7 Pro emerges with a better overall position in terms of performance, display, and charging.
Rivals
- OnePlus Nord (8 GB + 128 GB) – ₹27,999
- Samsung Galaxy M51 (8 GB + 128 GB) – ₹24,999
- Xiaomi Mi 10T (8 GB + 128 GB) – ₹34,999
Strength
- Super bright screen (1200 nits brightness)
- 120 Hz smooth and responsive | Super AMOLED panel
- Fast 7nm Dimensity 1000+ CPU | Good gaming performance
- Mind-boggling 65W charging | 100% in 35 minutes
- Stereo Speakers
- Dual 5G SIM Support
- Good battery performance
- 64 MP camera is impressive for stills
Weakness
- No microSD card slot
