Content

1. Contents of delivery
2. TECH SPECS
3. Positioning
4. Design, dimensions, controls
5. Display
6. Battery
7. Memory, chipset, performance
8. Communication capabilities
9. Камеры
10. Software
11. Competitors
12. Impressions, results

Contents of delivery

• Smartphone
• SuperDart charger 65W, 10V / 6.5A
• USB Type-C cable
• Silicone Case
• SIM card tray eject tool
• Protective film (already glued on)
• User manual, warranty card

Positioning

The realme company has presented two new smartphones of its numbered line on the Russian market – realme 7 and 7 Pro. At the same time, the manufacturer continued the trend with unobvious and sometimes not immediately understandable solutions regarding device positioning. So it happened with new products.

It is worth looking at the technical characteristics of the devices, and even if you do not know their names, it will become obvious that at some stage the manufacturer decided to change something in its approach to smartphones and their filling. The nominal senior model that came for the review is far from better than the base model in everything on paper. For understanding, I will give a short table with key characteristics, which, in theory, should clearly differentiate the models.

I think your templates have wobbled a bit too. It seems that both smartphones have processors with a hint of games, however, in the hero of the review from the gaming spirit, perhaps, only the processor remained. During the first acquaintance with the full characteristics of the devices, there was a feeling that somewhere there was an error, a typo, but I was wrong. After a short search on the net, the answer to my dumb question was found. The fact is that realme has a habit of conducting polls in its social networks like “which of these technologies would you like to see in a smartphone for XX thousand rupees (euros, dollars, rubles, underline the necessary)”, and at the same time the results of the survey are communicated to decision makers. Apparently, this is how these two smartphones appeared, whose positioning is definitely different from the clear distinction between devices in the 6th generation. Well, let’s figure it out, what is the “Pro” hero of the review.

Design, dimensions, controls

In terms of dimensions, the realme 7 Pro is slightly smaller and more compact than its nominal predecessor, the 6 Pro. In the asset of the novelty, and a lighter case (182 versus 202 grams), apparently, played a role here reduced in size case, as well as the use of plastic instead of glass on the back surface. Perhaps this move is due to the desire not to raise the cost. In my subjective opinion, glass feels more premium, even if plastic is more practical.

The material of the back is matte, while its texture catches and refracts light, beautifully reflecting it at different angles and slightly changing the color of the panel, this effect is noticeable in the photo with a smartphone. The back is visually divided into two panels with different treatment of the case, the review was given a silver color, a blue version will be on sale, both colors are calm and not flashy, the last generation looked brighter. The surface of the backrest readily collects fingerprints and external dirt, so you either had to have a lint-free cloth on hand or use the complete cover. It will also smooth out the protruding camera module, which has become thinner and rectangular in comparison with the 6 Pro. However, for now, it still creates a certain discomfort when entering text on a flat-lying device. The assembly is reliable, monolithic.

When it comes to water resistance, to quote my review of the realme X3 Superzoom, it uses the same approach:

“…. Still, certification according to the IPxx standard is not declared, but there is still water protection: an adhesive layer around the perimeter of the case, sealed with silicone glue connectors and foam rings that protect the gaps of the SIM card slot and the battery are responsible for this parameter”.

At the bottom there are the usual connectors for charging and connecting headphones. As for the controls, everything is familiar: on the left – the volume control keys and the SIM tray, on the right – the power button. The fingerprint sensor has moved into the display, a solution for many may seem controversial, because the side scanner has come to the liking of users. There are no complaints about the scanner, it works quickly and flawlessly, you can select an animation effect for it, as well as turn on the sound. It will not play in silent or vibration mode. The use of an optical scanner in the case of the realme 7 Pro is another way to emphasize (and maybe justify) the use of an AMOLED display.

Display

As is often the case in the company’s devices, a factory-made film is glued to the display, it traditionally holds firmly and can do a good job for those who are not entirely careful in handling gadgets. It reveals the absence of any oleophobic coating, which does not interfere with the work with the screen, the finger glides confidently. The frames are medium in thickness, I would not call them thin.

In the presented smartphones, the manufacturer did not abandon the cutout in the screen, however, the number of front cameras was reduced to one. And here AMOLED also comes to the rescue: the combination of deep black and dark wallpaper allows you to better hide the notorious cutout, in comparison with IPS it looks more advantageous. We will not give up the thought of the camera under the display, realme, just be sure.

With the resolution, everything is clear, justified and logical, FHD + is becoming an increasingly popular parameter for smartphones of different price segments. But with the refresh rate, everything is not so rosy. The display used in realme 7 Pro does not have an increased hertz range, but there is an analogue of the Always-On functionality. Looking in this regard at the two new smartphones, I thought hard what is more important for me – a high refresh rate or Always-On with a suitable black color. Probably, for each smartphone in different ways, it all depends on its positioning. It will be interesting to read your opinion on this in the comments. And my final verdict will be formed after testing realme 7.

I liked the screen in the tested smartphone, first of all, in the context of the dark theme, here it looks definitely better than on IPS. Of course, from the screen settings, I will highlight the always-on display mode, you can select the displayed items and set the work schedule. The display style is one, the option to customize it is not yet included in the assembly, and it is unclear whether there will be. Three color modes are also available in the settings: simplified color (sRGB), rich (DCI-P3) and extended (DCI-P3 with brighter reds and greens). AMOLED color reproduction is closer to me, probably because most of my personal smartphones had such a screen. For those whose eyes are sensitive to PWM, the DC Dimming mode is provided, it is available in the settings, item “Realme laboratory”. There is also an option for smooth scrolling (90 Hz absence compensation?) And “night super standby”, which optimizes energy consumption at night by reducing the activity of applications, sensors and limiting the network connection.

The peak brightness is stated at 600 nits, which is very good for the money. It is clear that it cannot be achieved in manual mode, but in adaptive mode it is possible. There is support for HDR10 + content, when viewed on YouTube, brightness and contrast are automatically improved. Of course, not every video is shot in this format, so you need to search.

After testing the device, I personally had no complaints about the display, if you do not repeat the moment about the notch. Once again, I was convinced that AMOLED is closer to me, although at this stage IPS-screens no longer cause those complaints that before, the second smartphone was just with this technology, and there is no rejection.

Battery

Probably one of the most significant “tricks” of a smartphone is the 65W SuperDart fast charging. It is able to fully charge the smartphone in 34 minutes, on the lock screen you can see how the percentages run, the speed at first is amazing. In my scenario, the full charge was reached in 37 minutes, the indicator declared at the presentation was obtained when the airplane mode was turned on. A few more figures: 3 minutes of charging – 13% of the charge, 12 minutes – 50%, during the game – 43% in 30 minutes. The indicators are flagship, the same power, for example, in the recently presented OnePlus 8T.

This speed is achieved by directly charging two 2250 mAh battery cells. Additional technologies provide power regulation to avoid overheating, surge protection and short circuit protection. In general, everything that we saw in the flagship realme X2 Pro, only in a more budgetary smartphone, good functionality. The sensations are the same as from the increased hertzovka: it seems to be an optional thing, but smartphones with slower charging begin to be perceived as something from the past generation. There is also reverse charging over the wire, not the fastest.

The looping test showed 25 hours, which corresponds to the performance of the realme 6 Pro on the same processor in 60 Hz mode and a slightly increased battery capacity. The mixed mode will give one and a half to two days of work, depending on the time the screen is on. Honestly, with such a charging speed, it’s easy to forget about your previous scenarios for replenishing the battery capacity, let alone an energy-saving mode. Yes, it will definitely come in handy if you have to be away from the outlet, in normal scenarios SuperDart fast charging is very helpful. It is worth noting that the power supply is rather big, for the sake of such speed, you can free up space for it in your bag or pockets of outerwear.

Memory, chipset, performance

Performance indicators, logically, should be identical to those in realme 6 Pro, this is evidenced by the “hardware”: the same processor, the same amount and class of RAM and permanent memory. Indeed, during testing in Player Unknown’s Battleground Mobile in the PerfDog utility, almost the same results were recorded: the average FPS during a gaming session was 29.6 frames per second when the processor was heated to 52.3 degrees. The body was noticeably warm in the area to the right of the camera, not scalding, but there was heat. The processor load was 48% on average.

Synthetic tests everywhere show a small increase in “parrots”, most likely, this is the result of hardware optimization. There are no questions about the overall operation of the system, the interface is responsive and works without brakes, not a single crash or slowdown was noticed.

Communication capabilities

Here realme 7 Pro is packed to its fullest: GPS with a quick start, clearly working NFC, as well as stereo speakers, the absence of which I noted in the review of realme 6 Pro. The volume is more than enough, stereo sound is useful in games where it is necessary to have an orientation in space and understand from which side one or another sound is heard. The interlocutors did not complain about the audibility and intelligibility of speech, there were no problems with the transmission of speech on my side.

Камеры

The main module of the camera system has a resolution of 64 megapixels, this time it is a Sony IMX682 sensor, which is installed in Samsung Galaxy M31s and M51, POCO X3 NFC and a number of other smartphones. Here, the Quad Bayer technology, already familiar to many users, glues 4 neighboring pixels into one, resulting in a detailed frame with a resolution (in this case) of 16 megapixels.

The quality of shooting in automatic mode on the main module, as expected, depends on the quality of lighting, if there is enough of it, then detailed frames are obtained with a small amount of noise, the dynamic range is at a decent level, if desired, it can be slightly corrected with the option “Vivid AI colors” the case there are misses with the color rendition. So it is better to turn it on when, according to sensations, one or another shade needs to add saturation. If you shoot in full resolution mode, the detail becomes richer, and the amount of noise increases. If you do not strive for the number of pixels, then the auto mode with 16 megapixel frames will also suit. Portraits are also on par, high-quality bokeh and good contrast. Night shots in automatic mode are best taken in a separate mode or even using a tripod and the mode of the same name.

The 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens replaces the telephoto lens in both. This fact is likely to confuse some users, for example, those who often do subject photography. There are no questions about the quality of the frames, except that at times the white balance “dances”, well, there are usually questions about the dynamic range. But visual artifacts and noise are minimal. The auxiliary lenses are unremarkable, the depth sensor works flawlessly.

The front camera of the realme 7 Pro received a resolution of 32 megapixels, the ultra-wide angle was abandoned here, apparently, the users also decided this when voting. I do not exclude the moment with the price, they could have decided to leave one camera for a more adequate price tag. The module produces quite adequate quality frames, especially if you look at colors and contrast. The dynamic range is also pleasing, but the detailing fails in places. Face unlocking is fast, but the print on the screen is a little faster and, of course, more reliable.

Several filters for night photography (“Cyberpunk”, “Flamingo” and “Modern Gold”) have been added to the camera software, they change the color scheme, it turns out in a peculiar way, it is interesting for social networks and similar creativity. Video shooting received a new AI Color Portrait mode, it allows you to select red, blue or green when shooting, and leave other objects in black and white. In the process of shooting, you can take a photo, which I did not fail to use. In general, you can indulge, the idea on the market is not new, I have come across a similar option in Moto devices. Support for two modes of stabilization when shooting video is also in place, as well as fast and slow motion. There are also modes for night shooting: normal and tripod mode with a shutter speed of about 40 seconds.

Software

With the exception of the mentioned innovations in the camera and additional tools, the realme UI 1.0 shell visually remained unchanged. Nice interface, clean, no ads, there is a screen recording and calls. Interestingly, realme 7 Pro will be one of the first to receive an interface update to version 2.0, according to information on the network, this will happen in November. The update promises to add new icons and wallpapers, one more dark theme, rework the permissions and improve privacy, the full list of improvements will be clear after the update, which we will try to tell you about in a separate article.

Competitors

At the start of sales, realme 7 Pro will be sold for 24 rubles, later the price will roll back to the level of 990 rubles, it seems to me too high. In the indicated range, competitors are quite obvious. First of all, this is the realme 27 Pro, which offers the same processor, higher IPS screen frequency, glass back and telephoto lens for 990 rubles. You can take a look at the fresh POCO X6 NFC, which costs less (22 rubles) and offers 990 Hz support in individual menus and applications, a slightly faster processor, 3 vs. 21 GB of RAM and a slightly more capacious battery. Nevertheless, I will adhere to what I said in the comments to the review of the smartphone from POCO: its direct competitor, in my opinion, is the realme 990 model.

In the same company we will add the Vivo V20 smartphone, remarkable for its photo capabilities, it costs 26 rubles, it has a 990 megapixel front camera and the ability to work with Android 44 now, the processor is the same – Qualcomm Snapdragon 11G.

From left to right: Oppo Reno 4 Lite, POCO X3 NFC, realme 6 Pro, realme 7, realme 7 Pro, Samsung Galaxy M31s, Vivo V20. A source

The Samsung Galaxy M31S also looks good here: it has a camera system similar in the number of megapixels and types of lenses, an AMOLED display and a 6000 mAh battery at a cost of 22 rubles. That’s just the RAM in it is not 990, but 8 gigabytes. In general, you can add Oppo Reno 6 Lite here, if you have no prejudice about MediaTek processors, according to Eldar Murtazin’s impressions, the chip is quite smart and able to work adequately. On paper, the front-facing camera system is slightly behind, the price tag of 4 rubles, in my opinion, is somewhat overstated. If you wish, you can also look at realme 24. The advantage of realme 990 Pro over all the mentioned models is fast charging, its speed is absolutely not typical for this price segment.

Impressions, results

New items can be safely called ambiguous in terms of positioning. Nominally, the older model retained the hardware platform of its predecessor, having received a number of top-end “chips” from the flagship models and at the same time yielding to the “younger” model with an increased refresh rate. Realme 7 Pro stands out for its very fast charging, AMOLED display and stereo speakers, there are a number of interesting shooting modes. The visual part of the new products is to my liking, there will definitely be those who prefer a brighter design.

I would rate realme 7 Pro as a good smartphone for AMOLED lovers, however, when choosing between the presented novelties of realme, I would advise you to choose your preferred scenarios and build on them. The competitors are not lagging behind, in comparison with which realme 7 Pro looks advantageous in some aspects, but only at a cost of 24. The step with new smartphones is at least unusual. How do you like these realme experiments?

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