This year has started off industriously where smartphones are concerned. Realme, which did well for itself over 2020, has every intention of continuing the trend and has kicked off the season with two mid-range smartphones: the X7 5G and X7 Pro 5G, the second of which is with us for review. You can see that 5G is going to be a capability on mainstream phones this year and Realme is quite bullish on staying ahead of the curve on that front with its smartphones.

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Lots of extras

The most distinctive physical feature of the X7 Pro is Realme’s big tagline ‘Dare to Leap’ vertically right across one side from top to bottom. It’s impressively melded into the glass, but it’s more of an internal line and doesn’t feel like it refers to the user as such, so it may not be to everyone’s liking. OnePlus, a sister brand, did the same thing with its case for the OnePlus 8, but if one doesn’t like it, one can always change the case. Also, all tag-lines aren’t born equal and Dare to Leap hasn’t become as iconic as OnePlus’ Never Settle.

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Built into the phone’s back, it feels a bit like a garment from GAP or Benetton where the label or logo is on the outside. You could, of course, just hide it with a case, but then you would lose out on the interesting look of the device otherwise, which is in a colour variant called Fantasy, a smooth surface that reflects rainbow colours. There’s a black and a silver that don’t have the tagline.

Realme X7 5G and Realme X7 Pro 5G smartphones launched in India

The phone’s weight and general ergonomics are good. It’s not a specially heavy phone and it’s comfortable enough to hold as well. It is a bit slippery though so the case is essential, but then you have one in the large box this phone arrives in. There’s also a big fat 65W charging adaptor, in total contrast to what the long established companies are doing with their phone packages. There’s no 3.5mm jack on this phone so they’ve supplied a dongle to convert to USB-C. There’s even a screen protector thrown in. So, lots of extras!

Fast and lag-free

Talking of the screen, that’s one of the nicest things about the X7 Pro. It has a 6.5 inch AMOLED 1080x2400 pixels display with HDR-10 support and something from the domain of flagships, a 120Hz refresh rate. Gorilla Glass 5 protects this display which really is a pleasure to look at. It has brightness, colour depth and crispness — every bit a high-end display. Using the screen is a fluid experience not just because of the high refresh rate but the phone’s specs. It runs on the Mediatek Dimensity 1000+, a 7 nanometer process based SoC that’s being increasingly being appreciated for its performance. Paired up with 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage, the phone works fast and lag-free and heat-free. It should interest gamers.

The X7 Pro works on Android 10 out of the box. It is supposed to be upgrading sometime. And then we have Realme UI 1.0 as the interface on top of that. Like its brethren, it’s not an interface one can get fond of and I certainly am not a fan. I’ve found the arrangement of settings too seemingly random and of course there are uninvited apps and browser push notifications to deal with. But it does work well.

This is one of those super quick charging, topping up in just half an hour. The life of its 4,500mAh battery does great and as mentioned, the charger is in the box, which is just as well.

As ever, there are a bunch of cameras here. There’s the main 64MP lens using a Sony IMX686 sensor. This, as is the norm with other phones, will let you shoot in full resolution but otherwise the images are 16MP. In daylight, the camera does OK though it’s still possible to get fuzzy images either partially or fully. There is a night mode, but low light photography doesn’t seem to be this phone’s high point. The other lenses include the usual complement of an 8MP ultra wide, a 2MP macro and a 2MP monochrome. With all that on board you have lots of features in the camera app to play with. The selfie camera is a 32MP. In all it’s a middle-of-the-road camera setup with nothing to either strongly recommend it or diss it.

That is actually what one can say about the X7 Pro overall. While it does have a few things that can be highlighted, they aren’t likely to remain standout characteristics for very long in this fast moving market. The phone already has competition from some of its own sister brands and no doubt will have more in the next couple of months. In the end there’s nothing very ‘Dare to Leap’ about it though it’s still a nice enough phone.

Price : ₹29,999

Pros : Great display, good specs, extras in package, smooth performance even for gamers, very fast charging, stereo speakers

Cons : So-so cameras, not on Android 11 yet, the usual interface annoyances

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