Realme 7 Pro Review Philippines

The Realme 7 Pro has made its way to the Philippines and it promises a couple of upgrades over its predecessor.

Spoiler alert, Realme made a couple of bold choices for this device — some of them are good, while some of them are quite controversial. With that, here in our Realme 7 Pro review, we’ll see if this device is worth your time and money.

Realme 7 Pro Specs

Android 10, Realme UI
Dual SIM, Dual Standby
6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display, 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, 309ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass
TÜV Rheinland certified
2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G octa-core processor
8GB LPDDR4X RAM
Adreno 618 GPU
128GB UFS 2.1 internal storage, expandable via microSD
32-megapixel front camera, f/2.5
64-megapixel (IMX682, f/1.8) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide, f/2.3) + 2-megapixel (mono) + 2-megapixel (macro) rear cameras
Stereo speakers, Hi-Res Audio, Dolby Atmos
In-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
HSPA+, 4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Bluetooth 5.1
GPS, A-GPS, BDS, GLONASS, NAVIC
USB Type-C
Dimensions: 160.9 x 74.3 x 8.7mm
Weight: 182g
Colors: Mirror Silver, Mirror Blue
4,500mAh non-removable battery, 65W SuperDart Charge

Design and Build Quality

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Realme is one of the most imaginative brands in the market today. They keep on coming up with new designs on their every release, and the Realme 7 series is one of them.

It’s available in two colors. There’s the Mirror Silver, and the one we have here, the Mirror Blue option. It has this really dark tone, almost navy-blue-like, that looks really stealthy.

It may be made of plastic, but it sure doesn’t look like it. The Realme 7 Pro has this clean split design, with the vertical strip on the left side that transcends to the rectangular camera glass on top and the Realme logo on the bottom.

Fingerprint marks and smudges are not visible unless you look closely. You can slap in the dark clear case that it comes with to keep it clean and for extra safety in case of accidental drops.

The Realme 7 Pro is also noticeably lighter and more comfortable in the hands than the Realme 6 Pro. It only weighs 182g (from 202g) and 8.7mm thick (from 8.9mm).

On the front, we have a decent-sized 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED screen. Going with an OLED panel made the bezels relatively thin. The punch-hole on the top left for the selfie camera also helped to achieve its 90.8% screen-to-body ratio.

Realme used a Corning Gorilla Glass protection on the screen, but the actual version used was not mentioned. A screen protector is pre-applied for extra safety measures. There’s a tiny slit on the top bezel for the earpiece that doubles as the secondary speaker.

The top only has the second microphone for noise cancellation, while on the bottom we have the primary mic, a headphone jack (thankfully), USB Type-C, and the bottom-firing speaker.

We have the SIM tray on the upper left side, which can house two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card — all at the same time. Below are the volume controls, while on the other side we have the lock/power button, which has a gold accent. Nice touch.

The physical buttons provide an audible clicky sound when pressed, although it feels plasticky.

Overall, we’re satisfied with the design of the Realme 7 Pro. It doesn’t have a wow factor, but we appreciate the refreshing, clean, and compact design.

Display and Sound

Here’s where things get a bit controversial. In the specs list above, you might have notice that Realme dropped the fast 90Hz refresh rate of the Realme 6 Pro in lieu of a more vibrant Super AMOLED panel. As per the company, this is what the fans wanted, so they obliged.

But having used both devices, I gotta say it was a smart move. The difference in speed between the Realme 6 Pro’s 90Hz screen versus a regular 60Hz refresh rate that the Realme 7 Pro has is almost negligible.

That’s why it made sense to downgrade the refresh rate and upgrade the IPS to a Super AMOLED panel instead. It provides more vibrant colors, deeper contrast, and enables its Always-On Display feature. The Realme 7 Pro is also TUV Rheinland verified to protect your eyes.

The real upgrade here is in the audio department. It now has a stereo speaker setup that provides great separation. It’s good for watching movies, creating a surround sound experience, and for playing shooter games as it gives you a visualization on where footsteps are coming from. However, the overall volume and clarity is a bit lacking.

Realme also equipped the 7 Pro with Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio. If you want a more in-depth listening experience, you can plug in a pair of earphones. It doesn’t come with one, so you might want to check out Realme’s audio devices that fit your needs and budget.

Hardware and Performance

The Realme 7 Pro kept the same 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor of its predecessor. This means that it still has an Adreno 618 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of expandable storage.

Realme 7 Pro benchmark scores

With that, performance is pretty much the same: fast and reliable. You can run basic and day-to-day tasks — such as Facebook, Instagram, watching videos, taking pictures, etc — without a hitch.

Gaming was also great on the Realme 7 Pro. Despite the lack of a fast 90Hz refresh rate, playing games is really smooth. We were able to play demanding games such as Call of Duty Mobile with the graphics and frame rate settings set to High and Very High, respectively.

With that, it’s no surprise that light and popular games like Mobile Legends and PUBG Mobile also ran smoothly on this device.

Software and User Interface

As per usual, the new Realme 7 Pro runs on Android 10 OS with the Realme UI interface on top. It’s already confirmed to receive the Android 11-based Realme UI 2.0, so rest assured it’s futureproofed.

With that said, Realme UI is really clean and straightforward. Almost close to the stock-Android look and feel.

Smart Tab gives you quick access to screenshot, screen recording, and apps of your choosing. It’s enabled out of the box but remains inconspicuous on the corner, so no problems there.

Realme UI is also heavy in customization. You can opt to remove the app drawer, change the home screen layout, app animation speed, set themes, wallpapers, and icon style, and more.

Smart Driving and Riding Mode are present for safety while you’re on the road. Digital Wellbeing monitors your smartphone usage. Google’s Parental Controls lets you set limitations to regulate screen time.

If you like recording your gameplay, the Realme UI has pretty comprehensive screen recording settings. You can opt to add voice recording using the device’s microphone, change video resolution, show screen touches, and more.

Out of the 128GB of storage, 15GB of it is reserved for the system. The camera app is familiar and intuitive while the Google Keyboard is easy to get used to.

Security

Since it now has an AMOLED panel, the Realme 7 Pro now has a UD fingerprint scanner instead of a side-mounted one. The fingerprint icon lights up the moment you pick up the device so you can unlock it instantly. You can also choose from different fingerprint animations in the settings.

For faster access, you can enable the Face Unlock feature. It automatically detects your face the moment you raise the device, no need to reach for the fingerprint scanner. Plus, it works really fast and well.

The phone uses the 32-megapixel selfie camera, no night-seeing IR sensors. So in low-light, it maxes the brightness of the screen to act as a flash to see your face.

The Realme 7 Pro also has privacy features like App Lock, Kid Space, Private Safe and more.

Camera

Just like its predecessor, one of the key highlights of the Realme 7 Pro is its cameras. The main camera is now a 64-megapixel Sony IMX 682 sensor, versus the Samsung ISOCELL GW1 of the 6 Pro. Realme removed the somewhat useless short-range telephoto lens to make this upgrade.

Completing the quad-camera setup is the 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, 2-megapixel mono, and 2-megapixel macro.

Another odd change on the 7 Pro is the removal of the secondary selfie camera. Realme got rid of the ultra-wide front camera to upgrade the 16-megapixel main sensor to a sharper 32-megapixel.

Now, let’s talk about quality. The main camera unsurprisingly took stunning photos in good lighting. No visible complaints here. The colors are realistic and not over-saturated, contrast is deep, and the dynamic range is acceptable. You can enable its AI Chroma Boost to increase the vibrancy without looking too fake.

Low-light photos are also passable. You can use the Pro Nightscape mode for a brighter and sharper long-exposure shot at night.

The 8-megapixel ultra-wide does its job fine. It allows you to cram large subjects, landscapes, group shots, and shoot any scenarios without having to step back to capture everything. The corner distortions are not too bad, either.

But since it uses an 8-megapixel sensor, the quality is definitely not the best. Still, it’s enough for what it is.

The 2-megapixel mono (black and white) camera is a cool party trick. It’s basically a depth sensor with a couple of filters that you can access on the Portrait section of the camera app.

We then have a 2-megapixel macro camera. It lets you get up close to a subject by up to 4cm. It may just be a low-resolution sensor, but it’s enough to take decent photos, especially when you’re really close to the subject.

Lastly, we have the 32-megapixel selfie camera, which unsurprisingly takes sharp photos, with decent colors and contrast. That’s more than enough for video calls.

The high-resolution sensor provides a lot of room for the AI face beauty to work with.

Moreover, Nightscape works on the selfie camera of the Realme 7 Pro, perfect for low light and even pitch black shooting scenarios.

It basically lights up the screen (acting as a flash), takes a 3-second long exposure shot, and outputs a bright and surprisingly good-looking image.

The Realme 7 Pro can record up to 4K videos 30fps, slow-mo at 1080p@120fps or 720p@240fps, ultra-wide video, AI color portrait, has UIS and US Max Video stabilization, real-time bokeh, and, surprisingly, Ultra Nightscape video. All shooting modes worked swell in our tests, with similar quality to the still images.

Bottom line is, we’re impressed with the Realme 7 Pro’s cameras. All of them has their own purpose if you’re willing to play with them.

Connectivity

Thanks to the Snapdragon 720G processor, the Realme 7 Pro gets to have the latest Bluetooth 5.1 standard. It also has dual-band WiFi — all of which paired seamlessly with our home network and wireless devices.

There’s the USB Type-C port on the bottom for data, charging, and OTG support.

We then have the dual-microphone setup and decent-sounding speakers for making voice or video calls.

Battery life

Realme upgraded the 4,300mAh battery of the 6 Pro to a 4,500mAh on the Realme 7 Pro. And since it now only has a 60Hz screen and a more power-efficient AMOLED screen, the battery longevity has been improved.

As usual, we ran the PCMark battery test, where it loops different workloads until the battery reaches 20%. We ran that with the WiFi and Bluetooth off and the display brightness and volume set to 50%.

Under those circumstances, the Realme 7 Pro was able to pull 14 hours and 44 minutes of screen-on time. In real-world scenarios, it can last by up to two days of light to moderate use, while a heavy use may shorten that to an entire day or half.

The signature feature of the Realme 7 Pro is its 65W SuperDart Charge, which we only saw on flagship devices like the Realme X50 Pro 5G. In fact, this is the cheapest 65W-equipped smartphone in the Philippines.

It goes without saying that charging is ludicrously fast on this one. A quick 10-minute charge will already give you 42% of battery, while a full 100% charge will only take around 34 minutes. Overheating is also not a big issue.

Conclusion

Realme made a couple of bold moves for the Realme 7 Pro, and we can say that these decisions are made for the better. Realme brings a couple of flagship specs in its most popular midrange line.

We didn’t mind losing the 90Hz refresh rate since we got a more vibrant AMOLED screen out of it. The removal of the auxiliary ultra-wide front and telephoto rear lenses resulted in better primary shooters.

Plus, compared to its predecessor, it now has a stereo speaker, UD fingerprint scanner, bigger battery capacity, and jaw-dropping charging speeds.

Still, we do wish that Realme used a newer and more powerful processor, like what some of its competitors have. But other than that, the Realme 7 Pro is a midrange device injected with a couple of flagship features that are surely worth your time and money.

Realme 7 Pro pricing and availability in the Philippines

The Realme 7 Pro has an official price of Php17,990. It is now available Realme stores nationwide. Those who will get it until October 4 at their physical stores will get a free automatic umbrella and a Realme Band valued at Php2,390. While the first 200 units in Lazada will come with a free Realme Buds Q that’s worth Php1,490.

It’s also available on via a 6-month and 9-month 0% installment plans on Home Credit, and 0% on credit cards for 6 or 12 months.

Pros

Sleek and clean design
Vibrant and contrasty AMOLED screen
Smooth and reliable performance
Longer battery life
Jaw-dropping 65W charging

Cons

Same processor as last time