The catalog of smartphones presented by Realme is growing, offering alternatives for all budgets, with a pack of very solvent specifications and an attractive design in most models. They recently updated their family with a new member or, rather, with one who renewed certain details to make it a more rounded product. I have been able to test the Realme 7 during the last week and today I want to tell you about my experience with it.
Attractive but without much fanfare
You are going to allow me to start the house on the roof by mentioning that the official price of the realme 7 5G is 279 euros and that, at its launch, we were able to purchase it through Amazon for only 229 euros. Why do I tell you this right from the start? Because if I’m going to repeat or refer to a phrase throughout this article, it is “you can’t ask for more for less.”
That said, I want to start as usual with the aesthetic section of this phone. And the best way to define this aspect is with the headline of this section. We find a front all screen with the selfie camera embedded in the upper left corner. A 6.5 ″ IPS panel and FullHD + resolution , which has given me a correct user experience playing videos, photos and all kinds of content. Of course it is not the best screen on the market, nothing closer to reality, but it performs very well in both colors, viewing angles and brightness. But if I had to highlight something positive and something negative:
- What I appreciate the most is the 120Hz refresh rate . Without a doubt, offering 90 Hz or something higher is becoming something that the new releases must include in order to “not be left behind”. This improves the feeling both when moving through the interface and when using games that are compatible with that frequency.
- One point that generates some rejection is that the screen protrudes above the side of the phone. Not so much because I see and feel that black edge around her, no, but because it seems to me that she is more insecure when it comes to receiving accidental blows. Although this is something that can be solved with the courtesy case that I actually includes in the box of this phone.
And now that we were talking about the side, here is the phone unlock button, which includes the fingerprint reader . A system that works fantastically well, as does facial recognition with its front camera. A fast and faultless unlocking although, yes, it is not the most advanced and secure on the market.
Then, at the back, we have a striking and elegant design as the manufacturer has us used to in its latest releases. With a kind of gradient in blue that will vary depending on how the light falls on it.
And, in the upper left corner, we can see the rectangular camera module that is becoming so fashionable. A module that houses its 4-camera system, about which I will tell you more details later, and that makes the phone wobble if we try to use it resting on any surface due to its protrusion. But, once again, nothing that is not solved by putting a cover on it.
More powerful than you might expect
It seems that it has become an unwritten law that a smartphone needs a Qualcomm processor to perform decently in any range. I myself was in the group of those who thought so until I tried the Realme 6, which included a Mediatek chip. This one surprised me at the time and, once again, his older brother has done it again.
The Realme 7 technical sheet offers us a Mediatek Dimensity 800U processor, along with 6 GB of RAM and a single capacity of 128 GB UFS 2.1 of storage. A set of numbers that, if you are one of that type of user, may not attract your attention. But I can tell you that this chip is quite well optimized, especially in the gaming section.
Both in day-to-day tasks such as networks, surfing the internet or simply moving through the system, it does them without messing up. Then, when the graphics and processing load is higher, it meets without major problems even playing powerful titles like Asphalt 9 or COD . Yes, I could tell you that I have occasionally come across a small lag, but it has been something totally anecdotal.
You are probably really choosing these processors because they are cheaper than their Qualcomm counterparts and thus being able to offer your phones at a more competitive price. So, if this is so, it would seem like a more than successful option for the manufacturer.
Something that I had not told you in the design section is that the realme 7 is slightly thicker and heavier than other smartphones in this range. This is due to its 5,000 mAh battery, which obviously needs enough space to house it.
As you can imagine, the performance of this is more than correct, allowing us to reach the end of the day without problems and, even, support part of the next. All this taking into account both the dimensions of its front and the 120 Hz refresh rate. In addition, it also includes a 30 W fast charge that, in just 15 minutes of charging, we can reach 0% to X%.
Of course, this performance both fluency and autonomy are partly thanks to RealmUI that runs on Android 10 . I can tell you little about the manufacturer’s customization layer that we no longer know. It has many aspects of customization for those users that are to your liking and every time we have a more polished and optimized interface. It is not pure Android, but the feeling of fluidity is not far off.
A solvent photograph
As for the photographic section, I need to remind you that it is a smartphone below 300 euros, something that this section marks a lot in any model of this price range.
As I said at the beginning of this analysis, this phone has a total of 5 cameras:
- 48 megapixel main sensor , with focal f / 1.8.
- 8 megapixel wide-angle lens , with an f / 2.3 focal length and a 119º angle of view.
- 2 megapixel macro sensor and f / 2.4 focal length, with which we can get up to 4 cm closer to the object to be photographed.
- Black and white lens to enhance the portrait.
- 16 megapixel selfie camera and focal f / 2.1.
A set of cameras that have left me a rather bittersweet feeling when using them. In good light conditions the main sensor pulls out its chest and I would say it is ahead of several of its main competitors. Good colors, correct sharpness, an acceptable dynamic range for a phone in this range. The wide angle holds the type, with a less correct white balance than the main one, although with good detail.
However, both the macro sensor and the crop enhancement sensor give me the feeling of “being there, let me explain. Even when there is enough light, the cropping these cameras do can still fail without the geometry being too much. And, regarding the macro, I personally recommend replacing it with the x2 digital zoom of the main sensor. It is true that we will not be able to get that close to the object, but the difference in quality is overwhelming.
And, when the light falls, as you can imagine, the quality of the photography drops. If it is true that the night mode can help us a little to a better balance or to capture a little more light but, yes, sometimes it happens with the processing. Something totally normal in this price range.
The perfect choice for the tightest pockets
In short, and linking a bit with what was commented at the beginning of this article. Taking into account that we are facing a smartphone with a price below 300 euros , you cannot ask for more than what it already offers. Even in future offers, I am confident that we will be able to find it for the same price that it reached in its pre-sale, which would make it even more interesting.
A solvent design, a good screen to consume content and a sufficient set of hardware for the majority of users who will opt for this model. Those are the keys to the Realme 7.
It is true that the photographic section is not the best on the market and that, obviously, there are aesthetic details that could be improved. But if you were currently asking me about a smartphone for a tight budget, this would be one of the top of the list of options.