Realme 2 Pro Review: The “Real” Realme 1 Successor?

Realme has launched the company’s latest smartphone, the Realme 2 Pro, in India at a great starting price of Rs. 13,990. The new device carries the ‘Pro’ moniker and brings some noticeable improvements over the Realme 2. The company is banking on the Realme 2 Pro’s faster performance, better imaging hardware and a more appealing design with the teardrop notch to fill the potholes left by the Realme 2’s underwhelming performance.

Today, we have the top-end version of the Realme 2 Pro which packs 8GB of RAM coupled with 128GB of internal storage, while an octa-core Snapdragon 660 SoC ticks under the hood. The Realme 2 Pro starts at Rs. 13,990 for the entry-level model which packs 4 gigs of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

So, is the Realme 2 Pro worth all the hype? Is the new Realme smartphone a genuine contender which can dethrone the Redmis out there and become the next mid-range champion? Well, an exhaustive review is the only way to find out.

Realme 2 Pro Specifications

One of the biggest improvements introduced by the Realme 2 Pro is the faster Snapdragon 660 processor, which is a huge upgrade from the Snapdragon 450 inside the Realme 2 which delivered a sub-par performance. Moreover, an upgraded imaging hardware and higher memory configurations present the Realme 2 Pro as an alluring mid-range offering. So, let’s take a look at the Realme 2 Pro’s specifications first:

What’s In The Box?

The Realme 2 Pro comes packaged inside a very minimalist box with the signature red and white accents, and the same story of minimalism trickles down to the box contents. The box contents cover just the fundamental accessories, and honestly, we cannot complain about the lack of goodies such as a headphone, especially at such a competitive price point. Let’s have a look at what comes bundled inside the Realme 2 Pro’s retail packaging:

• Realme 2 Pro smartphone
• Transparent protective cover
• 1 USB Cable
• 1 Adapter
• User manual
• SIM ejector tool
• Warranty card

Design and Build Quality

Realme has taken a very different design approach for their new smartphone which is all about understated aesthetics, smooth curves and a solid in-hand feel.

Personally, I like the new design philosophy adopted by the company for the Realme 2 Pro.

The device is made out of a material which looks and feels like glass, save for the rim around the edges which is coated in a matte black color to match the shade of the rear panel, which the company calls Black sea. However, the device also comes in Blue Ocean and Ice Lake color options. The edges are curved ever so subtly and they perfectly merge with the metallic rim without any sharp corners whatsoever.

When it comes to in-hand feel, the Realme 2 Pro is a joy to use.

The top edge is barren except for a single microphone hole, while the bottom edge houses the USB Type-A Port, another microphone hole and the speaker grill. On the right side is the power button, which is located at just the perfect height to comfortably reach with the thumb, while the left edge houses the two volume buttons.

All the buttons provide a good tactile feedback, and despite being recessed compared to other smartphones, they don’t feel mushy at all.

The right edge also houses the SIM+microSD tray which can host two nano SIM cards and a microSD card simultaneously. Thankfully, Realme did not go for the hybrid slot which sacrifices the dual SIM functionality if you want to use a microSD card slot.

There is a very assuring heft to the Realme 2 Pro, and I can assure you that the Realme 2 Pro does not look any less premium than other smartphones in the same price bracket out there, and even those which are priced considerably higher.

The glossy rear panel has a slight depth effect to it, which looks nice.

But there is a downside to all that glossy charm, as the Realme 2 Pro is a fingerprint magnet. And truth be told, if you don’t use a protective cover, you’ll find yourselves cleaning the rear panel multiple times throughout the day. The glossy rear panel is made via the injection molding process which requires 15 layers of sectional lamination and is claimed to be heat and impact resistant to a certain extent.

The Realme 2 Pro is a piece of beauty on its own, but when you compare it with the Realme 2’s flashy design with diamond-cut patterns and an overall blocky profile, you’ll realize that the Realme 2 Pro is really a much more refined device in terms of build and aesthetics.

The dual rear camera set-up is located at the left corner and is surrounded by a pill-shaped metallic enclosure, accompanied by an LED flash, while a slightly recessed fingerprint sensor sits below it.

All in all, Realme has done a really good job when it comes to the Realme 2 Pro’s design and build quality, and at that price point, there is hardly any other smartphone out there which can outdo the Realme 2 Pro on the fronts of aesthetics.

Display

The Realme 2 Pro packs a 6.3-inch FullHD+ (1080×2340) display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of 409 PPI. The side and top bezels are virtually non-existent, with only a 5.5 mm thick chin at the bottom with rounded edges, granting the device an impressive 90.8% screen-to-body.

Coming to the Realme 2 Pro’s signature design element, there is a waterdrop-shaped notch at the top, or as the company likes to call it, a dewdrop notch. We have already seen this notch design on the Oppo F9 and the F9 Pro, and it looks equally stunning on the Realme 2 Pro. The minimalist appeal of the tiny, waterdrop notch is a beauty in itself and looks way better than the ugly, wide notch we have come to see on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max trio, as well as an increasing number of Android smartphones.

The notch houses the proximity and the ambient sensor as well as the front facing camera, and above it sits the small earpiece which is nearly as wide as the wide notch itself. Realme claims the earpiece employs a new channel sound transmission technology which ensures that the size of the audio hardware is small without compromising the sound fidelity.

As for the display itself, it is simply gorgeous and quite brilliant when it comes to color reproduction, which is why hues appear punchy and saturation is never an issue.

My only qualm is that the blacks are not as deep as AMOLED panels, but overall, the Realme 2 Pro’s display won’t disappoint you. When it comes to sunlight legibility, the Realme 2 Pro’s display performs significantly better than the panel on similarly priced devices such as the Redmi Note 5 Pro and the Xiaomi Mi A2, both of which pack an LCD panel too.

The peak brightness level of the Realme 2 Pro’s LCD panel is sufficient to render all content perfectly under daylight. However, under direct sunlight, there is a noticeable dimming, but not strong enough to render the text on the screen unreadable. Viewing angles are also decent, and there is minimal washing out of colors when you watch the content on it from different angles.

But there is one major issue that will surely annoy users in the long run- content optimization. While playing games or watching videos in full-screen mode, the notch covers up a small area of the on-screen content and stands out as an eyesore. This was particularly noticeable in case of games like PUBG, in which the shooting button was half covered by the notch.

The issue can be resolved by tweaking the full-screen tool in the settings menu, which hides the notch by applying a black bar of the same height. But then, it also adjusts the native aspect ratio of the on-screen content, which either leaves a blank space at the edges or stretches out the content.

In case of games like Injustice 2, the aspect ratio adjustment simply stretched out the content to fill the whole screen, which is certainly not appealing to look. Similarly, in case of YouTube videos, you either have to live with the blank space around the content in its native resolution, or stretch out the content and let the notch cover a portion of it.

Another issue is the bottom bezels. It is evident that Realme utilized a rectangular LCD panel which has been covered with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass on top and a thick chin of bottom bezels with rounded edges. The rounded bezels hide a little bit of content at the two bottom corners of the LCD panel, and it does create an issue if you use the full-screen mode with navigation gestures.

For example, in case of PUBG, the rounded bottom bezel covered a significant portion of the ‘x’ button used to go back in the game’s UI. We hope that Realme resolves this content optimization issue, or else, it would emerge as a major drawback for a beautiful display which can easily be regarded as one of the best in its price bracket.

User Interface: ColorOS is Just Meh!

The Realme 2 Pro boots ColorOS 5.2 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. Let me tell this to you firsthand- the UI is fluid, but the aesthetics are not as clean as you would expect from stock Android. I won’t rule out ColorOS as being a terrible Android skin, but it needs a lot of visual and functional refining to catch up with the likes of stock Android or even other Android skins.

I encountered no problems while using the smartphone, but the design of the default icons took some time getting used to. Now let’s talk about some of the ColorOS features which I certainly found nifty. First of all, there is a dedicated ‘Smart Assistant’ feature which can be accessed by swiping right on the home screen.

The Smart Assistant basically acts as a command center where users can access tools such as Quick Functions for quickly launching frequently used apps, check the weather, track health vitals such as steps walked, and do a lot more. The whole section can be customized to a limited extent with widgets, tools and content users want to access in a jiffy.

There is a similar feature called ‘Smart Sidebar’, which allows users to populate it with certain apps they use frequently and always want them at their disposal. The ‘Smart Sidebar’ can be accessed by swiping a thin sidebar at either edge of the screen.

You can add around 12 apps to the ‘Smart Sidebar’ widget which is divided into three boxes, with the one at bottom housing the apps. The one at the center hosts quick tools for taking a screenshot and screen recording, while the one at the top houses the File Access tool and the default camera app.

Another noteworthy feature I discovered in ColorOS was that it offers four different versions of navigation gestures, which differ in the way the ‘recent’ and ‘app switch’ tools can be accessed. Although it is not a standout feature, it is definitely a neat addition, especially for left-handed users. Apart from that, there are a few other nifty features such as:

• Personal information protection to safeguard the security of sensitive information such as call history, contacts messages, etc.

Talking about security, the device has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor which is quite fast and easily recognizes the fingerprints in less than a second. The Realme 2 Pro also has support for Face Unlock functionality, which is surprisingly fast too.

The facial recognition feature is more reliable when used in a well-lit environment, because the authentication feature performs erratically in dim surroundings. 

• ‘Fake base station blocking’ to protect users from getting duped by malicious parties who send fraudulent messages and ads disguised as base stations of genuine mobile operators.

• A ‘Kids Space’ mode which restricts smartphone usage time and access to certain apps, prohibits app installation/deletion and system modification, restricts cellular usage and also prevents apps from sending messages which facilitate transactions.

• Security features such as ‘Realme Secure Keyboard’, ‘Verification Code Protection’, restricting the ability to enable screen recording or taking a screenshot, etc.

These were the features that I found to be particularly useful, and even though a majority of them can be found on other custom Android skins too in one form or the other, their mere presence certainly bodes well for Realme’s Android skin.

ColorOS does not offer anything extraordinary which can make it stand out from the crowd, but it does a host a majority of tools and features that won’t leave users wanting for more.

So, as I said earlier, ColorOS is just meh, but a cleaner interface with a dash of minimalist styling would have been much better.

Performance: The ‘Pro’ Badge is Justified

Realme might not have excelled at developing a great Android skin with ColorOS, but the company certainly nailed it when it comes to choosing the right processor for the Realme 2 Pro in the Snapdragon 660, and then optimizing it for the software.

Right off the bat, the device simply blazes past any task you throw at it.

And hey, having 8GB of RAM at your disposal certainly helps, which is why we are a little skeptical whether the Realme 2 Pro’s low-end version with 4GB of RAM will be able to deliver the same blazing fast performance.

Apps like the camera, dialer, WhatsApp and Instagram launched without a hitch, and so was the case with resource-intensive apps like PUBG, Mortal Kombat X, although the latter two took their own sweet time to load. However, once the apps started, there was minimal to no stuttering or lag, except on a few occasions which are too few to mention.

I won’t say that the Realme 2 Pro is lightning fast, but yeah, you certainly won’t find yourself complaining about a sluggish user experience.

Coming to the performance aspects, here is how the Realme 2 Pro fared at benchmark tests:

The Realme 2 Pro scored an impressive 133324 points on AnTuTu, which is in line with other smartphones packing the same chipset, and significantly higher than other smartphones in the same price bracket. On Geekbench 4, the Realme 2 Pro posted 5419 points on the charts in multi-core test, while the single core points tally stood at 1451 points.

When it comes to the graphics-intensive 3DMark benchmark, Realme 2 Pro’s points tally stood at 1235 in 3DMark’s Sling Shot Extreme – OpenGL ES test and 975 points in the 3DMark’s Sling Shot Extreme – Vulkan test. For the sake of comparison, here’s how the Realme 2 Pro fared against the Xiaomi Mi A2 and the Nokia 6.1 Plus Pro on synthetic benchmarks:

But as we have repeatedly stressed in the past, synthetic benchmarks are just a flash of a device’s performance and they do not truly reflect a smartphone’s in-hand performance. So, I tested the device in multiple scenarios which involved heavy multitasking with at least 10-12 apps running in the background, split-screen multitasking, frequently switching between apps, videography, and a lot more. The Realme 2 Pro handled it all without a hitch. 

In a bid to really push the device to its limits, I tested multiple games on the device ranging from lightweight games such as Cut The Rope, Angry Birds and Doodle Army 2: Mini Militia to graphically-intensive titles such as PUBG, Mortal Kombat X and Injustice 2 and Asphalt 9: Legends.

PUBG was set to medium graphics settings at default and ran without a hitch, and even after upping the graphics settings to ‘High’ and the frame rate to the highest level with realistic graphics style, the battle royale game ran without any stutter or noticeable frame drop at all.

The next game I tried on the Realme 2 Pro was the very resource-intensive Mortal Kombat X, and just as in the case of PUBG, the fighting game worked flawlessly without any lag or freezing at all, however, I wish that the amount of time it took to load the game could have been lesser.

In case of Injustice 2, the Realme 2 Pro’s Snapdragon 660 processor proved more than capable enough to run the game without any stutter whatsoever, which is nothing short of a solid statement because Injustice 2 is one of the most resource-intensive games out there. I did notice a few occasional frame drops, but they were too few to mention and didn’t spoil the gameplay in any manner.

The last game I tried on the Realme 2 Pro was Asphalt 9: Legends, and despite some initial skepticism whether the device would be able to the graphics of the demanding game, I came to realize that the Realme 2 Pro’s chipset is powerful enough to handle the game with ease.

Camera: Good, But Not Outstanding

The Realme 2 Pro packs a 16MP + 2MP dual rear camera set-up, accompanied by a 16MP front sensor. The Realme 2 Pro’s imaging hardware is a significant upgrade over the Realme 2’s camera set-up, but does the higher megapixel count of the Realme 2 Pro’s sensors provide a noteworthy improvement in the camera performance? Let’s find out.

Daylight Shots

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The Realme 2 Pro’s camera captures sufficiently detailed images in broad daylight with vibrant colors and adequate depth, however, there are two sore points that will keep the images from being a knockout. First of all, there is a lot of overexposure and unnecessary processing which somewhat washes out the colors, especially if the object in focus has a rich color profile.

Even when the HDR mode is on, there is only a minor difference that you will notice in the color reproduction. So, if you are a fan of punchy shades and value color accuracy, then the Realme 2 Pro is certainly not the right device for you.

Bokeh Shots

When it comes to Bokeh shots, the Realme 2 Pro performed reasonably well and delivered some really good shots with rich details and vibrant hues. However, the same overexposure issue persists here too, with the image processing algorithm washing out the colors in a bid to make the images appear brighter and smoother. Depth details are sufficient, but when it comes to object recognition, the device fails frequently.

Edge detection is certainly not the smartphone’s forte, because the blurring between the background and foreground is often riddled with inaccuracies, and parts of the subject in focus are often mistakenly blurred.

Take a look at the image below and you’ll know what I am talking about:

However, if you can ignore the slight inaccuracy in the object detection and faulty blurring while taking bokeh shots in broad daylight, the Realme 2 Pro can certainly be trusted with taking some Instagram-worthy photos. There are a few filters too, which can come in handy if you want to take artistic photos, but do keep in mind that you can’t control the intensity of the filter you are applying.

When it comes to the quality of bokeh shots clicked by the Realme 2 Pro in daylight, it falters on some aspects such as excessive processing, and excels at some parameters such as capturing more depth.

As you can see in the images below, the Mi A2 captures better quality images when it comes to color accuracy, while the Redmi Note 5 Pro produces a hazy effect. The Realme 2 Pro for one, loses some points for an underwhelming edge detection, but the overall color profile is pleasant enough.

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Low Light Shots

What the Realme 2 lacks in daylight photography, it more than makes up for it in low-light photography. In low-light conditions or environs with dim artificial lighting, the Realme 2 Pro’s camera really shines and captures better quality images than the Xiaomi Mi A2 and the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Just take a look at some of the sample shots clicked in low-light conditions:

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There is some noise in the photos clicked at night, but the colors are punchy and the overprocerssing issue is barely noticeable here.

The Realme 2 Pro’s imaging prowess is again at full display when it comes to capturing bokeh shots in indoor conditions. Just take a look at a few comparison shots taken with the Realme 2 Pro, the Mi A2 and the Redmi Note 5 Pro and you will see how the Realme device outperforms its rivals:

Selfies

The Realme 2 Pro can take some decent quality shots with its 16MP front camera, but the overexposure issue and aggressive image processing again take a toll on the quality of pictures clicked by the front camera.

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As you can see in the images below, the Realme 2 goes for excessive brightening in case of selfies captured in daylight, and in the process, ends up washing out the true colors, while the Xiaomi Mi A2 preserves the natural colors with a little bit of oversaturation in tow.

The same extra brightness issue plagues the selfies captured by the Realme 2 Pro in well-lit indoor conditions. Despite sufficient amount of ambient lighting, the Realme 2 Pro appears to be hellbent on adding an extra layer of illumination which not only whitens the image, but also masks the real skin color as well as the shades in the surroundings

Videography

The Realme 2 Pro is capable of recording 4K, FullHD and HD videos at 30FPS, however, the ability to record videos at 60FPS would have been an added bonus. The Realme 2 Pro’s imaging hardware features Electrical Image Stabilization to minimize blurring, which i helpful to a certain extent.

Realme 2 Pro FullHD Video Recording Sample

As you can clearly notice in the video above, there is a lot of shaking and instability, coupled with a grainy output and light flickering. Details are barely there and color accuracy is just adequate.

Realme 2 Pro 4K Video Recording Sample

In case of the 4K video recorded by the Realme 2 Pro, the higher resolution and more detailed visuals are instantly noticeable, and EIS is just not capable enough to make up for the absence of OIS.

So, here is the conclusion. The Realme 2 Pro might not have the best cameras in this price range but it still has some very good cameras and that’s when you are taking photos. The Realme 2 Pro is definitely the phone for recording videos.

Battery Life: Comfortably Breezes Past A Day

The Realme 2 Pro packs a 3,500mAh battery, which is a significant downgrade from the 4,230mAh unit inside the Realme 2. With that in mind, I had some major doubts regarding the battery backup of the Realme 2 Pro, given the fact that the now smaller battery has to power a larger, higher resolution display and a beefier processor.

The Realme 2 Pro’s 3,500mAh battery provided a full day’s worth of usage, which is certainly something not every smartphone can boast of.

When it comes to charging, the Realme 2 Pro’s 5V/2A rated charger juiced up the device in just around 2 hours, which is not too shabby at all, and suggests that fast charging is at play here. The Realme 2 Pro reached 33% battery status in just around 30 minutes, while the 60% figure was attained in 55 minutes.

The net amount of time it took the device to go from 0-100% was 2 hours and 11 minutes while sitting idle. But do keep in mind that charging times might vary if you use the smartphone while it is connected to the power source.

In my time using the Realme 2 Pro as my daily driver, I recorded an average battery life of around 9 hours and 45 minutes, with my usage pattern involving continuous internet connectivity, streaming a few Full HD videos on YouTube, clicking images, recording videos and multiple gaming sessions.

I had some initial doubts regarding the 3,500mAh unit inside the Realme 2 Pro, but I was more than content with its performance.

The device also comes with a battery management tool which is powered by an AI that intelligently directs power to system resources in order to optimize battery usage without affecting the net performance. There is also a Power Saving mode which selectively turns out background apps to shut-down the auto-sync functionality, optimizes the brightness output and turns off the vibration response on touch input to reduce the battery juice.

Audio

There is one notable aspect which works in the Realme 2 Pro’s favor, and that’s audio: the device can get pretty loud. You can choose between 16 volume output levels, but I didn’t feel the need to raise the volume levels beyond the 50-60% mark because the audio output was sufficiently loud while sitting with friends in a room.

As for the sound quality, well, the Realme 2 Pro’s speakers deliver a treble-heavy sound with minimal bass. So, if you aim to play bass-heavy songs with the volume cranked up to the max level, you are in for some disappointment. Also, the device has an unwelcome tendency of suppressing the vocal and instrumental clarity when the volume is above the 60% mark.

I compared the Realme 2 Pro’s audio output with that of the recently launched Honor 8X and found that it wins on loudness, but lags behind the Honor device when it comes to depth, range and clarity. As for telephony, the sound quality during calls was clear and won’t leave you wanting for more.

Connectivity

The Realme 2 Pro is a dual SIM device which supports dual 4G VoLTE connectivity standard and has support for WLAN 5G, which means the device can hook to the conventional 2.4GHz band as well as the faster and congestion-free 5GHz network. As for cellular connectivity, the Realme 2 Pro has support for WCDMA, GSM, TD-LTE and FDD-LTE standards, however, it misses out on NFC. There is also support for Bluetooth 5.0 onboard, which means data transfer rate would be considerably faster.

However, we encountered two major issues with the Realme 2 Pro’s connectivity profile.

First, despite claiming to support dual VoLTE, we didn’t find a setting for it on the device, and neither does the VoLTE sign show on the top of the display. Second, the Realme 2 Pro does not work when a Reliance Jio SIM is used. The device successfully connects to a Reliance Jio signal, but automatically disconnects the outgoing calls and returns an ‘out of reach or switched off’ tone in case of incoming calls. What’s even more surprising is the fact that internet connectivity worked perfectly fine as we were able to browse the web without any hitch whatsoever. It appears that the Realme 2 Pro does not support Reliance Jio’s VoLTE service. Now, I am not sure if this is an issue with only our unit or with every Realme 2 pro but hopefully, Realme will push an update to fix things.

Another issue, which might prove to be a major red flag for buyers is the fact that the Realme 2 Pro doesn’t have the ‘Widevine L1’ license for Digital Rights Management (DRM), which means users can’t play HD videos on apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.

Pros:

• An eye-catching design
• Great display
• Smooth performance
• Decent battery performance
• Decent cameras for the price

Cons:

• Poor video quality
• Display-app optimization issues
• Unrefined OS
• Jio issues

Realme 2 Pro: Should You Buy It?

The Realme 2 Pro is certainly the best device offered by Realme till date, thanks to an eye-catching display, nice build quality, a lag-free performance, decent cameras and good battery performance. However, the Realme 2 Pro’s promise is undone by ColorOS, which even after all these years remains unrefined and the fact that the video quality from the Realme 2 cameras are downright bad. Anyway, so how does the Realme 2 compare against the competition?

The 4GB variant of the Realme 2 Pro, priced at Rs. 13,990, competes against the Redmi Note 5 Pro (starts at Rs. 14,999) and the ZenFone Max Pro (Rs. 14,999) and while the Realme 2 Pro brings a nicer design (a glass like back and tear drop notch), great cameras and better performance (Snapdragon 660), the Note 5 Pro and ZenFone Max Pro bring larger batteries and MIUI and stock Android, respectively, which are better than ColorOS.

The 6GB variant of the phone, priced at Rs. 15,990, goes against the Mi A2 (Rs. 16,999) and the Nokia 6.1 plus (Rs. 15,999). While the Realme 2 Pro brings a better design, a better display, a larger battery and the same Snapdragon 660 that the Mi A2 packs, the Mi A2 has better cameras and stock Android, so if that’s a priority for you, you can choose the Mi A2. When compared to the 6.1 plus, the Realme 2 Pro is obviously the superior phone of the two, however, the Nokia 6.1 plus has stock Android on-board, which a lot of people prefer.

But if you’re eyeing the top-end model of the Realme 2 Pro (8GB + 128GB) which is priced at Rs. 17,999, then there are some really compelling alternatives out there which you should definitely take a look at. If performance is your sole criteria, then the Honor Play (Rs. 19,999) with its flagship Kirin 970 SoC is the best option, although you’ll have to spend Rs. 2,000 more.

Overall, if you ask me, Realme 2 Pro has a lot of things going in its favor and if you are okay with ColorOS and you are not someone who records a lot of videos, you can go for the Realme 2 Pro for a stylish smartphone that offers great performance and packs in decent cameras for photography. Sure, there is the VoLTE issue but hopefully, Realme will fix things soon.

Buy the Realme 2 Pro from Flipkart: (starts at Rs. 13,990)