New OPPO sub-brand Realme is set to land on Malaysian shores tomorrow, 7 November 2018. Can this new-kid-on-the-block take on the mid-range all-stars Xiaomi, ASUS and honor? The new smartphone maker is set to debut a trio of devices – Realme 2, Realme 2 Pro and Realme C1. I’ve had an early review unit of the Realme 2 Pro (RMX1807), and as mentioned in my unboxing and hands-on first impressions of the device, it’s an overall good package. With an outlook of the OPPO F9 and the underpinnings of an OPPO R15 Pro, the Realme 2 Pro has the makings of a winner.
One of its key strengths, like its closest OPPO cousins, is the camera.
Before that, let’s take a quick dive into the Realme 2 Pro’s specs. It sports an expansive 6.3-inch Full HD+ IPS display (2340×1920) with tiny bezels all-round. Its all-screen design delivers an impressive 90.8 percent screen-to-body ratio. It’s got an unobtrusive notch at the front, that houses the 16MP selfie shooter. The “Dewdrop Full Screen” is Realme’s version of OPPO’s “Waterdrop Display.”
There’s a fingerprint sensor mounted at the back and over on the front, it supports face unlock (it’s pretty snappy by the way).
The modest 3,500mAh battery powers the phone through the day and it charges up via conventional micro-USB. Realme supplies a 5V/2A power brick in the box.
Under the hood, it gets the powerful Snapdragon 660AIE chipset, paired to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 onboard storage. This top-of-the-line 600-series chip from Qualcomm is powerful, energy-efficient and comes with built-in AI capabilities. The dual-SIM device features a dedicated microSD slow for further storage expansion.
In terms of optics, the device boasts a 16MP f/1.7 + 2MP f/2.4 (depth) dual-lens camera setup powered by the Sony IMX398 sensor. It’s a pretty solid camera that features integrated AI recognition, Dual Pixel autofocus and electronic image stabilisation (EIS) for video.
Up front, it gets a 16MP f/2.0 shooter with AI beautification enhancements. It packs less megapixels than the OPPO F9, but who’s counting?
In terms of the camera experience, you’ll find it similar to any other OPPO device. It’s very iOS-like with the big central shutter button and different modes laid out in a carousel. There’s a Time Lapse, Video, Photo, Portrait, Sticker, Panorama and Expert modes to play with for the rear camera. Autofocus is snappy and I’d rate low-light performance as above average. I especially like the Expert mode where ISO can go down as low as ISO 22.
Portrait Mode also works well with separation of the subject and background done quite accurately at most times.
Here are some sample shots taken with the Realme 2 Pro. All photos are taken straight from camera, unedited, aside from being watermarked. Click on the Gallery link for more.
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[twenty20 img1=”50082″ img2=”50081″ offset=”0.5″ before=”Expert: ISO 22, f/1.7, 1.0s” after=”Auto: ISO 777, f/1.7, 1/17s”]
