There are many other good options available in the price segment of less than Rs 20,000 such as Samsung Galaxy M40 (Review), Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review) and Vivo Z1 Pro (Review). In such a situation, Realme X is going to face a tough challenge. Now it remains to be seen whether Realme X will be able to compete with its rival handsets? Let’s find out…
Design of Realme X
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Apart from the striking look of Realme X, the design of the handset is also quite attractive, it also looks premium. Realme X has been launched in two color variants, Polar White and Space Blue. We have its Space Blue color variant available for review, the thickness of the phone is a bit more at 9.3 mm but it is not very heavy, its weight is 191 grams.
Realme has launched a special onion and garlic finish variant of Realme X in the Chinese market, it is also available in India. Apart from this, there is also Realme X Spider-Man: Far From Home Edition which comes with a Spider-Man theme case, special theme. Realme X has a 6.53-inch full-HD + (1080×2340 pixels) OLED display. Its aspect ratio is 19.5: 9. It is protected by Gorilla Glass 5.
The bezels around the display are very thin, with a slightly thicker border at the bottom. There is no notch or hole in the Realme X, which means you can view content on full screen. The edges of the display are not curved, but overall the phone looks similar to the OnePlus 7 Pro. Colours look vivid and the brightness is also quite good, which means you can read content easily in any light. Our review unit came with a screen protector pre-applied.
Realme X has an in-display optical fingerprint sensor for security. It unlocks the phone quickly, with a good success rate during our review. You also get five different animations to choose from. This Realme brand handset comes with face unlock support.
The material covering the front sensor is sapphire glass which is quite good for durability. Apart from this, the phone has a motion-triggered safety mechanism that is able to detect if the phone is falling and the camera module closes automatically. The glossy back panel of Realme X looks like glass but it is made of polycarbonate.
There are no marks on the back panel and the white colour variant also does not show any stains. This time the Realme logo has been placed at the bottom centre of the back panel and above it are the LED flash and two rear cameras. There is a headphone jack, USB Type-C port and a single speaker at the bottom of the phone. It is good to see that Realme has also adopted the new USB standard in this latest smartphone.
The SIM tray is placed on the side and only two nano-SIM cards can be inserted in it. Realme X is the first smartphone of the company in which it is not possible to increase the storage with the help of a microSD card. In the retail box, you get a hard plastic case for the phone, USB Type-C cable, VOOC 3.0 fast charger, SIM eject tool and manual.
Realme X specifications and software
Realme X uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor, the same chipset is also used in Realme 3 Pro. Snapdragon 675 processor is very popular in this segment, if compared to this, the CPU performance is a bit weak, but it is equipped with better integrated graphics capability.
The price of Realme X starts at Rs 16,999. This price is for the 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant. The 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage model of the phone will be sold for Rs 19,999, we have this variant for review. LPDDR4X RAM has been used in Realme X, not only this, it comes with UFS 2.1 storage.
Talking about other specifications, Realme X includes dual 4G with VoLTE, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth version 5, support for GPS, GLONASS and Beidou navigation systems and sensors. This phone does not have FM radio. The software is quite up-to-date, Realme X runs on ColorOS 6.0 based on Android 9 Pie with June Android security patch.
The interface is similar to what we saw on the recent Realme 3 Pro. Being an OLED panel, you get an always-on display when the phone is on standby. However, it only shows the time, date and battery percentage, SMS and missed call alerts. It does not show notifications from other apps.
Realme has provided many apps in the phone, apart from this some third party apps are also pre-installed. For example, Newspoint will keep sending you notifications but you can uninstall it if you want. There is also a theme store app to customize wallpapers and icons. Modes like driving and riding mode are also provided in the phone which silence the notifications, apart from this the handset also has motion and gesture shortcuts.
The Realme X features a Game Space that organizes all your games in one place. The unit sent to us by Realme for review is only Widevine L3 certified but the company says that the retail unit is Widevine L1 certified, which means you will be able to watch HD resolution videos on Netflix and Prime Video without any hassle.
Realme X performance and battery life
Realme X is a big phone but it is not wide, so the grip is good while holding the phone. We did not find the body of the phone slippery, but if you find the body of Realme X slippery, you can wear the case that comes with the phone. It is difficult to reach the upper part of the phone’s display with one hand, but if you enable one-handed mode, it minimizes the entire interface.
Realme X is a head turner and fits comfortably in the hand. Interestingly, many people mistook it for the OnePlus 7 Pro as the design of both the Realme X and OnePlus 7 Pro is quite similar.
Realme X worked well with regular use and gaming. The company says that the phone uses new gel cooling technology that uses copper foil, graphite flakes and aluminum alloy to reduce heat. The Snapdragon 710 processor delivers good gaming performance.
PUBG Mobile was set to high graphics by default and the gameplay was smooth. Asphalt 9: Legends also ran smoothly without any frame drops. Realme X is also great for media playback. This is Realme’s first phone to feature Dolby Atmos support. It is enabled by default for the bottom speaker and cannot be turned off.
However, if you are using headphones, you can turn it off. You can choose between different sound modes or leave it on ‘Smart’. The phone is loud and the sound quality is also good. Both the fingerprint sensor and the face unlock feature on the Realme X are quick to unlock the phone.
You can use the Face Unlock feature in two ways, either you can wake the screen by pressing the power button so that the camera module pops up or by swiping up on the lock screen. Realme X offers strong battery life even when we use the camera heavily. In our battery loop test, the 3,765mAh battery lasted for 14 hours and 28 minutes which is a good sign.
The battery of the phone lasted for one and a half days on a single charge when using video streaming, camera, gaming and social apps. The phone also supports VOOC 3.0 fast charging and the phone was charged from 0 to about 93 percent in an hour.
Camera of Realme X
Realme X comes with two rear cameras. There is a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 primary sensor with f/1.7 aperture. It is accompanied by a 5-megapixel secondary camera with f/2.4 aperture. The primary sensor uses 4-in-1 pixel binning technology which treats four pixels as one pixel to capture more light and saves a 12-megapixel image.
The same sensor is used in the Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review) and OnePlus 7 Pro and the photos taken with both were good. When taking landscape shots in adequate light, the main camera captures colors and details well. There is no lack of sharpness in the picture. Realme X does a good job with HDR and the dynamic range is also good.
The Chroma Boost button in the viewfinder works to boost colors and brightness when shooting against light. Apart from this, you also get a 2x button but it is only for digital zoom. Close-up shots were also captured very well. The color tone is definitely a bit warm, but the colors and details were captured well.
Even when shooting indoors in artificial light, close-up shots captured good detail without any noise. The second sensor helps map the edges of objects which makes portrait shots look good. Background blur is not adjustable but it looks natural. Low-light performance is good.
There was a slight lack of sharpness in the pictures taken in the dark and some noise was also seen. If you want, you can capture pictures with better detail and sharpness by using the Nightscape mode provided in the phone. It does take a few seconds to capture the picture but the picture is captured brighter and with better detail.
For selfies and video calling, there is a 16-megapixel front camera housed in a pop-up module. It also uses pixel binning technology when shooting in portrait mode. It gives 8-megapixel portrait shots but when taking normal selfies and shooting at night, it takes 16-megapixel images.
The selfies taken with Realme X captured good colours and details which is why the pictures turned out good. Even selfies taken in low light had good brightness and colours. If you want, you can add bokeh effect to the selfie but it looks artificial but the edge detection is good.
Realme X is capable of shooting up to 4K videos but it lacks image stabilization. When shooting at 1080p resolution, the phone automatically stabilizes the video footage. Apart from this, you will also get a 960fps mode.
Our verdict
With the Realme X, the company has attempted to make an affordable flagship and it is a good smartphone. There is no option to expand the storage in the phone, but with 128 GB of storage, this is not a big problem. The Realme X is well built and looks good too. It has a large and vivid display, good software and good cameras.
Realme has also provided a Type-C port in it. It is also possible that its large design may not be liked by everyone, especially if you have small hands. Apart from this, we also liked the video stabilization at 4K. Realme X is a great smartphone in the price segment under Rs 20,000. It is included in our list along with Samsung Galaxy M40 (Review), Vivo Z1 Pro (Review) and Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review).
Earlier Vivo V15 Pro was the most affordable smartphone with in-display fingerprint sensor but now Realme X is available at a lesser price than it. If you don’t mind its big size then Realme X has great features and its performance is also good.
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