Realme X review

Realme X is the company’s flagship product, their most advanced creation yet

(Image: © Future)

TechRadar Verdict

For its asking price, the Realme X does manage to provide a great value with easy to use features and consistent performance. The Super AMOLED display along with Dolby Atmos tuned speaker makes it perfect to watch videos and movies on while the pop-camera gives it a premium look.

Pros

  • +

    Great screen to watch videos

  • +

    Good overall performer

  • +

    Runs graphic-intensive titles easily

  • +

    Decent battery life

  • +

    Good camera setup

  • +

    VOOC 3.0 20W fast charging support

Cons

  • -

    Pre-loaded bloatware

  • -

    Camera needs optimization

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Realme Mobiles just announced their most powerful smartphone yet, the Realme X in India. The company rose to a prominent position in the Indian smartphone market within a year for its budget and mid-range phones. And now, it wants to taste a piece of cake from the sub-Rs 20,000 smartphone segment.

Realme X is the company’s flagship product, their most advanced creation yet and in more ways than one, an extension of the Realme 3 Pro. Here’s why?

Realme X price and specifications

Realme X is priced starting at ₹16,999 and comes with 4GB RAM + 128GB storage. A second variant with 8GB of RAM is also available at ₹19,999.

Besides, Realme X Master Edition with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage is also priced at ₹19,999 for both Onion and Garlic hues. Then there’s a Realme X Spider-Man: Far From Home Gift Box which is up for grabs for Rs 20,999 and contains a special case along with the phone.

Design and Display

Realme X is the most premium smartphone the company has ever made, and that shows right from picking it out of the box. The chassis is plastic but is molded in a way that it carries a cluster resulting in a reflective 3D S-shaped pattern when viewed at a certain angle. The in-hand feel of the phone is pretty solid, and due to the slightly tapered edges, it fits comfortably in hand. Although the plastic back does attract scuff marks and scratches easily, a back cover is provided in-the-box.

The phone has a depth of around 9.4mm from the top due to the placement of the pop-up camera and decreases to 8.6mm further along. Realme X weighs around 191g.

On the Realme X, the power on/off key has a golden accent, which is a nice touch and compliments the overall look of the phone. There are in total, four colors that the phone is offered. The one we have is the Punk Blue version which has a tinge of purple, and the other includes a Polar White model with hints of light blue and yellow. Also, the Realme X Master Edition comes in Onion and Garlic gradient colors and have been designed by Naoto Fukasawa, a well known Japanese industrial designer.

The phone uses a 6.53-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution AMOLED panel that has been sourced from Samsung. As it is fitted with a pop-up camera mechanism, over 91.2% of the body is screen, and it definitely looks gorgeous. By default, the display is calibrated a bit towards the cooler side of things but can be tweaked from the settings menu. Furthermore, the display has a coating of Gorilla Glass 5 which adds more strength to the screen.

(Image credit: Future)

The side bezels on the Realme X each measure 1.62mm while the top one is 2.2mm thick. These minimal bezels are able to provide a good and immersive viewing experience without any cutouts for any notch whatsoever.

(Image credit: Future)

Additionally, the display is also embedded with an in-display fingerprint sensor from Goodix, which is 28.5% faster than the last generation of sensors. In my use, the Realme X was often able to register and unlock the phone in the blink of an eye which is great for a phone in this price range.

Overall, I like the design of the Realme X, and the in-hand feel will appeal to most takers. It’s a minimal, no-frills design language with just a camera module on the back while the front is all glass. The AMOLED screen is among the best ones in this budget to binge-watch the latest season of Stranger Things on. 

I found out that my unit of the Realme X was not Widevine L1 certified and instead has an L3 security level certification. Though Realme went on to clarify the same and said that all the retail units that will be sold from July 24 will be shipped with Widevine L1 certification. Otherwise, its a really good display to view content and play games.

Siddharth Chauhan
  • Siddharth Chauhan is the Consumer Technology Reporter at Digit India. He used to work as an Assistant Editor at TechRadar India