Friends+Design
- Premium looks and design - with a beautiful, abstract geometric pattern on the back, and a smooth, metallic sheen - this is one of the hottest looking devices coming at this price point
- Very easy to grip - the rounded sides and curved back panel make it fit comfortably in a palm
- It is actually more compact than the Realme 5 - and you will not have any trouble using it even with one hand
- The front is modern and sharp too - with a big 6.3-inch LCD screen, with a 'waterdrop notch' - and a 90.6 screen-to-body ratio - the chin is fairly prominent but the rest of the borders are narrow and modern-looking
- The fingerprint sensor at the back, and face recognition - both work well, and are fast to unlock - and can be used to unlock not only the phone but also individual apps
Display
- Good, 6.3-inch full-HD+ IPS display - the screen can get quite bright and is easy to use outdoors - and video content looks good, with decent colours and sharpness
- Support Widevine L1 DRM for high-res video streaming
Software
- ColorOS is now much more refined and streamlined than before - customisation options include a 'Smart Assistant' to the left of the first home screen, icon density on the home screens, UI animation speed, themes, and various gestures - you can long-press the phone's power button to call up Google Assistant, and launch apps with gestures on screen when the phone is in standby - and the standard Android navigation buttons can be replaced with a variety of gesture schemes
- There are also no spammy ads in the interface - an issue that has recently plagued phones from Xiaomi
- There are still a number of pre-loaded apps however - though most of these can thankfully be uninstalled
Performance
- Excellent, top-bracket-for-the-price-range performance backed by the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC which has a slight edge over the Snapdragon 710 and Snapdragon 660, which are commonly found in phones in this segment - everything from daily use to high-end games is smooth
Camera
- Good quad camera setup at the rear - 48-megapixel primary + 8-megapixel wide-angle camera + 2-megapixel macro camera + 2-megapixel depth sensor
- The primary camera especially delivers impressive photo quality in daylight - focus speed is fast - and the images are sharp, details are high, and the colour balance is good
- Shots from the wide-angle and the macro camera, while not that that good in quality, give you some interesting shot framing options
- Portrait shots utilize the depth sensor, and generally come out well
- The 16MP selfie camera too delivers decent selfies, and also has a (decent) software-based portrait mode
- Video recording quality is good too, especially in daytime - there's also electronic stabilisation, which works fairly well at 1080p
- Nightscape mode works fairly well for night photography (though it takes several seconds for the phone to save a shot)
- Overall, the camera setup on the Realme 5 Pro is easily among the best in this price bracket
- The camera app looks slick but the layout is a bit awkward at times - for instance, to use the macro lens, you have to select the Ultra Macro mode which is buried in a spillover menu next to the standard Photo, Video, and Portrait mode selection buttons - this menu is unnecessarily small and you actually have to scroll down within it to find the Ultra Macro mode
Audio
- The single speaker is quite loud and voices are clear even at high volumes (though of course, like most phones in this price bracket, there's no bass or depth when listening to music)
Battery
- Good (though not exceptional) battery life with a 4035 mAh battery - you will get 1 day with heavy use, and 1.5 days with moderate use
- Very fast charging with Oppo's proprietary VOOC quick charging technology - and a large 20W charger in the box with this phone - using the included charger, you will get up to 15 percent in 10 minutes and 70 percent in just over 30 minutes - pretty cool
Verdict
- The Realme 5 Pro looks like yet another winner from Realme, that once again sets the bar high for other competitors to try and match - it impresses across the board - and it should definitely be in your shortlist for this price bracket
