Friends+Design
- Trendy rear design - the Realme 7i features a similar design as other Realme 7 series phones, the glossy back creates some interesting patterns when light hits it
- The front too looks similar with a hole-punch and thin bezels all around
- Face unlock and the side-mounted fingerprint sensor are quick
- The plastic material doesn’t feel solid, it catch scratches easily - additionally, it loves dust and fingerprint smudges
- The Realme 7i is on the heavier side weighing at 188 gms
Display
- The Realme 7i gets a vibrant 6.5 inches IPS LCD - the 90 Hz refresh rate is a class leading feature
- The 90Hz refresh rate makes for smoother scrolling and animations
- Sunlight legibility is poor
- Resolutions on the lower side at HD+, phones like Redmi Note 9 offer Full HD+ display at similar price
Software
- Software on the Realme phones is much improved since the company switched to Realme UI, it is easy to use - it is also packed with features such as Digital Wellbeing, Focus Mode, Dark Mode, and Riding Mode among others - there are some exciting and useful features like Realme Dual-Mode Audio, which allows you to connect a Bluetooth and a wired headset at the same time to listen to music on the smartphone
- There are still several pre-loaded apps however (though most of these can thankfully be uninstalled)
Performance
- Average, inconsistent performance from the Snapdragon 662 - regular tasks such as scrolling, opening apps, texting is fine for a phone, but it is inconsistent, stuttering animations and delayed app load times bugs the overall performance
Camera
- Good quad cameras at the back - the main unit boasts a 64MP sensor, with an 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 2MP micro and a 2MP depth sensor - this setup is similar to the one on the Realme 7 and in real-world scenarios, it performs similarly
- The daylight photos from the main sensor preserve the natural colour and have good exposure - it exhibits improved dynamic range, with better details compared to the Realme 6 - the new sensor is slightly better than the old one in the Realme 6
- The ultra-wide camera captures a wider perspective but details and colours are weaker compared to the main sensor as expected
- Portrait shots generally look good, and you get the option to adjust the background blur before shooting
- Low light photos look cleaner too, with less grain - shots captured using Night mode look more pleasing, compared to what the Realme 6 can produce
- The 16MP camera can take decent selfies - the selfie portrait mode is useful as it manages to correctly crop out the background, and there's also Night mode for bright selfies even in the dark
- Overall, the cameras on the Realme 7i are a bit improved than the previous gen, which always a good thing
- The 2MP macro camera is not great, and even photos taken in broad daylight look quite poor
Battery
- Very good battery life from the 5000 mAh battery - even with medium to heavy usage, it will get you a day and half of runtime on one charge
- Decent fast charging - the 18W fast charger fills up the big battery in just over 2 hours
Verdict
- The Realme 7i is a good smartphone, considering all the features and specifications it offers at its price - the 90Hz display is appealing, on top of that, Realme has thrown in a 64-megapixel camera, which none of its rivals feature
- However, the Redmi Note 9 is a more well-rounded package at the same price, there's also the Motorola Moto G9 which offers better overall experience (stock Android), superior battery life and decent cameras
