Realme 7 Pro Review

At a little under $600 the Realme 7 Pro punches well above it’s pay grade. On a whole the handset looks, feels and performs as well, if not better than other more expensive handsets.

Measuring in at 6.4-inches the FHD+ display is bright and genuinely delightful to use. Around the rim sits rather sizeable bezels against a black trim which makes them look even larger than they are. Apart from this minor hiccup the phone itself doesn’t look cheap. Manufacturers have begun to reclaim the plastic back, most notably in the Samsung S20 FE and the Google Pixel range, so seeing similar backing on the Realme doesn’t take away from the device’s look.

While other phones have leaned into the plastic with bright colours and lovely matte finishes, the 7 Pro instead has a mirrored plastic which is a touch more prone to fingerprints. It’s nothing compared to the smudges you can get with glasstic cases but it can create some dullness on the mirror blue. 

When it comes to performance however, the 7 Pro sits up there with top-of-the-line handsets. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G gaming processor the device is downright zippy. All aspects of the handset respond quickly, be it the facial and in-screen fingerprint recognition, snapping a picture, opening an app or simply typing out a message. I came across no major delays or issues within my day to day usage.

Speaking of pictures, the camera is easily a stand out feature on this handset. Equipped with a four lens set up made of 64MP (primary) + 8MP (Ultra wide) + Macro lens + B&W Portrait lens and couple with snappy processing you can get some great shots.

Where many cheaper phone cameras fall short is with capturing moving objects. Typically we see slower shutter speeds, or a processor that can’t keep up with the subject darting around behind the lens. However the 7 Pro doesn’t suffer in the same way. Take these pictures below for example. I photographed two of the least docile puppies that I know - Billie and Peanut. Neither are known to sit still for photos, or for a treat, or even to lie still when they’re sleeping. Generally speaking, even though they’re adorable they’re near impossible to photograph.

In these examples the pups are literally leaping, either at my leg or across a bush and the images are both remarkabley clear for a motion shot. Of course you can still see the movement in both pictures, there is still some motion blur around the edges but considering the price tag on this phone it is far superior to other cameras that I’ve tested throughout the year. You'd be hard pressed to find another phone around this price that can capture movement this well.

Other shots come out beautifully as well. The device has the option to use AI Colour Burst which ultimately amps up the contrast and saturation to create more depth in your shot. Even with this toggled off you’ll still get vibrant and sharp photos with poppy colours. Here are some camera samples to take a look at.

Colour Burst On

Colour Burst Off

Wide Angle Lens

Primary Lens

Primary

Zoom x2

Zoom x5

More impressive still is the night mode on this device. Many times, a cheap night mode results in images closer to oil paintings than to photographs - edges become murky and you can get a yellowy aura across the whole shot. While that sure is a vibe it's not cohesive with useable lowlight photography. Here you can see that the image retains it's sharpness, colour and depth for the most part.  Although you do lose some detail when utilising this mode, the illumination it provides is astounding and the examples below speak for themselves.

Night mode off

Night mode on

Night mode off

Night mode on

The 7 Pro also has Starry Night Mode, which is similar to Astrophotography on the Google Pixel range. This super long exposure photography is designed to capture astrological shots and in order to do this is requires a little over four minutes to take in the whole shot. Since we're all human, it's best to use a tripod when shooting on this one.

Unfortunately I couldn't catch a break and get a clear night while testing this mode, but you can definitely see the potential in the shots below. We will update this review when we're graced with a cloudless night.

Night mode off

Starry night mode Zoom x2

Both the battery usage and charge on the Pro are well worth noting. Typical use saw around seven hours of screen time between charges while enabling the device’s aggressive power saving mode that amped up to around ten hours between charges. Even when it was time to charge, using the included cord and charger the device was topped up to 100% in less than an hour. 

Final Thoughts

This year Realme products have not disappointed - great battery life, lovely photography, an impressive night mode and fast processing speeds are run of the mill for the manufacturer and the 7 Pro embodies all of these at an affordable price. There is no reason not to recommend the Realme 7 Pro, if you want high-end features and a mid-range price then look no further.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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