Despite being a relatively young company, Realme has successfully emerged as the world’s fastest growing smartphone maker with more than 50 million users globally.
Last week, the company launched their first 5G smartphone series in Singapore that include the Realme X50 5G mid-ranger smartphone, as well as the higher-end Realme X50 Pro 5G flagship phone.
The launch of the Realme X50 series smartphones mark the company’s ambition to make the adoption of 5G devices affordable to Singaporeans as the country transit towards the next-generation’s network.
Similarly, its also a huge step forward for the company as they expand their portfolio to include more high-end offerings that will benefit the local market with more attractive options and alternatives over those released by the mainstream brands.
Having impressed by last year’s Realme XT which I had the opportunity to review on, it’s surely a great excitement to do a test drive on the company’s first 5G flagship model.
Priced at S$999, the Realme X50 Pro 5G is one of the few flagship phones in the local market that sits below the S$1,000 mark. However, does it have whatever it takes to compete with other flagship phones that are priced above it? Let’s find out in this Realme X50 Pro 5G review!
Design & Display
On the outside, the Realme X50 Pro 5G certainly doesn’t look like any of the flagship phone we’d seen in the market thanks to its distinctive paint job at the back. For the Moss Green model that I’ve received for review, it features a deep shade of Green fused with a Matte finishing that gives off a subtle but yet elegant outlook.
Despite its matte texture, the back panel maintains an iridescent sheen that shifts color based on the angle of the incident light. Therefore, depending on the angle you’re looking at the device, it may either appear Greenish or Greyish.
Located on the upper-left corner, there’s an elongated camera island which houses a quad camera system. Some of you might be pleased to see that its rear camera housing doesn’t has those really huge protrusion that we see among some of the recent flagship phones. As such, it is able to achieve a more delectable thin profile.
Its rear panel is garnished by a layer of Gorilla Glass 5 which feels more premium and robust, as compared to devices that employ a plastic back. On top of that, the dual-curved design of the rear chassis also improves the overall ergonomic of the phone as it allows better grip.
Likewise, its back panel also did a pretty good job in limiting fingerprint smudges – so it saves you the trouble of wiping off the unsightly prints all the time. Even if I do occasionally left some smudges, its low saturation color helps to make it less obvious as well.
Coming to the front, the Realme X50 Pro 5G flaunts a flat panel that comes with a pill-shape cutout on the top-left corner which kind of remind me of the current Realme 6 Pro.
The front panel will be a Super AMOLED display that boasts a FHD+ screen resolution and a smooth 90Hz screen refresh rate. Aside from that, it’s also topped with other goodies including its support for supports HDR10+ contents, 100% DCI – P3 color gamut, as well as an impressive 2000000:1 contrast ratio.
All these high-end display specs ain’t any gimmicks. They pan out well in real life experience with rich and accurate colors that are true to life. Coupled with its smooth refresh rate, the device never fails deliver some of the best graphics for both video streaming and gaming within its price range.
Performance
Just like any other flagship phones launched this year, the Realme X50 Pro 5G is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 chipset fabricated under a 7nm process.
Currently, the Snapdragon 865 is one of the most powerful chipset (based on GeekBench performance tests) in the local market which is only behind the Snapdragon 865+ chipset found in the ASUS ROG Phone 3 (Review) and Apple’s A14 Bionic used in the latest iPhone 12 series. Hence, it definitely packs a punch when we talk about its performance.
Even when gaming under maximum graphic settings, the Realme X50 Pro 5G is able to handle with a breeze – without any trace of jittering. What’s notable is that the device also barely heats up after indulging in several rounds of PUBG Mobile at highest graphic settings thanks to the underlying 5D Stereoscopic Ice Cooling Pro technology.
According to Realme, this advance piece of technology is composed of “heat dissipation materials such as VC liquid cooling copper chamber, 3D graphite sheets of multiple layers and thermal silicon pads” that work in tandem to ensure optimal heat dissipation. Gone are the days when such intricate cooling technologies are limited only to gaming flagships.
In the memory department, the Realme X50 Pro 5G also features a top-tier configuration comprising of 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 flash storage. The utilization of the UFS 3.0 flash storage technology really makes app launching and gaming loading feel ultra-fast.
Camera
Coming to its rear camera system, its doubtlessly one of the most exciting feature of the Realme X50 Pro 5G. The device sports a versatile quad camera setup with a 64 megapixels (f/1.8 aperture) primary shooter leading the pack.
As for the other three auxiliary cameras, they include a 8 megapixels (f/2.3 aperture) ultra-wide lens with 119-degrees field of view, 12 megapixels (f/2.5 aperture) telephoto lens that supports up to 20x hybrid zoom, as well as a large b&w portrait lens with a f/1.8 aperture.
Just like any other Realme smartphones, images clicked on the default shooting mode implements 4-in-1 pixel binning to produce 16 megapixels shots. Generally, under a reasonably bright environment, its main camera is consistent in clicking crisp images with good dynamic range and color accuracy.
On top of that, level of details are also impressively well-preserved in the default shooting mode as seen in Default Camera Sample #2, whereby the signature ASICS shoe design of the man in white (at the middle of the base level) remain clearly visible even when you zoom deep into the image.
In low-light environment, the Realme X50 Pro 5G also comes with a dedicated Night mode feature that helps to brighten the scene naturally with great exposure.
Once again, color contrast and dynamic range are great in night scenes (Night Shot Sample #2). Shadow details and highlights (Night Shot Sample #1) are also kept in check to ensure images remain true to life.
For shooting landscape images, the ultra-wide lens of the device is highly reliable as well. Images taken has nice color profile and details are abundant. However, colors do occasionally appear slightly washed out under dimmer environment.
With regards to its zooming capability, the Realme X50 Pro 5G is able to achieve up to 2x optical zoom and as much as 20x digital zoom. Though it lacks of those insane zooming capabilities like those we saw on the OPPO Find X2 Pro (Review) and Huawei P40 Pro+ (Review), but the 20x digital zoom it offers certainly suffice for most of us.
During my test, images clicked between the 1x to 5x zoom levels are pretty much usable with acceptable dynamic range and details. However, when you get past the 5x mark, the amount of noise within the image became more prominent and colors became flatter as well.
That being said, there is still some form of utility even at the maximum zoom level although you probably won’t want to share these images on social media. For instance, you can easily make use of its zoom functions to read words or discover structures from afar as seen in the image samples I’d shared above.
Despite the drop in quality of the image, but words and structures within the image can still be easily made out even at the maximum zoom level. So I believe its still a nice-to-have feature on the phone.
Finally for selfies, the Realme X50 Pro 5G relies on a pair of 32 megapixels primary shooter as well as an 8 megapixels ultra-wide lens for group selfies. On the whole, selfies taken are really outstanding with realistic colors and great details.
Battery & Charging
To keep the device running, the Realme X50 Pro 5G is equipped with a respectable 4,200mAh battery at the helm. Under normal usage condition, the device can easily last through the day with more than 20% battery remaining.
The main highlight however, doesn’t lie in its battery endurance but rather its 65W SuperDart flash charging support that is capable of delivering a full charge within 37 minutes.
In fact, the 65W charging rate is the fastest among all smartphones in the local market, including other flagship phones cost more than half its price. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra charges at 25W, while the Huawei P40 Pro+ refills at 40W.
With the 65W SuperDart charging support, there’s absolutely no need to worry about forgetting to charge your phone overnight since its likely to be fully charged by the time you prepared and head out for work.
Although some may nitpick about its lack of wireless or reverse charging support, but this wouldn’t be a deal breaker since its fast wired charging will always be preferred over the considerably slower wireless charging.
Likewise, the device is unlikely to run out of battery during the day, so chances that you need a wireless charger when you’re out is really low as well.
Conclusion
Overall, the Realme X50 Pro 5G is worth every penny you shell out. Its a gorgeous, future-proofed device that goes beyond the call of duty by offering exclusive features that we don’t normally see among flagship phones.
The Realme X50 Pro 5G differentiates itself with features like the 5D Stereoscopic Ice Cooling Pro technology to ensure smooth and consistent performance for the handset, as well as ultra-fast wired charging support that outclass what other flagship phones offer.
Despite these additions, the device is still comparatively cheaper than the majority of flagship phones in the local market. As such, its certainly one of the most value for money flagship phone that punch above its weight.
If you’re interested, the Realme X50 Pro 5G will be available at just S$999 off-contract on Shopee.
