Realme X7 5G Review

After a holiday hiatus, Realme is back with two new phones under the X7 label. Here we will be taking a look at the regular Realme X7, with which the brand led its launch ceremony. This one’s a more modest choice compared to a rather “flagship-y” X7 Pro (review). The sticker price on the package starts at INR 19,999. And at that price, it brings the powerful MediaTek Dimensity 800U chipset (the first one to do so in India), a fancy 5G promise (on both SIMs), a 50W fast charging solution, an appreciable AMOLED display, and a primary 64MP triple camera system. (Realme X7 5G Review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

All these are stamped in big bold letters on the box itself. Oh, it is now a long silver box with branding prints across the board. Reminiscent of OnePlus’ red crates that we started seeing with the 7T. I like this new look over the hackneyed yellows of yore. No offense.🤐

Page Jumps

• Realme X7 5G Review: Design and Display
• Realme X7 5G Review: Audio, Battery, and Connectivity
• Realme X7 5G Review: Software, Multitasking, and Gaming
• Realme X7 5G Review: Cameras

Here are the box contents:

Realme X7 5G Unboxing

• Handset with a pre-applied screen protector (goood)
• Basic TPU case cover (always appreciated)
• 65W SuperDart charging adaptor (great)
• USB Cable (A to C)
• Type to 3.5mm audio jack connector (more on that shortly)
• SIM ejector tool (that you use once and then lose)
• Literature (you should, but prolly won’t read)

I was quick to whip the puppy out and took it out for a spin. Since then, it’s been a while, a while enough to find whether it lives up to its billing?

Well, fast forward, the long n’ short of it is — net positive. But, there are some conscious cutbacks from Realme’s end, and hereupon we will see if and how they would impact your purchase decision. This is the Smartprix review of Realme X7 5G.

Let’s get its specs out of the way.

Realme X7 5G Specs and Price in India

Model	Realme X7 5G
Display	6.4-inch, sAMOLED, 1080 x 2400 (full HD+), 60Hz refresh rate
Software	Android 10, Realme UI 1.0
Processor	MediaTek Dimensity 800U
Memory	6GB/8GB LPDDR4x dual-channel RAM
Storage	128GB UFS 2.1
Battery	4310mAh, 50W fast charging support
Rear camera	64MP F1.8 (primary); 8MP F2.3 (119° ultrawide); 2MP F2.4 (up to 4cm macro); Up to 4K@30fps video recording
Selfie camera	16MP, F/2.5; 1080p@30fps video recording
Fingerprint scanner	Under-display
Connectivity	Dual SIM (5G+5G), Dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, USB Type-C, no 3.5mm port
Dimensions and weight	Length: 160.9mm Width: 74.4mm Depth: 8.1mm(Space Silver), 8.3mm(Nebula) Weight: 176g(Space Silver), 179g(Nebula)
Price	6 + 128GB – Rs. 19,999 8 + 128GB – Rs. 21,999

And now it’s time to buckle down and make sense of these specs. Then, we will circle back to the question of its worth.

Realme X7 5G Review: Design and Display

Lately, folks at Realme have been coming up with some sick designs. I’d digged the look of Realme 7 (review) and here too, I’m all praises. The X7 comes in two delightful colors — Nebula and Space Silver. Ours is the latter. The frosted finish is much sober than the “non-spectral gradient” alternative. Plus, it doesn’t have the large “Dare to leap” inscription plastered on the X7 Pro’s back, which could appear confident or obnoxious depending on your taste.

I love how thin and lite (at 176g) this thing is (for a 5G phone) which makes it a pleasure to hold. Overall, I call the appearance of Realme X7 adorbs!

Flip to the fore, you’ve got a decently big display that’s 6.4-inches diagonally. It is Super AMOLED in nature which means good color reproduction and contrasts (1,000,000: 1). The tuning might come across as oversaturated. Realme also credits the thin structure of AMOLED for the slim chassis of X7. The panel outs 1080×2400 pixel resolution and a peak brightness of 600 nits. It is fairly legible under a sunny Sun.

On the front, you’ve got both the facial and fingerprint scanners. The former works like a charm. However, the Goodix under-screen sensor has been a lil finicky for me.

Now, a conscious cutback (or what I like to call X’d) is a high refresh rate. This just clocks at 60Hz which btw is smooth enough and works just fine. But, since Realme has previously spoiled us with speedy options in other X-series phones, and that high refresh rate is table stakes at this point, the lack of it would be sadly missed.

Realme has also relocated some of the peripheral switches and slots. The right-hand side has the power button and the left is where you’d reach for the volume rockers. The easy accessibility of these and the compact footprint make the X7 a pretty handy handset.

Scroll down to see the bottom portion of the phone.

Realme X7 5G Review: Audio, Battery, and Connectivity

By the foot, you have a speaker grille, a USB-C port, a mic (another one at the top), and a dual SIM (nano) tray. Here, you’ll notice two things missing — a headphone jack and a memory card slot.

For what it’s worth, Realme has included a Type-C to 3.5mm connector, which is useful, but as a band-aid solution. That’s one more thing to carry around. But, if you don’t mind that, let me tell you the thing works well without any latency issues. I enjoyed watching a few episodes of The Office on Prime Video and a lot of YouTube. The speaker volume also supplements well. All in all the display and audio output is right for media consumption.

As for the other absent thing, I think the onboard memory is large enough to suffice your storage needs. You can store many media files and install games as the system takes only about 15.30 gigs.

Even in the battery department, the results were reassuring. In the PCMark test, the device ran for 16 hours. In actual usage too, it had a pleasant percentage of battery left before I would retire for the day. This is in big part because of the software optimizations (more on that soon). So, I wonder if a bigger 5000 or plus milliamp battery was used, how long the endurance would’ve been. But it’s either less juice or less spruce, eh?

Nonetheless, when it dies on you, you can breathe a quick sigh of relief thanks to the 50W ace in the hole. The X7 chugs 0 to 50% in 18 mins and the whole device in around 50 mins. Also, as a bonus feature, the bundled charger (which is rated for 65W btw) should work with other VOOC/DART/QC/PD compatible machines.

Connectivity-wise, you get 5G future-readiness (on both SIMs) with dual SIM dual standby (DSDS), dual SIM 4G VoLTE, dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.1, and GPS. The calling functionality is serviceable.

Realme X7 5G Review: Software, Multitasking, and Gaming

I’m quite familiar with this software flavor called Realme UI v1 on top of Android 10 (Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11 is promised). The brand has stowed a toolbox of features here and still, it manages to run smoothly. For instance, you get a handy sidebar, a screen recorder, a screen grabber, an Always-on Display, an app locker, a private safe, app cloner, game space, a theme parlor, a bunch of security features, and the experimental tweaks called Realme Labs. Also, as mentioned in the above section, the battery optimizations (and memory management settings) adds to the experience.

But, I still stumble on annoyances such as the Browser push notifications (which are borderline ads). So, the first thing I do and suggest you is to turn off recommendations and lock screen magazine toggles. Also, for some apps, you have to manually enable full screen (Settings>Display>Screen Display> Full-Screen Display). I also wish there was a way to force split-screen for unsupported apps like Instagram as I believe, it works on One UI.

ALSO READ: Realme X7 Pro vs Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord: Which one is better?

The software is layered on top of a 7nm octa-core Dimensity 800U chip from MediaTek coupled with up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 ROM. In the day to day usage such as multitasking, browsing, social messaging, and media ogling, the thing breeze thru with no signs of struggle. And when it comes to synthetic tests, here are the scores, see for yourself —

Benchmarks	Scores
Geekbench 5 Single | Multi	576 | 1772
PCMark Work 2.0	11216
3DMark Slingshot Extreme OpenGL ES 3.1	3110
3DMark Slingshot	4278
3DMark Wild Life	1590
GFXBench Car Chase | Manhattan 3.0/3.1 | T-Rex (fps)	16 | 46/30 | 59
Androbench Sequential R/W (MB/s)	941.52 | 462.57
Androbench Random R/W	118.79 | 157.11

Now, for the number-nerds out there, know that the device’s single-core and multi-core Geekbench CPU scores are bested by both Mi 10i (SD750G) and OnePlus Nord (SD765G). But, it outsmarts Galaxy M51 (SD730G) and even Galaxy A71 (SD730). Also, in other scenarios, such as PCMark’s Work 2.0, it leads ahead of the Nord and 10i. Needless to say, these figures don’t present the complete or real picture. So, take it as you will.

When it comes to graphics, it showcases some impressive 3DMark scores outclassing the competition. I tried Asphalt 9 (in high settings) and the experience was mostly smooth with a one-off jitter at the beginning of my first race. Post that, I faced no problems revving and dragging through the streets (30fps) and bending physics across skies. Then comes Call of Duty, which runs at medium graphics and a high frame rate (60fps).

Now, that we have probed the performance parameters, let’s check out cameras, another key component of the smartphone experience.

Realme X7 5G Review: Cameras

Realme X7 sports a 16MP camera upfront within a punch hole. And by the back, it carries three sensors — a 64MP Samsung GW3 as the leader of the bunch accompanied by an 8MP ultrawide shooter and a 2MP close-up snapper.

I’d taken it out for a test drive and here are the results —

In daylight, the shots come out with appeasing details, vibrance, and vigor. If you see them on the sAMOLED panel, the scenes would appear more lively than they are.

But, when you pay closer attention, you can’t help but notice the processing artifacts like oversharpening.

As usual, there’s the AI-based Chroma boost that as the name suggests ups the saturation.

The toggle between regular 1x, ultrawide, and digital zooms up to 5x is easy. The 8MP ultrawide sensor covers a 119° field of view. Besides the expected color shifts and detail fringing by the edges, I feel it produces some good composition.

I don’t share the same enthu for the macro module which even with all the hunkering down juts out such results.

As the light in the frame sets low, you better make use of night mode for less-grainy, more lit, and soothing shots. You have to wait a bit before the phone processes the RAW.

The above samples will give you an idea of zoomability along with night mode turned on. In the 5x, you can read texts on the board, which you wouldn’t otherwise.

Now, other features like portrait mode and night mode do a respectable job at ensuring the humanly moments are in front and center. Only when you pixel-peep, you’d notice the inconsistent edge detection. Also, the exposure handling could be better citing some blooming instances and that details do take back seat in case of night mode.

ALSO READ: Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord Vs Samsung Galaxy M51: Which one to buy?

Rest, the app is stuffed with goodies like a 64MP mode, Expert mode, Pro Night mode, Panorama, Text scanner, Slo-Mo (1080p 120fps or 720p 240fps), Time-Lapse, and Movie mode. You can shoot up to 4K from the back (with UIS Max Video Stabilization) and 1080p from the front (both at 30 fps).

Finally, it’s time to see the net of it all.

Realme X7 5G Review: Verdict

Realme has posted a year-over-year shipment increase of 65-percent and gained the title of the fastest-growing phone brand in the world for 5 consecutive quarters now (Counterpoint). So, it is clearly doing good, rather too good, I would say. The X7 5G will just add to this. It does bring the brain and brawn you’d come to expect out of a phone of this range.

It is packed to the brim and looks prim and trim. The biggest draws are its 50W charger, sleek design, delectable display, and fairly reliable processing power. The software is still stuck in past. I don’t think it’s a big ask to expect the aforementioned kinks and feature wishlist addressed in the promised Realme UI 2.0 (Android 11) update.

While it one-ups the competition (even from its brethren) on certain performance fronts, the features it x’d would probably let down some buyers. However, if that doesn’t bother you, you may sign on the dotted line ’cause most signs point to a lasting experience and a satisfactory one at that.

Pros

• High-speed 50W charger
• Sleek design
• Delectable AMOLED display
• Fairly capable performer

Cons

• No headphone jack
• No micro-SD expansion
• Not a high refresh rate display
• The camera needs work in the night mode, edge detection, and closeups

Realme X7: Another 5G Phone Under 20,000 [Video in Hindi]

 

Realme X7 5G FAQ

Q. Does Realme X7 5G has a dedicated microSD slot?

A. No, Realme X7 5G doesn’t support memory card expansion.

Q. What is the SAR value of Realme X7 5G?

A. Realme X7 5G SAR values are: 0.917 W/kg @ 1gm (Head) & 0.561 W/kg @ 1gm (Body)

Q. Does Realme X7 5G feature Gorilla Glass Protection?

A. Realme X7 5G comes with Gorilla Glass protection, although the version is unspecified.

Q. What are the 5G bands supported by Realme X7 5G?

A. Realme X7 5G supports the following bands: n1/n41/n77/n78

Q. Does Realme X7 5G support dual-band WiFi?

A, Yes, Realme X7 5G (2.4GHz + 5GHz) supports dual-band WiFi.

Q. Does Realme X7 5G support VoWiFi or WiFi calling?

A. Yes, Realme X7 5G does feature VoWiFi.

Q. How many microphones are on the Realme X7 5G?

A. Realme X7 5G comes with two microphones.

Q. Which is the Android update on Realme X7 5G?

A. Realme X7 5G ships with Android 10 software with Realme UI 1.0 skin. However, the brand has assured Android 11 based Realme UI 2.0 update soon. At the time of writing, it has the December 2020 security update. The Google Play System update is dated May 01, 2020.

Q. Does Realme X7 5G support HD stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime?

A. Realme X7 5G has DRM L1 certification I did an HD stream on Prime Video.

Q. Does Realme X7 5G support auto-call recording?

A. No, Realme X7 5G does not support auto-call-recording since it comes with a stock Google dialer.

Q. Does Realme X7 5G support Dual VoLTE and carrier aggregations?

A. Yes, Realme X7 5G does feature Dual VoLTE, but not carrier aggregation.