Oppo Realme 2 review

A dual-camera on the cheap

The Realme 2 comes with a 13MP+2MP camera combo on its back. Only the 13MP one can be used on its own, while the 2MP module is used for depth detection (read: portrait shots with defocused backgrounds).

The primary sensor sits behind f/2.2 lens, while the secondary 2MP is behind f/2.4. Phase-detection autofocus, and a LED flash complete the camera specs.

The camera app UI is lifted from the Oppo software branches, without any changes or special re-branding. It recently got the so-called AI-boost, which is a fancy name for scene recognition. You'll see a small icon when a scene is successfully recognized, and the software will tweak all settings accordingly. Food, snow, pets (dogs and cats), sunsets, grass, among other scenes, are caught mostly correctly.

The interface of the camera app has borrowed a lot from the iOS app, of course. Most settings are on the left (or top, depending on the orientation), while different modes are selected on the right next to the shutter key.

The app offers two trendy modes - 2x telephoto zoom and blurred background. Those have dedicated shortcuts on the viewfinder, but as you can imagine, the 2x zoom is purely digital.

Unfortunately, there is no Expert mode available, but maybe Oppo will add this with a software update later on.

Camera app

Image quality

The 13MP photos we snapped with the Realme 2 impress with nothing and pretty much match the Realme 1's camera quality. The images have enough detail and nice color rendition, and the contrast is very good. But they suffer from every issue typical to a cheap camera with darker lenses - higher noise levels, softness around the corners, over-sharpening and a low dynamic range.

Realme 2 13MP camera samples

The 2x zoom is purely digital, there is no telephoto lens on the Realme 2. But Oppo still opted for a toggle on the viewfinder, so here is what you'll get if you use it.

Realme 2 zoomed 13MP samples

The HDR mode works nice on the Realme 1. You also get auto mode, which does a good job of jumping in, when the conditions call for it. HDR processing is not too extreme and generally helps rescue some details in shadows and highlights. You should be good just leaving HDR on auto.

HDR off • HDR on

The low-light images we took with the Realme 2 are nothing to phone home about. Exposure comes out quite dark, they lack detail and are often blurry, and everything is washed out. You can see what's on the pictures, but there are some samples that won't do even for quick sharing on social networks.

Realme 2 13MP low-light samples

You should check how the Realme 2 does against the Realme 1 and Redmi 5 in our Photo Compare Tool. We've pre-selected these two, but you are free to pick any other phone to compare it against.

Realme 2 vs. Realme 1 vs. Redmi 5 in our Photo compare tool

Portrait mode

The Realme 2 needs to justify its second camera somehow, and that's where portraits come into play. The Realme 1 also had a portrait mode, but the Realme 2 should offer more accurate subject separation and blur thanks to the depth info from the second snapper.

Indeed, it does a pretty good job separating the person from the background, with the usual caveat that hairstyles better have a clear outline.

Realme 2 13MP portrait samples

Selfies

Oppo has a reputation of a Selfie Master but that's mostly limited to the F-series of devices. The Realme 2, just like the first one, shares no such aspirations, with its rather modest 8MP, f/2.2 selfie camera. It's a fixed-focus lens, there is no dedicated flash or anything else fancy of the sorts.

Still, the 8MP selfie cam does a decent enough job. Despite the unimpressive dynamic range, there is really not much to complain about. There is more than enough detail, the colors are nice, and the images are sharp enough.

Realme 2 8MP selfies

The selfie cam also offers the simulated bokeh, just like many other Oppo selfie snappers.

Realme 2 8MP portrait selfies

There is a beauty mode, complete with an automatic "AI" setting, to play around with as well. And a pretty extensive animated sticker collection.

Beautification and stickers

Video recording

The Snapdragon 450 chipset means that the Realme 2 is limited to 1080p video capture with mono audio. There is no 1080p at 60fps mode; EIS is not present either.

The 1080p video we shot with the Realme 2 have enough detail, though we've seen a lot better. Colors come off a bit warmer than they should have been and the dynamic range could use some improvement. Still, the 20Mb/s, or so AVC/AAC, MP4 videos are perfectly usable. Nothing to rave about, but usable.

You can also download the 1080p@30fps (10s, 26MB) video sample taken straight off the Realme 2.

Finally, you can use our Video Compare Tool to see how the Realme 2 stacks against the Realme 1 and Redmi 5 when it comes to video capture.

1080p: Realme 2 against the Realme 1 and the Redmi 5 in our Video compare tool