Realme 10 Pro+ review

Design, build quality, handling

The Realme 10 Pro+ is the first Realme number series phone to introduce a curved ala Galaxy Edge design. And, in a typical Realme fashion, you get to choose between three attractive paintjobs - Starlight, Night, and Ocean.

The Starlight option, the one we have for our review, is simply stunning. The front is all screen, as usual, covered with a curved tempered glass. The back panel is made of plastic and has identically steep curves. But what's really cool is the panel itself.

Realme has put millions of glittering particles on the back, on top of what seems to be a gold surface. But looks can be deceiving, as the gold color actually shifts from light blue towards orange/purple/gold depending on the ambient light. But that's not all! There is also this radiating pattern etched on the back. It starts from the camera and is best described as a disco light. It's not as flashy as it sounds, but the whole thing is far from discreet, too.

The Night version is your traditional Black model with a subtle hint of gray around the cameras. The Ocean one, on the other hand, transitions from yellowish/pinkish towards blue.

Curved Realme phones have been a rarity, but this is definitely the first for the Realme number series. And there are a couple of things to consider. For example, the Realme 9 Pro+ had a glass back, while for this new model, the maker used plastic instead. The front is still made of glass, and while we don't know its brand, we do have information on the glass specs. It's a piece Realme calls "a 0.65mm Double-reinforced Glass" or a "Supremely Durable Glass". It has allegedly passed a 1m drop test and endured 28,000 micro drops without cracking.

The sleek profile is surely a sight for sore eyes, and it will be appreciated by many users - it gives the touch of premium the Realme number series phones have needed for a while, especially in a year when most phones bring downgrades. The handling is compromised, of course, but that's the price you usually pay for better looks and slimmer design.

What we don't like is the lack of any sort of ingress protection, not even basic splash resistance like on the Redmi Note phones. The phone's ports seem well sealed - there is rubber insulation around the SIM slot, which shows that Realme has done some sort of proofing. There is no official rating quoted, though.

And while Realme 10 Pro+ is probably the only one with notable upgrades over its predecessor this year, there is one notable downgrade, and it's in the design department - the rear panel is now made of plastic instead of glass.

And with that out of the way, let's explore the Realme 10 Pro+ up close.

The Realme 10 Pro+ now offers a larger screen with curved glass - it's a 6.7-inch AMOLED, up from 6.4-inch on the Realme 9 Pro+. It's of extended 1080p resolution and brings a slew of upgrades - faster 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit color depth, higher brightness, and official HDR10+ support.

The small cutout is now centered at the top, and it contains the same 16MP selfie camera we've seen in other models.

The screen has incredibly thin bezels for a midranger on a budget, even across all sides.

The things you cannot see at first as the earpiece/speaker behind a thin grille just above the screen and the under-display fingerprint reader near the bottom. The scanner is of the optical kind and quite fast and reliable.

The back is truly impressive with its colors, but we also like the two camera rings, a departure from the large rectangle on the previous model(s). The top one contains the 108MP primary, while the bottom one accommodates the 8MP ultrawide and the 2MP macro eyes. A single-LED flash can be seen outside the rings, flush with the back.

Since the two round camera holders are jutting out of the back, the Realme 10 Pro+ wobbles when left on a desk. But if this bothers you, you can fix it by using the bundled case.

The left side is completely bare.

The volume and power/lock keys are on the right.

The top has an outlet for the top speaker, in addition to the front one. A microphone is also around for noise-canceling and video-capturing purposes.

The bottom of the Realme 10 Pro+ houses the dual-SIM tray, the mouthpiece, the USB-C port, and the other stereo speaker. The audio jack has been retired, unfortunately.

The Realme 10 Pro+ measures 161.5 x 73.9 x 8 mm and weighs 175g - that's basically the footprint of the Realme 9 Pro+, which has a smaller screen but is also 7 grams lighter.

The Realme 10 Pro+ is of a solid build; no two words about that. It is a beautiful and eye-catchy phone with premium shape. Handling is not ideal, and it never is with curved phones, but it's a love-it-or-hate-it affair.

Overall, we are happy that the Realme 10 Pro+ offers a larger display, but its size hasn't grown since the previous model. And we do like the new shape despite the more slippery and less comfortable grip. And if these become issues, the transparent case would solve them immediately.