Realme 3 Pro review

Competition

Realme's intentions with the 3 Pro are clear - offer the best value in an already super competitive segment. The Realme 3 Pro is aimed at various levels of competition but we're pinpointing the Samsung M30, Redmi Note 7 (and its Pro version), vivo V15 Pro and the Honor 8X.

Samsung Galaxy M30 • Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 • vivo V15 Pro • Honor 8X

This particular Galaxy we haven't seen yet, but the M20 gave us an idea what to expect in terms of performance, and the difference between the M30 and the Realme 3 Pro is night and day. The camera of the M30 (same as on the M20) is not a match for the Realme shooter either, though the ultra wide module on the Galaxy is a wild card, we'd admit. The M30 is running Android 8.1 with a Pie update just maybe coming, while the Realme is on Pie from day one. Perhaps the biggest selling point of Galaxy is the superior AMOLED display and to a lesser extent the price.

The Redmi Note 7's greatest advantage is price, but it's also a very competent package for the money. In fact, it's a match for the Realme in battery life, display, and camera, but not performance - the Realme's Snapdragon 710 is more potent than the Redmi's 660. Then there's the slightly more expensive Redmi Note 7 Pro that almost fixes that last bit - its 675 even outperforms the Realme's 710 in the CPU department, but the Realme's GPU remains unmatched in this class.

In fact, the significantly more expensive vivo V15 Pro has the same Snapdragon 675, so the Realme 3 Pro offers the better 3D performance in this unevenly priced matchup. Of course, the vivo packs niceties like an elevating selfie camera, an uderdisplay fingerprint sensor, an OLED display - it's a more premium device overall.

The Honor 8X is more affordable than the vivo, yet still a bit pricier than the Realme 3 Pro. The 3 Pro's display is slightly better, and its battery lasts longer with that display on, plus it charges way faster. Then there's the clear advantage of the Snapdragon 710 against the Kirin 710 - the Realme's GPU is vastly more powerful, and its CPU inches ahead of the Honor's too.

Verdict

Pros and Cons lists for midrangers are typically a straightforward thing to write - in most cases we're dealing with okay camera, okay battery life, okay display, okay everything, and then stuff that's missing and we complain about it. If only Realme is kind enough to come up with a software update that improves video stabilization, we'd be left with almost nothing to complain about, and that's quite the achievement.

But the thing is, while the Realme 3 Pro does have an okay display, it not merely checks all the other important boxes - it straight up excels at camera, battery life, and performance. We'd call that some serious value for money.

Pros

• Eye-catching color schemes make an otherwise ordinary design stand out.
• Battery life among the best in class, VOOC fast charging is class-leading.
• Good display for the money - sharp, decently bright and with high contrast, potentially color accurate.
• Top performance for the market segment in both CPU and GPU centric tasks.
• Excellent image quality in both daylight and low light, superb portraits, nice selfies too.

Cons

• MicroUSB port.
• Poor video stabilization.