Realme 5 Pro review

Color OS 6 on top of sweet Pie

The Realme 5 Pro runs Oppo's latest Color OS 6 over Android 9.0 - a combo we've already seen on the Realme X, 3 and 3 Pro. Some icons might have changed along the way, but other than that - it's the same UI we left on the previous model.

Color OS 6 generally revolves around a light color scheme with the settings menu using a white backdrop with light color accents and gradients.

Registering a fingerprint takes a few steps, but it's not a big deal to spend some time enrolling a print as long as it works well later on. And it does flawlessly on the 5 Pro. The sensor is always on and upon recognition unlocks the phone in a flash.

You can also set up face unlock in addition to or instead of fingerprint security. But it's far inferior to the fingerprints in terms of security. There's an option that you can set to require your eyes to be open for the phone to unlock to add some extra security, but it still won't match the fingerprint sensor security-wise.

Biometric security

The user interface of the Realme 5 Pro is virtually identical to that of the X, in turn very similar to the pre-Pie releases from the brand. There are the usual homscreens, Smart Assistant optional pane that is more like a widget page, there is also an app drawer.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • Widget pane • App drawer • App drawer

The drop-down shade features notifications, quick toggles, and a brightness scrubber and has been redesigned for Color OS 6. The task switcher is reminiscent of Apple's, though it has an End All button. Split-screen multitasking is available for all compatible apps, and you can resize the windows and swap the two apps.

Notifications • Toggles • Task Switcher • Split screen

There are all sorts of navigation options on the Realme 5 Pro. There's the old-school nav bar on the bottom, swipe up gestures that replace it, but don't really change the dynamic much, and then there's the 'Swipe Gestures from Both Sides' option (the default one). This last one is our favorite - it mimics partially the iOS way of doing things (you swipe from the sides for Back) which we've seen one way or the other on EMUI and MIUI, but that's not why we like it. It adds a welcome twist - swipe in from the side and hold to switch between the two latest apps - how brilliant is that?

Navigation settings

Of course, the usual set of tools comes pre-installed. There is a Phone Manager for handling memory cleaner functions, app permissions and encryption, and virus scanning, among other things.

Then there's Game Space which allows you to handpick which notifications to pass through when you are playing games and you don't want to be interrupted. There are also different performance modes and an option to lock the brightness only for certain games.

Game Space

Realme also provides basic multimedia apps - a gallery called Photos, and a Music player. A file manager is also part of the package, FM radio support and app are available, too.

Phone Manager • Gallery • Music • Files • Compass • FM radio

Performance and benchmarks

The Realme 5 Pro runs on the Snapdragon 712 chipset - essentially a 710 with minor tweaks such as 0.1GHz higher potential clock speed on the high-performance cores. Those would be Cortex-A75-based Kryo 360-branded cores, two of them, ticking at up to 2.3GHz. The other six cores are Cortex-A55 derivatives, clocked at up to 1.7GHz. There's been no upgrade to the GPU for the 710-to-712 transition, and it's still the Adreno 616.

Realme promises the Snapdragon 712 chipset 10% boost over the S710-powered Realme 3 Pro and X. The company is keen to point out that this chipset has the same ISP as the Snapdragon 845 and the AI engine is twice as fast as the one on the 710.

Realme placed a copper foil, a graphite sheet, and aluminum to lead the heat away from the chipset.

The Realme 5 Pro is available in three memory configurations - 4/64GB, 6/64GB and 8/128GB. It is only the company's second phone to use UFS 2.1 storage. That's much faster than eMMC and should speed up the load times for apps and games. If you need more storage, the dedicated microSD slot can add up to 256GB more.

We should mention that Realme 5 Pro limits the CPU and GPU performance when not running on High Performance Mode. You must opt for this mode from the Battery Settings if you want to unlock the full potential of the chipset, otherwise you will lose between 10% and 20% of the overall performance. Naturally, we ran the benchmarks in Performance mode.

First, we ran GeekBench and it showed minor jump from the Realme 3 Pro and X numbers, while scored on par with the Mi 9 SE - a phone with the same Snapdragon 712 chip.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  6863
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  6620
• Realme 5 Pro
  6106
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  6017
• Realme X
  5915
• Realme 3 Pro
  5881
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  5549
• Realme 5
  5493
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  5411
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  5396
• Realme 3
  4936
• Motorola Moto G7
  4755
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  4188

In the single-core test the Realme 5 Pro scored noticeably higher than the Realme 3 Pro and Realme X despite having quite the same CPU cores.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  2537
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  2404
• Realme 5 Pro
  1913
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  1905
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  1715
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  1650
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  1576
• Realme 5
  1529
• Realme 3
  1482
• Realme X
  1475
• Realme 3 Pro
  1471
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  1311
• Motorola Moto G7
  1255

The Snapdragon 712's Adreno 616 GPU is the same as the one that's part of the 710, but the Adreno 618 in the Snapdragon 730 isn't any more powerful, at least not in the Xiaomi Mi 9T's implementation and the 9T post virtually identical scores. And for its price tag, the Realme is just acing these graphic tasks.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 5 Pro
  27
• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  27
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  26
• Realme 3 Pro
  23
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  17
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  15
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  14
• Realme 5
  13
• Realme 3
  13
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  8.1
• Motorola Moto G7
  6.9

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  16
• Realme 5 Pro
  15
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  15
• Realme 3 Pro
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  9.2
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  8.7
• Realme 3
  8
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  7.7
• Realme 5
  7.2
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  5.2
• Motorola Moto G7
  3.8

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  2329
• Realme 5 Pro
  2253
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  2218
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  1409
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  1353
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  1220
• Realme 3
  1189
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  988
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  645
• Motorola Moto G7
  569

In Antutu, the Realme 5 Pro is showing noticeable improvement over the Realme 3 Pro and is on par with the Mi 9 SE. In fact, it beats all other phones but the Mi 9T, though the Xiaomi is more expensive than the Realme and yet their GPU prowess is equal but the Mi 9T has a better CPU and thus a better score.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  211915
• Realme 5 Pro
  182765
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  180754
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  180057
• Realme 3 Pro
  155647
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  144574
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  141600
• Realme 5
  139516
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  139075
• Realme 3
  132764
• Motorola Moto G7
  106292
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  101651

Overall, the Realme 5 Pro delivers predictably great results for performance across the board and offers a lot more bang that its buck suggests. It has a really potent GPU, while its CPU power is more than enough for hassle-free experience on whatever app or game you run.

The Realme 5 Pro doesn't get hot and we didn't observe any throttling.