Realme 7 hands-on review

Design and handling

We got the Mist White color of the phone, although it looks a bit too Blue-ish in the pictures. Anyway, the finish on the back looks and feels nice. Realme says the paint job is inspired by the mirror but the matte-like finish suggests otherwise. Or at least we can't see it that way. It's in stark contrast to the more flashy comet-like, shooting star gradient on the Realme 6. Which, by the way, looks a bit more premium in a way. In fact, we can go as far as saying that the Realme 7's design looks a bit bland compared to the Realme 6 but we also think it comes down to a personal preference. Oh, and the finish looks less prone to scratches.

Realme 6 and Realme 7 side by side

The two-tone design is interesting. The strip going down from the camera module is a bit more glossy to the touch and reflects light differently from the main matte finish. Less fingerprints and smudges ensured too.

Realme 6 and Realme 7 side by side

In terms of usability, the handset doesn't feel that much heavier than the Realme 6 compared side by side. It's still a rather hefty phone, of course, but we expected a noticeable change in weight due to the dramatic increase to 5,000 mAh on the Realme 7. And on contrary to our expectations, the Realme 7 is more comfortable to hold and operate on despite the fact that the Realme 6 is more compact. Perhaps it's due to the more rounded edges. The Realme 6 had more of an angular design.

The camera module has been slightly altered and is now wider than before. We can say it gives it a more "complete" look even though there are no practical implications to the design change. Realme was just able to fit in the flash and the "64MP AI camera" inscription.

Whereas the front remains absolutely the same with no changes whatsoever. We've got the same off-centered punch-hole camera design and the same IPS panel measuring 6.5" in diagonal. The fingerprint reader's position on the right side of the phone has been retained too.

Finally, the Realme 7 is the first smartphone to receive the so-called TÜV Rheinland Smartphone Reliability Verification certificate. There's not a lot of information about this certification but Realme sheds a bit of light. The handset has gone through 23 major and 72 minor tests covering a lot of the common use cases and some extreme scenarios as well. This might give you a piece of mind or it may not. We still don't know what these tests are and what they mean. It's the first phone to get it, after all.

Hardware and performance

The Realme 7 is the world's first in other terms as well. It's the first handset to employ the newly announced MediaTek Helio G95 SoC. It's a gaming-centric chipset for the mid-range segment and offers incremental improvements over its predecessor, the Helio G90T. The Mali-G76 MC4 GPU is now clocked at 900MHz instead of 800MHz while the CPU specs remain the same - Octa-core (2x2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55). The benchmarks are here to prove the point and as you can see, there are small gains in the GPU department only.

Along with the new chipset, Realme has implemented a carbon fiber cooling system to manage the heat during long workloads, or in other words - gaming. It's the same cooling solution used in the Realme X2 Pro and promises 8.6% better cooling capabilities. Compared to what, though? Realme doesn't say.

The memory configurations have changed as well. Now the lowest option starts at 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB. Storage variants are still 64 and 128GB and the latter is bundled with the 8GB option.

GeekBench 4.4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 6
  7815
• Realme 7
  7781
• Realme 6 Pro
  7027
• Realme 6i
  5890

GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
  1785
• Realme 6
  1726
• Realme 6 Pro
  1666
• Realme 7
  1651
• Realme 6i
  1349

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Realme 7
  292828
• Realme 6
  288931
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
  279625
• Realme 6 Pro
  268785
• Realme 6i
  202275

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 7
  20
• Realme 6 Pro
  18
• Realme 6
  18
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
  18
• Realme 6i
  9.4

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 7
  17
• Realme 6i
  17
• Realme 6 Pro
  16
• Realme 6
  16
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
  15

Another small change in the hardware would be the main camera. We suspect the user won't feel any difference between the 64MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 and the Sony IMX682 sensors but Realme says the latter has allowed them to tweak the camera software and offer better clarity and more flexibility when it comes to camera features.

And finally, the upgrade to 5,000 mAh is something worth noting. The Realme 6 had a slightly bigger battery (4,300 mAh) than the industry's standard while the Realme 7 packs a more generous 5,000 mAh unit. The 30W Dart Charge is still on board claiming 65 minutes to full charge from flat, which is a small trade-off in charging times if those numbers are right. According to our tests, the Realme 6 can charge from 0 to 100% in 51 minutes so about 15 more minutes and you have a full 5,000 mAh unit. Not too shabby.

The rest of the specs remain the same, including the 1080 x 2400px resolution, 6.5-inch IPS LCD panel running at 90Hz. The HRR handling has changed with the new software, however. Follow us on the next page to learn more about that.