Realme 8 Pro review

Design, build, handling

The Realme 8 Pro is a looker, alright. Its catchy back, with that cool sand-blasted finish and glossy logo, is an instant attention grabber. The camera island looks quite balanced, too, and you can't really guess there is a huge 108MP camera inside.

We'd argue that the DARE TO LEAP logo is a bit too big and flashy for our taste, but if Realme thinks it makes sense and its target group said so - who are we to disagree.

We can express our disappointment over the missing water-repellent coating, though. Unlike the Realme 7 Pro, the 8 Pro has no such thing. There is no rubber gasket around the card slot either, meaning the phone will not take well any exposure to water. We liked the extra peace of mind the coating was giving us, and we do miss it.

The Realme 8 Pro is a bit thinner and lighter than its 6 Pro and 7 Pro siblings and feels somewhat more compact. The curved edges on the back panel probably help.

The front is the place for the 6.4" Super AMOLED screen. We saw the same panel on the Realme 7 Pro - a 1080p one with a 60Hz refresh rate. The punch-hole for the 16MP selfie camera is super tiny - one of the smallest we've seen recently.

We don't know if it's just us, but while the side bezels are nicely thin, the chin looks a bit thicker than it was on the Realme 7 Pro. And it's definitely larger, as one that an LCD screen would usually have. This is nit-picking for such an affordable phone, but we couldn't help but notice it.

Above the screen, almost invisible, is the earpiece grille. There is no second speaker on the Realme 8 Pro, in stark contrast with the Realme 7 Pro. There is no notification LED light either.

The Realme 8 Pro features an under-display fingerprint reader, and it is one of the best the technology has to offer today. The scanner is plenty fast, and the accuracy is close to excellent.

We liked the back of the Realme 8 Pro a lot. It's curved a bit and made of plastic, with a grippy sand-blasted finish. It looks like the color is uniform, but once the light hits it, it seems like it spreads from the camera towards the edges, like a shining sun. It's one of the coolest yet subtle effects we've seen, and we've spent some crazy amount of time just looking at this piece.

As we said, we aren't big fans of the gigantic insignia, but we do like the camera island. It's a two-step piece with one thin glass jutting out of the phone, and then each of the four cameras has its own protruding metal rings. The arrangement makes the Realme 8 Pro wobble, but it's quite okay.

The plastic frame is thin and flat, painted in gray on our unit and offers a matte finish. This, combined with the grippy back, makes for one of the best handling experiences we've had in a while. There is no need for a case; the Realme 8 Pro feels safe in hand no matter the occasion - whether it's shooting photos with one hand or watching videos.

The sides of the Realme 8 Pro

The left side of the frame houses the tri-card slot, where you can put two SIMs and a microSD card. The volume and power keys are on the right.

The top of the phone has one of the mics, while the bottom contains the mouthpiece, the USB-C port, the speaker grille, and the 3.5mm jack.

We really like what Realme has done with the design of the 8 Pro. It's a bit flashy, sure, but the plastic back excels in both grip and looks, while the footprint and thickness are balanced, and we can call this Realme a compact device. We do miss ingress protection, though, and we hope to see it return with the next Realme series.