Realme X2 Pro review

Introduction

Realme has built a name for itself in Asia through delivering great phones at cutthroat prices. Unlike OnePlus, which started with a flagship challenger working its way up the ladder to reach the premium market segment, Realme has several super-successful low-end to mid-range models in its portfolio, and it's only now that it's releasing its first flagship-grade device - the Realme X2 Pro.

Along with the vanilla X2 and the 5 Pro, the X2 Pro is the first device to enter the European market with a bang. Going through the specs sheet and reaching the end of it with the price tag, the phone reminds us of the old times of OnePlus' Flagship killer. The Realme X2 Pro can easily take on even the Xiaomi's Mi 9T Pro and a couple of other reasonably-priced top-shelf handsets, so we expect it to cause the same stir in the European market as it did in Asia.

For 1/3 of the price of an iPhone 11 Pro, the Realme X2 Pro offers a rather long list of features. The Snapdragon 855+ chipset, the OLED screen, and the multi-camera array isn't a new thing in the price range, even for the European market. There are a couple of names that spring to mind with similar specs, but the X2 Pro has a couple of tricks up its sleeve to set it apart.

Realme X2 Pro specs

• Body: 161 x 75.7 x 8.7 mm, 199g; metal frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and back.
• Display: 6.5" Super AMOLED, 90Hz, HDR10+ support, 1080 x 2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 402 ppi; .
• Rear camera: Primary: 64MP, f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.7" sensor size, 0.8µm pixel size, PDA. Ultra wide: 8MP, f/2.2, 1/3.2", 1.4µm pixels; PDAF. Telephoto camera: 13MP, f/2.5, 1/3.4", 1.0µm, PDAF, 2x optical zoom (outputs 12MP photos); Depth sensor: 2MP; 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@480/960fps video recording.
• Front camera: 16MP, f/2.0, 1µm.
• OS: Android 9 Pie; ColorOS 6.1.
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ (7 nm): Octa-core (1x2.96 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.78 GHz Kryo 485), Adreno 640 (700 MHz) GPU.
• Memory: 6GB/8GB of RAM; 64/128/256GB storage; no microSD card slot.
• Battery: 4,000mAh; 50W SuperVOOC Flash Charge, Support for 18W USB Power Delivery and Quick Charge 4.0+.
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, 4-Band carrier aggregation, LTE Cat-20/ Cat-13; USB-C; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot, GPS; Bluetooth 5.1, A2DP, LE;
• Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader; Stereo loudspeakers, NFC, 3.5mm audio jack, 64GB version comes with UFS 2.1 and the rest are UFS 3.0.

If you missed the highlights on the X2 Pro specs list above, let us just point your attention to the OLED screen with 90Hz refresh rate, the crazy fast 50W charging, and the huge 64MP main sensor. With those in mind, the rest of the hardware looks like a bonus really. But specs aren't everything, so we delve deeper into the Realme X2 Pro's daily performance and usability in the following pages to see what the fuss is all about.

Unboxing the Realme X2 Pro

The Realme X2 Pro comes in a modest box with the usual content - user manuals, pin for ejecting the SIM tray, and a protective, transparent silicone case. For charging, Realme has provided a 50W Super VOOC wall charger and the appropriate USB-A to USB-C cable for data transfer and juicing.