Realme X2, X2 Pro hands-on review

Introduction

It's hard to keep up with Realme's break neck pace for coming up with new phones. Today's is no ordinary announcement, however, as this is the company's first true flagship - the Realme X2 Pro. We were there at the launch event and got to spend a few moments with the brand new Pro, as well as the non-Pro that's been official for a few weeks now.

The Realme X2 Pro comes packing the big guns - the Snapdragon 855+ inside is the brawniest Qualcomm has on offer now, and the X2 Pro can be had with up to 12 gigs of RAM and 256GB of storage. A 6.5-inch SuperAMOLED display adorns the front, notched as it may be. And then a 4,000mAh battery powers the whole operation but it's not the capacity that's most impressive - no, it's the 50-watt SuperVOOC charging tech that promises a full charge from flat in 35 minutes.

The phone's got a total of 4 cameras on its back and while the 2MP 'Portrait camera' doesn't count for much in our book, the other three have the high-end trifecta accounted for. A 64MP Quad Bayer main unit is joined by a 2x telephoto and an ultra wide angle is also present for those exaggerated perspectives. Over on the front, a 16MP selfie cam has you covered too.

Other niceties include an under-display fingerprint sensor and stereo speakers with a Dolby Atmos badge. It's not all peachy, though - Realme's scrapped the microSD slot, and the base model's 64GB of storage are UFS2.1 as opposed to the UFS 3.0 of the other tiers.

Realme X2 Pro specs

• Body: Gorilla Glass 5 front/back, aluminum frame; 161x75.7x8.7mm, 199g; Lunar White and Neptune Blue color schemes.
• Screen: 6.5" SuperAMOLED, FHD+ (1080 x 2400px) resolution,20:9 aspect ratio, 402ppi.
• Camera: Primary: 64MP, Samsung GW1 sensor 1/1.7" sensor size, f/1.8 aperture, PDAF; Telephoto: 13MP, f/2.5, 2x optical zoom, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8MP, f/2.2, 115-degree FoV; Depth sensor: 2MP, f/2.4.
• Selfie cam: 16MP, f/2.0 aperture.
• Chipset: Snapdragon 855+ (7nm), octa-core (1x2.96 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 485), Adreno 640 GPU (700 MHz).
• Memory: 6GB RAM, 64GB UFS 2.1 storage; 8GB RAM, 128GB UFS 3.0; 12GB RAM, 256GB UFS 3.0. No microSD slot.
• OS: Android 9.0 Pie, ColorOS 6.1.
• Battery: 4,000mAh, 50W SuperVOOC Flash Charge.
• Connectivity: Dual SIM; Wi-Fi, Buetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC. USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack.
• Misc:Optical under-display fingerprint reader, stereo speakers (Dolby Atmos certified).

As for the Realme X2 non-Pro, there are no surprises - we've known the numbers since its announcement in late September. It's a heavy-hitting midranger with a Snapdragon 730G, a 6.4" SuperAMOLED, the same main and ultra wide cams as the Pro, and only 30-watt charging. Since this is the first time we're seeing it in person, we had a quick go at it as well. Here's a refresher on the specs just in case.

Realme X2 specs

• Body: Gorilla Glass 5 front/back, aluminum frame; 158.7x75.2x8.6mm, 182g; Pearl Blue and Pearl White color schemes.
• Screen: 6.4" SuperAMOLED, FHD+ (1080 x 2340px) resolution,19.5:9 aspect ratio, 402ppi.
• Camera: Primary: 64MP, Samsung GW1 sensor 1/1.7" sensor size, f/1.8 aperture, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8MP, f/2.25, 115-degree FoV; Super macro: 2MP, f/2.4; Depth sensor: 2MP, f/2.4.
• Selfie cam: 32MP, f/2.0 aperture.
• Chipset: Snapdragon 730G (8nm), octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver), Adreno 618 GPU.
• Memory: 6/8GB RAM, 64/128GB UFS 2.1 storage; dedicated microSD slot.
• OS: Android 9.0 Pie, ColorOS 6.1.
• Battery: 4,000mAh, 30W VOOC Flash Charge 4.0.
• Connectivity: Dual SIM; Wi-Fi, Buetooth 5.0, GPS. USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack.
• Misc:Optical under-display fingerprint reader.

First things first, though - we're kicking off on the next page with some early impressions on the Realme X2 Pro.