The phone feels great in the hands and perhaps the only complaint I might have was the fact that it was a bit slippery. Though that seems to be one trade-off you need to make for getting premium looks these days. Thanks to the large 6.3-inch panel on the Realme 2 Pro, folks with small hands might take a while to adjust. The phone feels great in the hands and I liked its overall glossiness. Once we get hold of a review unit, I should be able to tell you more about the phone.
Realme 2 Pro: Specifications, Hardware
The Realme 2 Pro gets a large 6.3-inch IPS LCD panel that boasts of a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The phone has a screen-to-body ratio of 90.8 percent which is better than that of the Realme 2 as well. The panel also gets a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass for added durability. This is also one feature that many handsets in this price bracket lack. These things apart, the Realme 2 Pro’s panel uses a dewdrop notch at the top of the display which is quite ‘interesting’ to look at.
The talking point of the Realme 2 Pro, however, has to be its processor which happens to be the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE chipset. This SoC houses an octa-core processor clocked at up to 2.2 GHz and is based on a 14nm manufacturing process. The Adreno 512 GPU is currently one of the fastest mid-range GPUs you can get on an Android smartphone. Additionally, with an entry-level price of just Rs.13,990, the Realme 2 Pro is now the most affordable phone with the SD660 chipset.
The handset will be offered in three versions – a base 4GB RAM + 64GB version, an in-the-middle 6GB RAM + 64GB version and the top-of-the-line 8GB RAM version with 128GB of storage. The most premium version of the phone also boasts of UFS 2.1 flash memory which is faster than the standard eMMC storage generally used on devices in this price range. The Realme 2 Pro gets a sufficiently large 3500 mAh battery that should let the handset easily last a day with moderate usage
Realme 2 Pro: Software
Being an Oppo sub-brand, the Realme 2 Pro, unsurprisingly, runs Color OS 5.1, the latest version of Oppo’s own custom UI atop Android 8.1. While I am not a fan of the app drawer-less ColorOS, I did observe that the UI itself was quite fluid on the hands-on device. I would, however, only be able to talk more about the UI and performance after I get my hands on a long-term review unit.
Realme 2 Pro: Camera Features, Imaging
The Realme 2 Pro gets a dual camera set up at the rear that consists of a 16-megapixel primary camera at the rear that uses the Sony IMX398 image sensor. This sensor supports dual-pixel autofocus that ensures quick auto focusing even in difficult lighting scenarios. The 6P lens used on the primary camera has an aperture of f/1.7 and supports EIS as well. The secondary camera is a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Like the Realme 2 (and other Oppo devices), the Realme 2 Pro supports several AI features within the camera app. These include the AI scene recognition and an AI Portrait Mode.
At the front, the Realme 2 Pro gets another dedicated 16-megapixel camera with support for AI Beautify. This feature claims to also work well even if you have multiple people in your selfies. I was not in a position to check the image quality and the general camera performance of the Realme 2 Pro during my time with the device. I should, however, be able to tell you more once we get our review unit.
The Realme 2 Pro is capable recording 4K videos in the highest settings. There is no support for either 4K 60FPS or 1080p 60FPS video. The front camera is capable of full HD video recording as well.
Realme 2 Pro: Price in India, Should you buy this phone?
When Realme launched their first handset, the Realme 1 a few months ago, the general consensus was that the device was a ‘decent’ phone that made a few compromises (the lack of a fingerprint scanner, for example). When the Realme 2 arrived, most people were not too happy with the Snapdragon 450 SoC it came with.
The Realme 2 Pro seems to have addressed both these shortcomings. After today’s launch, the Realme 2 Pro has become the most affordable smartphone with the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset. It is also the most affordable SD 660 toting handset with price in India starting at an incredible Rs.13,990. The other versions of the handset are priced at Rs. 15,990 for the 6GB RAM + 64GB version and Rs.17,990 for the 8GB RAM version with 128GB of storage space.
At these price points, even the mighty ASUS Zenfone Max Pro M1 and the Redmi Note 5 Pro might start to feel the heat. In case you are on the lookout for an affordable device with powerful hardware, the Realme 2 Pro is one phone you should seriously consider as an option. The Realme 2 Pro will go on sale starting October 11 as a Flipkart exclusive.
