Realme 7 review: the BEST-BUY without gaps under € 200

Realme is a brand that is making its way among the best thanks to smartphones characterized by convenience often of a stratospheric level. There are those who define it as the new Xiaomi on the economic range, who the new OnePlus on the high-end. One of its latest low cost models è Realm 7, which we have had the opportunity to try thoroughly and which made us discover that in 2021 they exist even for less than 200 euros complete smartphones and without major shortcomings.

If you are looking to save as much as possible and want to buy an unpretentious mobile phone that is up to every user, we highly recommend that you continue reading the Realme 7 review because you may have found the ideal phone.

Realme 7: technical specifications

• Dimensions and weight: 162,3 x 75,4 x 9,4 mm / 196,5 grams
• Display: 6,5 ″ IPS LCD Full HD + (1080 x 2400p) 90 Hz
• Processor: MediaTek Helio G95, octa-core 2,05 GHz
• Memory: 4/64 GB, 6/64 GB and 8/128 GB + micro SD slot
• Software: Android 10 + Realme UI
• Connectivity : 4G, Dual SIM, WiFi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC, USB-C 2.0
• Rear camera: quad 48 + 8 + 2 + 2 MP (main f / 1.8 + wide angle f / 2.3 119 ° + macro f / 2.4 + depth f / 2.4)
• Front camera: 16 Megapixel f / 2.1
• Battery: 5000 mAh with fast charging at 30W

Realme 7: full review

• Design and materials
• Display
• Hardware
• Software
• Camera
• Battery
• Price

Design and materials

Realme 7 comes out of his package with a pre-installed film together with a protective cover, the manuals, the charging cable and a 30W charger like the one that OPPO has included in the smartphone box as Find the X2 Neo e Find x2 lite, identical also in aesthetics.

• 

• 

• 

Realme 7 is not a smartphone built with materials premium like glass and metal: like the vast majority of budget devices it is made of classic polycarbonate, yet it manages to be incredibly attractive. Thanks to the frosted matte coating on the rear body, which manages to give a touch of not indifferent style.

Realme 7 exists in two colors: Mist Blue and Mist White. An attractive rear is accompanied by a punch-hole screen with very thin edges on the front, with the hole for the front camera at the top left. On the back there is a rectangular-shaped camera module that includes all the elements of the photo compartment, including the flash, without leaving anything out.

• 

• 

On the right side we find a power key that integrates a fingerprint reader, while on the left there is the volume rocker. Realme 7 is not an extremely heavy smartphone but neither is it light. While the weight is average, the thickness exceeds the average due to the large battery inside.

• 

• 

Le dimensions they are not excessive: it is a 6,5-inch smartphone that is anything but compact, but it has normal dimensions that you can get used to without great difficulty even if you come from a much more compact device.

Display

The Realme 7 display is a 6,5 inch IPS LCD with Full HD resolution+, a typical brightness of 480 nit (not very high, so in direct sunlight you will not have maximum visibility), a 20: 9 format, the Gorilla Glass 3 protection and above all a refresh rate to 90 Hz which guarantees a visual fluidity above the norm.

Comparing it with an AMOLED display (that of the Find X2 Neo) we noticed that it does not look bad at all. The colors are undoubtedly less realistic and the blacks much less deep, but at the chromatic level the rendering is not at all disappointing. In addition, the smartphone is also equipped with the Widevine L1 certification which allows you to view content on streaming platforms such as Prime Video and Netflix in Full HD resolution (we tried on the Netflix app and the high definition works).

Despite being a low-cost smartphone and an IPS, this screen still manages to give its satisfactions. The speaker it is mono, however the audio convinces a lot and manages to reach a high volume. Also good on call, even if it gives big surprises when it comes to multimedia playback. The fingerprint reader positioned laterally it is very reliable and works almost always.

Hardware

If we consider that this smartphone can be purchased under 200 euros, its hardware sector is stratospheric. And if you're looking for performance, you've found the perfect model for you. Realme 7 is equipped with a processor MediaTek Helio G95, evolution of the G90T, which runs at a frequency of over 2 GHz.

It is a processor that unfortunately lacks 5G connectivity, but which in terms of performance almost goes hand in hand with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765G. It is therefore able to provide medium-high-end performance and is also particularly suitable for gaming thanks to its powerful GPU. The chip, built at 12nm, in the version we tested matches with 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB of UFS 2.1 type internal memory, expandable via micro SD with slot separated from the dual SIM (there are also configurations from 4/64 GB and 6/64 GB at lower prices).

The performance differences compared to the top of the range are by no means as marked as it may seem: this smartphone is always snappy and even manages to hold up the games with the most advanced graphics, if you compromise with the settings. For everyday use it is truly a perfect device, fluid and free of jamming attributable to the hardware.

Reception is good, both during calls and when connecting to the internet via mobile operators: it does not hook 4G + due to the absence of Carrier Aggregation, but still manages to reach high connection speeds in 4G.

Software

The software on this device is the user interface Real UI based on Android 10: it is a customization born from coloros of OPPO and very similar to the latter.

While the vast majority of the interface is virtually identical to that of OPPO, there are some unique features including spam filter for calls, Realme Lab to try out the new features in prerelease beforehand, and more. This interface has the advantage of having evolved very quickly and is continuing to do so with subsequent versions (the smartphone will update this year to Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11).

This is definitely one of the best interface ever in the Android world, a lot well optimized and with a number of functions suited to one of the most important brands in the sector.

Camera

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Like all budget smartphones, the camera is a bit like Realme 7's Achilles heel. The device is equipped with a quad rear camera including a 48 Megapixel main sensor, a 8 Megapixel wide angle and a couple of 2 Megapixel lenses for macro and depth calculation.

To be clear, if we compare the photographic yield with other similarly priced devices, we still get some of the best results in the category. The colors are not distorted at all and the level of definition captured is high. However, the situation is reversed in poor light conditions, when the photographic quality drops dramatically.

On the bright side, the competition can't do better in the same price range. On the front we find a 16 Megapixel sensor average (actually even more than average for the range), selfies are nothing stratospheric but at least they are not lacking in definition, always if the lighting conditions are good.

Videos with the rear camera can be recorded in 4K at 30 fps or in 1080p up to 120 fps, while the front camera can record in 1080p at a maximum of 120 fps. If you are looking for a camera phone, however, the dispassionate advice is to immediately increase your budget.

Note the shots above are compressed, to view them at full resolution go to this album.

Battery

We now come to autonomy, an area for which expectations are very high, given the great capacity of 5000 mAh. Of course, the smartphone still has a 90 Hz IPS display and a 12 nm processor that do not consume little at all, but the expectations are fully met.

In 3 days of use I managed to do over 6 hours of screen on with mixed use, which increase dramatically if you use your smartphone a lot, always using it on the first day. There quick charge to 30W (killer feature for the price) manages to bring the smartphone from 0 to 100% in just over an hour and from 0 to 50% in less than half an hour.

Price

Realme 7 was launched in Italy in 3 memory variants with the following prices of price list.

• 4/64 GB: 179 euros
• 6/64 GB: 199 euros
• 8/128 GB: 249 euros

However, the smartphone is currently available at much lower prices. The lower-end configuration costs less than 170 euros at the time of writing thanks to street price, while the 8/128 GB version can be found around 200 euros. For the technical characteristics of this smartphone, these prices are really a bargain.

Those who want to buy a device in this price range will find very few alternatives that guarantee the same level of convenience. It is undoubtedly one of the best smartphones for quality / price.

Realme 7: Conclusion

Realme 7 is a smartphone that offers a balanced and excellent user experience for any type of user, except those who want a real camera phone and 5G. It has some mind-blowing performance (also for gaming), a good display, a satisfactory audio sector, a great autonomy and also a pretty good aesthetic. All seasoned with a bomb price.

We can't find any real flaws in it and it's really a very reliable mid-range: there should definitely be more smartphones like Realme 7 on the market.