Introduction and review of Realme 10 Pro
According to JBQ, Realme 10 Pro+, the new addition to the brand’s signature series, has been officially launched in India. Considering the starting price of 24,999 rupees for this smartphone, it seems that this product line has moved away from its budget roots and entered the field of mid-range phones. The 10 Pro+ offers an enticing set of specifications and is the first phone in the country to be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset. As an almost flagship experience packed into an affordable price tag, it’s time to find out if the Realme 10 Pro+ really lives up to its hype through this full review.
Just in terms of design and display, the Realme 10 Pro+ breaks the boundaries of the mid-range smartphone experience. The phone is also supported by a very decent main camera and includes stealth photography capabilities in low light. Holding it back is an ultra-wide shooter and a bloatware-laden UI, but if we put them aside, the Realme 10 Pro+ becomes a compelling proposition under Rs 30,000.
Positive
Beautiful display, pleasant design, good photography in low light, long battery life
Negative
Ultra-wide shooter not up to the mark, Bloatware
The Realme 10 Pro+ certainly changes a bit with its design language. While I’m not really a fan of the flashy glossy back of the color version of the Hyperspace, I do appreciate the patterns coming out of the camera lens when looking at it from different angles. Also, with a weight of only 173 grams and a thickness of less than 7.8 mm, this device is one of the slimmest and lightest smartphones on the market. This fact becomes even more prominent when you realize that the Realme 10 Pro+ also houses a 5,000 mAh battery like a Power bank. The volume and power buttons on the side are quite slim and follow the overall design of the device. Other elements include the USB Type-C port, the speaker grille and the dual-SIM slot at the bottom.
The phone has a stereo sound setup and the headphones facilitate this feature. There’s no obvious camera housing for the 10 Pro+ that houses the 10 Pro+’s optical setup, but instead, two massive rings jut out from the back, giving a false impression of the size of the sensors. However, the whole phone looks stylish and is very aesthetically pleasing to use.
Now we come to the display of the Realme 10 Pro+ and I must say that the company did not disappoint at all. The front of the device features a curved AMOLED panel, which appears for the first time in this segment and adds to the premium look of the phone. Also, the display can refresh at 120Hz, which is always nice to see, and offers FHD+ resolution. Realme has tried to maximize the display without increasing the footprint of the device, resulting in very thin bezels.
The screen itself is tuned for your viewing pleasure with features like HDR10+ certification, a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and a maximum brightness of 950 nits. I watched Netflix’s 1899 on the device and was blown away by the detail, dynamic range and accurate colors on offer. Suffice it to say, the Realme 10 Pro+ display is one of its strongest suits. There are also some industry first features that Realme has boasted in the device.
The first mode is a 2160Hz PWM dimming mode, which apparently maintains more accurate colors at lower brightness levels. Quantitatively, I can’t give a yardstick to measure it, but I can say that at night, I found the Realme 10 Pro+ very easy to use without straining my eyes. The second algorithm is an X-touch Anti-Mistouch algorithm, which, according to the company itself, has been intelligently optimized to reduce errors on the panel. The curved screen has occasional touches, but during my use of the Realme 10 Pro+, they were very few.
Cameras
JBQ says, On the back, the Realme 10 Pro+ has a triple lens and the main camera has a 108-megapixel sensor. It is supported by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide and 2-megapixel macro camera, while there is a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front. I have already talked in detail about the camera performance of the 10+ Pro compared to the iQOO Z6 Pro ( review ). You can read about it in the link below, but the bottom line is that I was thoroughly impressed with Realme’s imaging capabilities.
Daylight photos are handled well by the sensor, and most mid-range phones can capture good photos in these conditions. The Realme 10 Pro+ is no different in terms of sharp and detailed photos, but there are highlights in very sunny conditions. Dynamic range remains optimal, and I was surprised at how well the phone reproduced true-to-life colors. Focus and shutter speed were never a problem on the device, and I also liked the exposure control on the main camera.
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The ultra-wide sensor remained a bit spotty in terms of detail. It also has a much warmer color and does not compensate for sunlight well. On the plus side, there’s very little distortion around the edges, a common flaw in several competing phones. As for the macro shooter, you can get halfway decent shots with good colors and detail, but at 2MP, the image can only look satisfactory on a mobile screen.
The night photography capabilities of the device certainly impressed me a lot. Most of my shots were in the presence of ambient light around the subject, but the final output of the phone looked very attractive. Overexposure was adjusted, colors were preserved, lens flare was reduced, and details were not over-processed. These qualities are enhanced with a dedicated night mode that adds more detail in the shadows as well. Finally, for the selfie camera, facial oversharpening remained an issue, but apart from that, the device took respectable photos.
Performance and software
Under the hood is the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 processor, built on the 6nm manufacturing process. Technically, this chipset is only a slight step up from the Dimensity 1000 found in last year’s devices, but it still packs some pretty decent processing power. I ran several benchmarks to gauge its capability as well as its performance under sustained load. On Antutu, the device scored an overall score of 514,042 while the Geekbench 5 multi-core result is 2,370.
Now these results aren’t the best in the segment, but for the average user, the Realme 10 Pro+ grunts more than enough. Also, the device maintains a remarkable 88% of its performance under sustained loads, which is a big plus in my book. For gaming, I ran PUBG: New State and the title ran on Ultra graphics at 60fps without any major stuttering after extended use. However, I would lower the graphics for a more seamless experience. The phone also packs up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and an additional 8GB via virtual swap memory with 256GB of UFS 2.1 internal storage.
As for some other features of the device, there is an in-display fingerprint sensor which works as advertised. Whenever this service becomes available in your city, 5G capabilities with SA and NSA band support are available on the device. I also like how good the stereo speakers sound, especially the depth they provide in the sound while they don’t blare at higher volumes.
RealmeUI 4.0, based on Android 13, runs on the device, making it the first Realme phone to run the latest version of Android out of the box. Most of the user interface elements are not dissimilar to Android 12, such as the drop-down menu and quick settings. However, there are some added features such as volume control and an always-on on-screen recommendation when playing from Spotify. The user interface isn’t exactly clean, with too many Realme apps cluttering up the home screen and app drawer. There is also an annoying window that pops up every time you download an app, recommending similar or popular apps like it. Other than that, RealmeUI 4.0 is intuitive, customizable and relatively easy to use.
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Battery
This phone has a 5000 mAh battery inside a very slim chassis. In terms of usage, I got about six hours out of the Realme 10 Pro+, and that included nearly three hours of Netflix and about an hour of PUBG: New State. I can safely say that the device will easily last you all day and then some with moderate usage such as using social media and browsing Chrome. However, if you need an early charge, the 67W charger facility will come in handy. It can recover the phone from 0 to 100% in less than 45 minutes.
Final verdict
I think that in this price range of Rs 20,000-30,000, no other phone captures the imagination like the Realme 10 Pro+. Aspects like the curved AMOLED screen definitely outweigh the device’s weight. I also enjoy how it feels in the hand, like a delicate piece of hardware not usually associated with anything in the mid-range.
Are there any problems? Of course. No device is perfect and I feel like Realme could have used a better ultra-wide shooter and cleaner UI. Obviously, hardcore performance enthusiasts will find more comfort in options like the Redmi K50i (review). However, as an overall device, the Realme 10 Pro+ truly delivers a comprehensive smartphone experience that will not disappoint its target audience.
