A new smartphone brand, Realme has launched two of its device in Pakistan – the Realme 2 Pro and the Realme C1. We have just got our hands on with the two devices but let’s continue with Realme 2 Pro first.
Realme 2 Pro is a mid-range smartphone, retail priced at PKR 46,999 (about $338) which is quite higher than Indian market where it costs $270. However you would be able buy this phone for PKR 43,999 exclusively from Daraz in a special sale offer that will start on January 10th, 2019 8PM – read more about pricing and availability.
We’ll see if this phone is tagged with the right price in our detailed review but first let’s have some quick overview with an unboxing session. See: Unboxing and Quick Preview of Realme C1
Update: Full review of Realme 2 Pro has been published
Read: How to buy Realme 2 Pro in Pakistan?
Okay, let’s start with the packaging which is pretty and nice looking twin coloured gray/yellow box. It prints some key information about the phone that includes branding, the device name, the colour, the model number and memory configuration as usually all phones do.
Unboxing Realme 2 Pro
The box pops out, like most others, to reveal a packet on top. Things like paper work, SIM eject tool and a TPU back cover is also included in that package. You can see that above with a “realme” branding on the left. Underneath that packet, there comes a the phone lying in a wrapper. Then below, there are two compartments to store USB cable and a charger.
You will get the phone with a bundled power adapter branded by OPPO. You will see the heavily loaded relation with OPPO as the brand has been a part of it previously. This is a 5V+2A charger, so you don’t get fast charging with Realme 2 Pro, even though the phone features Snapdragon 660 which supports latest Quick Charge 4.0.
No worries about fast charging, none other good brand, including Samsung and Huawei, gives you that feature in this price range. However, that’s not a good thing, they need to think again and be first to add the feature as we have seen Infinix offering fast charging which is actually good too.
On the other hand this mid-range smartphone comes with the same old school micro USB cable for connectivity. It seems like these companies have really no plan to bring USB Type-C connectivity in mid-range devices.
Well, that’s it! And if you think we missed something in the box, then no. We didn’t miss anything but Realme didn’t add the earphones with retail retail box. However a protective film is pre-applied on the phone’s screen.
Realme 2 Pro Box Contents
- The device – Realme 2 Pro
- Travel charger – 5V+2A
- USB cable for Connectivity/Charging
- SIM eject tool
- User guide
- Add-on TPU back cover
- Add-on TPU protective film (pre-applied)
Realme 2 Pro – Overview and Features
Available in three color option – Blue Ocean, Black Sea, Ice Lake, the Realme 2 Pro features a big 6.3-inch display. The phone features a Full HD+ resolution and sports a taller display 19.5:9 aspect ratio. So you can expect it to deliver sharp and crisp content on screen.
There are two variants of the phone with 4GB or 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The third one is the higher capacity model with 128GB storage and a massive 8GB RAM; that’s what we have here for review. The phone packs with the Qualcomm’s mid-range chipset, the Snapdragon 660 which has on-board AI engine.
The Realme 2 Pro has a 3500 mAh battery which doesn’t have fast charging support as mentioned above. The phone comes with a dual-camera setup on the back and single front-facing camera. Along with other basic sensors, Realme 2 Pro also features gyroscope. So you better have some AR/VR experience with this mid-range smartphone.
The phone runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and layers ColorOS 5.2 on top of it, that is again an OPPO thing. We’ll check the software from thoroughly later.
Hands-On with Realme 2 Pro and First Impressions
The phone gave the very first impression with its display and dewdrop notch to be similar to what we have seen from OPPO F9 for the first time. However the other design of the phone just kept me from thinking any more similarities. It’s more like a relation between the two companies or brands that only reflects at occasionally. Think of Honor’s relation with Huawei, or Redmi’s with Xiaomi?
Realme 2 Pro doesn’t really feel like a cheap or budget smartphone at all. In fact its plastic-build won’t pop out to inform about itself when you’ll look at its glass-like back panel and matte-finish frame. That matte-finish across the frame is limited to the black model. Other Ice Lake and and Blue Ocean models come with a shiny glossy finish.
One thing that has to be told is that the plastic is always prone to attract scratches. You really would want to wrap it up in a back cover. Thankfully Realme ships it along the retail package and you only have to pay of it if you want another. However, for review, we won’t be using it with the cover because that’s also a part of a trial to test the phone for its durability.
Realme 2 Pro does have a fingerprint sensor on its back which is really fast and provide a good experience with accurate recognition. In addition the phone also support face unlock which is equally and impressively fast.
The phone looks cool with the shiny and curvy back panel and a dew-drop notch on the display top. With that 6.3-inch display, the phone is just a little more than compact. The minimal bezels around the display are too good to make it just within your grip.
We have heard Realme ships all its devices with a factory-applied screen protective film. Looking at the one on the Realme 2 Pro, it’s seems perfectly fit for the phone. Just covering only a millimeter of the bezels around, the film keeps away from the notch area just like that.
There is a need to tell that the Realme 2 Pro does have a Gorilla Glass 3 protection, however a protective film is always good to have. But with that thing, we can assume that the glass does not have oleophobic coating.
The software does give you the option to keep the notch or hide it away but you have to decide it for individual apps. Unlike EMUI’s base option of hiding it all the way, this notch always stays unless chosen to hide for certain apps. This is just a software limit which can be managed in later updates. Well I do like to have it disappeared but this little notch is already not that bad as those wider ones. So I won’t mind if the don’t give me an option to hide it completely.
Dual Rear and 16MP Front Facing Camera
The Realme 2 Pro features a dual camera setup on the back with a combo of 16-megapixel main unit and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The main one takes care of the most features in camera while the 2MP sensor is only used in Portrait mode to evaluate depth and give a simulate bokeh effect in your closeup shots.
The main camera features Sony’s IMX398 CMOS sensor with pixel size of 1.12µm. It’s a PDAF (phase-detect autofocus) sensor and it’s bundled with the large and bright f/1.7 aperture lens that should produce better low-light shots. All that also come with the support of added LED flash to brighten up closer subjects.
The front facing camera is housed within the little notch on the top of the display as you have see in above pictures. It’s a 16-megapixel camera with a fixed-focus f/2.0 aperture lens. Which should be good in handling light.
The first quick use of the Realme 2 Pro was really good with smooth experience and performance. The phone is being tested with various styles of use by multiple users to tell how does it perform in varying situations. Stay tuned for an in-depth review coming just in a couple of days. The only concern we have with this phone is its price. Just keep an eye for a full review coming up soon, because that’s where we’ll be able to tell how much this device worths.
