Oppo Realme 2 review

Design

The diamond-like geometric pattern might have failed to catch on back in 2015 with the Oppo R1x, but today it's finally the head-turner it was designed to be. The Realme 1 is available in three colors, and the Diamond Black is the one with the cool effect. But the Realme 2 fully embraces the glamorous shapes and is all-in with Diamond Red, Diamond Blue and Diamond Black options.

Realme 2 in Diamond Black and Diamond Red

The Realme 2 is as plastic as the Realme 1. Oppo's PR is neatly masking this behind the nanoscale composite description for the material. We are not denying them the achievement - the back is stunning, unique and memorable, but it's still scratch-prone plastic. So, without robbing Oppo of their efforts - the Realme 2 has a back that is both premium and cheap at the same time. How about that?!

The frame was also made of plastic, but still rather nicely looking. Its curvy shape though isn't helping the grip - the Realme 2 is as slippery as it looks. And with the fact that the materials are very scratch and fingerprint-prone, it's thoughtful of Oppo to bundle a transparent yet grippy case with the phone.

While we are still talking about that shiny back, let's mention the two new additions here - the secondary 2MP camera for depth sensing and the fingerprint sensor. The latter is always-on and works flawlessly. We're glad to see its comeback as we missed it on the Realme 1.

Moving on to the front we are greeted by one of the season's favorite features - the notched screen. It's 6.2" in diagonal - 0.2" larger than the Realme 1's - but of lower 720p resolution. The top and bottom bezels have shrunk since the Realme 1 (notch excluded), and that's what made possible to fit a bigger screen in the same body.

Realme 1 and Realme 2

The notch houses all the necessities, as expected. The earpiece sits at the center, flanked by the 8MP selfies cam and a couple of sensors. The Realme 2 omits a notification LED if you were wondering.

There is nothing at the chin - the Realme 2 relies solely on onscreen navigation for its Android OS. You can opt for virtual keys, a gesture bar, or full-screen gesture navigation. More on that later.

As we mentioned the Realme 2 is as big as the Realme 1 even though it brings a bigger screen. The Realme 2 spreads at 156.2 x 75.6 x 8.2 mm and weighs 168g - a hair thicker and 13g heavier than the Realme 1, but let's not forget it has a much larger battery inside.

The Realme 2 has a single speaker at the bottom, next to the oldschool microUSB port. The speaker resides in a so-called all-in-one chamber made to highlight the mid-tones distinctive to the Indian music - or at least, that's what PR claims. There is also a 3.5mm audio port, a dying feature, unfortunately.

Realme 2

A cool feature of the Realme 2 is its tri-card slot. The thing easily accommodates two nano-SIMs and a microSD card - you don't need to choose or between two of these three.

The Realme 2 is as cool-looking as the Realme 1. The diamond-pattern is a unique shade even the most premium phones of the flagship breed don't have, and it alone can be the decision maker. But the Realme 2 also has a trendy notched screen, a dual-camera, and a fingerprint sensor on the back in addition to the stunning looks - all that at an unbelievably low price.