Realme 7 Pro hands-on review

Software and features

Realme's UI is dropping a lot of the ColorOS, well, colorfulness and is looking closer to stock Android with each iteration. Depending on where you stand this may or may not be a step in the right direction, but there's two ways of looking at the diminishing amount of bloatware and the option to uninstall completely whatever few apps come preinstalled if you decide you don't want them. Moreover, the handset ships with Google's Phone and Messages apps as default ones instead of Realme's.

The Super Power Saving mode is available as well to get you out of tricky situations. This mode was introduced with Realme C15 and will likely appear with every Realme phone to come.

Home screen and notification shade

Many of the new software features concern the camera. The Night and 64MP modes both have an AI and Pro toggles with the latter giving you more control over the camera settings just like the dedicated Expert Mode (read Manual mode). Starry mode is a new addition along with filters for the Night mode. Last, but not least, the so-called Movie Mode gives access to manual controls for video recording, which is a very rare feature and it's probably the only handset to do so in the mid-range segment.

New camera settings

Wrap-up

The new Realme 7 Pro seems to be getting most of the things right but it does take a few risky decisions. The lack of what wasn't a great telephoto module might be offset if the main camera really is notably better, but we're yet to see about that. Even so, the absence of an ultrawide camera, smaller display and the downgrade to 60Hz might alienate some of the existing Realme number series fans.

However, the boost in battery capacity, the faster charging, the stereo speakers and more importantly, the crisp Super AMOLED panel are valid reasons why this could be your next mid-range daily driver. With prices starting from INR 19,999, the Realme 7 Pro is certainly in the running. Hopefully we'll soon be able to complete our review and find out if it's on pole position or a backmarker.