Realme has released its new 7 series, which for now includes the Realme 7 and 7 Pro. For today’s review, we will only look at the Realme 7, which will eventually replace the current Realme 6 (Review) smartphone. The latter brought segment-first features like a punch-hole display and a 90Hz refresh rate when it launched in March this year, and to this day, it remains the only option around Rs. 15,000 offering a high refresh rate display.
The Realme 7 has some pretty big shoes to fill, and it’s time to see how much it has really improved over the Realme 6. From my perspective, the Realme 7 brings three main updates: a new SoC, a bigger battery, and a new sensor. of the main chamber. Let’s see if these updates are enough to make it worth recommending.
Realme 7 design and display: something new
No new Realme smartphone is complete without a fresh design for the back. The Realme 7 features a split mirror design, which creates some interesting patterns when light hits it. The color option I have is called Mist Blue, but there is also white. The rear camera module now has a slightly different design, compared to the Realme 6. Overall, the Realme 7 looks fresh and new from behind, which the company desperately needed as the rest of the phone hasn’t changed much.
Side by side, the Realme 7 looks practically identical to the Realme 6. The location of the buttons, fingerprint sensors, SIM trays, and all ports on the bottom of both phones is pretty much the same. The Realme 7 is actually thicker (9.4mm) and heavier (196.5g) than the 6, due to its larger battery, and this is very noticeable in everyday use. Texting or photography with one hand can tire very quickly due to the added weight.
The new pattern on the back of the Realme 7 looks cool
Ergonomics aside, the Realme 7 feels well built and robust. It still uses plastic for the frame and the back panel. The SIM tray has three slots for two Nano-SIMs and a microSD card. The screen appears to have been lifted directly from the Realme 6. It is a 6.5-inch Full-HD + LCD panel with a perforated cutout and Gorilla Glass 3 for scratch protection. Realme has stuck to the 90Hz refresh rate of 6. The screen can get very bright and colors are very well saturated. I did notice some minor off-axis vignettes in the corners when showing lighter backgrounds, but this is not worth worrying about.
Overall, the Realme 7 feels solidly built for a budget phone. However, I am not very happy with the weight gain, which definitely makes it more cumbersome to use on a daily basis. The contents of the box are what you would expect, including a 30W fast charger, a USB cable, and a case.
Realme 7 performance and software – fast enough
The Realme 7 is the first phone to debut with the MediaTek Helio G95 SoC. This is an updated version of the Helio G90T, which was seen on the Realme 6, but it is not a major update. The only real change is that the integrated Mali-G76 GPU now has a higher clock speed of 900Mhz, compared to the 800MHz of the G90T.
The rest of the SoC specs look identical. It is still a 12nm eight-core chip, with two Cortex-A76 performance cores that can run at up to 2.05 GHz, along with six Cortex-A55 efficiency cores with a maximum clock speed of 2 GHz. In theory We should see slightly better numbers in gaming benchmarks, but overall performance shouldn’t be that different from the Realme 6.
The Realme 7 has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor
The basic variant of the Realme 7 has 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for Rs. 14,999, and there is a second variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for Rs. 16,999. Like before, this is LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.1 flash storage.
The performance is quite satisfactory. The Realme 7 uses Realme UI, based on Android 10, which worked without problems. Face recognition and the side-mounted fingerprint sensor are fast too. Navigating through the interface felt quick on the 8GB RAM variant it had. In general, applications loaded quickly and that 90Hz refresh rate made scrolling through menus easy. There is also a good selection of live wallpapers and many utilities such as Smart Sidebar, a built-in screen recorder, and various gestures and shortcuts.
The Realme 7 is good with games too. Battle Prime looked great on the highest graphics settings and the game was smooth. Racing titles like CarX Drift Racing 2 also offered a good experience. The Game Space app helps you organize all your games in one place and gives you easy access to things like screen recording and WhatsApp messages while you play.
A quick look at some benchmarks confirms that the new Helio G95 SoC is only slightly faster than the Helio G90T. In CPU performance tests like Geekbench, the Realme 6 recorded surprisingly higher scores compared to the 7, even after several attempts. However, the Realme 7 posted slightly higher numbers in some of the other benchmarks, such as AnTuTu and GFXBench.
The Realme 7 supports two Nano-SIMs and a microSD card
The Realme 7 didn’t get too hot when stressed. I did notice a bit of heating around the rear camera module, but that was it. Realme tells me that he used a carbon fiber cooling system on the 7, which seemed to do its job well.
Watching videos was a pretty nice experience on the Realme 7. You don’t get any frills like HDR support, but it handles the basics well. The speaker at the bottom sounds loud, but I found its quality to be pretty average.
Realme 7 Battery Life – Heavy Duty
The Realme 7 has a robust 5,000 mAh battery, which is a huge improvement over the 4,300 mAh capacity of the Realme 6. Even with medium to heavy use, I easily got a day and a half of runtime on a single charge. . For perspective, the Realme 7 ran for a little over 24 hours in our HD video battery loop test, which is excellent.
Fortunately, you can also charge the battery fairly quickly. The Realme 7 supports 30W Dart Charge fast charging, which can take you from zero to 100 in about 65 minutes. In case you don’t have the Realme charger handy, you can also use the 15W USB-C Power Delivery fast charge.
The main rear camera of the Realme 7 is the only new one, compared to the Realme 6
Realme 7 cameras: good, but could be better
The third big change on the Realme 7, compared to the 6, is the main rear camera. It’s still 64 megapixels, but Realme has switched to the Sony IMX682 sensor, instead of the Samsung GW1 sensor. Realme also says that it is using a new “ultra high definition” algorithm for the 64 megapixel mode, which promises greater clarity and detail compared to the Realme 6’s sensor.
Let’s see this for ourselves. Here are two 64 megapixel photos taken with the Realme 7 and 6. If we zoom in to a specific part of the buildings, we see that the Realme 6 captured a cleaner image with less grain, but the textures are very softened. The Realme 7 retains better textures, but at the cost of having some grain in the photo.
Tap to view a larger image
However, when shooting in the default photo mode, there is a noticeable improvement in the pixel-grouped images captured by the Realme 7. It features improved dynamic range and exposure, with better details compared to the Realme 6. Photos with low light also look cleaner, less grain. Shots captured with Night mode look more pleasant compared to what the Realme 6 can produce. Overall, the new sensor is a bit better than the old one, and that’s never a bad thing.
Realme 7 close-up camera sample (tap to view larger image)
The Realme 7 also does a good job with close-ups. Details and colors were often very good and the autofocus worked well. However, the rest of the cameras are very similar to what we’ve already seen on the Realme 6, both in terms of specs and the types of photos you can expect.
Realme 7 Ultra Wide Camera Sample (tap to view larger image)
Realme 7 portrait camera sample (tap to view larger image)
The ultra-wide camera captures a wider perspective, but details and colors are weaker compared to the main sensor. This is more prominent once you start cropping the photo. Portrait shots generally looked good and you have the option to adjust the background blur before shooting. The 2-megapixel macro camera isn’t great, and even photos taken in broad daylight look pretty poor.
Realme 7 selfie camera samples (tap to view larger image)
I found the 16 megapixel selfie camera to be strictly fine. Selfies taken during the day looked decent, but HDR could have been handled better. Portrait mode is useful as it manages to cut the background properly. In the afternoon or evening, you can get usable selfies as long as there are bright enough light sources around. Night mode is available, but the selfies seemed too sharp in my experience.
The Realme 7 can record videos up to 4K, but without stabilization. The colors are a bit warmer. Videos shot with the ultra-wide camera are stabilized, but details are poor and resolution is limited to 1080p. Ultra Steady mode offers the best stabilization, but the frame is heavily cropped and the footage appears a bit smooth. Videos shot in low light appear grainy and details are weak. I’d say don’t even bother shooting with the ultra-wide camera and stick to the main one in low light.
The Realme 7’s camera app features Starry mode, which we first saw on the Realme X3 SuperZoom.
Verdict: Should you buy the Realme 7?
The Realme 7 isn’t a major update over the Realme 6, but it’s a good enough update with its bigger battery and a better main camera sensor. Overall performance is very good, battery life is excellent, and the 90Hz display makes general use feel smooth and fluid. The Realme 7 looks great too, but it’s heavier and thicker than the Realme 6, and the overall video recording quality could have been better. At a starting price of Rs. 14,999, offers good value for money.
I think Realme 6 owners need not worry about the upgrade as there would be little to be gained from the Realme 7. However, the base variant of the Realme 7 is a decent choice at its price for those who want a high frequency display. upgrade and are on a tight budget.
Is Realme TV the best TV under Rs? 15,000 in India? We talked about this on Orbital, our weekly tech podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
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