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Introduction
We've been there before - is it the letter 'X' or is it the Roman numeral for 10? Much like that previous time, there's a sort of a reasonable answer - the Realme X is the company's tenth smartphone. Even with the conditioning we already have from the iPhone Ten, we're still leaning towards an eX. Anyway, let's not focus on the naming and at the phone that is the Realme X.
For this anniversary model, Realme's added a bunch of goodies you won't find on any of the other 9 handsets in this quickly growing lineup. Chief among them is the OLED display - it's a first for the brand and it's a big, notchless, 6.53-inch FullHD+ one - a great place to start.
The 'notchless' bit above indicates the second defining feature of the X - it's got a popup selfie cam tucked in the top frame. And, this being an OLED display, you can also have an under-it-fingerprint sensor.
You'd also be pleased to find the Sony IMX586 48MP imager on the back of the X - not unlike a ton of competitors in the class.
Here's a rundown of what else you'll find on the latest Realme.
Realme X specs
- Body: Plastic back and frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front; 161.3x76.1x8.6mm, 191g; Steam white and Punk blue color schemes.
- Screen: 6.53-inch, 19.5:9 aspect, 1080x2340px resolution, 394ppi, OLED.
- Rear Camera: Primary 48MP, f/1.7 lens; secondary 5MP depth sensor; LED flash; 4K@30fps video recording.
- Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.0; 1080p@30fps video recording.
- Chipset: Snapdragon 710, octa-core CPU (2x2.2 GHz 360 Gold & 6x1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver), Adreno 616.
- Memory: 4/6/8GB of RAM, 64/128GB of storage, no microSD slot.
- OS: Android 9 Pie; ColorOS 6.0 on top.
- Battery: 3,765mAh, 20W VOOC 3.0 charging.
- Connectivity: Dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, FM radio, USB-C, 3.5mm jack.
- Misc: Under-display optical fingerprint scanner.
The one blemish on that otherwise respectable specsheet is the absence of a memory card slot - all the other Realmes have one, and not just have it, but it's a dedicated slot, separate from the second SIM. Well, not on the X, and not at all.
Realme X unboxing
The Realme X ships in what's become the company's standard gray-and-yellow package, introduced with the U1, which helps with brand recognition. This box has a distinct two-piece letter 'X' to set it apart from the rest of the Realmes.
Much like other Realmes, it packs a bumper case, and this one is slightly better quality than what we've seen before.
The 3 Pro we had over recently was the first Realme to come with the proprietary VOOC 3.0 fast charging. The X does include the same 20W adaptor but takes things one step further and does it over USB-C - all previous Realmes have used the older microUSB port. That's the way to go.
Design and 360-degree view
Don't you just love a phone with a notchless, near-frameless display? We know we do, and the Realme X is one of those. Removing the selfie camera means no unsightly cutouts and brings us one step closer to the bezelless look manufacturers were aiming for lately.
We're not there yet, however, and the X does have a bit more substantial chin than the rest of the screen's surrounds. It's by no means what you'd call thick, and a case could be made that it actually helps by providing an area to rest your thumb and a slightly higher point to initiate the navigation gestures. Just make sure you don't interpret this as us being against truly bezelless phones.
Another area where the Realme X is staying on top of trends is biometric security. Thanks to having an OLED display, the handset's fingerprint sensor can be placed underneath it. It's the more common optical variety, as opposed to the ultrasonic type used on the Galaxy S10s.
The sensor is positioned a comfortable distance above the bottom edge of the display - not too low, not too high. It can be set to activate when the phone senses movement, or it can be kept off until you wake up the phone, but it can't be 'always-on', strictly speaking. The lift-to-activate works reliably though, so by the time you do actually press the sensor, it's ready for you. The unlocking happens quickly - not as fast as, say, the OnePlus 7 Pro, but certainly a lot more quickly than early iterations.
So the fingerprint reader is underneath the display, but where's the selfie camera? It rises from within, on a small motorized platform, much like the vivo NEX S, only here the module is centered as opposed to being to one side.
Realme promises the mechanism is good for at least 200,000 actuations and you can do the math just how many selfies a day that gives you over a 2-year period - it's a lot. They also say it's covered with sapphire glass, but we spared it the Mohs picks test. Part of the reason being that we don't own Mohs picks.
The pop-up module has the usual smarts we've come to expect from such units - it will automatically retract when a fall is detected and when it senses you're trying to manually push it in.
No notches here • Pop-up selfie cam • Selfie mechanism retracted
The camera and fingerprint reader already accounted for, the only other bit that can potentially ruin a phone's face is earpiece. Realme managed to find room for a slit above the display, where the glass meets the frame. Oddly enough, it's two separate drivers on either side of the camera - it may be out of sight, but that's exactly where its silo is and it needs to be straddled for earpiece purposes. This implementation doesn't have a detrimental effect on usability, mind you, nor does it spill sound every which way like the piezo speakers we've seen on other phones.
The ambient light and proximity sensors are underneath the display too. There's no status/notification LED.
Flipping the phone over to have a look a the back, we're seeing a centered camera assembly - that makes this the first Realme where the camera isn't in the top left corner. Other family traits have been kept, however - the gold ring accent around one of the modules has been a signature since the Realme 3.
The two cameras and the flash share a common bump, same as on the Realme 3 Pro and the 3 before that. We say bump, but in fact it's raised only ever so slightly - barely half a millimeter. And, being centered, it means that the X doesn't have a tendency to wobble on a table.
The Realme X will be available in two color schemes - Steam white and Punk blue. Our review unit is the latter and the Punk goes to indicate a blue-to-purple gradient. We've grown accustomed to gradients, and this one isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's pretty nonetheless. The frame also has the gradient applied to it to match the back, which is a nice touch.
The controls layout is the same as on all other Realmes and that's a good thing. A large power button is on the right, a bit above the midpoint. The volume buttons are on the left, the volume down directly opposite the power button.
In the hand
One thing that's unlike any other Realme, and that's a bad thing, is the absence of a microSD slot. The card tray has cutouts for just two nanoSIMs, when every other Realme to date has had a third one dedicated to storage expansion. Let's hope that's not an indication of an upcoming trend.
The 3.5mm jack is here, fret not. Other niceties await on the bottom too - the Realme X has a USB-C port and that's a welcome change from the rest of the lineup's microUSBs. The loudspeaker and the primary mic are also in this vicinity, while a secondary mic sits up top.
No microSD here • Volume buttons on the left • First Realme with a USB-C
Thea Realme X measures 161.3x76.1x8.6mm and weighs in at 191g. It's not a small phone by any stretch, but for a 6.53-inch device it's about as compact as you can expect. The 6.53-inch stablemate Oppo F11 Pro is a gram lighter, and 0.2mm thicker, but those are hardly differences.
The Galaxy A50 shaves a few millimeters in all directions, but its display is smaller at 6.4 inches, plus it's notched. The Galaxy is noticeably lighter, however, at just 166g. The Redmi Note 7 is marginally smaller too, but it's also packing a smaller 6.3-inch display. The Honor 8X's 6.5-inch notched screen comes closest to the Realme X, and the two phones are similarly sized, though the 8X is 0.8mm thinner and 16g lighter.
Notchless 6.53-inch OLED
The Realme X is equipped with a 6.53-inch OLED display - the first of its kind for the value-oriented brand. It's got a FullHD+ resolution in a 19.5:9 aspect or, more specifically, 1080x2340px, which makes for a 394ppi density. Best bit about the panel is that it's got no notch - the selfie camera isn't in the way.
The maximum brightness we measured was 448nits - almost precisely the 450nits Realme promises, and a fairly typical OLED result. There's no boost in Auto mode, however, so that's all the brightness you'd be getting in any light. It's enough, though - we had zero problems in outdoor use.
On the far left end of the slider we measured 2.4nits, so nighttime viewing should be equally trouble-free. The perfectly black blacks mean infinite contrast, predictably.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0 | 448 | ∞ | |
| 0.285 | 508 | 1782 | |
| 0 | 424 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 551 | ∞ | |
| 0.358 | 479 | 1338 | |
| 0.39 | 480 | 1231 | |
| 0.413 | 501 | 1213 | |
| 0.316 | 440 | 1392 | |
| 0.332 | 473 | 1425 | |
| 0.469 | 590 | 1258 | |
| 0.346 | 427 | 1234 | |
| 0 | 429 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 435 | ∞ | |
Color reproduction out of the box has a characteristic OLED-y look - punchy colors are more important that accuracy, right? The whites in the Default mode have a noticeable blue shift (deltaE around 9) and the overall average deltaE is 6.4 when examining a set of swatches against sRGB targets. If you move the slider all the way to the warmest setting, you'd get much better whites (though not exactly perfect with a deltaE of 4), but the average deltaE remains unimpressive at 5.6.
Realme X battery life
The Realme X runs on a 3,765mAh battery, slightly smaller than the 4,045mAh power pack of the Realme 3 Pro. The internals are essentially the same here, but the display is slightly larger (6.53" vs. 6.3") though supposedly more efficient being an OLED and all.
Setting the displays aside for a few hours, we measured 28:33h on a 3G voice call vs. the 3 Pro's 30:46, which neatly aligns with the difference in capacity between the two phones. So does the standby draw we experienced, which doesn't go on the score card but is included in the final score.
The mostly white nature of the web pages in the Wi-Fi web browsing test meant the Realme X couldn't quite match the 3 Pro's 13:48h result, but 12:27h is still plenty. And with OLED usually scoring better when playing videos, we got 16 full hours out of the X vs. the 3 Pro's 15 hours (keep in mind the smaller battery capacity on the X).
Filling in all the individual numbers in our formula, we got an overall Endurance rating of 86 hours.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Realme X for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
For comparison, the Galaxy A50 has nearly identical results in the screen-on tests, but some 20% lower talk time, though its better standby efficiency helps it achieve a higher overall score of 98h. The Huawei P30 lite outlasts the Realme X by a 2+ hours in web browsing, but the Realme returns a 2+-hour advantage in video playback. The Redmi Note 7 with its 14 hours in either screen-on test is in a similar position.
Unlike all those, however, the Realme X comes with VOOC fast charging capability and a 20W adaptor in the box. It fills a completely depleted battery in 1:18h and it's at the 50% mark 30 minutes into it.
Loudspeaker
The Realme X's single bottom-firing speaker is the same setup as the one on the Realme 3 Pro. In our experience, the X returned largely identical results in two of the tests, but a slightly lower number in the third test put it in the Very Good bracket. Possibly the different housing is having an effect on those particular frequencies. Other than that, we have no complaints about the sound quality.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 66.2 | 68.3 | 73.6 | Good | |
| 68.3 | 73.8 | 75.8 | Good | |
| 67.6 | 72.3 | 80.5 | Very Good | |
| 67.1 | 72.9 | 81.6 | Very Good | |
| 67.9 | 73.5 | 80.4 | Very Good | |
| 65.0 | 74.1 | 83.6 | Very Good | |
| 66.6 | 74.4 | 81.8 | Very Good | |
| 68.9 | 71.3 | 82.7 | Very Good | |
| 67.5 | 77.8 | 77.6 | Very Good | |
| 70.9 | 73.3 | 81.9 | Very Good | |
| 70.8 | 72.4 | 84.9 | Excellent | |
| 71.5 | 73.8 | 83.1 | Excellent | |
| 67.5 | 73.8 | 90.5 | Excellent | |
| 69.8 | 71.5 | 90.5 | Excellent | |
| 68.5 | 73.2 | 90.7 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The Realme X’s audio output is a carbon copy of the 3 Pro before it. The good thing about this is that it has excellent scores with an external amplifier combined with very high volume levels.
The not so great part is that headphones cause quite a lot of damage, dropping the loudness to just above average. We also saw a notable increase in stereo crosstalk and some intermodulation distortion. That all adds up to a solid if unspectacular showing.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.06, -0.07 | -92.9 | 92.8 | 0.0010 | 0.0075 | -93.3 | |
| +0.38, -0.28 | -90.7 | 90.3 | 0.0077 | 0.391 | -50.7 | |
| +0.03, -0.04 | -92.9 | 92.7 | 0.0018 | 0.0078 | -91.1 | |
| +0.40, -0.27 | -92.7 | 92.5 | 0.011 | 0.411 | -50.2 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -90.5 | 90.4 | 0.0050 | 0.015 | -91.7 | |
| +0.17, -0.25 | -90.8 | 91.0 | 0.087 | 0.256 | -58.9 | |
| +0.07, -0.01 | -90.0 | 90.1 | 0.0019 | 0.015 | -92.9 | |
| +0.16, -0.10 | -92.3 | 92.5 | 0.0069 | 0.164 | -64.8 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.1 | 93.0 | 0.0039 | 0.0088 | -81.9 | |
| +0.64, -0.38 | -88.6 | 91.9 | 0.0069 | 0.606 | -50.6 | |
| +0.01, -0.04 | -92.3 | 92.4 | 0.0041 | 0.0085 | -80.7 | |
| +0.45, -0.54 | -92.2 | 92.8 | 0.0084 | 0.492 | -51.5 |
Realme X frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Android Pie and Color OS 6
The Realme X runs Oppo's latest Color OS 6 over Android 9.0 - an arrangement we already saw on the 3 and 3 Pro. Mind you, the version we have on our review unit is for the Chinese market and it's inevitable that there will be some differences from the one that eventually makes it to a global version of the Realme X. While the general look and feel will be the same, the iconography could change and the set of pre-installed apps will likely be different.
Color OS 6 generally revolves around a light color scheme with the settings menu using a white backdrop with light color accents and gradients. Some menus have been tweaked to account for the hardware differences - the fingerprint enrollment screen, for example, is dark here, as opposed to the white one on the Realme 3 Pro, whether it's for the sensor's sake, or simply because it's an OLED display and black themes have numerous advantages on an OLED display.
Registering a fingerprint takes quite a few steps, but as we've said numerous times, it's not a big deal to spend some time enrolling a print as long as it works well later on. It does here. The sensor isn't always on, but instead it activates either when you pick up the phone, or when you manually wake it up by pressing a button - it's a setting.
You can also set up face unlock in addition to or instead of fingerprint security. It does mean that the pop-up selfie cam will need to work overtime, but 200,000 times is a lot. It's not as slow as you'd think and will rarely leave you waiting. The Realme X will light up the screen to assist in dim conditions too. There's another option that you can set to require your eyes to be open for the phone to unlock to add some extra security.
Biometric security
The lockscreen is likely one of the things that will change for the global ROM as it's not quite what we saw on the 3 Pro. Past that there's more in common with the global 3 Pro ROM we tested and that includes the option to have an app drawer instead of the usual single-tiered iOS-like interface makers from China used to be known for.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer
The drop-down shade features notifications, quick toggles, and a brightness scrubber and has been redesigned for Color OS 6. The task switcher is reminiscent of Apple's, though it has an End All button. Split-screen multitasking is available for all compatible apps, and you can resize the windows and swap the two apps - functionality that's missing on a Pixel.
Notifications • Toggles • Task Switcher • Split screen
There are all sorts of navigation options on the Realme X. There's the old-school nav bar on the bottom, swipe up gestures that replace it, but don't really change the dynamic much, and then there's the 'Swipe Gestures from Both Sides' option. This last one is our favorite - it mimics the iOS way of doing things which we've seen one way or the other on EMUI and MIUI, but that's not why we like it. It adds a welcome twist - swipe in from the side and hold to switch between the two latest apps - how brilliant is that? We're not even missing the Pixel-like pill option which was available on the 3 Pro, but not here.
Navigation settings
Of course, the usual set of tools comes pre-installed. There is a Phone Manager for handling memory cleaner functions, app permissions and encryption, and virus scanning, among other things.
Then there's Game Space which allows you to handpick which notifications to pass through when you are playing games and you don't want to be interrupted. There are also different performance modes and an option to lock the brightness only for certain games.
Realme also provides basic multimedia apps - a gallery called Photos, and a Music player. A file manager is also part of the package, but the FM radio player we found on the 3 Pro is missing on the X - chances of it making a return in the global version are not to be discounted though.
Phone Manager • Gallery • Music • Files • Compass • Game Space
Synthetic benchmarks
The Realme X relies on the same core hardware as the Realme 3 Pro - it's the Snapdraon 710 in charge of things. There are versions with 4GB, 6GB and 8GB of RAM, while storage is either 64GB or 128GB. Our review unit is the highest-specced one with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Unfortunately, this being a pre-release unit, we weren't able to run all of the usual benchmarks. However, we have no reason to believe the X will behave any differently than the 3 Pro we tested recently. Do check that out for the ballpark of the Antutu and GFXBench scores.
We did manage to run GeekBench and got predictable results - virtually identical to what the Realme 3 Pro scored. Under single-core CPU loads, the Realme X doesn't fare very well against competitors, with both the Redmi Note 7 and the Galaxy A50 putting out significantly higher numbers, and the vivo V15 Pro in a league of its own.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- vivo V15 Pro
2386 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
1890 - Samsung Galaxy A50
1715 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
1650 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
1628 - Honor 8X
1618 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
1611 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
1576 - Huawei P30 Lite
1534 - Realme X
1475 - Realme 3 Pro
1471 - Samsung Galaxy A40
1325
The Realme recovers in the multi-core test, where it has a comfortable advantage over the Redmi and the Galaxy, though the vivo V15 Pro manages to stay ahead.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- vivo V15 Pro
6527
5915
5908
5894
5881
5763
5651
5549
5523
5411
5396
4112
The Realme X shows the power of its GPU in Basemark X. The Snapdragon 710's Adreno 616 outperforms all the others in this bunch and the Realme posts some 30% higher score than the vivo V15 Pro and the Redmi Note 7, and it's close to 50% ahead of the Galaxy A50.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Realme X
28416 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
27560 - Realme 3 Pro
27031 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
21269 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
21201 - vivo V15 Pro
21104 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
20560 - Honor 8X
20416 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
20322 - Huawei P30 Lite
19925 - Samsung Galaxy A50
19106 - Samsung Galaxy A40
12098
For a compound benchmark to assess the overall performance we resorted to Basemark OS II 2.0. Here, the V15 Pro's superior CPU gives it an edge, but the Realme is staying close, which you can't say of the Galaxy A50 and the Redmi Note 7.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- vivo V15 Pro
2936 - Realme X
2748 - Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
2658 - Realme 3 Pro
2648 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
2353 - Honor 8X
2341 - Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite
2338 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
2308 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
2260 - Huawei P30 Lite
2234 - Samsung Galaxy A50
2209 - Samsung Galaxy A40
1723
As the Realme 3 Pro before it, the Realme X puts an emphasis on graphics performance and it's got a clear edge against competitors in GPU-intensive tasks. Meanwhile CPU performance is adequate for its class in single-core loads and towards the top under multi-core tests. The phone also handles continued load without heat buildup or throttling, which is always nice.
48MP Quad Bayer main camera with a 5MP sidekick
The Realme X's primary camera uses the Sony IMX586 sensor - a 48MP Quad Bayer variety with a Type 1/2" overall size and 0.8µm pixel pitch. It's paired with an f/1.7 aperture 26mm-equivalent lens. Unlike some implementations of this particular imager, this setup lacks OIS.
There's a 5MP depth sensor to aid in simulated bokeh modes, and it uses an f/2.4 aperture lens, for what it's worth.
The camera app offers AI scene recognition - you'll see a small icon when a scene is successfully recognized, and the software will tweak all settings accordingly. Food, snow, pets, sunsets, grass, among other scenes, are detected mostly correctly.
The app has three major modes - Photo, Portrait and Video - and you can swipe between those. The new Chroma Boost toggle is on the opposite end of the viewfinder, accompanied by the HDR and flash settings. Chroma Boost is an advanced HDR mode, which stacks a couple of images and offers even further improvements in the dynamic range and occasionally - better color saturation.
There is also a hamburger menu with a few more shooting modes - Expert (manual settings), Pano, Time-lapse, Slow-mo, and Nightscape. The latter is a pseudo-long exposure handheld mode for night photos akin to Huawei's Night mode and the Pixel's Night sight. There is also a 2X zoom toggle, but it does a simple digital zoom - there is no telephoto lens on the Realme X.
In the Expert mode you get to tweak exposure (ISO in the 100-6400 range and shutter speed in the 1/8000s-16s range), white balance (by light temperature, but no presets), manual focus (in arbitrary 0 to 1 units with 0 being close focus and 1 being infinity) and exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/6EV increments).
Camera UI
Image quality
The Realme X's daylight shots look nice and have a certain pop to them - contrast is high and colors are vivid, likely a conscious decision on Realme's part. Dynamic range is quite wide, even if some detail is lost in the extremes in high-contrast scenes. To be fair though, the cloudy outdoor shots here are not easy to pull off, and it's handled them respectably.
Camera samples, good light, AI on
There's a lot of detail captured and sharpness is kept all the way to the corners. Areas of uniform color do show some noise, but you need to be looking for it.
Camera samples, good light, AI on
On the Realme 3 Pro we observed that the HDR mode made for the liveliest colors, but on the X here you'd be getting the most saturation out of Chroma boost - as the name would logically imply, in fact. It's too much Chroma for our tastes, especially given the already punchy output with the toggle off. Meanwhile, we found HDR to make little to no difference. Ultimately, our preferred settings for the Realme X remain as on the 3 Pro - AI on, Chroma boost off, HDR auto (or off, either way).
Regular • Chroma boost • HDR • Regular • Chroma boost • HDR • Regular • Chroma boost • HDR
Those are all 12MP photos we've been looking at until now, as that's the default setting and that's how the sensor is designed to work. You can, however, switch to 48MP resolution in settings. You do stand to gain an improvement in absolute fine detail if you stare long and hard at 12MP shots upscaled to 48MP and native 48MP images side by side. Of course, there needs to be a lot of light for that to happen.
Camera samples, 48MP
Regular low-light photos from the Realme X are good, though the phone has a tendency to underexpose. It does retain colors very well, and captures good detail.
Low-light samples, Photo mode
Nightscape is what Realme calls its pseudo long exposure night mode. It delivers a healthy boost in the shadows and works miracles to keep the highlights from blowing. There's a noticeable if not dealbreaking drop in fine detail, however. Unlike the Realme 3 Pro, on the X there's no crop.
Low-light samples, Nightscape mode
Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Realme X stacks up against the competition.
Realme X against the vivo V15 Pro and the Redmi Note 7 in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
As was the case on the 3 Pro, the Realme X takes excellent portraits with some of the best subject detection we've seen. Naturally, the right setup of unruly hair against a contrasting background will expose its flaws, but if you don't pixel-peep, the Realme X's portraits will consistently please you.
Portrait samples, human subject
The same holds true for taking pictures of random objects instead of people - the Realme X is capable of isolating a subject with great precision.
Portrait samples, non-human subjects
Selfies
The Realme X's motorized mechanism pops up to expose the 16MP selfie camera. It has an f/2.0 aperture lens and fixed focus. On the software side, there are all sorts of beatification enhancement options like skin smoothing and eye enlargement and face thinning, and whatnot.
In abundance of light, when the phone can keep the ISO at base or close, you'll get super detailed and sharp selfies. In even moderately dimmer conditions that call for, say, ISO 400 there's a noticeable drop in sharpness at the pixel level, likely caused by aggressive noise reduction. In any case, colors are rendered nicely, and dynamic range is reasonably wide.
Selfie samples, all enhancements off
Should you choose to go all in on the enhancements, you can expect something along these lines.
Selfie samples, all effects at max
Selfie portraits are quite good too, even though they don't get the benefit of a dedicated depth sensing camera as on the back. These are captured at 8MP instead of the full 16MP, but 8MP is enough, we reckon. The phone does a good job with subject separation and we didn't get clipped ears or the like. Again, anything less than ideal light will result in a raised ISO and a drop in sharpness if look up close.
Selfie portraits
Video recording
The Realme X records video up to 4K at 30fps. There's no 60fps mode in 1080p resolution, though this could be subject to a software fix since the 3 Pro has it and it uses the same chipset. You get the option to choose between the h.264 and h.265 codecs. There's no mention of video stabilization in the menus or the viewfinder but the slight crop in 1080p/30fps suggests it's stabilized.
As we observed on the 3 Pro recently, Realme is being very generous with the bit rates it uses to encode videos. 4K footage gets 50Mbps while 1080p/30fps is allocated a similarly above average 20Mbps when using the h.264 codec. It's then a little odd that the audio bit rate is just 96kbps (though it's still stereo, which is nice).
4K footage is packed with detail but is also a bit noisy if you stare closely at both the road and the clouds. Color rendition is on point and dynamic range is good as well. As was the case on the 3 Pro, the 1080p clips look a bit oversharpened, but still quite good. Here, the blotches of noise on the road are made more visible, however.
Stabilization is only available in 1080p/30fps, but it does work well, unlike what we saw on the Realme 3 Pro. It still fails to completely cancel out shake from walking, but does smooth it out a lot, and if you're standing in one place instead of walking, footage is shake-free. Pans are handled well, too.
Here's a glimpse of how the Realme X compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.
Realme X against the vivo V15 Pro and the Redmi Note 7 in our Video compare tool
Competition
The Realme X has fine hardware that it puts to good use. So like a lot of phones out there in the mid range, right?
Let's start off with the vivo V15 Pro, because, well, it has a pop-up selfie cam itself. Not only that, but it has an ultra wide cam on the back, which the Realme X can't match. The X's battery life is somewhat better in the active-use tests, plus it charges more quickly, while the vivo has more efficient standby.
The displays perform similarly, software is each maker's heavily customized take on Android 9, so not a lot to split the two here. The vivo has the brawnier CPU, but the Realme's GPU is better suited to gaming, which could make a difference to some. A more prominent differentiator is price and it's what may push more people in the direction of the Realme X.
The Galaxy A50 will also set you back more than the Realme X, and it too has an ultra wide camera on the back like the V15 Pro, and a microSD slot, like the V15 Pro. The Galaxy's photos aren't nearly as good as the ones from the Realme, though, plus the A50 can't capture 4K video, so the X secures a win in the imaging department. The Galaxy A50 edges ahead in the display section and it's looking like a tie in battery life. Again, a more GPU on the Realme could steer mobile gamers this way.
vivo V15 Pro • Samsung Galaxy A50 • Huawei P30 lite • Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
Another competitor with an ultra wide camera, the Huawei P30 lite has the weakest GPU of this bunch - the Realme X's graphics power vs. ultra wide cam trade off is becoming a theme. As for the main cams it's a tie in stills, but the Realme can record (pretty nice) 4K video while the P30 can't and even 1080p is better on the Realme. The X's display is bigger and of the OLED kind, while the LCD of P30 lite can be impressively color accurate. Battery life is comparable, but the Realme charges faster. If you have vast collections of something, you'll probably appreciate the P30 lite's microSD slot.
The Redmi Note 7 has one too, singling out the Realme X as the only one here without external storage support. The Redmi doesn't have an ultra wide cam, so that's one blow the Realme won't have to suffer in this bout and it takes its usual win in the GPU clash. The endurance race can go either way, but the X will be quicker to top up, and we'd give the Realme the win for display as well. The Redmi 7 Note's flaws do come with a substantially lower price so many might be willing to live with them.
Verdict
The highest specced phone in Realme's portfolio, the X has a nice display, battery life to spare and cameras that capture great photos and video. The pop-up selfie mechanism adds a dash of flair on top of all the reasonable bits, but we're not as excited about the lack of storage expansion capability.
All that said, the Realme X is well worthy of its anniversary name. The tenth model in the company's lineup launches a year after it all started and it's a mature, well-rounded smartphone with few flaws and plenty to like about it. It's easily recommended.
Pros
- Notchless near-bezelless design and popup selfie camera make it stand out from the crowd of notched slabs.
- The OLED display is good all around, save for a less that stellar color accuracy.
- The class-leading VOOC fast-charging nicely complements the long battery life.
- The Snapdragon 710 chip has plenty of oomph in both CPU and GPU intensive tasks.
- Excellent image quality in daylight, decent low light performance, awesome portraits, pretty great selfies.
Cons
- Absence of microSD slot is a surprise and not a pleasant one.
- No ultra wide camera while every chief competitor has one.
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