Oppo Realme 3 Pro Smartphone for $200.45

It is similar to Redmi and Xiaomi with Realme and Oppo. Realme concentrates on budget and middle class smartphones and finally presents with the Oppo Realme 3 Pro a global version for the western market! Who would have thought that there would finally be a head-to-head race with the Redmi Note 7?

• Realme 3 Pro Smartphone
  • at Banggood for $200.45

Technical data of the Realme 3 Pro

Standard design in the middle class

A trend that we have already seen in the Lenovo Z6 Lite and UMIDIGI F1 is also noticeable in the Realme 3 Pro. Instead of being experimental, it’s taking on the status quo in terms of design. This is also how the 3 Pro looks like its two competitors due to its waterdrop notch and 6.3 inch screen diagonal. No wonder, as it was the in-house OPPO RX17 that started this trend. The screen edges are thin overall, even the lower edge is relatively narrow with a thickness of 4 mm.

The Realme 3 Pro actually differs from other smartphones in this class in the positioning of the volume rocker. This is on the left side, the power button on the right side is on its own. This strongly resembles an iPhone and is rather unusual for Android smartphones, but you quickly get used to it.

The back also follows all current design trends and consists of the camera module in the upper left corner, the fingerprint sensor in the central upper middle field and the realme lettering in the lower left corner. The mid-range smartphone is available in Carbon Grey, Lightning Purple or Nitro Blue. The slight S-curve, which is reflected when the sun is shining properly, is also striking. This is probably inspired by the famous Le Mans racetrack and is supposed to symbolize speed.

The dimensions of 156.8 x 74.2 x 8.3 mm and the weight of 172 g aren’t very surprising with the display size.

Handling & Processing

Mobile phones are currently just so big, so the handling is comparable with almost every smartphone this year. The housing frame protrudes slightly, the back is rounded on both long sides, which gives a pleasant ergonomics.

Despite the budget price, the housing frame is still made of metal, giving the phone a little more stability. The frame is milled in such a way that a 0.1 mm wide edge is created, which you won’t recognize at first glance, but which is good for the look. For this you use a plastic back, which feels a bit inferior haptically, but offers space for a nice color effect.

Nothing can be criticized about the processing. The built-in keys have a good pressure point and the connections on the underside are perfectly milled. If you take a closer look, you can see that the transition between the case frame and the plastic base for the display is not 100% perfect. But that doesn’t stop the whole thing!

Colourful FullHD+ display

The screen resolution of the 6.3″ large display is 2340 x 1080 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 409 ppi. In the price range, this is the current standard and ensures good sharpness. The touch screen in 19.5:9 aspect ratio has even been equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection. In the delivery condition, a protective foil is attached, even if this is not the highest quality.

Although the maximum brightness of the screen panels isn’t as extremely high as in a Xiaomi Mi 9T, for example, the difference between a medium setting and the maximum is relatively small. This means that even the average setting is relatively bright. I personally like this very much, as it doesn’t affect you much even in strong sunlight. I also didn’t notice any input lags or touchscreen malfunctions. On the other hand, the viewing angle stability leaves a lot to be desired.

ColorOS 6 also doesn’t leave too many adjustment possibilities. With the Oppo Reno 10X Zoom there was still an Always-On mode due to the AMOLED panel, which is of course omitted here due to the LC display. In addition, almost only the color temperature can be adjusted with the slider. The night mode or the automatic brightness are now part of the standard repertoire.

Top hardware at a low price

Like the Lenovo Z6 Lite, the Oppo Realme 3 Pro is also equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor. The Octa-Core CPU with two 2.2 GHz cores and six 1.7 GHz cores provides enough power not only in theory. The processor is supported by 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal memory, which can be expanded by up to 256 GB memory via a microSD card.

And in contrast to the Z6 Lite, the Color OS operating system also knows how to handle the CPU. The Oppo Realme 3 Pro is fast, for this price even faster than average. Apps open quickly and close just as quickly. In contrast to well optimized flagships, there is this millisecond delay, which is almost only noticed in a direct comparison.

This speed actually runs through the whole phone, no matter if you unlock it, release the camera or game. Of course, the test also included a round of PUBG, which the Realme 3 Pro passed with flying colors. The heat development could be cooled better, but it runs very smoothly on medium settings!

Multitasking is no problem either, the apps usually don’t even have to reload. This performance is also confirmed by the benchmark results, which are generally in line with the hardware configuration. Compared to the Redmi Note 7, they are even slightly better, but the difference is hardly decisive despite the different CPUs.

Battery life

In addition to the CPU, the large 4.045 mAh battery also sounds very promising, even slightly larger than its biggest competitor, the Redmi Note 7. However, this difference is negligible. What is important is how well the operating system has been optimized for it. Oppo, in contrast to Xiaomi, unfortunately has a shorter battery, the benchmark runtime is “only” 9:30 hours, with activated mobile data, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. This corresponds to a usage of at least one day, tending towards 1.5 days. This can’t keep up with the Redmi grade 7, but it’s definitely enough.

An advantage is the in-house VOOC 3.0 fast charging process, which can charge the phone with 20W fast, despite Micro-USB port mind you. This brings the battery from 0 to 50 % in 30 minutes, a complete charge takes about 1:30 h, which is absolutely within the range.

The sharpest camera of the middle class

The Oppo Reno 10X Zoom has proven as flagship of the manufacturer how well the Chinese can handle camera software. We are therefore curious whether the built-in Sony IMX519 sensor with 16 megapixel resolution and ƒ/1.7 aperture can also provide good photos. With the OnePlus 6 with the same sensor, this definitely looked good. The second sensor offers a 5 megapixel resolution and an aperture of ƒ/2.4. As a depth sensor it also allows portrait shots. Interestingly, the sensor surrounded by the yellow border is not the main sensor, but the lower one. In fact, the phone also supports 4K video recording at 30 fps.

Even if the 48 megapixel camera of the Redmi Note 7 sounds better on the data sheet, the Oppo Realme 3 Pro shines with an incredible sharpness. The rich details in the focus area are indeed unbeatable for this price, provided the lighting conditions are right. Interior lighting is enough for this, but the camera can also be seen outside. I also like the color profile, which looks relatively clean.

The 16 megapixels are more than enough, also the sharpness at the edge of the picture is perfectly okay. The contrast is pleasant. All in all, the color profile also invites you to edit it, as nothing seems saturated.

I also like the camera app and the scene detection of the Color OS operating system. The app is clearly arranged, the three most used functions (photo, video, portrait) are easy to reach. The additional modes like panorama, timelapse, slow motion or night mode are only visible at second glance via the menu. In addition, the currently active mode is highlighted in yellow, which fits well into the color scheme of the phone. If you get close to an object with the camera, it switches the settings to a macro shot, which works properly. The same applies to people (portrait) or plants, for example.

Portrait mode

As already mentioned, the secondary sensor collects depth information to produce a better bokeh for portrait shots. This works well, but the problem is somewhere else. The beauty filter, which apparently cannot be deactivated, consists of a much too strong blur, which makes Alex look a few years younger in the test photo. Unfortunately this is not possible, the app should at least leave the option to adjust or deactivate it.

But this mode is well suited for objects, here the software shines with an almost flawless edge detection. I also like the bokeh effect, which is very soft and therefore looks natural like a DSLR.

25 Megapixel Selfies

Also important seems to be Realme’s 25 megapixel front camera, which supports AI modes and also serves as Face Unlock. The Selfies look very good at first sight and are best suited for the size of the smartphone display. If you zoom in a bit more, you’ll notice that some details get lost in the image depth, but that’s even more than acceptable.

For self portraits you can also use the portrait mode, which enjoys the advantages of the main camera: No beauty filter, but an almost perfect edge detection and a pleasant bokeh effect.

Is Micro-USB 2019 still acceptable?

As already mentioned, the Realme 3 Pro is a Global version, which is also equipped with LTE. You can choose between two nano SIM slots that support Dual VoLTE. For local Internet, the 3 Pro also offers Dual Band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi and Bluetooth 5 for connection to peripheral devices. Unfortunately there is no NFC integrated, which is a bit annoying, but not a disadvantage compared to the Redmi Note 7.

Otherwise, the Oppo Realme 3 Pro offers a dual SIM slot including memory expansion, a real unique selling point! You can use up to 256 GB microSD cards. There is also a 3.5 mm jack input on the bottom of the device, which is located next to the Micro-USB connector. Of course you can criticize here that it is not a USB type C. In practice, this might be a bit more annoying, but it still doesn’t change the functionality. Finally, the port also supports the 20W charging process, so the lack of speed cannot be taken as an argument.

Color OS6 with smart features

The operating system is also multilingual. The operating system is Color OS 6.0, which is based on Android 9 and comes directly with all Google services. The Play Store is of course also verified. The Color OS has little to do with Stock Android and is relatively far away from it in function as well as in appearance. But I like it a lot, because it offers some smart features.

But before that you can say goodbye to some bloatware. For example Aquamail as MailClient or Clone Phone to transfer old data to the new mobile phone, which makes sense. The fact that Facebook is already pre-installed also has a bland aftertaste, but is almost common. But that’s actually it, otherwise Realme relies on its own music player, phone manager or even its own GameSpace, which you can use optionally. So the “preload” by foreign apps is really limited.

Many will like the App-Drawer, which is part of the system launcher. It is called “drawer mode” and can be deactivated easily. In addition, there are relatively cool features, such as the smart sidebar. It can be placed freely at the edge of the screen (left and right) and offers space for Quick Apps that can be freely assigned. It also supports the standby gestures that might be familiar from OnePlus. These include, for example, a V for the flashlight or the double-tap-to-wake function.

The implementation is not quite perfect, but Realme seems to handle updates well so far, during the test the update came with small system fixes and the update to the security patch from August 2019 – top! Of course we have to wait and see how this develops over a period of one to two years. To evaluate this, Realme is still too new on the market.

Features

The operating system supports Face Unlock in addition to the fingerprint sensor. This works surprisingly well and during the first scan the OS takes a little more time than with Xiaomi. Nevertheless, no 3D scan is made here, the 3 Pro also manages without an infrared sensor. Nevertheless, the Face Unlock also works in the dark, as the screen brightness may be sufficient.

Those who like to watch Amazon Prime Video or Netflix on their smartphone will theoretically have no problems with their mobile phone. The Realme S3 Pro has Widevine Level 1, so it can play video streaming content with Full HD resolution.

Conclusion: the smartphone surprise of the year

We’ve been keeping an eye on Realme for some time now, which could be the next Xiaomi, at least for smartphones. And in fact, I’m a little overwhelmed by how good the Oppo Realme 3 Pro came out in the end. For less than $200 you just get the hottest smartphone camera in the price segment, a top performance, a stable and beautiful operating system, a large battery and a native dual SIM slot including memory expansion. In addition, there is a contemporary design, good workmanship and a very solid display.

There are few points of criticism. The Micro-USB port is a bit old-fashioned, but doesn’t change the functionality. Only NFC is really missing, but the Redmi Note 7 also has to put up with this accusation. Whether one can expect this for the price, cannot be answered completely. Otherwise I don’t have anything to complain about the Realme 3 Pro.

Which smartphone is better now? Redmi Note 7 or Realme 3 Pro? Both are definitely at eye level, this is a pure decision of individual preference. The different USB ports should not be a criterion here. Feel the performance and the camera sharpness of the realme is better, but the Redmi has a better runtime. Especially the operating system should play a decisive role here. Even if I like MIUI, I like Color OS just as much and maybe even make the race for me in the meantime.