Realme has made its mark in the Philippines by bringing in value-for-money products to the market. Their latest midrange handset, the Realme 5 Pro, is yet another example of such. It comes feature packed, complete with a 48MP main camera, an attractive design, and a friendly price tag.
Realme 5 Pro specs:
- 6.3-inch Full HD+ IPS Display (2340 x 1080, 409 ppi), 19.5:9 Ratio, Gorilla Glass 3+
- 2.3GHz Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 712, 10nm
- Adreno 616 GPU
- 4/6/8GB RAM
- 64/128GB UFS 2.1 Storage, microSD Card Slot
- 48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX 586 Main + 8MP f/2.2 Ultra-wide + 2MP f/2.4 Macro + 2MP f/2.4 Depth Quad Rear Cameras
- 16MP f/2.0 Front Camera
- 4G LTE
- Wi-Fi 802.11ac
- Bluetooth 5.0
- GPS, A-GPS, Galileo, BDS
- Fingerprint Scanner (Rear-mounted)
- Face Unlock
- USB Type-C
- HyperBoost 2.0
- Loudspeaker, Dirac HD Sound
- ColorOS 6, Android 9 Pie
- Colors: Sparkling Blue, Crystal Green
- 4,035mAh battery, VOOC 3.0 Flash Charge 20W
The Realme 5 Pro comes in a typical white retail box. Inside, the phone is packed with a VOOC 3.0 fast charger, a USB Type-C cable, a silicone case, a SIM tool, and some documentation.
Design and Build Quality
The design is the first thing you’ll notice with the Realme 5 Pro. For the price, you get a phone that looks quite handsome with modern and sleek styling.
The handset features a new crystal design. The back panel is made of a plastic polycarbonate material with a shiny finish. It has an eye-catching diamond pattern with different shades of blue and violet.
Also Read: Realme 5 Pro price in the Philippines announced; Pre-orders now ongoing
In contrast, the frame has a matte coating that helps prevent it from slipping in your hand.
Like most Chinese devices, the display is slightly raised from the body. In a way, it breaks the overall sleekness of the phone. But it does have a purpose — it gives added grip, keeping the phone from slipping from your hand.
The Realme 5 Pro has an above average build quality. I like how it feels in the hand. It’s solid and substantial with a good weight.
Looking at the device, you have the power button on the left, and the volume rocker on the right. Both buttons can be easily reached by either your thumb or index finger, depending on which hand your using to hold it.
At the bottom, you have the headphone jack, the mic, a USB Type-C port, and a single volume grill at the bottom. There’s also another mic at the top.
Display and UI
The Realme 5 Pro comes with a 6.3-inch full HD+ IPS display with a 2340 by 1080 resolution and a pixel density of 409 ppi. It has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
For a phone in this price range, the display is actually nice. It is bright and colorful with good saturation. Definitely unexpected from a phone that starts at PHP 11,990.
The screen has a dewdrop notch that houses the front camera. I’m not a fan of notches. I find it to be a bit bigger than what other brands have. It’s not distracting but you’ll definitely notice it there, especially while watching videos or playing games.
The phone runs on ColorOS 6 on top of Android 9 Pie. Unfortunately, there’s no RealmeOS here yet. Still, it’s quite pleasant with an intuitive settings layout. The default icons look good, but I find it a bit too colorful for my taste. It can be changed through the Theme Store app though.
Swiping all the way to the left gives takes you to the Smart Assistant panel. It aggregates information you might need for the day. Swiping down from the home screen will open the search panel.
Performance and Benchmarks
The Realme 5 Pro is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor. Our review unit has 8GB RAM and 128GB UFS 2.1 storage, which should improve performance.
On AnTuTu, the handset managed to get a score of 179,679. On Geekbench, it got a 345 on the single core test and 1,484 on the multi-core.
Regardless of benchmark scores though, the phone is fast and responsive in day to day use. Everything is snappy and smooth. Apps are quick to open and games look great on medium or lower graphics settings. The fingerprint scanner is fast as well.
Quad Cameras
The phone comes with four cameras — a 48MP f/1.8 main, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, a 2MP f/2.4 macro, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth.
The main camera comes with a Sony IMX 586 sensor. It bins 48MP images to 12MP. It has an ultra-pixel mode where you can use all 48MP. The front camera has a 16MP sensor with an f/2.0 lens.
Also Read: Realme 5 with quad cameras, 5000mAh battery coming to the Philippines
As the saying goes, the best camera in any situation is the one you have with you. And you won’t go wrong with the Realme 5 Pro. In good light, photos come out great. Colors look good with plenty of details and above average sharpness. If you’re the type to just upload in social media, then this is more than enough for you.
The Realme 5 Pro also has up to 10x digital zoom. The sample video below starts from wide angle, 1x, 2x, 5x, and 10x. As you can see, sharpness and details suffer at max zoom. But the image is still usable though.
The Realme 5 Pro also comes with an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP macro camera.
The ultra-wide camera is useful for landscape photos or if you want to capture more of an image with little space to work with. The image quality of the ultra-wide camera is average. It’s not as sharp as the main camera and you details are somewhat muted, but the colors are okay. You can also get a barrelling effect, depending on your subject. For social media, it’s perfectly fine.
The 2MP macro camera is another “fun-to-have” feature. You can take a photo of an object at a distance of 4cm. On this mode, you’ll need more light than usual to get a good photo. Image quality is average. Details and sharpness look muted, but colors are good. Again, this is perfectly fine for social media.
Selfies look good as well. In good lighting, the 16MP camera captures good colors. It’s not as sharp as more expensive devices, but it’s good enough for uploading to social media.
Battery Life
The Realme 5 Pro is equipped with a 4,035mAh battery with support for 20W VOOC 3.0 flash charge.
With moderate usage of YouTube, social media, web browsing and some Spotify, I was able to get a day. Even on heavy usage, you’ll make it through a work day. And with the VOOC 3.0 charger, you can top-up the phone up to 50% in just 30 minutes.
Closing Remarks
Every year, Realme continues to step up it’s smartphone game. And the Realme 5 Pro is no exception. The handset definitely punched above its worth, offering good value at a friendly price.
The Realme 5 Pro handset delivers on most fronts — from performance to its cameras. You get an attractive and modern handset with exceptional battery life, good photo quality, and VOOC 3.0 fast charging.
I’m not saying the Realme 5 Pro is perfect. The handset is not for everyone, but if you’re on a budget looking for a do-it-all, then this might be for you.
The Realme 5 Pro is priced at PHP 11,990 for the 4GB + 128GB and PHP 13,990 for the 8GB + 128GB. Offline pre-orders in Realme stores and kiosks is ongoing from October 4 to 11 with a minimum deposit of PHP 500. Claiming of units will start on October 12. It will come with a free Realme 10,000mAh power bank valued at PHP 1,599.
For those who want to purchase the Realme 5 Pro online, pre-orders in Lazada is from October 3 to 8. Online pre-orders can be redeemed beginning on October 9.
