Wednesday, October 21, 2020

realme 7i Review

realme recently released two members of the 7 series smartphones a couple of weeks ago, and completing the lineup is the realme 7i. It packs quite a few nifty tricks up its sleeve like a 90Hz screen, a nice set of cameras, and a pretty decent chipset that can handle basic day-to-day tasks. We’ve been using this device for quite some time now, and here are our thoughts about it.

Design and Construction

The realme 7i’s design looks pretty fun. The back is made out of glossy polycarbonate that attracts fingerprints pretty quickly, so we suggest you use the clear case included in the box. The unit we have is in the Polar Blue colorway, but it is also available in Aurora Green. It looks pretty clean and minimalist with its white to mint green gradient; even though it has a glossy back finish, there’s this nice glittery-finish to it.

Also, at the back, we’ll find a realme branding, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a rectangular quad-camera setup which protrudes and wobbles a little bit when placed on a flat surface without a case.

Upfront, we got a 6.5-inch 90Hz IPS LCD panel. Situated on the top left corner of the display is the hole-punch cut out for the front-facing camera, and on the topmost part of the display is the call speaker.

Situated on the right side is the dual-sim card tray with a dedicated microSD card slot.

While on the left is the volume buttons, and below that is the sleep/wake button.

There’s nothing that can be found on the top, while situated at the bottom is the 3.5mm headphone jack, call microphone, USB Type-C port, and the speaker.

It’s got a curved frame, which makes this device comfortable to hold. A one-hand operation can be quite a struggle for people with small hands since it’s got a huge display.

Display and Multimedia

The realme 7i has a 6.5-inch 90Hz IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1600 x 720 and a pixel density of 270ppi. It’s also protected with Corning Gorilla glass. The realme 7i packs a pretty smooth 90Hz refresh rate, but there’s a subtle frame drop when scrolling through the screen, but it isn’t really a big deal. Despite that, viewing angles are pretty great. The screen produces vibrant and punchy colors, and even though it sports an LCD panel, the blacks look deep. You can tweak the setting to make your screen cooler or warmer depending on your preference, which is pretty neat.

Watching content on the realme 7i is decent, even though it only comes with a 720p resolution. You’d still get a pretty nice viewing experience. However, audio-wise, it can easily fill up a room on maximum volume, but the sound comes out tinny and lacks bass. We highly suggest making use of the headphone jack to have a better listening experience.

Camera

The realme 7i has a plethora of cameras. It’s got a quad-rear camera setup at the back, consisting of a 64MP F1.8 main sensor, 8MP F2.3 ultrawide, 2MP F2.4 macro, and 2MP F2.4 depth. For selfies, we got a 16MP F2.1 camera. The camera app houses features like AI capabilities, Pro mode, Ultra Macro, and Google Lens, to name a few.

Images produced are surprisingly good. The colors are pretty accurate and sharp. There’s not much of post-processing going on, which is a plus. You can also take advantage of its 64MP sensor, which is pretty nifty in some situations. In standard mode, photos come out pretty nice and are pretty usable for social media postings. Night mode, on the other hand, isn’t the best in class. Compared with a photo without night mode, you will see that there is just a slight difference between the two. Night mode photography comes out pretty contrasty and a little bit saturated as compared to the regular one.

For video, it can record up to 1080p at 30fps, and so far, the quality is subpar and would suffice for casual use.

OS, UI, and Apps

Running on the realme 7i is the Realme UI based on Android 10. It has pretty clean software with a little bloatware that can then be deleted by the user. On the other hand, the skin looks almost the same as stock Android and is highly customizable.

There are features baked inside Realme UI like Dual Mode Music Share, Smart Sidebar, Riding Mode, Game Space, Screen-Off display, Fraud Prevention, Private Space, and Dark Mode. You can opt to navigate through the UI using the navigation buttons or with a swipe gesture.

Out of the 128GB storage, we get a usable 111GB storage that can be further expanded via the microSD slot.

Performance and Benchmarks

The realme 7i packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 chipset coupled with an Adreno 610 GPU and 8GB of RAM when it comes to performance. Thanks to its processor, it can handle basic day-to-day tasks and can take graphically intensive games such as Asphalt 9 and Genshin Impact with little to no hiccups. Surprisingly, even though we threw difficult tasks and games on this phone, it stays cool to the touch, and it never overheats.

• AnTuTu v8.4.5 – 143,585
• Geekbench 5 – 311 ( Single-core), 1,309 (Multi-core)
• PCMark – 6,316 (Work 2.0)
• 3DMark – 1,180 (OpenGL), 1,119 (Vulkan)
• AndroBench – 515.36 MB/s (Seq Read), 201.32 MB/s (Seq Write)

For biometrics, realme 7i offers a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and facial recognition. Both work pretty well, although we notice a slight delay when using the fingerprint scanner; nonetheless, it is quick and fast.

Connectivity and Battery Life

The realme 7i comes with the standard connectivity features such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 4G LTE for connectivity. Powering the realme 7i is a massive 5,000mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. For battery life, we used the device for the whole day, primarily browsing the web and playing games, and we were with 24% at the end of the day. We can say that the battery life on this device is pretty impressive.

In our standard video loop test (1080p movie on loop, 50% brightness, 0% volume, airplane mode on), we got a total of 25 hours and 6 minutes of playback. In the PCMark Work 2.0 Battery Test, we yielded a score of 12 hours and 20 minutes.

Conclusion

The realme 7i is coming out strong with a PHP 11,990 price tag, considering that it has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. We’ve been using this device for about two weeks now, and so far, we like it. From having a smooth 90hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery that can last the whole day without charging, plus an 18W fast charging capabilities, and a decent set of cameras with 64MP sensors, the realme 7i indeed is one of a reliable device.

We wished for realme to spend a little more on the screen since we still have a 720p display that isn’t ideal mostly for people who use their smartphone to binge-watch content on Netflix or YouTube. Some are probably willing to trade the HD 90Hz screen for an FHD 60Hz. But that’s just our two cents, the realme 7i is still a great contender for the affordable mid-range segment.

With inputs from Arel Ebana

realme 7i specs:
6.5-inch (1600 x 720) IPS display
90Hz refresh rate
Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC
Adreno 610 GPU
4GB, 8GB RAM
64GB, 128GB storage
microSD slot (dedicated)
Quad-rear cameras
• 64MP (main)
• 8MP (ultra-wide)
• 2MP (macro lens)
• 2MP (B&W)
16MP front camera
Dual-SIM (Nano)
4G LTE
Bluetooth
GPS
USB Type-C port
Fingerprint scanner (rear)
realme UI (Android 10)
5,000mAh battery w/ 18W Quick Charge and reverse charging
Aurora Gree, Polar Blue