The display of Realme P3 Pro looks very sharp when browsing through its software interface, and it shows slightly saturated colors when using its default Vivid screen color mode. Given its quad-curved nature, there are some distracting reflections, but when using it outdoors, I also found its brightness to be a bit below the mark. Realme claims a maximum global brightness of 1,200 nits, which isn’t all that bright, as the display appeared a bit dim outdoors compared to competing smartphones at this price point.
When streaming content through OTT apps indoors, the brightness did seem sufficient. The phone also supports Wide vine L1, meaning you can enjoy movies in full HD streaming resolution. However, the device lacks HDR support, which is obvious given that its display can’t get too bright.
Weirdly, this display’s refresh rate only switches between 60 and 120Hz, so it’s not exactly an adaptive refresh rate either. Even if you are watching a movie, the screen’s refresh rate will lock up at 60Hz instead of dropping to a more optimal 30Hz.
What I loved about this panel were its skinny borders. The thin border makes the content appear quite immersive, regardless of which angle I was viewing the display from.
Bloatware buffet
You’ll immediately notice the phone’s bloatware when you turn it on. Realme apps aside, there are numerous third-party apps, games, and a selection of “Hot Apps” as well, which keep changing every time you open the folders (there are two). And since there’s such a wide variety of apps on display along with several double apps (Google Files versus My Files), it can get a bit confusing as to which apps you should choose, especially if you are a first-time smartphone user.
The interface is typically Realme UI with a focus on customisation. Some practical AI tools (AI Writer, AI Recording Summary, and AI Reply) are handy and work as expected. And then there’s image editing, which is something Oppo has yet to figure out before it trickles down to Realme UI.
Performance
Realme UI feels quite smooth when using it, whether it’s multitasking between apps or even recalling apps from memory. The only instance when I did notice a slowdown is when shooting photos using the camera app. The phone takes a second or two to process photos just after you have captured them, and so there is a bit of waiting if you have the habit of tapping the photo thumbnail after every shot for closer examination.
Speaker performance isn’t the best. Despite packing two speakers, the audio delivery isn’t balanced and is driven mainly by the bottom-firing speaker. The primary speaker also lacks sufficient bass, even though it does get very loud.
Gaming performance is quite solid. I ran Call of Duty: Mobile at ‘Very High’ graphics and frame rate, and the game remained at a steady 59-60 fps during play. Touch sampling rate also felt sufficient, and the phone did not get too warm.
Cameras
The primary camera snaps 12-megapixel binned photographs. They are a bit saturated in terms of color reproduction. Dynamic range is not the best, so the photos appear a bit contrasted, omitting some detail in the brighter and darker areas of an image. When shooting in low-light or street-lit scenes, I noticed that the camera can’t pull out much detail, leading to flatter textures on objects and surfaces. In short, the low-light photos aren’t the best we have seen at this price point.
The 2X digital zoom can be used when capturing photos in daylight, but even here I spotted some garbled textures (because of over sharpening), which the camera’s algorithms failed to process accurately. The 2X digital zoom is not worth using when shooting in low light.
Portrait mode photos captured using the same rear camera show impressive detail and edge detection when used in daylight, but the quality drops quite a bit in low light or dim lighting (tap image to expand)
The video recording capabilities of the Realme P3 Pro are far from the best we have seen at this price point. The video quality overall is a bit below average, with limited dynamic range. There’s limited detail in the shadows, and the overall quality at 1080p is a bit low. Stabilization is tolerable when recording video at 1080p 30fps, but it starts getting noticeably wobbly at 1080p 60fps with some focus hopping. There is no stabilization possible at 4K (30 fps), and the video appears too shaky, both when walking and panning. However, the 4K mode managed the best detail. In low light, 1080p video recordings appeared soft and lacked resolved details, with noise taking over. 4K recordings appeared the best, provided you can look past the nauseating camera shake.
Battery
The Realme P3 Pro lasted a solid 25 hours and 45 minutes in our standard video loop test, where a video is played on loop until the battery runs out, these numbers sound impressive.
We also ran PCMark’s Work Battery Life test, which simulates basic usage, and it lasted 18 hours and 30 minutes with the phone connected to Wi-Fi and the brightness set to a fixed 50 percent. With daily use, which varies from person to person, I did find the battery to easily manage a whole day (24 hours) and some more, meaning this phone will comfortably last a little over a day, even if you use its camera and play games on it, apart from the usual calls, messaging, and social media usage. While it sounds great, I did expect it to last longer given its higher-than-usual capacity.
Charging speeds were pretty good. The phone also supports bypass charging, which produces less heat by directly powering the motherboard when playing games. The phone charged from a dead battery to 50 percent in 30 minutes, completing the charge in 1 hour and 10 minutes. This is good for a large battery but is still not as fast as the Nord CE 4.
Conclusions
Realme impressed the youth with its design, but it fell short in important areas, like cameras, software support, and charging speed. Despite its smooth performance, the software is also loaded with bloatware. Surprisingly, to a Realme P2 Pro user, the phone is still a worthy upgrade
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