Realme 8 Pro review: No major weaknesses for currently 265 euros

Xiaomi currently dominates the price range of 200 to 350 euros by introducing new and sometimes really good smartphones every week. The competition hardly stands a chance, does it? At least one smartphone in this price range, namely the Realme 8 Pro, has stood out positively in recent weeks and can keep up with Xiaomi in many respects on paper.

It started with a recommended retail price of 279 euros and is now available for around 265 euros. For this price, customers get a high-quality OLED display, a 4.500 mAh battery with 50 watt fast charge, a 108 megapixel main camera and expandable memory. On paper, you only have to make slight compromises in terms of the built-in processor and the refresh rate of the screen. In the following lines, you will find out how the smartphone performed in everyday use, whether I can recommend it or whether Realme also has no chance against Xiaomi in this price range.

Haptics, design and processing

With dimensions of 160,6 mm in height and 73,9 mm in width, the Realme 8 Pro is neither one of the larger nor smaller smartphones by today's standards. It fits perfectly in the hand and can also be operated quite well with one hand, which is due on the one hand to the pleasant weight of only 176 grams and the thickness of only 8,1 mm, but also to the perfectly rounded edges.

The back is made of matt plastic, which is absolutely immune to fingerprints due to its extremely rough surface, at least on the iinfinite Black Colour. Customers still have the choice between two other colors, namely infinite blue and Punk Black. The latter is unfortunately glossy and should therefore be much more susceptible to fingerprints.

What immediately catches the eye on the back is the huge one Dare to Leap Lettering. Personally, I don't think much of it, but I also have to say that it in no way destroys the design of the back. If you like it a little more subtle, you should probably go for the color Black Punk grip, the back of which does not show any lettering. The quad camera is housed in the top left and protrudes clearly from the housing, causing the smartphone to wobble slightly when it is on the table when operated. If we look at the front, we see a familiar picture from the middle class. The edges around the panel are very thin on three of four sides and the front camera sits in the form of a small punch hole in the left corner.

There is absolutely nothing to complain about in terms of workmanship for the price. The keys sit tight in the case and have a decent pressure point. In addition, the case does not creak like some other devices and the back cannot be dented.

Display - really strong, but ...

The Chinese manufacturer has installed a 6,4-inch OLED display, which is only interrupted by a small punch hole in which the front camera is located. The panel has a pleasantly sharp resolution of 2.400 x 1.080 pixels and supports a refresh rate of 60 Hertz. For the offered price of well under 300 euros this is still completely okay in my opinion, but the slightly more expensive one Notes redmi 10 Pro already supports 120 Hertz with OLED. That is a bit of a shame, but the smartphone currently costs around 265 euros and for this price you simply cannot expect a 120 Hertz OLED panel everywhere, especially because there are certain smartphones for over 1.000 euros that only run at 60 Hertz come along.

The recess in the left corner does not interfere at any time in everyday life. (Image: TechnikNews)

The remaining points, i.e. the color reproduction, contrast value, black level, brightness and viewing angle are excellent and significantly better than the LCD displays of the competition. Even on sunny days I never had any major problems with readability. Sure, flagships are a step ahead in this area in particular, but you can also cope with the brightness of the Realme 8 Pro very well. The color reproduction is excellent and beautifully realistic, at least in the "mild" screen color mode. If you like it a little more colorful, you can adjust the color reproduction in the settings to your own taste with just a few clicks. Even the viewing angle stability is really good. The colors only change color slightly at extreme viewing angles.

Software - many personalizations

The in-house Realme UI, based on Android 11, is used as software. It's quite colorful and sometimes a bit confusing, especially the settings. But some things can be adjusted according to your own taste. For example, you can change the colors of the UI, the icon style of the apps or the animation when unlocking via the fingerprint sensor. There is also an excellent night mode, which works great with almost all apps, and ingenious gesture control. However, I would still like to see a quick start function for starting the camera in the future.

Performance - constant and fluid

Under the hood is the Snapdragon 720G from Qualcomm, which we for example from the Galaxy A52 and A72 but also from its predecessor, the Realme 7 Pro. The processor is supported by either 6 or 8 GB of RAM with 128 GB of internal memory, which can be expanded via a microSD card.

I would have liked to have seen a slightly stronger processor, especially since the predecessor was also equipped with the 720G and the competition, such as the Little X3 Pro, is one step ahead here, but the everyday performance is good. Apps start and close really quickly and overall the Realme 8 Pro runs very smoothly and above all consistently. While the Galaxy A52 with the same processor occasionally takes a little break, everything runs nice and consistently with Realme. You can also play games, but especially with more complex games the smartphone already reaches its limits. If you value this a lot, you should probably go for the Poco X3 Pro or spend a little more money on a Poco F3 take in hand. The processing of night shots or the installation of some apps also sometimes takes a little longer than usual.

Battery - very good runtimes, even better charging times

The battery has a capacity of 4.500 mAh and can be quickly charged with up to 65 watts with the 50 watt power supply provided, which is anything but a matter of course in this price range. It takes about 50 minutes for the battery to be fully charged.

I always came proI got through a day without any problems and even 1,5 to 2 days were possible. At the end of the day, with a screen-on time of 6 hours, I usually still had 40 to 50 percent of battery left. These are really strong values. So no one should have any problems getting through a day without charging with the Realme 8 Pro.

Camera - good, but nothing more

The highlight should clearly be the camera, because Realme installs a 300 megapixel main sensor for less than 108 euros, which is clearly superior to almost all others in this price range in terms of sensor size. The number of pixels is negligible. It doesn't necessarily have to be that more megapixels automatically lead to better image quality. In addition, there is an ultra-wide-angle camera with 8 megapixels, which can capture a fairly large image section due to its large viewing angle. There are also two sensors for macro shots and depth effects, each with a resolution of 2 megapixels. The front camera has a resolution of 16 megapixels.

The quad camera of the Realme 8 Pro protrudes noticeably from the housing. (Image: TechnikNews)

With the main camera, especially in good lighting conditions, you can take very good pictures, which can be characterized by a decent image sharpness and a good dynamic range. There is only room for improvement in terms of color rendering. Almost all of the images look much too saturated, even though the AI ​​mode was always deactivated. However, if you like strong colors in your pictures, you will get your money's worth here.

As soon as the lighting conditions become more difficult, the night mode is used, which ensures significantly sharper and slightly brighter images. However, I would have expected a little more here due to the size of the sensor. Even cheaper smartphones sometimes take brighter images, but in return they cannot keep up with the sharpness. Overall, the Realme 8 Pro, which currently costs 265 euros, has a good main camera that is better than the competition in many situations, but in some areas, such as low-light performance or color reproduction, I would have expected a little more.

The quality of the ultra-wide-angle camera is then again quite unspectacular and exactly as we see it from almost all other smartphones in this price range. In good lighting conditions it definitely offers added value, but as soon as the lighting conditions are only slightly worse, the pictures are no longer really useful.

Macro shots are rather useless because they are reproduced pale and far too blurred. I recommend using the main camera and then cropping into the image. I liked the front camera a lot better, which shoots sufficiently sharp and color-accurate images.

Test photos

Let's take a look at a few test photos. As always, the following images are absolutely unprocessed, but compressed without loss in order to keep the loading times and memory consumption of the website low.

Comparison with the Samsung Galaxy A52 and Redmi Note 10S

Last but not least, we want to compare the camera with the competition in various situations. This is what the Galaxy A52 from Samsung and the Note 10S from Redmi on. I made a conscious decision in favor of these devices because they are in a similar price range. The Redmi is currently slightly cheaper and the A52 a bit more expensive.

When it comes to macro shots, the Realme 8 Pro clearly has to admit defeat to the A52. On the other hand, the main camera is actually impressive across the board in good lighting conditions. The image sharpness and dynamic range are really impressive, although Samsung can keep up very well here, and is sometimes even a little better. Despite deactivated scene optimization, the Realme delivers the most unrealistic shots. Here, the Redmi is impressive across the board and delivers the most natural colors. In low light, the Galaxy A52 wins for me, due to good brightness, decent sharpness and realistic colors. Realme sometimes takes slightly sharper shots, but also exaggerates the saturation here and reproduces images a little too dark despite night mode.

Others - Solid speaker, good fingerprint sensor, etc.

Unfortunately, the Realme 8 Pro only has a mono speaker on the bottom, which can easily be covered. However, the quality is quite impressive. It is loud enough and delivers a solid, clear sound. The sound is less good at higher volumes.

The built-in vibration motor is average. It doesn't convey a high-quality feeling and doesn't sound particularly good either, but I've already seen worse in this price range. The fingerprint sensor in the display was much better. It could be positioned a little higher for my taste, but both the speed and the reliability are quite impressive.

Finally, I would like to mention that the Realme 8 Pro has a triple slot, so users can expand the storage proEasily expand via a microSD card and have two SIM cards in use at the same time. With many other smartphones, you either have to choose between two SIM cards or microSD.

Conclusion

The Realme 8 Pro currently offers a very strong overall package without any major weaknesses for 265 euros. Above all, the display and battery life, but also the main camera and performance are impressive. Nevertheless, the Chinese manufacturer has a tough time, because Xiaomi currently dominates the price range of 200 to 350 euros like no other. A Poco X3 Pro only has an LCD display, 33 watt fast charge and a worse camera on paper, but offers a much more powerful and, above all, future-proof processor. If that is important to you, you should probably go for this smartphone.

But if the display is very important to you, you should go for the Realme, right? Probably not, because as good as the display of the Realme 8 Pro is, there is an even better alternative, namely the Redmi Note 10 Pro. This not only supports an OLED panel, but also a smooth refresh rate of 120 Hertz.

However, if you don't like Xiaomi's software or the design of the smartphones, you can safely go for the Realme 8 Pro and you will be very happy with it. Otherwise, you can wait a few weeks or months until the price drops even further and then it will get really interesting.

We would like to thank Realme Germany for providing the 8 Pro!

Buy Realme 8 Pro

• Buy at Amazon