Realme X50 Pro 5G review

Performance

Realme X50 Pro is powered by state-of-the-art Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset with an octa-core CPU and Adreno 650 GPU. This flagship processor is 25% faster and more efficient than the previous generation chipsets and the accompanying Snapdragon X55 5G modem supports all major frequency bands like mmWave, sub-6, TDD, FDD, SA and NSA modes.

In India however, there are no functioning 5G networks yet, so it becomes something like a suppressed superpower of the X50 Pro that will surface only when 5G is available in the country. 

The phone is outfitted with a set of 13 antennas-- eight for 4G/5G, three for GPS and Wi-Fi and one each for Bluetooth 5.1 and NFC, making up what Realme calls 360-degree surround antenna. Such a layout aims to provide uninterrupted connectivity irrespective of the way you hold the phone, normally or while watching a video or gaming.

This is further supported by a 6GB/8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM module and 128GB/256GB UFS 3.0 storage options. The LPDDR5 solution offers a 29% faster speed and is 14% more efficient than LPDDR4X. Similarly, UFS 3.0 standard storage enables up to 250% faster read/write speeds and is 30% more power-efficient than the 2.1 standards.

Realme X50 Pro uses an upgraded Vapor Cooling system for thermal management with faster heat dissipation across six layers of graphite sheet, vapor chamber, copper foil and silica. This helps the phone sustain peak performance when playing graphics-intensive games for hours at a stretch.

In our use, we played a bunch of different games on it such as Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 9, Real Racing 3, Injustice, Modern Combat 5, to name a few. The SD865 can easily power all the major titles that you can think of, without breaking a sweat.

As far as benchmarks are considered, the X50 Pro scored 584750 points on AnTuTu benchmark while Geekbench awarded it 909 points on single-core and 3254 points on multi-core compute test. This is a given considering the latest Snapdragon 865 chip that powers the whole experience without any issues.

Powering the whole experience is the new Realme UI 1.0 which is based on Android 10. It is the second Realme phone to come with Realme UI out-of-the-box. The Realme UI is a significant departure from Oppo’s ColorOS that was used by Realme. In that, the new skin on top of Android 10 feels minimal with vibrant colours and even leaves a place for elegance. It’s also very fluid when it comes to animations and makes the overall experience better.

The new UI brings a ton of new features such as focus mode that’s inspired by OnePlus’ Zen Mode, game space for providing that extra boost in performance, screen light effects that highlight the edges of the screen for alerts and calls, always-on display and more. You can also customize icons, text or change the theme altogether from the store.

The X50 Pro has dual stereo speakers tuned by Dolby Atmos and supports Hi-Res audio playback. Wi-Fi 6 is also present as the latest wireless protocol with 40% faster speeds than the previous generation and can connect to two WiFi networks simultaneously to achieve signal boost.

Realme X50 Pro is a really powerful smartphone, packing in the latest and greatest with Snapdragon 865 chip from Qualcomm. It fulfills all the necessary requirements of being a flagship phone, however, there’s ample room for improvement and we hope the company really takes this new UI to the next level with more optimizations and tweaks. Also, it would be nice to see less bloatware on the Realme phones out-of-the-box.

Battery life

Realme X50 Pro comes fitted with a 4,200mAh battery with support for 65W SuperDart charging and 18W Power Delivery charging. This is an even speedier fast-charging standard than the one we’ve seen on the Realme X2 Pro and the company claims that their SuperDart solution is capable of topping-up the phone from 0% to 100% in just 30 minutes tops.

In our use, that number holds out to be true as we saw that the charging adapter is capable of charging the phone from 0% to 100% in 30-31 minutes and that’s really good. It only raises the benchmark for other smartphone manufacturers to match the charging potential of say an X2 Pro or X50 Pro. Of course, with such a high-speed charging system, it is but natural that the heat dissipation will happen mostly on the adapter end. 

The thing to remember however is that the X50 Pro takes no time to charge up and so you can depend on it without second thoughts.

Verdict

A real flagship phone for 2020, the X50 Pro boasts of 5G capabilities and top-of-the-line flagship performance that will become a common ground for premium smartphones this year. While 5G connectivity remains a distant dream for the Indian telecom market, the fact that more companies are willing to jump the bandwagon and seed 5G ready phones into the hands of consumers even before the infrastructure is there only lends credence to how important this country has become for the consumer technology space.

Not to forget, it is also the first phone in India to come with support for 65W fast charging, the fastest fast-charging solution in the market right now. 

With Snapdragon 865 chip on board, you can rest assured of top-tier performance when it comes to gaming and the display is just fine for watching YouTube videos or binge-watching Netflix.

With the X50 Pro, Realme flexes its muscles and takes the crown for being the first brand in India to launch a Snapdragon 865 powered smartphone. Will it help in the speedier rollout of 5G networks? Maybe, maybe not! I believe your decision to buy this phone shouldn’t be influenced by the presence of 5G support as there’s grim uncertainty looming over the foundations of the 5G networks in India right now.

• Realme X2 Pro review