Realme just launched the Realme 3 Pro, the elder sibling to the Realme 3 which was launched in March with an Helio P70 SoC and Android Pie. The device offers the latest Snapdragon 710 AIE Processor with dual rear camera and comes with a price of Rs 13,999 for the 4GB RAM + 64GB model while the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage option has been priced at Rs 16,999.

For the same price of Rs 16,999, Xiaomi is currently selling the Redmi Note 7 Pro offering another mid-range Chipset with a large battery unit, dual camera setup for photography and a bezel-less display with a notch on top. Does the Realme 3 Pro have what it takes to topple the picture-centric Redmi Note 7 Pro? Let’s talk about that.

Hardware:

We generally talk about the design first but since this is a budget phone, performance is what primarily matters.

The Realme 3 Pro is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 AIE processor clocked at 2.2GHz along Adreno 616 GPU. For the sake of this comparison, we’re taking the higher 6GB RAM + 128GB storage configuration which is priced at Rs 16,999.

The Redmi Note 7 Pro, on the other hand, comes fuelled by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 octa-core processor with Adreno 612 GPU. The phone has 6GB of LPDDR4x RAM with 128GB storage and expandable storage of up to 256GB through a microSD card.

Performance-wise, the Snapdragon 710 chipset on the Realme 3 Pro is more powerful than the Snapdragon 675 on the Redmi device, though the difference is not that much, even on paper. Both phones offer similar capacities of RAM and storage, leaving the difference between the two to the minimum.

Winner: Realme 3 Pro, only by a close margin.

Design:

The Realme 3 Pro follows its non-Pro sibling in terms of design options as it is housed inside a polycarbonate frame and body but finished with a new styling at the back. The phone is available in Nitro Blue and Carbon Gray colour variants but all that flashiness loses out when it comes to durability as the device screams plastic.

In contrast to the Realme device, the Redmi Note 7 Pro has taken inspiration from the Xiaomi’s other top-end smartphones with a flat glass body that transitions up to the frame. Its back panel is also yet another glossy affair but instead of standard colours, the Redmi Note 7 Pro arrives in Nebula Red and Nebula Blue colours. Not to forget, these glossy colours are protected on the outside by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 and not a plastic body like on the Realme 3 Pro.

Winner: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro

Display:

The Redmi Note 7 Pro features a standard 6.3-inch FHD+ screen of 1080 x 2340 pixels resolution and a tall 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The panel on the front comes with a small waterdrop style notch housing the front camera. The display has a Pixel density of around 409 ppi and expands to 81.4 percent in terms of the screen-to-body ratio, all of which is housed inside Corning Gorilla Glass 5-wrapped protective panel.

The display on the Realme 3 Pro measures at 6.3-inch and is an IPS LCD display with a waterdrop notch. It has a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, amounting to a Pixel density of 409ppi. Even the Realme phone comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection but it steals the deal with a screen-to-body ratio of 83.7 percent, meaning the bezels on this phone is lesser in contrast to that of the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

Winner: Realme 3 Pro

Camera:

The camera setup on the Realme 3 is equipped with a combination of 16-megapixel primary lens with Sony IMX519 sensor, f/1.7 aperture, 1.22-micron pixel along with a 5-megapixel secondary shooter with f/2.4 aperture. For the front, the phone is equipped with a 25-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture, 1/ 2.8 sensor size. The company has upgraded Nightscape Mode with RAW capture support. Then there is an Ultra HD mode, Chrome Boost, Speed Shot and 960fps Super Slow Motion mode in the new Realme 3 Pro. The phone has gone through 856 major quality tests under 120 use scenes.

The Redmi Note 7 Pro equips a dual rear camera setup with a 48-megapixel primary sensor with f/1.8, 1/2″, 0.8µm, PDAF and a 5-megapixel f/2.4, depth sensor working in unison. the main sensor uses a Quad Bayer arrangement with that can generate 12 million big 1.6µm pixels each. The benefit of this is to get sharper 12MP pictures with less noise and more details. The front camera comes with a 13-megapixel AI sensor for selfies.

There’s no doubt that the 48MP primary camera on the Redmi Note device overpowers a rather mediocre 16-megapixel primary lens on the Realme phone. The Note 7 Pro also features 1080p video recording at 60fps which the Realme 3 Pro lacks.

Winner: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro

Software:

The Redmi Note 7 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie with MIUI 10 on top with a slew of customisations and features. While there’s no App drawer, stuff like quick toggles is similar to what we’ll see on a Stock Android Pie running phone. The single swipe brightness slider is the more convenient feature yet and so are the inbuilt gestures which allow one hand usage. While MIUI is more usable on a daily basis than One UI, the latter is more polished and has a lesser learning curve to the Xiaomi phone.

Just like its Xiaomi counterpart, the Realme 3 Pro is also based on Android 9 Pie but on top of Oppo’s ColorOS 6.0 interface. The user interface is now more refined and it looks smoother as compared to its predecessor. The company has given the option of an app drawer, which is a welcome change. Be it Android Pie or Oreo, you’ll notice no significant changes in the way the phone is being interacted and in many ways, it’s quite similar to its competitor – Xiaomi’s MIUI.

However, the major reason why a phone maker earns credits in the software department is by establishing itself as a regular update pusher and Xiaomi is considerably more reliable in this scenario even though it has more smartphones under its portfolio.

Winner: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro

Battery:

The Realme 3 Pro is fuelled with a 4045mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 Fast charging and the company has bundled a 20W charger as well. The Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a similar 4000mAh power unit with Quick Charge 4 support and an 18-watt power brick. While the Realme offers a slightly faster charger, the Redmi Note device equips a Type-C 1.0 reversible connector for charging and data transfers which is more advanced than the Micro USB 2.0 on the Realme 3 Pro.

Winner: Redmi Note 7 Pro for Type-C connectivity, Realme 3 Pro for slightly faster 20W charging.

Verdict:

The Realme 3 Pro and Redmi Note 7 Pro both have different USPs and with that comes different use cases. The Realme 3 Pro comes with an improvised Snapdragon 710 AIE chipset with a bezel-less 6.3-inch FHD+ display which is attractive, to say the least. It’s a good buy if performance and especially gaming is what you’re specifically after but you’re giving up on the rest of the phone since it has got a plastic body, a less than decent pair of cameras and a predated excuse of an interface. This is where the Redmi Note 7 Pro from Xiaomi comes and shines as it features all the goodies of the Realme 3 Pro but with the promise of regular software updates, a 48MP camera and Gorilla Glass 5 protection on both front and back panels. The choice, as always, is up to you.

Note: We have not reviewed the Realme 3Pro and hence the article is based on specification analysis and personal experience of using Xiaomi Redmi Note 7