Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Closer than you’d think

Xiaomi is currently the number one smartphone brand in India. The company stirred the budget smartphone market in the country with its Redmi smartphones. Redmi devices are known to offer the best of performance and specifications under the lowest of prices. With the launch of Redmi Note 7 Pro, Xiaomi continued to carry forward its trend. While Redmi made it hard for other smartphone players in the market to compete in the budget segment, one brand popped up to take the challenge.

Realme, the company which turned one just now, has been eyeing Redmi and its market share in the Indian smartphone industry. Realme is following the same trend as Redmi to give the best of specs in the lowest of prices. Recently, the company launched Realme 3 Pro to compete with the Redmi Note 7 Pro. Both the phones have same price and the specifications are more or less the same too. So, which smartphone is better among the two and which phone should you buy?

We have used both the phones and here is what we think about the two phones in terms of performance, specifications and features.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Design and display

Between the two phones, Redmi Note 7 Pro have a more premium design with a glass back that is clean and simple in comparison to the plastic back of the Reame 3 Pro. However, the Realme 3 Pro does not fail to be an attractive phone with its 3D textured race track design at the back.

I personally liked the Grey coloured back on the Realme 3 Pro and the plane Black colour option on the Redmi Note 7 Pro. Both phones also offer gradient colour options. For Realme 3 Pro, two gradient options include Nitro Blue and Lightning Purple, whereas, for the Redmi Note 7 Pro, the gradient options include Neptune Blue and Nebula Red.

The bezels on the Realme 3 Pro are slimmer and its build is more compact and easy to hold in hands. Both phones have camera bumps but Redmi Note 7 Pro bulges out too much. The phone cannot lie flat on its back even when you use the back case.

The Realme 3 Pro at 172 grams is lighter in comparison to the 186 grams weight of Redmi Note 7 Pro. While the Redmi device sports a Hybrid SIM tray, the Realme phone has a dedicated Micro-SD card slot for additional storage.

Both the phones sport a 6.3-inch IPS LCD display with 2340×1080 pixels resolution and 19.5:9 aspect ratio with a notch on top. The display of both phones are good but there are some differences. Redmi Note 7 Pro produces sharper colours and has better contrast but the screen of Realme 3 Pro offers better viewing angles. Additionally, the Reame phone comes with Widevine L1 certification, which is not present in the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Performance

Both the devices feature powerful mid-range processors by Qualcomm. Realme 3 Pro is powered by the 10nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor and the Redmi Note 7 Pro is powered by 11nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset. Both the phones come with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage.

The Realme 3 Pro scores 1,53,749 on Antutu, which is lower compared to 1,80,000 plus score of Redmi Note 7 Pro. On Geekbench, the single-core score and a multi-core score of Realme 3 Pro is 1447 and 5914 respectively, which again is lower than Redmi Note 7 Pro’s single and multi-core scores of 2384 and 6487.

According to benchmark tests, Redmi Note 7 Pro’s Snapdragon 675 is faster than Realme 3 Pro’s Snapdragon 675 chipset. However, in day-to-day tasks, it is highly unlikely that you will notice any difference. Both the phones performed without stutters when I pushed the devices to the limit.

When it comes to graphics performance, the Snapdragon 710 of Realme 3 Pro has an edge over the Redmi Note 7 Pro and its Snapdragon 675 chipset. The Snapdragon 675 is paired with Adreno 612 GPU, whereas the Snapdragon 710 is paired with a more powerful Adreno 616 GPU. This provides a smoother gaming experience on the Realme 3 Pro.

Both the phones play normal games without any difficulty but the difference is visible while playing graphics-heavy games like PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9. PUBG Mobile is set to High graphics setting on default and it runs without lags or frame drops, whereas the Redmi Note 7 Pro sets the graphics settings to Medium. The game on Redmi Note 7 Pro plays smoothly on Medium but it is not as smooth as the Realme 3 Pro.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Operating system

Realme 3 Pro runs ColorOS 6.0 based on Android 9 Pie and the Redmi Note 7 Pro runs MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. I used to like MIUI better but with the recent updates, I came to prefer the ColorOS between the two.

While both the operating systems are highly customisable, both come with bloatware and feel heavy and cluttered. The MIUI remains as annoying with ads and unwanted notifications.

The ColorOS offers a long list of navigation gestures to choose from, whereas MIUI 10 offers only a default set of navigation gestures. The option to hide the notch is not present in ColorOS. MIUI has the option to hide the notch but the latest update to the UI has messed up the feature as it pulls down the notification icons from the dark area to the small rounded screen.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Camera

Coming to the camera, Realme 3 Pro features a 16MP Sony IMX519 sensor clubbed with a secondary 5MP sensor whereas the Redmi Note 7 Pro features a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor clubbed with a secondary 5MP sensor. Both the phones are capable of clicking brilliant pictures.

The details, exposure levels, and dynamic range on both phones are almost the same. However, the Redmi Note 7 Pro goes with a darker tone, and the Realme 3 Pro takes brighter images. Redmi Note 7 Pro images turn out better but, at times, the Realme 3 Pro takes more pleasant looking images.

Also, Redmi Note 7 Pro images carry more details than the Realme 3 Pro shots in shadow regions. But when you turn on the Chroma Boost on Realme 3 Pro, you have better picture quality with improved exposure levels. The Chroma Boost produces a more saturated picture with better dynamic range and it looks better than the Redmi Note 7 Pro shot, but the mode often over-saturates the picture.

Redmi Note 7 Pro takes 12MP shots in default mode via pixel binning. It combines data from four pixels into one. Realme 3 Pro takes pictures in 16MP in default mode and you can switch to Ultra HD mode to take 64MP shots. It uses multi-frame synthesis to combine data from multiple 16MP shots to form one 64MP shot. I was not impressed by these high-resolution images as normal shots are better, but for the sake of comparison, the Redmi Note 7 Pro has a slight edge here.

For the photos clicked in low light, Realme 3 Pro produces a better image than the Redmi Note 7 Pro. The night mode on Redmi Note 7 Pro and the Nightscape mode on Realme 3 Pro work almost identical in low light situations but at night, Realme 3 Pro is the clear winner with better colours and more details.

Portrait mode on the Realme 3 Pro is slightly better than the Redmi Note 7 Pro. The front camera on both the phones works almost identically.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Battery, and other features

Realme 3 Pro and Redmi Note 7 Pro come with almost identical battery capacity (4,045mAh and 4,000mAh respectively). While both the phones give almost two days of battery backup on moderate usage, Realme 3 Pro lasts longer on heavy usage. During PUBG gameplay, the battery of Realme 3 Pro lasts longer.

Redmi Note 7 Pro supports QC 4.0 fast charging but the phone comes with only 10W charger in the box. Realme 3 Pro, on the other hand, supports VOOC 3.0 flash charging and ships with a 20W fast charger in the box. Realme 3 Pro goes from five to 98 per cent in just 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Both the phones retain the 3.5mm headphone jack. Redmi Note 7 Pro sports a Type-C USB port, whereas the Realme 3 Pro has the micro-USB port. Both Realme and Redmi phones come with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. The unlocking speed of the two sensors is equally matched, however, the face-unlock feature of Realme 3 Pro is faster than the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Verdict

To recap, the Realme 3 Pro has a user-friendly design, better graphics handling, efficient Nightscape mode, comes with 20W fast charger in-the-box, whereas the Redmi Note 7 Pro has a premium look, better geekbench score, and slightly better camera. Both phones are value for money. So there is no wrong choice between the two.

If you are into gaming and want fast charger in the box, then Realme 3 Pro is your phone. And if you want a phone that looks premium and can shoot good pictures without selecting any mode, then Redmi Note 7 Pro is a device you should go with.