Realme 7 review

Introduction

Realme's Series 7 smartphones is an oddball. Far from being a clear-cut upgrade to the Realme 6 series, Gen 7 offers a slightly different feature set than Gen 6 with the hope of enticing users who have a different set of priorities.

This is just another way of saying that the Realme 7 is basically the Realme 6 - with a bigger battery and an overclocked GPU.

Since we have the global Realme 7 in for review today, first, it's worth making the distinction to the Asian Realme 7 model. Thankfully, it's a single one - the primary camera has a 48MP sensor on the Global and a 64MP sensor on the Asian model. The Realme 6 had a 64MP primary snapper, and it's a bit of a letdown to see that downgraded on the worldwide version of the "new" Realme 7.

The other cameras are the same as on the Realme 6 - the 8MP ultrawide, the 2MP macro, the 2MP depth, and even the 16MP selfie shooter.

We're happy to see the Realme 7 still has a 90Hz screen refresh rate like the Realme 6 - a feature which is now absent on the 7 Pro in favor of switching to an OLED panel.

The Helio G95T is pretty much the same chip as the Helio G90T inside the Realme 6 - it has an identical 8-core processor and the same Mali-G76 MC4 GPU. The GPU, however, has a clock rate of 900MHz vs. 800MHz on the G90T chip.

The only significant update the Realme 7 got over the Realme 6 is the larger 5,000 mAh battery - up from the 4,300mAh. It supports 30W Dart Charging - an excellent feature for this budget class, but it was available since the Realme 6.

And without further ado, here is the complete specs sheet of the new phone.

Realme 7 specs

• Body: 162.3 x 75.4 x 9.4 mm, 196g; Gorilla Glass 3 front, plastic body
• Screen: 6.5" IPS LCD, FHD+ (1080 x 2400px) resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 405 ppi
• Camera: Primary: 48MP Quad-Bayer, f/1.8 aperture, 0.8µm pixel size, 1/2" sensor size; Ultra-wide: 8MP, f/2.3 aperture, 1.12µm pixel size, 1/4" sensor size; Macro: 2MP f/2.4, 1.75µm pixel size, 1/5" sensor size; Depth sensor: 2MP mono camera
• Front camera: 16MP f/2.1 aperture
• Chipset: Mediatek Helio G95T (12nm): octa-core (2x2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55), Mali-G76 MC4 @900MHz GPU
• Memory: 4GB/64GB, 6GB/64GB, 8GB/128GB, expandable via microSD card
• OS: Android 10, Realme UI
• Battery: 5,000 mAh, 30W Dart Charge
• Connectivity: 4G LTE; Dual SIM; Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, GPS, USB Type-C 2.0
• Misc: Side-mounted fingerprint reader, 3.5mm audio jack

The Realme 7, unlike the 7 Pro, has no water-repellent coating - meaning it is not splash/rain resistant. It also omits stereo speakers, if you were wondering. But it does come with many fan-favorite features such as a 3.5mm jack, a standalone microSD slot, and NFC (oddly missing on the 7 Pro).

And now it's time to unbox this global version of the Realme 7 and see what's included in the retail bundle.

Unboxing the Realme 7

The yellow box that contains the Realme 7 also brings a 30W Dart Charger and a compatible 6A-rated USB-C cable.

Inside the box, you will also find a transparent silicone case and the SIM ejection tool.