Realme X2 Review : Is this beast the best mid ranger under Rs.20000?

The Realme X2 is a true beast in the mid-range segment 

Realme launched quite a bunch of smartphones in 2019. By launching smartphones in the budget and mid-range segment, the brand is now emerging as the fastest growing one in the world providing stiff competition to Xiaomi, Honor which had been dominating the budget and mid-range segment with their offerings.

This year Realme launched the Realme X (their first full-screen display smartphone) and then the Realme XT was launched with a 64MP camera. Realme also entered the flagship segment by launching Realme X2 Pro having a 90Hz panel, Snapdragon 855+, and 50W SuperVOOC charging technology.

Now the company has launched the Realme X2 which is eyeing at rivals like the Redmi K20 which has been for quite a time. This too has very good specifications going for it. Realme X2 has got a Snapdragon 730G chip, 30W fast charger, and much more. It is also priced under Rs.20000. Whether these features make it an overall good mid-ranger under Rs.20000. Let's find out.

Realme X2 Design:

Coming to the design aspect of the smartphone, the Realme X2 sports the same glass sandwich design of the Realme XT having Gorilla Glass 5 both to the front as well as back. On the front, there is a teardrop notch which is similar to the one on the Realme XT and X2 Pro.

However, the Realme X2 looks pretty good from the front with minimum bezels on the side but still, the bezels are prominent below the screen. At back like all other Realme smartphones, the Realme X2 has a shiny holographic gradient design.

The quad-camera setup like the Realme XT is on the top left corner protruding a bit and the main camera has a golden ring around it. Realme provides a plastic TPU case to protect the back from scratches and fingerprints.

Like all other Realme smartphones, there are the volume buttons with a power button(which also has a golden accent to it) to the sides. The sides feel bit plastic in my opinion but still, it looks good. On the top is a secondary noise-canceling microphone and to the bottom, there is the speaker, USB Type-C Port with a 3.5 headphone jack.

The Realme X2 weighs 182 gms which feels slightly heavier. The smartphone lacks an IP68 rating. However, the smartphone comes with a P2i coating which means it can be used during the rain.
The Realme X2 has support for expandable storage through micro SD card slot with an addition of two nano SIMS.

The Realme X2 is available in three colors- Pearl Green, Pearl Blue, and Pearl White. Pearl Green is a good looker. Overall the design hasn't been changed from the Realme XT and still provides good built quality.

Realme X2 Display:

On the front, the Realme X2 sports a 6.4 inches full HD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels) Super AMOLED screen with a screen to body ratio of 19.5:9 and having a pixel density of 402ppi. Like the Realme XT, it also has a teardrop notch on the front which looks good but the Redmi K20 offers a full-screen display with a pop-up camera module providing better edge to edge screen with an AMOLED display.

The Realme X2 display looks great with exemplary color reproduction. The screen has various modes to match your needs. There the modes like Gentle and Vivid suited for warmer and cooler tones. Coming to sunlight legibility, the screen is easily visible under bright sunlight thanks to Realme as it has incorporated a very bright panel.

And the Super AMOLED display means great viewing angles and deep blues and blacks on the screen.

Even during the night, the screen can go very low in brightness and you get the regular Blue Light Filter to cut down the light from the screen. The smartphone comes with Widevine L1 support so watching HD videos from Amazon, Netflix will be an ease.

However it lacks support for HDR content which is a big miss considering its price and its direct rival the Redmi K20, Redmi Note 8 Pro has support for HDR.

The Realme X2 comes with an in-display fingerprint scanner which is an optical one and is very fast and accurate.

Realme X2 Performance:

This is one area where the Realme X2 holds an edge compared to its rivals. It's direct rival the Redmi K20 has the Snapdragon 730, the Realme XT had the Snapdragon 712. The Realme X2 gets the Snapdragon 730G which is slightly powerful than the Snapdragon 730.

The Snapdragon 730G is built on an 8nm process by TSMC which has: 2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold cores and 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver cores. The higher clocked Gold cores are made for achieving higher performance built on ARM Cortex A76 and the lower clocked Silver cores are made for achieving good power efficiency is based on the ARM Cortex A55.

The Adreno 618 GPU remains the same both for the Snapdragon 730 and 730G. However, the Snapdragon 730G has the G-word which means gaming and it gets Select Snapdragon Elite Gaming features which include for true HDR gaming and the GPU is 15% powerful than the Snapdragon 730. It also has support for max resolution display up to 1440p.

The Realme X2 has UFS 2.1 storage and comes in 64GB and 128GB storage models.

All applications ran smoothly and there wasn't any lag throughout the smartphone as the RAM management has been done pretty well. Now coming to benchmarks, multiple benchmarks were run and the score came very well. 

In Antutu, the device score around 255912 which is very good but still it falls behind the Mediatek Helio G90T which is seen on the Redmi Note 8 Pro.

All high-end games like PUBG mobile, Asphalt 9 Extreme ran smoothly and seamlessly. However, we noticed some lag in Asphalt 9 with high graphics but nothing to worry as Realme is pushing a software update very soon to improve this issue.

The dedicated GameSpace also works well as it boosts the CPU as well as the GPU to give a good overall gaming experience.

So overall when it comes to performance, this smartphone is a beast and is a good gaming smartphone as well.

Realme X2 Software:

The Realme X2 comes with ColorOS 6.1 built on top of Android 9 Pie. Realme is bringing its own OS called the RealmeOS and will come with Android 10 soon. The icons look more clean and rounded and you get a dedicated app drawer.

With each update of ColorOS, you get some new features like the notification toggle has more rounded icons, there is system-wide dark mode, navigation gestures, and a dedicated GameSpace for enhanced gaming. The Realme X2 still has many unnecessary applications pre-installed which you can easily delete.

However, it may not be much optimized as MIUI but it does not provide ads like Xiaomi or Samsung. With the ColorOS 6.1, the Realme X2 makes a good deal and with that powerful chipset, it is a treat to use.

However, ColorOS 7 is around the corners and will be soon updated to this smartphone.

Realme X2 Camera:

The Realme X2 sports the same camera setup as on the Realme XT. You get four cameras to the back: 64MP f/1.8 with EIS which is Samsung's ISOCELL GW1 sensor, 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera with 119-degree field of view, 2MP f/2.4 depth camera for portraits and a 2MP f/2.2 macro camera with 4cm focus.

The camera layout is the same as you find on another Realme smartphone. There are modes including Photo, Portrait, Video, and tapping on the hamburger menu there are the 64MP, NightScape, Pano, Expert, Time-lapse, SlowMo, and Ultra Macro.

There is also the Chromaboost feature which is commonly seen on all Realme smartphones. You can easily switch between modes while taking photos and videos.

The main camera that is the 64MP is similar to its sibling the Realme XT and the Realme X2 Pro. so during daylight, the images come with good color reproduction and the images look natural. However, there is some amount of background noise noticed. The contrast levels are good with good exposure in the background.

Coming to night or low lighting situations, the smartphone takes very good shots and the level of detail in the shadow is very prominent. With the NightScape, it completely blows away the competition as the colors in the images look punchier and there is less noise in the background.

When switching to 64MP mode, the images do a lose a bit of detail in colors but the wider dynamic range does well. Then the process of the image into 16MP images by default with good color reproduction but the noise remains there.

The 8MP ultrawide camera takes very good photos as the color contrast, the dynamic range works very well for all photos taken in daylight. The photos taken are sharp but at some places, there is over sharpness resulting in a loss in detail.

At night, the photos come out to be average as the lens struggles. But when NightScape is turned on, the photos come out to be sharp and great in detail. The level of details in shadows come out to be improved than the normal. So using the NightScape mode, the photos come out good from the ultrawide camera.

Coming to a 2MP macro camera, the smartphone takes good macro shots with good details but the color seems to be washed out a little bit. Still, the photos look crisp and the edge detection works very well when taken closer to the object. Plus it the camera can also go close as 2.5cm for some detailed shots.

The 2MP depth sensor also takes very good portraits with the main camera. The colors look punchier and the edge detection works very well. The background blur is also good but the photos looked zoomed a little bit.

Coming to night, using the NightScape the portraits come out good with natural skin tones and the background noise isn't much.

On the front, the Realme X2 gets a 32MP f/2.0 front camera which takes some very good photos with a good level of details but the dynamic range isn't so wide. The skin tones look natural but with HDR, the camera oversharpens the image a bit. The images look slightly cropped out but the level of detail is perfect.

Coming to portraits, you can adjust the background blur in the photos and the edge detection in the photos works well. There is even NightScape mode for the front camera which works well by providing richer color and good background blur.

Coming to videos, the Realme X2 supports 4k video recording at 30fps. The footage isn't stable and the color reproduction needs some improvement. Switching to 1080p, you get much more stable footage at 60fps or 30fps and the colors look punchier and vivid plus the stabilization is also good as the EIS kicks in.

The Realme X2 also shoots SlowMo videos at 960fps which is good but one feature makes the Realme X2 very interesting that the front camera can record bokeh videos by adjusting the background blur. The portrait video has a good background blur with almost no noise in the background.

So overall the cameras are good considering the price at which it is offered.

Realme X2 Battery Life:

The Realme X2 houses a 4000mAh battery which gives pretty good results as compared to the Realme X2 Pro which has a 90Hz screen. The standard screen on time for the smartphone is around 5-6 hours which is pretty good. However, with heavy usage that means 3-4 hours of continuous gaming, streaming through social media, and video playback of 2-3 hours, the phone had 10-15% left at the end of the day. With moderate usage, you can get up to 20-25% left in the tank.

The Realme X2 here gets an upgrade from the Realme XT as it gets the faster 30W VOOC 4.0 charger in the box compared to 20W VOOC charger on the Realme XT. Even the Redmi K20 has an 18W charger. So when the smartphone is dead it charges it up to 65% in the first 30 minutes. The full charge can take place within 1hr 10mins which is very fast.

With a good capacity battery and 30W VOOC charging, the Realme X2 can easily last well with moderate to heavy usage on a daily basis. 

Realme X2 Sound Quality:

Like all Realme smartphones, the Realme X2 comes with a set of stereo speakers where the loudspeaker vent at the bottom and the earpiece grill above the notch together acts as stereo speakers thus providing good sound overall. The loudness levels are good overall and with Dolby Atmos, the sound is clear and there are many customizations to match the sound quality.

The smartphone also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack and the sound output remains excellent. So watching videos or playing games, the sound quality is the best considering its price range. 

Verdict:

The Realme X2 provides a complete smartphone under Rs.20000 with great specifications like the Snapdragon 730G which is good for gaming and performance, then there is the 30W VOOC charger with 4000mAh battery which can be quickly charged and the battery life is also good. The smartphone does not come with a full-screen display as we expected it would come since the Realme XT had a teardrop notch, but sadly Realme X2 has that same teardrop notch.

The cameras on the smartphone are good but in some areas, improvement is needed. The optical in-display scanner is also fast and accurate plus you get a SuperAMOLED screen which is very bright. Then there is the ColorOS which provides good features. It may not be as optimized and smooth as the MIUI or the OneUI but still works pretty well.

The Realme X2 has three variants: 4GB RAM and 64GB storage is priced at Rs.16999, the 6GB RAM and 128GB storage at Rs.18,999 and the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage at Rs.19,999. It is also priced lesser than the Redmi K20 which starts at Rs.19,999. Realme X2 has a better chipset and faster charger compared to the Redmi K20 providing overall good value for money.

So overall to conclude what you get is a good display. an insane processor i.e. Snapdragon 730G which is seen on higher-end smartphones and then there is a 30W VOOC charging which is the fastest in this range.

The question asked, in the beginning, was: Is this beast the best mid-ranger under Rs.20000? And the answer is Yes. Realme has another winner in their hands.