Realme's zoom camera is the most outstanding feature which makes it the X3 Superzoom a great buy.
Realme brings out some of the best smartphones in the mid-range segment every year which have good hardware and provide good value for money. Similarly, the company also brought two of its flagships in the last two years, firstly, the Realme X2 Pro in 2019 and the Realme X50 Pro launched this year which gained a lot of attention globally. Now Realme is offering another two models called the Realme X3 and the X3 Superzoom.These smartphones have top of the line hardware, good software, and a new great set of cameras at a good price. The Realme X3 Superzoom has that 5x optical zoom and can go up to 60x hybrid zoom. They both come with last year's powerful Snapdragon 855+ chipset and 90Hz displays.
We are here looking at the higher variant which is the Realme X3 Superzoom which starts at Rs.27,999 and has a lot going for it with good optics. The icing on the cake is the zoom camera present on it. So is it worth buying and can it heighten the status for Realme again?
Realme X3 Superzoom Design:
The Realme X3 Superzoom almost looks identical to the Realme 6 Pro from the front and almost similar on the back. On the front, the Realme X3 Superzoom has a 6.57 inches screen with almost no bezels on the sides.
Like the Realme X50 Pro, it has a dual punch hole camera cut out which houses the front camera and an ultrawide camera which will be discussed in the camera section.
Like the Realme X50 Pro, it has a dual punch hole camera cut out which houses the front camera and an ultrawide camera which will be discussed in the camera section.
The back has a matte frosted finish on the glass and has subtle design cues that shine when tilting the smartphone at different angles. However, this frosted finish does not catch fingerprints a lot but Realme has provided a case inside the box.
Like all other Realme smartphones, there is a familiar vertical quad-camera setup that has that zoom camera which is an outstanding feature present here.
On the sides, Realme has gone for the plastic frame to keep costs low as the buttons feel a little bit cheap. The sides of the smartphone house a power button and volume controls. Above the display, there is an earpiece and on top of the smartphone, there is a secondary noise can canceling microphone.
Like the Realme 6 series, the power button on the Realme X3 Superzoom acts as a fingerprint scanner. Most of the time, it works well but still slow to respond. The face unlocks fast and works well in dark also.
Like the Realme 6 series, the power button on the Realme X3 Superzoom acts as a fingerprint scanner. Most of the time, it works well but still slow to respond. The face unlocks fast and works well in dark also.
At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port, a dual SIM card tray, a primary microphone, and the loudspeaker vent. There is no official rating on the smartphone considering its price segment but has a splash-proof back (P2i coating). It weighs at 202 grams which almost similar to the Realme 6 Pro, so it does not feel much heavier.
However, it lacks support for microSD card expansion which is not a big deal as the base variant ships with 128GB storage.
Check here: Realme X2 Pro Review
Check here: Realme X2 Pro Review
Realme X3 Superzoom Display:
The Realme X3 Superzoom houses a 6.57 inches Full HD+ IPS LCD display (1080 x 2400 pixels) with a screen to body ratio of 20:9 which is almost different from OLEDs found in the similar price range. The display has a 120Hz refresh rate which makes it very smooth to use.
Last year's Realme X2 Pro had a 90Hz display with an AMOLED display, so X3 Superzoom which can be the successor to it has toned down to an LCD panel but raised the refresh rate. Comparing both the 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates, there is not any difference but the latter one feels slightly better.
The display has good viewing angles but no as good as an AMOLED display. The screen has good contrast and vibrant colors. Under direct sunlight, the smartphone has good visibility but considering an LCD panel, it is still good.
In low-light or dark, the screen can go dim which is good and like all other Realme smartphones, there is a Vivid and Gentle mode which provides different color temperature on the display.
In the display settings, you can toggle between 60Hz, 120Hz, and an Auto-refresh option which allows switching between different refresh rates depending on the application used.
There is support for Widevine L1 which means streaming HDR content from third-party applications like Netflix, Prime, etc. is ease.
Overall, the display has a charm of its own with a brighter LCD panel and what makes lifts it up is the higher 120Hz refresh rate which makes things smoother.
Last year's Realme X2 Pro had a 90Hz display with an AMOLED display, so X3 Superzoom which can be the successor to it has toned down to an LCD panel but raised the refresh rate. Comparing both the 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates, there is not any difference but the latter one feels slightly better.
The display has good viewing angles but no as good as an AMOLED display. The screen has good contrast and vibrant colors. Under direct sunlight, the smartphone has good visibility but considering an LCD panel, it is still good.
In low-light or dark, the screen can go dim which is good and like all other Realme smartphones, there is a Vivid and Gentle mode which provides different color temperature on the display.
In the display settings, you can toggle between 60Hz, 120Hz, and an Auto-refresh option which allows switching between different refresh rates depending on the application used.
There is support for Widevine L1 which means streaming HDR content from third-party applications like Netflix, Prime, etc. is ease.
Overall, the display has a charm of its own with a brighter LCD panel and what makes lifts it up is the higher 120Hz refresh rate which makes things smoother.
Realme X3 Superzoom Performance:
The Realme X3 Superzoom is powered by last year's flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ chipset which was seen on the Realme X2 Pro and the OnePlus 7T. This chipset has an octa-core setup which has: 1x2.96 GHz Kryo 485 Prime core with 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 cores (all these based on the Cortex A76) and another 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 485 Silver cores (based on Cortex A55) architecture.
This chipset is built on a 7nm process and is coupled with an Adreno 640 GPU. This is still a very powerful chipset and comes next to the Snapdragon 865 in terms of performance. So you get smoother performance throughout the use.
Multitasking feels easy and the 120Hz display further uplifts the gaming performance. All heavy games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty ran smoothly at the highest graphics settings without any stutter or lag. It has a dedicated GameMode which makes the gaming experience much better.
The base variant ships with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and has 128GB storage with UFS 3.0 speeds. The RAM management has been done well on the smartphone as well. The games supporting 120Hz display feel smoother and controls feel quicker to respond.
Coming to benchmarks, on Geekbench 5.1, the Realme X3 Superzoom. scores 759 in single-core and 2609 in multi-core tests. The back of the smartphone did not feel much warm as the temperature was well maintained while doing heavy-duty tasks or gaming.
Overall, the Realme X3 Superzoom proves to be one of the best gaming and performance-oriented smartphone in its range.
See also: Realme X50 Pro Review
See also: Realme X50 Pro Review
Realme X3 Superzoom Software:
The Realme X3 Superzoom runs RealmeUI based on Android 10 which resembles much of ColorOS 7. So you get a cleaner interface with not much bloatware, but some applications have been pre-installed on the smartphone that can be uninstalled.
With the Android 10, there are new navigation gestures and Realme has incorporated a side panel which gives quick access to applications. And RealmeUI provides a near Stock Android experience.
So you get a tone of customizations to icons and can change the look and appeal in the UI.
There is a system-wide dark mode which even applies to all third-party applications like PayPal, PhonePe, etc. thus helps in saving some battery. The RealmeUI also has something called the Dual Music Mode by which a wired headset and wireless headset can be used to listen to the same song simultaneously.
Realme has done one good thing over the ColorOS is the optimization of battery and tweaking of some icons. There is a dedicated app drawer and the notification area looks cleaner.
There is no Always-On display on the smartphone since it has an LCD panel but still, Adaptive brightness is present. Since the smartphone supports 120Hz display, there is a setting where you can toggle between 120Hz, 90Hz, 60Hz, and an Auto-refresh setting depending on the load on the RealmeUI.
Compared to the other UI in the market, the RealmeUI has a lot going for it and improves on each software update.
With the Android 10, there are new navigation gestures and Realme has incorporated a side panel which gives quick access to applications. And RealmeUI provides a near Stock Android experience.
So you get a tone of customizations to icons and can change the look and appeal in the UI.
There is a system-wide dark mode which even applies to all third-party applications like PayPal, PhonePe, etc. thus helps in saving some battery. The RealmeUI also has something called the Dual Music Mode by which a wired headset and wireless headset can be used to listen to the same song simultaneously.
Realme has done one good thing over the ColorOS is the optimization of battery and tweaking of some icons. There is a dedicated app drawer and the notification area looks cleaner.
There is no Always-On display on the smartphone since it has an LCD panel but still, Adaptive brightness is present. Since the smartphone supports 120Hz display, there is a setting where you can toggle between 120Hz, 90Hz, 60Hz, and an Auto-refresh setting depending on the load on the RealmeUI.
Compared to the other UI in the market, the RealmeUI has a lot going for it and improves on each software update.
Realme X3 Superzoom Cameras:
The one key area where the Realme X3 Superzoom really is known as from the paper is the zoom capabilities. It has an 8MP periscope zoom camera with other three sets of cameras which includes a 64MP main camera with f/1.8 aperture, 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera.
The 64MP main camera is the familiar Samsung ISOCELL GW1 sensor with f/1.8 aperture but this one does not have OIS. The images are captured at 16MP by default, which means it uses a Quad Bayer approach which is called pixel binning resulting in detailed images.
The images taken from the main 64MP camera have plenty of detail and good color reproduction. The contrast is excellent and the dynamic range works well too. The images do have some noise present which is less prominent.
With HDR turned on, the images look more saturated with colors and the level of contrast increases. There is an AI Dazzle Mode that boosts the colors in the images which are almost identical to the Chroma Boost feature found on other Realme smartphones.
Similarly, at night, the images have a good amount of detail, the dynamic range is not so wide but the level of contrast is good. The highlight in shadows is average but turning on the NightScape Mode, things turn in favor of the camera.
The noise in the images is almost not present and the dynamic range also improves. The details come out better in damp areas and the highlight in shadows gets improved. The HDR mode turns the night scene somewhat artistic.
The 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera takes images with good dynamic range and plenty of detail. The color reproduction is good but so good as the main camera. However, the 119-degree field of view does help capture a wider range of the image.
When it comes to night, the ultrawide camera does struggle in taking good images as it lacks OIS which results in noise present in images. With the Night Mode, things improve a bit but not by a huge margin. Realme still needs to improve low-light photography from the ultrawide camera.
The main part of the Realme X3 Superzoom by the name itself as everybody knows has an 8MP telephoto camera which does an excellent job when it comes to color accuracy and level of detail in images.
The contrast is high and the dynamic range is good throughout. There is less noise as compared to the main and the ultrawide camera here. Realme claims that this camera can go way up to 60x. There is support for 2x, 5x, and 10x optical zoom and also 60x hybrid zoom.
At 2x or 5x zoom, the images have good details, dynamic range, and excellent contrast. At 10x, the images still hold good color reproduction and after 10x, the color in the images looks washed out and there is slightly more noise present.
At 60x hybrid zoom, the images are barely usable but still, it is a good nifty addition by Realme.
At night, the telephoto camera takes very sharp and detailed images. The dynamic range is excellent and the noise is not present. Turning on the Night Mode, things change by a very slight margin.
The images get better with color reproduction, shadows have more details and the contrast improves. Similarly, all of this is achieved at 2x, 5x, and 10x zoom levels but after 10x it does struggle a bit which is not a big issue.
The 2MP macro camera does take some very good shots with plenty of detail. The color reproduction and edge detection work well. But in some images, the colors do look a bit washed out and the dynamic range is not good enough but still does a great job when it comes to macro shots.
There is no dedicated depth camera as the Realme X3 Superzoom uses the main camera for portraits. So as expected, the portraits have a good amount of detail. The human skin tones look natural and the background blur is properly implemented.
The edge detection is not so good and zooming into the image, there is some blur noticed which is barely visible. At night, the portrait camera does a decent job.
On the front, there is a 32MP main camera with an 8MP ultrawide camera. The images taken from the main camera come out good with excellent detail and the dynamic range is wider also. The contrast is good and similarly, there is an HDR mode, which brightens up the face and levels up the skin tones.
There is also the 8MP ultrawide camera which results in wider selfies and comes in handy when taking images with a group of people. The level of detail is good and the dynamic range works well too. However, there is some amount of noise present in the images.
Coming to videos, the Realme X3 Superzoom can capture videos up to 4K at 60fps. The video footage at this resolution is good but the lack of stabilization thus resulting in shaky videos and the color reproduction is not so good.
Switching to 1080p at 30 or 60fps, the video quality improves as the EIS kicks in thus providing a little bit of stability. There is an Ultra Steady Mode which helps in taking stable videos while running or playing.
The videos at 1080p have a good amount of detail, excellent dynamic range, and good contrast. There is also an Ultra Steady Max which is available in 1080p resolution which improves the quality of videos.
The telephoto camera is capable of taking 4K videos at 30fps thus producing videos with excellent dynamic range, less noise and the color reproduction is good. At 2x, 5x, and 10x zoom, the videos come out good and at night, the camera takes good quality videos.
The front camera takes 1080p videos at 30fps which are good but seem to be slightly shaky. The level of noise is less and with the ultrawide camera, the videos have a wider dynamic range.
The Realme X3 Superzoom also has a Pro mode which enhances the image quality as it gives manual controls and combined with the dedicated Night Mode, it can result in very good images.
Overall, Realme has lifted the game with the addition of a telephoto camera which is insane and the main camera also has a great performance which makes the biggest USP of this particular smartphone in the market.
The Realme X3 Superzoom sports a 4200mAh battery which is the same capacity as that of the Realme X50 Pro. With the display set to 120Hz, the smartphone can easily last one single day with moderate usage.
With heavy usage which includes playing PUBG Mobile, browsing social media, and using the mobile all day, the smartphone easily lasted for a day and more than a day when the display was set at 60Hz.
The standard screen on time slated for the smartphone is 6 hours with the display set to 120Hz. The screen on time increases to around 6.5-7 hours when it is set back to 60Hz. However, these are some very good battery results since it has an LCD panel and the chipset is built on the 7nm process is power efficient.
Realme has provided a 30W VOOC charger that charges the smartphone quite fast. The first half an hour takes it from 0 to 67 percent which is almost similar to Warp Charging on the OnePlus 7T. The full charge takes around 55minutes which you can say is good.
The images taken from the main 64MP camera have plenty of detail and good color reproduction. The contrast is excellent and the dynamic range works well too. The images do have some noise present which is less prominent.
With HDR turned on, the images look more saturated with colors and the level of contrast increases. There is an AI Dazzle Mode that boosts the colors in the images which are almost identical to the Chroma Boost feature found on other Realme smartphones.
Similarly, at night, the images have a good amount of detail, the dynamic range is not so wide but the level of contrast is good. The highlight in shadows is average but turning on the NightScape Mode, things turn in favor of the camera.
The noise in the images is almost not present and the dynamic range also improves. The details come out better in damp areas and the highlight in shadows gets improved. The HDR mode turns the night scene somewhat artistic.
The 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera takes images with good dynamic range and plenty of detail. The color reproduction is good but so good as the main camera. However, the 119-degree field of view does help capture a wider range of the image.
When it comes to night, the ultrawide camera does struggle in taking good images as it lacks OIS which results in noise present in images. With the Night Mode, things improve a bit but not by a huge margin. Realme still needs to improve low-light photography from the ultrawide camera.
The main part of the Realme X3 Superzoom by the name itself as everybody knows has an 8MP telephoto camera which does an excellent job when it comes to color accuracy and level of detail in images.
The contrast is high and the dynamic range is good throughout. There is less noise as compared to the main and the ultrawide camera here. Realme claims that this camera can go way up to 60x. There is support for 2x, 5x, and 10x optical zoom and also 60x hybrid zoom.
At 2x or 5x zoom, the images have good details, dynamic range, and excellent contrast. At 10x, the images still hold good color reproduction and after 10x, the color in the images looks washed out and there is slightly more noise present.
At 60x hybrid zoom, the images are barely usable but still, it is a good nifty addition by Realme.
At night, the telephoto camera takes very sharp and detailed images. The dynamic range is excellent and the noise is not present. Turning on the Night Mode, things change by a very slight margin.
The images get better with color reproduction, shadows have more details and the contrast improves. Similarly, all of this is achieved at 2x, 5x, and 10x zoom levels but after 10x it does struggle a bit which is not a big issue.
The 2MP macro camera does take some very good shots with plenty of detail. The color reproduction and edge detection work well. But in some images, the colors do look a bit washed out and the dynamic range is not good enough but still does a great job when it comes to macro shots.
There is no dedicated depth camera as the Realme X3 Superzoom uses the main camera for portraits. So as expected, the portraits have a good amount of detail. The human skin tones look natural and the background blur is properly implemented.
The edge detection is not so good and zooming into the image, there is some blur noticed which is barely visible. At night, the portrait camera does a decent job.
On the front, there is a 32MP main camera with an 8MP ultrawide camera. The images taken from the main camera come out good with excellent detail and the dynamic range is wider also. The contrast is good and similarly, there is an HDR mode, which brightens up the face and levels up the skin tones.
There is also the 8MP ultrawide camera which results in wider selfies and comes in handy when taking images with a group of people. The level of detail is good and the dynamic range works well too. However, there is some amount of noise present in the images.
Coming to videos, the Realme X3 Superzoom can capture videos up to 4K at 60fps. The video footage at this resolution is good but the lack of stabilization thus resulting in shaky videos and the color reproduction is not so good.
Switching to 1080p at 30 or 60fps, the video quality improves as the EIS kicks in thus providing a little bit of stability. There is an Ultra Steady Mode which helps in taking stable videos while running or playing.
The videos at 1080p have a good amount of detail, excellent dynamic range, and good contrast. There is also an Ultra Steady Max which is available in 1080p resolution which improves the quality of videos.
The telephoto camera is capable of taking 4K videos at 30fps thus producing videos with excellent dynamic range, less noise and the color reproduction is good. At 2x, 5x, and 10x zoom, the videos come out good and at night, the camera takes good quality videos.
The front camera takes 1080p videos at 30fps which are good but seem to be slightly shaky. The level of noise is less and with the ultrawide camera, the videos have a wider dynamic range.
The Realme X3 Superzoom also has a Pro mode which enhances the image quality as it gives manual controls and combined with the dedicated Night Mode, it can result in very good images.
Overall, Realme has lifted the game with the addition of a telephoto camera which is insane and the main camera also has a great performance which makes the biggest USP of this particular smartphone in the market.
Realme X3 Superzoom Battery Life:
With heavy usage which includes playing PUBG Mobile, browsing social media, and using the mobile all day, the smartphone easily lasted for a day and more than a day when the display was set at 60Hz.
The standard screen on time slated for the smartphone is 6 hours with the display set to 120Hz. The screen on time increases to around 6.5-7 hours when it is set back to 60Hz. However, these are some very good battery results since it has an LCD panel and the chipset is built on the 7nm process is power efficient.
Realme has provided a 30W VOOC charger that charges the smartphone quite fast. The first half an hour takes it from 0 to 67 percent which is almost similar to Warp Charging on the OnePlus 7T. The full charge takes around 55minutes which you can say is good.
Realme X3 Superzoom Audio Quality:
The Realme X3 Superzoom houses a single speaker setup where the loudspeaker at the bottom produces sound. The volume output is average and the loudness is not so good.
There is support for Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio so watching videos or playing games with high sound is a treat to use.
Sadly, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack which is a sore miss considering many flagships are removing in their smartphones in 2020. But there is a set of wireless earphones or headphones present in the market which provide that good sound quality.
The Dolby Atmos further enhances the audio experience.
Verdict:
Realme should be given a loud applaud as it provides top hardware with good quality software at reasonable prices. The Realme X3 Superzoom holds a strong position in the market as it provides last year's Snapdragon 855+ chipset which is still one of the fastest and powerful chipsets made for excellent gaming and top-notch performance.
The 120Hz display makes it one of the greatest features, as it feels smoother with transitions and multitasking, feels easy. The RealmeUI provides a cleaner software experience and has good battery life with faster VOOC charging.
The biggest highlighting factor of the smartphone is its zoom camera which the smartphone is named after. It really stands away from the crowd with excellent image and video quality and provides that 60x zoom level. This camera stands much higher compared to other smartphone cameras in this range.
The main camera also does a good job in photos and videos and the front camera with the ultrawide camera becomes convenient when in a group and both provide good detail.
But some of the downsides are still present which is the LCD panel provided by Realme instead of AMOLED which with the 120Hz display would have been a good combination. Then the ultrawide camera needs improvement when it comes to images taken at night.
The side-mounted fingerprint scanner does feel a bit cumbersome as the in-display fingerprint scanner is convenient and faster.
The Realme X3 Superzoom is present in two colors - Arctic White and Glacier Blue and is priced at Rs.27999 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and Rs.32999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant.
With top-notch specifications and aggressive pricing, the Realme X3 Superzoom is a good all-rounder and worth buying in the market.
The 120Hz display makes it one of the greatest features, as it feels smoother with transitions and multitasking, feels easy. The RealmeUI provides a cleaner software experience and has good battery life with faster VOOC charging.
The biggest highlighting factor of the smartphone is its zoom camera which the smartphone is named after. It really stands away from the crowd with excellent image and video quality and provides that 60x zoom level. This camera stands much higher compared to other smartphone cameras in this range.
The main camera also does a good job in photos and videos and the front camera with the ultrawide camera becomes convenient when in a group and both provide good detail.
But some of the downsides are still present which is the LCD panel provided by Realme instead of AMOLED which with the 120Hz display would have been a good combination. Then the ultrawide camera needs improvement when it comes to images taken at night.
The side-mounted fingerprint scanner does feel a bit cumbersome as the in-display fingerprint scanner is convenient and faster.
The Realme X3 Superzoom is present in two colors - Arctic White and Glacier Blue and is priced at Rs.27999 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and Rs.32999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant.
With top-notch specifications and aggressive pricing, the Realme X3 Superzoom is a good all-rounder and worth buying in the market.
1 Comments
the 60x zoom is really good while zooming in photos and the 120Hz refresh rate is excellent as I can play Call of Duty continuously for hours and hours without charging for a longer time. superdart chraging is great.
ReplyDeletePlease do not enter any spam link in the comment box