Review of Realme X3 Superzoom - smartphone with 5x zoom periscope and flagship performance

One of the trends in expensive smartphones is the 5x optical zoom. We have already seen this in Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, Huawei P40 Pro, Honor 30 Pro + and were impressed by the capabilities of their cameras. It's time to find out if Realme has managed to make a device with a flagship zoom at half the price.

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Appearance and ergonomics
• Screen
• Software and performance
• Sound and vibration
• Camera
• Autonomy
• Outcome

Specifications

Appearance and ergonomics

Realme did not invent a new design language and made another glass bar. The only distinguishing features of the smartphone are the matte back and the yellow outline of the periscope camera - without them the model would have been lost against the background of other devices. The smartphone is available in "arctic white" and blue colors.

The side frame is plastic, though disguised as aluminum. The polymer nature is immediately determined by touch: the smartphone does not cool the hand, as you expect from a flagship device. Frosted glass, on the other hand, feels expensive and doesn't collect prints. True, you have to hide this beauty under a protective case: the case is very slippery.

Almost the entire front side is occupied by a display with rounded corners. Contrary to trends, safety glass is not curved, and between it and the frame - a black plastic edging. The bottom indent is larger than the others; a train is hidden under it. The two front cameras with different viewing angles are packed into a notch in the corner of the display.

The power and volume buttons are located on the right and left sides. They are located at the same height, which causes inconvenience: often, when trying to lock the smartphone, you also press the volume key, accidentally taking a screenshot.

A fingerprint scanner is built into the power button. It works on the capacitive principle, reading the voltage on different parts of the finger. This scanning method is much faster and more reliable than optical scanning and makes unlocking instant.

Below are the USB Type ‑ C connector, a multimedia speaker and a slot for two nanoSIM ‑ cards. The manufacturer does not claim to be waterproof, but the SIM tray has a rubber seal. This increases the chances of a smartphone survive the rain.

Screen

6.6 ″ display is made using IPS technology. Resolution - 2,400 × 1,080 pixels. The clarity is sufficient not to see the ladders and looseness in the small print.

The matrix refresh rate is 120 Hz, which makes the animation as smooth as possible. The screen also boasts DCI ‑ P3 color gamut and HDR10 + support for high dynamic range.

Color reproduction is close to natural. The viewing angles are good, although the contrast drops with strong deflection. The brightness reserve is huge by IPS standards, but the picture fades at maximum values. This is noticeable only on the street with intense lighting.

In the settings, you can change the refresh rate and color temperature, as well as activate a blue light filter that reduces eye strain.

Software and performance

Realme X3 Superzoom runs Android 10 with the proprietary Realme UI. The latter pleases with its lightness and flexible customization: you can set your own icon style or include Material elements to match the Google design code.

The hardware platform is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ chipset, manufactured using a 7-nanometer process technology. In 2019, it was the most powerful solution for Android smartphones. The SoC includes eight Kryo 485 cores: one up to 2.96 GHz, three up to 2.42 GHz, and four energy-efficient cores (up to 1.78 GHz).

The Adreno 640 video accelerator is responsible for the graphics, and all this is complemented by 12 GB of LPDDR4X RAM. The internal storage UFS 3.0 is 256 GB, expansion options are not provided.

The smoothness and responsiveness of the interface is exceptional at both 60Hz and 120Hz. Launching applications and switching between them is lightning fast, games also do not load the hardware. World of Tanks: Blitz produces a stable 60 FPS at maximum settings and in any scene.

Sound and vibration

The multimedia speaker at the bottom sounds loud and clear, but it is easily blocked in games. It is a pity that the smartphone was deprived of stereo sound, it was possible to pair the conversational speaker with the main speaker - and the result would be much better.

The novelty has received a high-quality vibration motor, which has a wide range of responses: from point tapping to powerful vibration. Of course, this is still not the Taptic Engine, but the model stands out against the background of other Android-smartphones with excellent tactile feedback.

Camera

Realme X3 Superzoom received an unusual system cameras. For optical zoom, an 8-megapixel periscope module with a focal length of 124 mm is used. This provides 5x zoom without any loss in quality.

Also, the camera received optical stabilization, without which it would be extremely difficult to shoot with it: any shaking would become five times stronger.

In addition to the periscope, a standard 64-megapixel module, an 8-megapixel "shirik" module and a separate 2-megapixel lens for macro photography are provided. There are two front cameras: a standard 32 megapixel and a wide-angle 8 megapixel.

The camera copes well with daytime shooting, the optical zoom capabilities are also impressive. However, there are problems: the shots taken with a wide-angle lens leave much to be desired, and the macro photo quality is simply terrible. Also, the smartphone does not show itself well in a lack of lighting: pictures in auto mode are noisy, and with the "Night" option, the images look rough and unnatural.

Video recording is carried out in 4K / 60 FPS with electronic stabilization. H.265 encoding is supported to reduce file size.

Also, the smartphone is able to record HDR video, albeit only at 1080p / 60 FPS.

Autonomy

The battery capacity is 4,200 mAh. Considering last year's platform and IPS-screen, you can expect not the most impressive battery life. The smartphone can easily withstand a day of active use with social networks, Youtube and photography. During an hour of playing World of Tanks: Blitz, the charge dropped by 11%.

It comes with a 30W adapter and takes 55 minutes to fully charge.

Outcome

Realme X3 Superzoom impresses with its pleasant design, convenient firmware, very powerful hardware and an impressive zoom. Of course, not all of its components are good: the quality of shooting in some scenarios could be higher, there are not enough stereo speakers, and the plastic frame does not allow the device to be perceived as premium. However, this is forgivable for a smartphone for that kind of money. A modification with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of permanent memory will cost 35,990 rubles, and with a set of 12 and 256 GB - 40,990 rubles.

Buy

The author thanks Realme for the device provided for testing. The company had no way of influencing its results.