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Surprising and huge: We tested the RealMe X3 SuperZoom smartphone

RealMe landed in Israel in June with the news: a quality smartphone at an affordable price. After checking the intermediate device, now it was the turn of the flagship device. With a price tag of NIS 1,999 and advanced hardware, this is one of the most interesting smartphones on the market

• Smartphone

Mikey Levy

Realme landed in Israel about two months ago, an official import of Bug and it is one of the brands of the Chinese company BBK. If the name does not ring familiar, then you will surely know OnePlus which is also sold in Israel, Oppo or Vivo. The company prides itself on advanced devices and extremely low prices. Thanks to the launch period in Israel, consumers enjoy attractive prices, and get the best value that money can provide. I previously tested the Realme 6 Pro and now it has landed on the flagship device's tables, the X3 SuperZoom sells for NIS 1,999, and on paper - it has everything it takes to be successful.

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Design

The smartphone claims to be a flagship device, and on paper it has it all, but the only compromise seems to be reflected in the design. The back of the smartphone feels quality and the smartphone I received came in a color that ranged from a range of black to blue. The rear camera array is not particularly noticeable, as it manages to maintain advanced sensors and most importantly - a surprising optical zoom. The front of the smartphone features an end-to-end screen, with the pair of photo sensors embedded in the left part of the screen, without a defect.

But something in the frame between the screen and the back of the smartphone, felt unaesthetic to me. There is no feeling of "Unibody" here, a feeling that the body of the smartphone is a uniform body. There is a feeling here of two parts meeting together. It certainly hurts the prestige of the smartphone, but if you walk around with a cover and chances are it will happen, you may not feel it.

screen

The X3 SuperZoom has a 6.6-inch screen with FullHD + resolution, a Gorilla 5 glass coating, an IPS LCD panel and the highlight: a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The screen is excellent, and even though it is an LCD screen the colors are great, and the screen seems to be well calibrated. The colors are very faithful to the original and pleasing to the eye.

But the real good news on the screen is the refresh rate of 120 Hz, which gives a smooth feeling and this is also a problem. Once you get used to the flow of the screen, it is difficult to go back. The brightness was also high enough to work with the smartphone under direct sunlight. Bottom line, the screen is great and thanks to the advanced hardware and refresh rate, gaming enthusiasts will enjoy it immensely.

hardware

The device "screams" performance. In fact, it includes an advanced specification that has nothing to resist. Snapdragon 855 chipset plus a liquid cooling system that reduces up to 12.5% ​​in temperature, 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage. All of this is powered by a 4,200 mAh battery that is charged from 0 to 100% in just 55 minutes, with the ultra-fast charger already included in the kit. The perfect smartphone for heavy consumers or gamers, I already wrote? So obviously, the smartphone runs all the heaviest apps and apps that Android has to offer. There is nothing that stands in the way of this smartphone. But what definitely surprised me, is the proof that it is finally possible to offer an advanced smartphone at an affordable price. The battery provided a full day of work without any problem, and there is no doubt that fast charging, is a huge advantage.

I liked less that there is no fingerprint reader embedded inside the screen and it is integrated inside the power button located in the middle of the smartphone, on the right side. A sense of compromise - on the one hand you get a smartphone with very advanced hardware, and on the other hand you clearly compromise on the design and the fingerprint reader.

Photo set

The rear camera system includes a 64-megapixel main sensor with an F / 1.8 aperture key with a wide lens, an 8-megapixel camera with a five-fold optical zoom (this is Israeli technology), and a third 8-megapixel sensor with an extra-wide lens. 119 degrees, and a fourth 2-megapixel sensor for macro photography. The X3 is nicknamed "Superzoom" and to justify itself, it includes a five-fold optical zoom, and it is an Israeli technology that was introduced in 2017, when it was first integrated into an Oppo smartphone. In SuperZoom it allows for an optical zoom of five times.

The camera does the job: on the one hand it does not deliver performance like that of the iPhone 11 Pro or the S20 Ultra, but it certainly delivers impressive images and especially in challenging lighting conditions. This is a photo set that completely justifies the value of the smartphone, and here, in addition to the hardware, I felt no compromise. One thing that may have been a bit of a hindrance to use, is the slow focus on night photography. Or rather, the wrong focus.

Operating System

The operating system is perfect until you find out that a Yandex app is installed. It's not clear to me why this happened, but for some reason this is the default browser installed on the smartphone. The first thing I did was remove all the remnants to Yandex apps. According to reports from November 2019, it appeared that Yandex had agreed to cooperate with the Kremlin, on all implications, including the transfer of personal information. This is of course not essential, since the operating system is Android, but this is still the first operation I performed in the operating system. The installed operating system is Android version 10, with slight adjustments in the interface that reminded me a lot of the OnePlus operating system. With the exception of the Yandex apps, no significant changes have been made and the interface remains smooth, clean and fast.

Summary

The Realme smartphone offers excellent value for money; I do not know if the combination of hardware and attractive price is on the occasion of the brand launch, but if prices remain like this in the coming years, there is no doubt that RealMe will significantly hurt Chinese competitors like Shiomi. The smartphone that came to me for testing was a pleasant surprise and there is no doubt that this is the best smartphone you can buy for up to NIS 1,999. If you are looking for an advanced smartphone, but on the other hand do not want to spend 3,000 or 4,000 shekels, the X3 will be perfect for you.