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Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Camera, Performance, Battery Life Compared

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Camera, Performance, Battery Life Compared

By Aditya Shenoy | Updated: 25 April 2019 13:27 IST

Realme 3 Pro and Redmi Note 7 Pro price in India starts at an identical Rs. 13,999

Highlights

Realme 3 Pro is better than the Redmi Note 7 Pro for gaming
Redmi Note 7 Pro scores higher than Realme 3 Pro in most benchmarks
Both smartphones run software based on Android 9 Pie

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro is a value-for-money offering in the sub-Rs. 15,000 price category. When we compared it with the Samsung Galaxy M30 (Review), it emerged as the clear winner thanks to its better build quality, up-to-date software, and more powerful processor. The Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review) is better matched against the Samsung Galaxy A50 (Review), which is priced slightly higher. Now, with the launch of the Realme 3 Pro, the Redmi Note 7 Pro has to fend off a phone that is much more competitive at its own price level. We're pitting these two smartphones against each other to see whether the Redmi Note 7 Pro can retain its top spot, or whether the Realme 3 Pro is powerful enough to dethrone it.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro design

While these two smartphones are in the same price range, both take different approaches when it comes to design. The Redmi Note 7 Pro has glass at the front and the back, and Xiaomi has used Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for added protection. This helps give this phone a premium look and feel. Xiaomi offers the Redmi Note 7 Pro in three colour options, two of which have gradient finishes on the back, while the third is just plain black.

The Realme 3 Pro (Review) on the other hand has a glossy plastic back. Realme also offers the Realme 3 Pro in three colour options, two with a gradient finish while the third is a plain Carbon Grey.

Both smartphones have big displays and both have waterdrop notches. The Realme 3 Pro has thinner bezels all around compared to the Redmi Note 7 Pro. Both phones have plastic frames, but the power and volume buttons on the Realme 3 Pro are significantly easier to reach than those on the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

The Realme 3 Pro (front) and the Redmi Note 7 Pro both have a water drop notch

Xiaomi offers a USB Type-C port on the Redmi Note 7 Pro as well as an IR emitter, which can be used to control several appliances. It also supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 4.0 standard, and you get a 10W charger in the box.

The Realme 3 Pro sticks to a Micro-USB port for charging, and we do wish the company had gone with a modern USB Type-C port. Realme does support VOOC fast charging though, and you'll get a 20W charger in the box with this phone.

At the back, both smartphones sport dual camera modules, but the one on the Redmi Note 7 Pro juts out more than the one on the Realme 3 Pro. Both have capacitive fingerprint sensors at the back which are easy to reach. The SIM trays on both these phones are on their left sides, but only the Realme 3 Pro has a dedicated microSD card slot while the Redmi Note 7 Pro has a hybrid SIM slot.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro specifications and software

The Realme 3 Pro and the Redmi Note 7 Pro both sport big displays with full-HD+ resolutions. The Realme 3 Pro has an IPS panel while the Redmi Note 7 Pro has an LTPS In-Cell display. Both phones have settings to let you calibrate the output of their displays.

These two manufacturers have picked powerful processors for their competing smartphones, the Redmi Note 7 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC, while the Realme 3 Pro gets the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC. The Snapdragon 710 debuted with the much more expensive Nokia 8.1 (Review) in India late last year but has only made it to a select few smartphones so far.

Both, the Redmi Note 7 Pro and the Realme 3 Pro, have the same RAM and storage variants: one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and the other with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. We were surprised to see that both variants of these two smartphones are priced identically at Rs. 13,999 and Rs. 16,999 each respectively.

Realme 3 Pro (top) uses a Micro-USB port while the Redmi Note 7 Pro has a USB Type-C port

You can expand storage on both these smartphones, but the dedicated microSD card slot gives the Realme 3 Pro a big advantage. On the Redmi Note 7 Pro, you will have to sacrifice a second SIM since this phone has a hybrid SIM slot. The battery capacities of these smartphones are also roughly the same, with the Redmi Note 7 Pro housing a 4000mAh battery while the Realme 3 Pro has a 4045mAh battery.

Connectivity options on the Redmi Note 7 Pro include Bluetooth 5, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, dual 4G with VoLTE, and IR. The Realme 3 Pro has support for Bluetooth 5, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, dual 4G with VoLTE, and FM Radio.

In terms of software, the Redmi Note 7 Pro runs MIUI 10 on Android Pie, and the Realme 3 Pro runs Color OS 6 on top of Android Pie. These smartphones are fairly up-to-date when it comes to security, with the Redmi Note 7 Pro running the February 2019 Android security patch while the Realme 3 Pro has already received the March 2019 patch. Both phone UIs are highly customised and don't look or feel very much like stock Android.

These smartphones also come with quite a lot of bloatware preinstalled. We were annoyed by notification spam from these unnecessary apps on the Realme 3 Pro, and the Redmi Note 7 Pro has ads even in its stock apps. Each UI has its own set of features, we liked the Realme Share which is like Apple's Airdrop and lets you share files quickly with compatible Realme devices. You can also swap the standard UI navigation buttons for gestures on both.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro performance and battery life

We found both the Realme 3 Pro and the Redmi Note 7 Pro to be powerful enough to run our daily tasks without any issues. Both smartphones have enough RAM to make multitasking easy. For this comparison, we had the base 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage variant of the Redmi Note 7 Pro, whereas our Realme 3 Pro sample had 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. We still found the Redmi Note 7 Pro to be just a shade faster when launching apps and multitasking with multiple apps running in the background.

We set up the fingerprint sensors on both these smartphones along with face recognition to see which of the two is quicker to unlock. While using the capacitive fingerprint sensors at the backs of each phone, we found both devices to be equally fast. When using face recognition, the Realme 3 Pro was faster than the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

Performance could be a deciding factor for a lot of people at this price point, so we subjected both smartphones to a number of benchmarks to see how they performed. In AnTuTu, the Realme 3 Pro scored 155,563 points while the Redmi Note 7 Pro managed 178,570 points. After running Geekbench 4, the Realme 3 Pro showed scores of 1,483 and 5,900 in the single-core and multi-core tests respectively, and the Redmi Note 7 Pro scored 2,389 and 6,593 respectively.

Graphics is where the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 gets the upper hand. The Realme 3 Pro managed 54fps in GFXBench's T-Rex scene and 19fps in Manhattan 3.1, while the Redmi Note 7 Pro scored 41fps and 15fps respectively.

Both the Realme 3 Pro (top) and the Redmi Note 7 Pro have a dual camera setup

The Realme 3 Pro not only scored better in graphics tests, it also defaulted to High settings when playing PUBG Mobile. The Redmi Note 7 Pro ran the game at the Medium setting by default. We played PUBG Mobile on both these smartphones for close to 30 minutes. The Realme 3 Pro had graphics set to HD while the frame rate was set to High, and the Redmi Note 7 Pro had graphics set to Balanced with the frame rate set to High.

The battery level on the Realme 3 Pro dropped by 9 percent, while the Redmi Note 7 Pro's charge level dropped by 10 percent. We found that the Redmi Note 7 Pro was warmer than the Realme 3 Pro at the end of our sessions. If you're looking for a phone primarily for gaming, the Realme 3 Pro has a slight edge here.

Both smartphones's batteries will last for over a day with normal use, but the Redmi Note 7 Pro emerged as the winner in our HD video loop test with a runtime of 19 hours and 23 minutes. In comparison, the Realme 3 Pro only managed 14 hours and 13 minutes under the same conditions.

Since the Realme 3 Pro comes with a 20W charger, it charges significantly faster, and we got up to 90 percent in an hour. Xiaomi's Redmi Note 7 Pro on the other hand only charged to 54 percent in an hour and took over two hours to charge completely using the supplied 10W charger.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro cameras

The Redmi Note 7 Pro and Realme 3 Pro both boast of some really good camera specifications. The Realme 3 Pro has a 16-megapixel Sony IMX519 camera with an f/1.7 aperture. This is the same sensor as the OnePlus 6T (Review). It has a secondary 5-megapixel depth sensor which is used when taking portrait shots. The Redmi Note 7 Pro has a 48-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.79 aperture along with a 5-megapixel depth sensor. At the front, the Realme 3 Pro sports a 25-megapixel selfie shooter while the Redmi Note 7 Pro has a 13-megapixel selfie shooter.

Both smartphones have AI features in their camera apps, which help choose optimal settings before taking a shot. When capturing landscapes we found that the Redmi Note 7 Pro occasionally didn't meter light correctly when there were bright backgrounds in the frame. Both smartphones captured good details, and objects at a distance were visible. HDR kicks in automatically when shooting a bright scenes, and we found that the Realme 3 Pro had more accurate colours while the Redmi Note 7 Pro's photos were sharper.

Tap to see full-sized daylight samples

When taking macro shots, both smartphones managed good separation between the subject and the background. Here too, we found that the Realme 3 Pro managed colours better than the Redmi Note 7 Pro and was quicker to lock focus.

Tap to see full-sized macro Samples

In low light, the Realme 3 Pro was able to capture slightly better details in objects at a distance. The Redmi Note 7 Pro delivered grainy results in comparison, which meant there was less detail. When taking photos with the night modes enabled on both these smartphones, the Realme 3 Pro still captured slightly better details.

Tap to click full-sized low-light samples

In portraits, we noticed that both phones managed good edge detection. The Redmi Note 7 Pro produced better details but did not always expose backgrounds correctly. As for selfies, both smartphones managed good bokeh effects but the Redmi Note 7 Pro delivered better results overall.

Tap to see full-size portrait samples

Video recording maxes out at 4k 30fps with both these smartphones, and both are also capable of shooting at 1080p 60fps. When shooting at 1080p, video is stabilised on both smartphones, which helps reduce shakes.

Verdict
The Redmi Note 7 Pro and the Realme 3 Pro both offer great value for money. Both these smartphones are powerful, sport good cameras, and offer all-day battery life. Xiaomi's Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review) offers good CPU performance and beats the Realme 3 Pro in benchmarks, but the Realme 3 Pro (Review) can run games at higher settings and its battery doesn't drain as quickly when playing them, so it will appeal to you more if you are a gamer.

Both phones are also very evenly matched when it comes to camera performance, but if you like taking photos of people, the Redmi Note 7 Pro offers better details in both portraits and selfies.

It isn't easy to choose between these two smartphones, and it is hard to declare a clear winner. What we can say is that if you won't be gaming on your smartphone and want something that looks and feels premium, the Redmi Note 7 Pro is the better choice. On the other hand, if need a dedicated microSD card slot and value a fast charger, the Realme 3 Pro should be your pick.

Realme 3 Pro vs Redmi Note 7 Pro: Which one is the winner? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Realme 3 Pro

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Powerful and efficient SoC
Very good battery life
Cameras fare well under good light
Bundled fast charger

Bad
Average low-light camera performance
Laminated back scuffs easily
No USB Type-C port

Read detailed Realme 3 Pro review

Display 6.30-inch

Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 710

Front Camera 25-megapixel

Rear Camera 16-megapixel + 5-megapixel

RAM 6GB

Storage 128GB

Battery Capacity 4045mAh

OS Android 9 Pie

Resolution 1080x2340 pixels

More Realme mobiles Realme mobiles price in India

Choose a variant

Redmi Note 7 Pro

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Premium design
Good cameras
Long battery life
Smooth performance

Bad
Heats up quickly
Bloatware and ads in MIUI
Shared slot for second SIM/ microSD card

Read detailed Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro review

Display 6.30-inch

Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 675

Front Camera 13-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 5-megapixel

RAM 4GB

Storage 64GB

Battery Capacity 4000mAh

OS Android Pie

Resolution 1080x2340 pixels

More Xiaomi mobiles Xiaomi mobiles price in India

Choose a variant

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