realme X50 Pro 5G: Initial Review
5G-ready, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, Super AMOLED Display, and Samsung camera sensor. These are the new things that the new realme X50 Pro 5G can give, and it’s definitely the best smartphone that realme can offer right now. The upcoming realme flagship with Snapdragon 888 with 5G will be announced pretty soon, so why bother buying this rather than waiting for the new wave to arrive?
realme is not a stranger to innovation and global successes. In eSports lingo, you can actually call realme as a try-hard, that is having a higher than usual effort and having an excessively high emotional investment for the level of play in which they are competing. In fact, in IDC Quarterly Mobile tracker for the third quarter of 2020, realme ranked number one with over 25.4% market share and a stunning 80.7% quarterly growth.
Realme started to cover all bases this 2020. While their main focus is being the technology of first choice for the new generation, it is obvious that they’ve got a specific device that can compete with each category. They’ve got budget, mid-range, high-end and flagship devices, along with a few AIoT products. There’s a realme in every price point, and this is the very reason why I think that it took quite a long time for them to offer this realme X50 Pro 5G.
You’re launching it here just now?
This smartphone was announced way back in February 2020, and it’s only now that they are starting to sell it in the Philippines. Why? According to realme, they waited for 5G certification and Android 11 rollout for better and smoother experience. But from my perspective, it’s simple – they can price it way more affordable and they can easily partner with a telco brand with a growing and reliable 5G connection.
Part of covering all bases is partnering with a telco brand. Realme X50 Pro 5G is the first postpaid partnership of realme Philippines via Smart Signature Plan 1499 with PhP6,900 one-time cash-out and additional PhP400 monthly amortization. This means that you’re getting a flagship smartphone for a cash equivalent of PhP16,500 and up to 5G mobile service for 24 months. As for the mobile service, you’re getting 10GB Data with data rollover for the following month, unlimited All-Net Text, unlimited All-Net Calls, and 100 minutes of calls to PLDT.
With this plan configuration, you’re basically getting a smartphone with better performance, if not the same, versus the local version of Samsung Galaxy S20+, which may be availed via a similar plan but with 34,200 initial cashout and 1,499 monthly amortization. Again, if you’re on the fence on the Galaxy S20+, the realme X50 Pro 5G is an option that is hard to pass on. But what do you guys think? I’d love to know in the comments section below.
Stunning specs!
What about the specs of the X50 Pro 5G? Apart from the X3 Pro, which realme did not release in the Philippines, this smartphone is the first among the many smartphones to have Snapdragon 865. This has an octa-core processor, Adreno 650 GPU and 12GB of RAM. In terms of performance, this phone can get on par with OnePlus 8, Galaxy S20+ and OPPO Find X2 Pro. Here are some benchmark results for your reference.
| X50 Pro 5G | ||
| Antutu | 611,787 | |
| 3D Mark (Sling Shot Extreme) | Open GL ES | 6,907 |
| PC Mark | (Work 2.0) | 13,236 |
| Geekbench | Single Core | 920 |
| Multi-Core | 3,213 | |
| Androbench | Seq. Read | 1757.47 MB/s |
| Seq. Write | 749.94 MB/s | |
| CPDT Benchmark | Seq. Read | 724.07 MB/s |
| Seq. Write | 437.17 MB/s |
Undoubtedly, you can play your favorite games on this device without issues. Games like Genshin Impact, Wild Rift, Mobile Legends and Call of Duty did not show any struggles and lags while being played on X50 Pro.
In terms of display technology, this one has a 90Hz Super AMOLED display by Samsung with Corning Glass 5 protection. I guess, if you’re particular about display refresh rate, X50 Pro 5G’s refresh rate is rated lower than other flagships, which can go as high as 120Hz. This, however, should be an issue if you’re more after display quality rather higher refresh rate.
A Samsung Camera Sensor in a realme smartphone?!
Last but not the least, the X50 Pro 5G boasts a 64-megapixel sensor powered by Samsung ISOCELL GW1. This 1.17” sensor packs in 38% more pixels than a 48MP camera and has features for improved color reproduction, ISO and Hybrid 3D HDR.
Complementing this 64-megapixel camera are 12MP f/2.5 telephoto, 8MP f/2.3 ultrawide and 2MP f/2.4 for depth-sensing.
For its front cameras, it has 32MP f/2.5 wide and another 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide.
Here are some sample photos I took using the rear and front-facing cameras.
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This smartphone can also take up to 4K 60fps for the front and up to 1080p for its front camera. You can use the front and rear cameras for slow-motion videos. There is this one particular feature that I like, which I inertial zoom. This lets you zoom in and out smoothly while taking a video. It’s impressive and I think that realme is the first to have this kind of feature.
Initial Verdict
The realme X50 Pro 5G is a huge step for realme to introduce high-end products to more Filipinos. As their first smartphone to be offered via a telco plan, this gives us an idea of how serious realme is when it comes to broadening their reach in the Philippine market.
However, I need to address the elephant in the room, which may also be the same concern of some Filipinos – why buy now when the future of realme can provide something better? It’s simple – because it’s technically more affordable than other current flagship smartphones and the performance you get is somewhat similar, if not better, than the ones in the market right now.
Video Review
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
