Realme Narzo 30 Pro: The Good, The Bad, And The X-Factor

The Realme Narzo 30 Pro comes at a starting price tag of Rs. 16,999, making it the most affordable 5G mid-range smartphone in the Indian market. You'll need to shell out Rs. 19,999 for the high-end variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.

The device essentially borrows some features from the Realme X7. The latter is also a 5G-enabled smartphone that was announced recently in the Indian market. We have got our hands on the Realme Narzo 30 Pro and here's our initial impression of the device.

Realme Narzo 30 Pro: The Good

Tall High-Resolution Display With 120Hz Refresh Rate

The Realme Narzo 30 Pro has a tall 6.5-inch display with an IPS LCD panel. The company has used a high-resolution display that offers 1080 x2400 pixels FHD+ resolution and a 20:9 aspect ratio.

The display offers a screen-to-body-ratio of 83.7 percent and sports a punch-hole for the selfie camera placed on the top-left corner. Protecting the panel is the Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

It has a higher screen refresh rate of 120Hz. The display overall has good color output and edge detection. The viewing angles here are decent; so are the brightness levels. In our brief testing, we found the panel to be suitable for media playback (HD and FHD) as well as gaming.

The higher refresh rate is what amplifies the gaming experience. There are several display features that can be used from the settings menu. You can set the color temperature, switch on Dark Mode and Eye Comfort mode, and OSIE visual effect right from the settings tab.

Decent Imaging Hardware

The Realme Narzo 30 Pro has a triple-lens camera setup at the rear for imaging. The smartphone packs a 48MP primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and an 8MP wide-angle camera with a 119-degree FoV. There is also a 2MP sensor for macro photography.

The camera clicks 12MP pixel-binned shots by default. However, you can also click 48MP dedicated shots from the camera app itself. Speaking of which, the camera app's UI is similar to the previous Realme offerings.

The additional camera features include Ultra Macro shooting mode, panorama, slow-motion, time-lapse, and Expert mode. The device can click a good set of images when there's ample light all around. The detailing is good, so is the color production.

The images don't get grainy in good lighting conditions. There is a dedicated Night Mode for low-light shots. Though, we are still to test the camera thoroughly in low-light conditions.

The smartphone employs a 16MP camera for selfies and video calling which is packed inside the punch-hole and has an f/2.2 aperture. The selfie snapper's output also seems good enough in daily life scenarios. We will be detailing the camera performance in the coming days.

Realme Narzo 30 Pro: The Bad

Dated Android OS

The Realme Narzo 30 Pro has been announced with the older Android 10 OS which is topped with the Realme UI skin. WAs we know that Google had announced the new Android 11 OS back in September 2020, and with the new firmware being available in the market for a while now; we would have liked to see the new firmware here as well.

The UI layout is identical to previous-generation Realme smartphones including the Narzo 20 series. The company hasn't made any specific changes in terms of features and design in the UI.

You get the same stock-Android-looking design. You can pull up the app drawer by the swipe-up gesture on the home screen. The device doesn't come free of bloatware which is another negative aspect of this handset.

Currently, Realme has not announced if it plans to update the Narzo 30 Pro to the Android 11 OS anytime soon. Therefore, we might have to wait for a while before we get to use all the latest Android features.

Big 5,000mAh Battery But Fast Charging Reduced To 30W

The Realme Narzo 30 Pro has a beefy 5,000 mAh battery unit. The device comes with 30W fast charging support. Just for a refresher, the brand had used a higher 65W fast charging on the previous-generation Narzo smartphone lineup.

We are not sure why the company has toned down the fast charging capacity, but we would have appreciated the 65W setup. Moreover, the current norm is a 6,000 mAh or above battery size in the affordable and mid-range smartphone segment.

Realme has still opted for a slightly smaller unit. But, this doesn't add to a con. The handset will have sufficient fuel to last more than half a day on a single charge and with moderate usage.

Realme Narzo 30 Pro: The X factor

The Realme Narzo 30 Pro's X-factor is the MediaTek Dimensity 800U processor. It is a 5G-enabled chipset which the company has also used on the Realme X7. Even though India is yet to get the 5G network connectivity, the device will be 5G-ready when the network arrives in the country.

Not just the 5G connectivity is why this processor adds to the X-factor. It is capable to handle daily tasks with ease. The premium mid-range chipset can also render high-end games smoothly.

This along with a 120Hz refresh rate makes gaming a superior experience on the Realme Narzo 30 Pro. We have played some games to test the performance and the device gave no complaints. With up to 8GB RAM support, multitasking is also swift on this handset.

There were no lags and stutters with the handset running multiple apps simultaneously. The app launch time is also fast. We will be giving feedback on the performance in the comprehensive review of the handset, so stay tuned with us.