Realme 10 Pro+ 5G Review: Excellent Performance In An Elegant Package

Last Updated on December 10, 2022 by Asif Iqbal Shaik

Realme is known for launching extremely value-for-money smartphones, especially in the mid-range segment. Today, the company has launched the Realme 10 Pro and the Realme 10 Pro+, which come with excellent specifications and a beautiful design. It also comes with Realme’s latest software, Realme UI 4.0, based on Android 13. The phone is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that can charge very fast.

With all these enticing features, can the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G become the best seller in the segment? Let us check its performance in our Realme 10 Pro+ 5G review.

Realme 10 Pro+ 5G Review

Contents In The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G Box

1. Realme 10 Pro+ 5G
2. 67W Fast Charger
3. USB Type-A To USB Type-C Cable
4. SIM Ejector Tool

We got the Nebula Blue version of the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G for review with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage.

Design

Realme always comes up with unique and eye-catching designs for its smartphones, and it has done the same with the Realme 10 Pro+. The phone is available in three colours in India: Dark Matter (Black), Hyperspace Gold, and Nebula Blue. The device is mainly made using plastic materials, including a plastic frame and a plastic back panel. Despite the cheaper material, the phone still feels well-built and looks great. Realme claims the phone has passed a 1m drop test and endured 28,000 micro drops without cracking.

The phone is mainly covered by the screen on the front. The left and right sides of the screen curve to meet the back panel that also curves from the back. The top and bottom parts of the phone are flat, with a chamfered edge around the flat portion. The power and volume buttons, which are on the right side of the phone, are clicky and feel satisfying. The top of the phone has openings for the secondary microphone and the secondary loudspeaker. The bottom of the device has a dual-SIM card slot, a USB Type-C port, the primary microphone, and the primary loudspeaker. Unfortunately, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack.

While I can’t speak for the durability of the plastic frame and back panel, the phone looks attractive. It has two camera rings on the back, and the bottom ring houses two cameras: 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro. The Nebula Blue version of the phone shows the blue colour when you look at it straight. But when you tilt the phone a little, you can see shades of gold and pink. The Realme 10 Pro+ is the most attractive and premium feeling device from Realme’s number series. The only complaint I have from the phone in terms of the build is that it lacks any formal IP rating for dust and water resistance, and at this price, there should’ve been at least an IP54 rating.

Display

The 6.7-inch OLED screen on the Realme 10 Pro+ is excellent. It is bright, colourful, and feels very smooth. It has Full HD+ resolution and curved sides. Unlike its predecessor, the Realme 10 Pro+ has a centred display cutout for the selfie camera, and I personally like this arrangement as it looks symmetrical. The display refreshes at 120Hz, an upgrade over the Realme 9 Pro+’s 90Hz display. The screen is protected using AGC (Asahi Glass Co.) Dragontrail Pro panel, which feels quite strong. The display has an under-display optical fingerprint reader placed at the correct location.

In terms of colour accuracy, the Realme 10 Pro+ was quite accurate, even in the Vivid (DCI-P3) mode. There was a slight blue tint, but you can switch to the Natural mode (sRGB) if you don’t like it. On top of this selection, Realme has also offered a colour temperature slider for further customisation.

It can reach a peak brightness of 950 nits and has a native 10-bit colour depth. It also features a 2,160Hz PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) for high-frequency dimming. This puts less strain on the eyes when using the phone in the dark (less than 100 nits screen brightness). Overall, the phone goes up to 500 nits of brightness by manually maxing out the brightness slider. In bright conditions, the phone automatically increases the brightness up to 800 nits. In HDR video playback, the display can reach a peak brightness of 950 nits in certain parts.

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Speaking of HDR, the phone is HDR10+ certified and can stream Full HD videos, thanks to the Widevine L1 certification. The device hasn’t received Netflix certification yet, but we think Realme will roll out that feature within the next few weeks. Until then, you can only stream SDR videos. The phone doesn’t support Dolby Vision. The phone also has a feature called HyperVision that converts SDR videos into HDR videos.

Gamers would also appreciate the display’s 360Hz touch response for better on-screen gaming controls. Unfortunately, only a few games support 120Hz gaming on the Realme 10 Pro+, and you’ll most likely experience the 120Hz refresh rate while scrolling through the UI. Video playback always uses a 60Hz refresh rate, and most games also run at a 60Hz refresh rate.

Cameras

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G has three cameras on the rear: a 108MP primary camera (Samsung HM6 1/1.67-inch) with PDAF, an 8MP ultrawide camera (Sony IMX355), and a 2MP fixed-focus (4cm) macro camera (OmniVision OV02B). The primary camera can record 4K 30fps videos, while the 8MP camera peaks at 1080p 30fps. The 2MP macro camera can’t record videos and doesn’t support Night Mode. The 16MP front-facing camera (Sony IM471 1/3-inch) with a fixed-focus lens and an F2.45 aperture. Its maximum supported video resolution is 1080p, maxing out at a 30fps frame rate.

I can’t help but notice that Realme has removed OIS from its latest phone and moved to a smaller sensor than the Realme 9 Pro+ 5G. And there are no improvements to the other three cameras from the predecessor. So, is this phone a downgrade compared to last year’s excellent Realme 9 Pro+ 5G? Well, not quite.

Primary Camera – Daylight & Good Lighting Conditions

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The 108MP camera captures excellent 12MP shots. In good lighting conditions, the images shot using the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G’s primary camera have no visible noise, adequately wide dynamic range, good colours, and a good amount of details. The colours get a slight boost, and there is a little warmth in the images, but that’s how most people would like their memories.

Primary Camera – 108MP Mode In Daylight Conditions

If you want even more details in your images, you can switch to the 108MP mode that’s easily accessible from the stock camera app. 108MP images showcase slightly more details, but only when you pixel-peep. Regarding colours, contrast, and HDR, 108MP photos are similar to 12MP images. However, the image file size increases considerably. Considering the overall performance and file size, most people would be better off with standard 12MP photos.

Primary Camera – Portrait Mode In Daylight Conditions

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The portrait images can only be captured using the primary camera and in 12MP resolution. It often asked me to get closer to the subject for the portrait effect to activate. So, you can not capture portrait images of the whole person. You will be restricted to waist-length images.

Primary Camera – 3x Zoom Mode In Daylight Conditions

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There is no dedicated telephoto camera on the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G. Still, the camera app shows a 3x zoom toggle. When you use this 3x zoom mode, the phone crops the middle 12MP image from the 108MP frame with almost lossless performance. Images captured in this mode are good, with likeable colours, contrast, and dynamic range. Obviously, the performance in the 3x mode isn’t as good as the 1x mode, but it’s still better than I expected. So, the 108MP sensor has its advantages.

Ultrawide Camera – Daylight Conditions

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The 8MP ultrawide camera performs better than most 8MP ultrawide cameras in other phones. The colours are slightly more saturated than the primary camera. The dynamic range is wide, and the details are greater than ultrawide cameras in competing phones.

Macro Camera – Daylight & Low-Light Conditions

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The 2MP macro camera is almost useless for all practical intents and purposes. The colours aren’t that good, and those images have higher noise. In low-light conditions, the performance is even worse. You can get a better macro shot by cropping in from an image captured using the 108MP camera mode.

Primary Camera – Low-Light & Artificial Lighting Conditions

In low-light situations, the camera app automatically activates Night Mode. However, you can tap on the small Moon icon to disable it manually. Images captured in low-light conditions in Auto Night Mode are very good, featuring good details, realistic colours, low noise, and balanced shadows and highlights.

You can manually choose the dedicated Night Mode, which takes even longer to capture an image. Those images are brighter, have a better dynamic range, and have lower noise. However, there is some more artificial sharpening and a yellowish hue. You also must ensure that your hands are steady for a few seconds until the camera finishes capturing an image in this mode.

In Night Mode, there is no 3x toggle for zoom. Instead, you get a 2x toggle. When you use this zoom level, images captured have artificial sharpening and lower details than the 1x zoom range. There’s also an oil painting effect in the grass, leaves, and smaller patterns.

Ultrawide Camera – Low-Light Conditions

The ultrawide camera performs poorly in low-light conditions in the Photo mode. The images are dark and noisy, and the colours are not as saturated as they should be. There is a lot of loss in the details. But when you use the Night mode, the images get brighter, a lot of the noise disappears, and the dynamic range improves immensely.

Selfie Camera – Daylight Conditions

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The performance of the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G’s selfie camera is identical to that of the Realme 9 Pro+ 5G. The images captured using this camera in daylight conditions are good but not great. The colours are likeable, and the dynamic range is excellent. However, the details could’ve been better, and there’s some noise.

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The front-facing camera has similar colours and dynamic range in Portrait mode. However, the details on the face of the subject are lower compared to the Photo mode. Noise increases, too. The background blur effect is decent, and the subject separation works well for the price segment.

Selfie Camera – Low-Light Conditions

In low-light conditions, the selfie camera activates the Auto Night Mode. However, there is still some loss of detail. The colours appear saturated, and the dynamic range is wide. There is some extra artificial sharpening, though. Unlike higher-end phones, you can’t capture selfies with the portrait effect and night mode.

Video Recording Quality

While mid-range phones have improved a lot in terms of camera image quality, they are nowhere close to high-end smartphones in video recording quality. The primary camera can capture 4K 30fps videos, but the EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation) only works in 1080p and 720p resolutions. EIS is also missing entirely on the front-facing camera.

The primary camera captures excellent videos when you’re stationary. The details are great, the colours are slightly boosted, and the dynamic range is wide enough. However, since there is no EIS, if you’re walking or running, there will be judders and shakes. In low-light conditions, the videos are pretty good as long as you’re stationary. Walking will result in higher shakes and stutters.

The ultrawide camera captures decent 1080p 30fps videos in good lighting conditions. The colours are slightly boosted, the dynamic range is adequate, and the details are okay-ish. However, there is higher noise. In low-light conditions, videos captured using the ultrawide camera have higher noise and lower details. So, it’s best not to use it unless extremely necessary.

Videos captured using the front-facing camera have good colours and dynamic range. However, you can notice lower details and no stabilisation. In low-light conditions, videos from the front-facing camera have higher noise. There is a loss of detail, and the dynamic range is not very good.

Overall, the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G has a good camera for its price. The primary camera performs admirably despite it lacking OIS. It works well in both good and low-light conditions. The ultrawide camera works well in daylight but drops to being an okay camera in low-light conditions. The selfie camera could’ve been slightly better. And as I said earlier, the macro camera is practically useless.

Performance

The MediaTek Dimensity 1080 processor used in the Realme 10 Pro+ sits right at the edge of the mid-range and high-end segments. It is made using TSMC’s popular 6nm process node and has two Cortex-A78 CPU cores, six Cortex-A55 CPU cores, and the Mali-G68 GPU. You can think of the processor as the slightly beefed-up version of the Dimensity 920 chipset. It features a higher-clocked CPU and improved camera capabilities.

In day-to-day usage, the chipset performed really well. The phone was smooth and fast, and I could multitask quite well. There is 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB UFS 2.2 storage. You can improve multitasking by activating the Virtual RAM feature (up to 8GB additional) at the cost of lower available storage space and slightly slower data transfer speeds. It lacks a microSD card slot, so make sure you choose the correct storage variant as per your needs.

The phone performs slightly better than the Dimensity 920. In terms of raw performance, it is bested only by the Dimensity 8100 and the Snapdragon 870, which are found in some aggressively-priced phones like the iQOO Neo 6 and the POCO F4. It has a faster CPU than the Snapdragon 778G+ found in the iQOO Z6 Pro, Realme GT Master Edition, and the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G. However, the Snapdragon 778G+ has a more powerful GPU. Nonetheless, the phone performs admirably in day-to-day usage and gaming.

The Dimensity 1080 has excellent performance under sustained workloads. The phone sustained 85% of its peak performance in the CPU stress test, and in the GPU stress test, it sustained 99.3% of its peak performance. It means that you won’t notice any visible performance drops even when you use the phone for a long time. I played Call Of Duty Mobile on the Realme Pro+ 5G, and it worked without any significant hiccups.

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The UFS 2.2 storage chip inside the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G performs very well for its price segment, offering sequential read speeds of up to 640MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 341MB/s. Random read and write speeds were around 13MB/s and 27.28MB/s, respectively. Memory copy came at around 4.46GB/s.

I used the phone for browsing, online shopping, banking, gaming, messaging, navigation, and capturing images and videos, and I never found any significant issues with the performance or hiccups. Higher-end phones perform better, but unless you’re a performance nerd or a gamer, you won’t find any problems with the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G.

The fingerprint reader is the usual optical one and works very well. It’s fast and accurate, and I didn’t face any issues during the review. You can enrol up to five fingerprints and even name them.

The stereo speaker setup on the Realme 10 Pro+ is something unique. The company has implemented what it calls a 200% volume level. This boosts the sounds in the upper mid-range and high-range frequencies for extra loudness, and it works. However, there’s some harshness that you have to deal with. It’s best to use it in crowded situations or a room full of people. Even without this 200% volume mode, the stereo speakers sound excellent, at least compared to other phones in the price segment. There is support for Dolby Audio, and it works with wired and wireless earbuds.

The network reception was excellent. I was able to latch on to Airtel’s 5G Plus network. I managed to get close to 400Mbps download speed and close to 3Mbps upload speed while sitting in my home. This is similar to what I get from my Galaxy S22+ and the Galaxy Z Fold 4. And I live in a densely populated area in Hyderabad. It means that the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G’s modem works like a charm and performs as well as high-end Snapdragon processors when connected to 5G networks in India.

Software

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G is the first phone from Realme to launch in India with Android 13-based Realme UI 4.0 onboard. The company has cleaned up the UI a bit. All the essential additions from stock Android 13 are here, including per-app language settings, new media controls, improved battery optimisations, and improved and simplified privacy features.

New features include an improved AoD (Always-on Display) mode that shows the clock, date, battery charge level, app icons for notifications, and a media player widget for Spotify. It also features Material You-like wallpaper-inspired colour accents for UI elements. You can change the colours, shape, and size of icons. You can also customise the font size, display zoom level, edge lighting colours, and fingerprint animations. There are a few new wallpapers, live wallpapers, and fingerprint animation options.

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There is also a Large Folder option that you can use for frequently-used app folders. Realme UI 4.0 also brings Dynamic Widgets (Shelf Widgets) for stock apps, including a Clock, Contacts, Phone Manager, Photos, Step Tracker, and Weather. They always display updated information.

Additional features include the ability to open apps in pop-up windows, Smart Sidebar, Dual-Mode Audio, Sleep Capsule, Heart Rate Measurement (using fingerprint reader), Auto Pixelate, and Phone Manager (for cleaning junk and resource management). The Auto Pixelate feature automatically hides sensitive information (such as credit card and phone numbers) from images you share with others.

Realme UI 4.0 comes with quite a few unnecessary pre-installed apps, including Realme Community, DailyHunt, FinShell Pay, Josh, LinkedIn, Moj, Moj Lite+, Paytm, Public, and ShareChat. The built-in App Market and Game Centre apps also push notifications that start appearing as soon as you set up the phone. However, most of them can be uninstalled. Realme has also announced that it is removing some bloatware from Realme UI 4.0. It has also promised to start moderating app and game suggestions as well as content you see in push notifications.

On the whole, I really liked using Realme UI 4.0. It is more cohesive, attractive, and clutter-free than the previous Realme UI versions. It also performs smoothly and features good animations and transitions. There are a lot of additional features and UI customisation options on top of features already present in Android 13. The phone will get two more Android OS updates and three years of security updates.

Battery Life

The 5.000mAh battery that powers the Realme 10 Pro+ easily lasts a day and some more, even with heavy usage. The 6nm chipset and optimised software also help extend the battery life.

During my review, I usually charged the phone in the morning, and the phone lasted the entire day, leaving a 15% charge for the next day. And my usage was quite heavy and involved at least an hour of gaming, GPS navigation, everyday app usage, a lot of web browsing, and a few minutes of camera use.

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The 67W bundled charger is quite fast. It charges the battery up to 50% within 20 minutes and up to 100% within 40 minutes. For this price, only a few phones can fully charge faster than the Realme 10 Pro+.

Conclusion

The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G is an excellent device and among the best in its price segment, especially if you want a balanced device that looks good, performs well, and has a good camera. Sure, there are phones with longer battery life or better performance, but very few phones perform as well as the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G in all the segments.

The phone looks attractive and has a sublime 120Hz OLED display, an excellent rear camera, feature-rich Realme UI 4.0 software, and good general performance. The Realme 10 Pro+ 5G also excels in battery life and has very fast charging. The only thing that I really missed on this phone is a formal IP rating for dust and water resistance.

If you are in the market for a mid-range smartphone with a budget of around ₹25,000, you should definitely consider the Realme 10 Pro+ 5G. Other close competitors that offer excellent overall performance include the Motorola Edge 20, OnePlus Nord 2, Samsung Galaxy A33 5G, and the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G.