Some people may ask: Does the Realme Narzo 30 Pro have a good design?
The Realme Narzo 30 picks up a lot of design cues from the recently launched Realme X7 Pro. Of course, significant downgrades have been made to hit a lower price point. This includes the switch to a polycarbonate mid-frame and a subdued gradient on the back panel.
While I didn’t mind the plain Jane look, some might find the lack of pizzazz a bit underwhelming. The phone doesn’t quite scream premium, and I noticed a bit of flex in the back panel while gripping it tightly.
The right side of the phone has a power button with a fingerprint scanner embedded in it. The scanner was speedy enough to unlock the phone — no problems on that front.
Meanwhile, over on the left is a segmented volume rocker that I found to sit a bit too flush with the frame. Finally, along the bottom edge is the single bottom-firing speaker, a USB-C port, and a headphone jack.
Realme has been pushing high refresh rate panels on its phones for a while now, and the Narzo 30 Pro is no exception. However, unlike the X7 Pro, users will have to contend with an IPS panel here. It’s still got the 120Hz refresh rate, but the phone misses out on the inky deep black levels possible only with an AMOLED display.
Peak brightness levels are excellent and I found the default color calibration to be perfectly adequate out of the box. Like other Realme phones, there’s an option to switch the calibration towards cooler or warmer shades. Additionally, the refresh rate can be set to 60 or 120Hz, or there’s an adaptive mode that dynamically switches between the two refresh rates.
Is the Realme Narzo 30 Pro powerful ?
In fact, these chipsets are placed quite favorably against the Qualcomm alternatives, at least as far as CPU performance is concerned. The Dimensity 800U in the Realme Narzo 30 Pro goes up against the upper Snapdragon 700 series SoCs and brings four Cortex A76 cores to the table. This is in addition to the four Cortex A55 cores performing lightweight tasks.
Where the phone presents a hitch, however, is GPU performance. I had a smooth gameplay experience playing Call of Duty Mobile. However, graphics max out at the medium setting. Additionally, even at medium, pulling up the game assistant shows that the GPU is running at 99% capacity through most of the gameplay. Genshin Impact, another popular and graphically-taxing game, had choppy frames in busier scenes.
The Realme Narzo 30 Pro keeps up with the times and is equipped with a suitably large battery. The 5000mAh cell lasts through a solid two days of normal use. No complaints there.
Meanwhile, charging speeds are a downgrade over the Realme X7 Pro, but 30W fast charging is no slouch either. A full top off from scratch takes just a little over an hour.
How awesome is the Realme Narzo 30 Pro camera?
Simply put, the camera suite on the Narzo 30 Pro is pretty lackluster. The setup is predictable and in line with what most competitors offer at this price point: a 48MP primary sensor paired up with an 8MP ultrawide shooter and a 2MP macro sensor.
The default white balance selection is just a bit too warm, and the overall image is brighter with oversaturated blues. The image looks perfectly good to go on social media, but if you want natural tones, you’re out of luck. The overzealous saturation levels are particularly noticeable in the ultra-wide image above where the blue sky looks completely unnatural.
In summary
Pros:
The performance. For day-to-day use, and even a reasonable amount of gaming, the Narzo 30 Pro offers a lot of bang for your buck.
The display. I’m in the camp that is absolutely fine with a quality IPS panel over an AMOLED display. The 120Hz refresh rate, high brightness levels, and default calibration had me impressed.
The battery life. It’s not particularly exceptional, but the phone lasts on par with the competition.
Cons:
The build. Realme has taken some drastic measures to cut the price of the Narzo 30 Pro and it shows. From the quality of materials to omissions like stereo speakers, there’s quite a bit missing here.
The cameras. If all you ever do is look at photos on your phone, the cameras here do a serviceable job. However, the tuning could definitely do with some tweaking to bring it on par with the competition.