Realme was launched to take on the budget smartphone market back nearly 3 years ago. Since then, the brand has broken several records and anyone looking for a budget smartphone looks to a Realme device. As top-end and upper mid-range smartphone prices have sky-rocketed, the sweet spot for a lot of budget buyers is well under the Rs. 20,000 range. You are treated with most of the features you might have once seen only on phones priced over Rs. 40,000. Those features have now percolated down to these devices. The new Realme 8 and 8 Pro are two such devices that have all the features you might have dreamt of, but what they also have are some seriously outstanding designs. There is oddly, a big price difference between the two new devices, so we try to explain what you get for those prices.
The Realme 8 starts at a price of Rs. 14,999* and the Realme 8 Pro at Rs. 17,999*, but they have their share of similarities. Both devices run 6.4-inch screens, at a resolution of 1080 x 2400 (FHD+). They are also both AMOLED displays so you can enjoy high contrast ratios, great colour saturation and good power-efficiency, despite its large sizes. Both screens have a 180Hz Touch Sampling rate that should help with response times while gaming. The brightness of the screen peaks at 1000nits so they should be just as clear outdoors as they are indoors. The screens are nearly edgeless with a minor bezel at the bottom, and only a punch-hole in the left top of the screen, for the front-facing camera. Despite their large screens, both these devices are surprisingly light, weighing roughly 177g, and about 8.1mm in thickness. There is a variation of a gram at most. These numbers mean the Realme 8 and 8 Pro are both great for gaming, for browsing, watching movies and TV shows, chatting, and more.
The first differences can be seen on the performance front. The Realme 8 runs an octa-core MediaTek Helio G95 processor clocked at 2.05GHz, while the more expensive Realme 8 Pro runs an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor clocked at 2.3GHz. The differences in the performances should be noticeable in premium games but if you are using everyday apps, the Realme 8 might perform just as well. Although, Realme claims the 8’s MediaTek Helio G95 is made for smoother gameplay. There is also an ARM Mali-G76 chip onboard to help with graphics-intensive processing. The Realme 8 ships as 4GB and 8GB RAM variants, while the Realme 8 Pro ships as 6GB and 8GB models. All devices come with 128GB of onboard storage, and a microSD card slot for storage expansion if you need it.
The cameras are big parts of both devices, but there are some differences here. For the extra buck, you get a 108MP camera setup on the Realme 8 Pro, and a 64MP camera on the Realme 8. The Realme 8 Pro is also powered by Samsung’s HM2 sensor which is also larger in physical size. It’s 1/1.52-inch in dimensions, which is quite impressive. The camera should create some detailed results regardless of what you are shooting. Realme claims you can zoom up to 3x just by the sheer resolution of the image resolution. The other cameras are identical on both devices. There is an 8MP Ultra Wide-angle lens with a f/2.25 aperture and a field of view of 119 degrees. This camera lets you click photos of large groups with ease, and of wide landscapes and cramped indoors. The photos may look a little distorted at the very extreme but that is the effect of any wide-angle lens on any camera. The two other cameras in the quad camera setups are the 2MP macro lens and a 2MP B&W lens. The macro lens lets you capture photos of objects as close as 4cm from the lens, which is useful for clicking closeups of tiny subjects or to capture minute detail.
Both phones can shoot videos at 4K at 30fps but what makes the Realme 8 Pro stand out is its ability to shoot 1080p content at 480fps and 720p content at 960fps. That opens a world of options to slow down footage by a lot. You don’t even sacrifice on the resolution like some of the phones we have seen. The Realme 8 in comparison, shoots 1080p content at 60fps and 720p footage at 240fps. Both phones use a 16MP in-display front-facing camera, powered by a Sony IMX471 sensor. Not only can you shoot great selfies with them, but you can also make video calls. The phones can even record using both the cameras as the same time using something called Dual-view Video, which can fun when you’re shooting vlogs. The Realme 8 even has UIS MAX Video Stabilization that helps normalize the movement in your view, so you don’t have jittery and bumpy footage when you’re moving around.
Style is often ignored on most mid-range phones, but that’s not the case with the Realme 8 Pro. The rear panel housing the four cameras on the special, Illuminating Yellow variant is surrounded by a glowing fluorescent yellow and Realme’s bold messaging, ‘Dare to Leap’. It glows in the dark and it’s the kind of thing that can attract a lot of attention. The cheaper Realme 8 does not have it, but it has a vertical bar that has a different finish that diffuses light differently. It too has the ‘Dare to Leap’ branding along that vertical band. The Realme 8 comes in two colours, Cyber Silver and Cyber Black, the Realme 8 Pro in three, Infinite Blue, Infinite Black and the Illuminating Yellow, which we mentioned.
Battery performance is an important factor in every smartphone these days. The Realme 8 Pro ships with a 4,500 battery but with a quick 50W SuperDart Charge feature, which should help boost the battery in no time. The Realme 8 on the other hand, comes with a 5,000mAh battery but with a 30W Dart Charge. Having even a 30W charge rate is a good thing when a lot of more expensive phones still don’t have fast charging. The Realme 8 Pro should see some extraordinary charging times though. Realme claims the 8 Pro can go from 0 to 50 per cent charge in no more than 17 minutes and on to 100 per cent in 47 minutes, while the Realme 8 goes from 0 to 100 per cent in 65 minutes. There are also smart features that ensure there is safety maintained as the battery charge rapidly. The Realme 8 can even charge other devices, using a reverse charging feature but you will need to purchase an OTG cable to do so.
The Realme 8 and 8 Pro also have a lot of the standard features we want to see in a phone. There is Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) for wireless connectivity, and a Type-C USB port for charging and transferring data between devices. The Realme 8 and 8 Pro come with Bluetooth 5.1 and 5.0 respectively. You also get a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is a welcome features these days. The phones even ship with Realme UI 2.0, which is based on Android 11. Realme UI 2.0 includes a fresh new look, and it goes well with the new Realme 8 and 8 Pro. There is more emphasis on the dark mode, security, and on efficiency.
The Realme 8 and 8 Pro are fresh new smartphones with refreshing designs in a crowded space. There are plenty of variants to choose from, with all the performance you need to get you through the day. Whoever said, you can’t get good phones under Rs. 20,000? Looking to buy the Realme 8 and 8 Pro? Look no further. You can now order yourself one right here at RelianceDigital.in or at your nearest Reliance Digital store.
Note: Prices are subject to change. Product images are for representation only. Please refer to the product page for the latest prices, details and availability.
