Review: Hands-on with the realme Q5 Pro in Inner Mongolia, China

Review: Hands-on with the realme Q5 Pro in Inner Mongolia, China

Three latest realme Q-series smartphones, realme Q5, realme Q5 Pro and realme Q5i, were launched on April 20 in China. They are being marketed as an affordable flagship model which also support fast charging. As the Q-series portfolio is priced at one to two thousand yuan, the series are big sellers all the time. For example, last year's Q3 series had witnessed good sales in various major channels.

We have been lucky enough to get hold of the realme Q5 Pro to put it through its paces. Now, follow us to see how it performs in Inner Mongolia, China.

realme Q5 Pro Specifications
The realme Q5 Pro comes with a 6.62-inch full-HD+Samsung E4 AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, DC dimming and an in-display fingerprint scanner.

Its plastic back cover has adopted the checkerboard pattern, which caters to one of the latest fashion trends.

The Q5 Pro version is available in three color options — bright yellow, white, and dark. Among them, the bright yellow one surprises me most, which reminds me of Agatsuma Zenitsu in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba.

The handset is still powered by an Snapdragon 870 SoC, a common option for Android models because of its good performance and energy efficiency ratio (EER). As an innovation, it is powered by a 5,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging support, which was only seen in flagship models. Also thanks for the diamond ice core cooling system, the model excels at a long-time battery life, which is good for both gaming and daily usage.

Meanwhile, the Q5 Pro is priced at 1,799yuan for the 6GB + 128GB storage model, and the 8GB + 128GB variant costs 1,999yuan. Customers can also purchase an 8GB + 256GB model priced at 2,199yuan. The price of course has a competitive edge in the market.

The real-world experience
For photos and videos, the realme Q5 Pro features a triple rear camera setup that houses a 64-megapixel primary sensor, a 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel macro shooter. For selfies and video chats, the realme Q5 Pro carries a 16-megapixel selfie camera sensor at the front.

The main selling point of the Q5 Pro is not its photo performance, however, it proves to be well the same as part of the GT-series portfolio.

First, let’s shoot with the 64-megapixel primary camera. As seen in following sunset shootings, the camera successfully presents a rich layer of sky color, while properly retaining some details of characters, so that the image of people and horses is well outlined by the light and shadow. As this camera has a high latitude, the post-production process can be shortened largely.

How the picture below looks like a Western blockbuster image!

The Q5 Pro totes 1/1.72-inch sensor with an f/1.8 aperture lens. The sensor, not large though, can maintain rich details which are available in the second composition.

RAW photographed with the 64-megapixel camera

A crop (9:16)

NOW comes to the macro shooter. When we test it, we accidently found a small lizard moving freely through the endless desert. Look at this little guy, its skin texture is just so clear! OH, maybe a little scared anyhow.

Also, the background behind the lizard is blurred to a proper extent, AMAZING!

Recently, a lot of smartphone manufactures have been working on their focus performance, and the Q5 Pro is no exception.

For example, it’s difficult to shoot the puppy because it was jumping around consistently! But the Q5 Pro managed it. With it, we successfully captured a lot of interesting images showing the mischievous but lovable puppy.

In this shooting practice, we shot both horses and motors, kind of the collision of traditional and modern transportation delivering unique features.

The Q5 Pro is still equipped with the exclusive street photography mode that can quickly capture photos and reduce algorithm interference. We know that a key point of street photography is all about the word "fast". How to capture motors speeding through the desert rolling up waves of sand or horses whizzing by on the ranch? Well, the Q5 Pro will give you an answer.

Towards the end of the trip, we looked out at the beautiful scenery in the car and couldn't resist the urge to leave this scene behind. But the car was constantly shaking, so it was difficult to shoot. Fortunately, the Q5 Pro is equipped with DIS (dynamic image snapshot) technology, it can perform well on the stabilization front.

At night, by reducing the exposure, we can accurately restore the light ratio and color perception of the scene and simply record those Little bliss moments.

The Night mode works well in real life and can maintain stability even handheld for two seconds. With this mode, we captured clear and sharp night scenes with more vivid colors.

Verdict
The realme Q5 Pro is a well-rounded smartphone in such a competitive market whose products are generally priced at 1500 to 2000 yuan. In addition, the company has innovatively brought the 80W high-speed fast charging function that was only available in flagship models to the Q series. The Q5 Pro is not an imaging flagship, but its photo capability is pretty good, which can bring users very interesting and enjoyable experiences.