realme X3 SuperZoom Review: Best Value Flagship below ₱ 25K


The mid-range and entry-level segments have always been the playing ground of realme devices since its introduction in the country. With the advent of the realme X3 SuperZoom, the company is "shooting for the stars" as it joins the premium flagship race. However, staying true to its roots of offering best value devices, the X3 SuperZoom settles to a more practical sub Php 25K price. This makes it one of the most sought-after handsets this season.

realme X3 SuperZoom Review

Based on its moniker, the realme X3 SuperZoom gives the spotlight to its camera capability thru employing a periscope telephoto lens in its quad-camera module. On top of that, it promises non-stop performance with its fast processor, beefy storage, 120-hz refresh rate, fast-charging battery, and more. We know that most of you are impressed with the specs, but how good really is the realme X3 SuperZoom? Who is it for? Let's find out in this review.

Review Summary:

Pros

  • Great periscope and main camera combination
  • Solid build, not a fingerprint magnet
  • Good battery life with fast charging
  • 120Hz refresh rate
  • Close to stock Android Software

Cons

  • No headphone jack
  • Slippery build
Related Video on our Youtube Channel:

Design

There are many things to like about the realme x3 SuperZoom, its design philosophy is one of them. realme has made great improvements on this aspect without deviating from the design philosophy of other realme handsets. Its backing is made of glass that's protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Unlike the previously released smartphones, the X3 SuperZoom negates fingerprint, that's why I love to use this phone without a case. But of course, I always try hard to not let it slip in my hand. The frame is made of plastic with a matte finish and it comes with a different grayish-silver tone compared to the backing.


Once laid flat on the table, the realme x3 SuperZoom will instantly mimic a rocking chair due to its protruding camera bump. On the right, you'll find a dimpled area where the power button lies. It also doubles as the fingerprint sensor. Speaking of, the sensor is quite zippy and could hardly miss our touches. We could tell that the power button has a different texture compared to the frame. It also comes with sharp edges that could tamper the continuity of the matte exterior of the frame. Volume buttons at the left are clickable and serve its purpose as expected.


For me, it's also a glaring thought that we don't have a headphone jack. Sure, realme has plenty of affordable Buds Air devices  but no other Android-supporting wireless earphones can beat the audio jack...for now. The bottom firing speaker is loud enough for multimedia consumption, it could definitely fill the room but it's still not stereo. It is accompanied by the USB Type C, the primary microphone and the SIM tray. The SIM tray comes with two slots but does not accommodate a microSD card. But hey, 256GB of storage is a big room to fill, don't you think?

Display

The realme x3 SuperZoom touts a large 6.6-inch LCD display with dual hole-punch design. You might think that the smartphone is playing catch up since most of its competitors in this price segment are already boasting OLED panels. However, the handset cranks up its display tech by integrating a 120-Hz refresh rate. This means that its panel has 50 percent higher refresh rate than the realme 6 and 6 pro.


The display quality is pretty solid among all the LCD phones we've used. Bezels are quite thin but there's still a noticeable chin. On the top left, there's a pill-shaped cutout for the dual selfie camera, and squeezed in the top middle are the earpiece and the proximity sensor.

The display packs a 1080 x 2400p resolution framed in a 20:9 aspect ratio and 399 ppi pixel density. For me the display is quite good. Brightness needs more punch for an LCD panel but for a normal user, you won't see any difference. Contrast is also on point, the realme X3 SuperZoom handles blacks very well just like the realme 6 series phones. I could also say the same thing with color reproduction.

The realme X3 SuperZoom also supports Dark Mode and Eye Comfort toggles to fit user's preference especially when using the handset at night. There's also a slider from Cool to Warm in the display settings. Turning On OSIE Vision effect adds crisp and vividness in your display.


And of course, one of its main selling points, the 120 Hz display. You can force the screen to 120Hz or 60Hz in your Refresh Rate setting. Personally, I use Auto Select. This allows the system to optimize the refresh rate depending on your smartphone activity or apps being used. On top of that, it also conserves your battery consumption. You'll get 120Hz refresh rate when scrolling the interface or browsing Settings app - that's if you set 120Hz or Auto in the refresh rate setting. Sadly, there are limited games that can run on 120 Hz.

Read also: realme X3 SuperZoom Unboxing, First Impressions, Sample Photos

Performance

The realme X3 SuperZoom is not just about display. At the heart of this phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+, it's the beefed up version of last year's flagship chipset. Pairing it with 12GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 storage makes the realme X3 SuperZoom one heck of a monster phone.

realme X3 SuperZoom Review Philippines

In our Antutu Benchmarks, the handset tallied a 498260 score - that's less than 2000 points away from 500K! So you might ask, why not Snapdragon 865 though? We all know that realme is trying to squeeze the price on the "affordable" and competitive side to cater majority of the users. Snapdragon 855+ is a fair choice for a smartphone less than Php 25K.

realme X3 SuperZoom Review Philippines

In real life usage, the realme X3 SuperZoom is exceptional in handling tasks. It's top notch in performance department and could definitely compete with this year's flagship. The handset is more than enough to play all your favorite games including Mobile Legends, Call of Duty, PUBG Mobile, and more. It's also a good companion for content consumption. Running Netflix, iWant TV, and YouTube videos take advantage of the X3 SuperZoom's big screen real estate and above average loudspeaker.

realme X3 SuperZoom Review Philippines Performance

Camera

The meat of our conversation is the camera. Based on the smartphone's "SuperZoom" moniker, the handset flexes its powerful 8MP telephoto camera with up to 5x optical zoom; this sensor sits right at the top of the vertically-piled camera module. Moreover, the phone also comes with a 64MP Samsung GW1 main camera and an 8MP ultrawide camera. The additional 2MP macro sensor wraps the total number of camera to 4.

realme X3 SuperZoom Camera Review

The 64MP main camera captures photos in 16MP by default. You can opt to use the 64MP mode for more details but also with small addition of noise; and you can't use HDR in this setting. The ultra-wide sensor  has a 119-degree field-of-view, and the macro camera is still a fixed-focus camera which takes decent close-up shots.

Photos taken in daylight are pretty solid. Details are on point with great color saturation and contrast. It also looks natural. The shots also come with wide dynamic range. Turning on AI Dazzle Color will make colors pop but not to the point of over-saturation.

realme X3 SuperZoom Camera Review
Main Camera Sample Shot

Main Camera Sample Shot

Main Camera Sample Shot

The 8MP ultra-wide sensor is also a worker. Shots with this camera also offers great detail and wide dynamic range especially when the AI Dazzle is turned on.

realme X3 SuperZoom Camera Review
Ultra-wide Camera Sample Shot

Ultra-wide Camera Sample Shot

Ultra-wide Camera Sample Shot

Ultra-wide Camera Sample Shot

The 8MP Telephoto "SuperZoom" camera produces shots with great details. You can toggle to different zoom configurations - 2x, 5x, 10x - using toggle dots on the camera interface. I could tell that you can get the same quality as the standard 1x up to 10x zoom, beyond that, photos lack detail and noise gets prominent.

Standard wide-angle

2x Optical Zoom

5x Optical Zoom

10x zoom

30x Zoom

realme X3 SuperZoom Camera Review
60x Zoom

In low-light, shots are fine with decent noise management. Using Night Mode improves the photo quality a lot. Photos also come as sharp, shadows are recovered and noise reduction is subtle. If it's your cup of tea, you can use the telephoto camera for low-light shots. The fixed-focus Ultra-Macro mode also captures good photos in 4-cm distance. In addition, you can use the portrait mode for 1x and 2x zoom. The camera app has a Starry Mode setting which allows you to dramatically capture the night sky using a tripod.

Low-light standard shot with main camera

2x Zoom Low-light

5x Zoom Low-light

10x Zoom Low-light

Sample Macro Shot

Sample Macro Shot

The realme X3 SuperZoom's dual camera set-up is made up of a combination of 32MP and 8MP sensors. Selfie shots are also exceptional with good details and color accuracy. Dynamic range is also wide. On top of that, since this is a dual camera, you can take ultra-wide selfies.

Left to Right: Selfie Sample, Ultra-wide Selfie Sample, Selfie Sample, Ultra-wide Selfie Sample

You can record up to 2160p at 60fps video using the handset's camera. In ultra-wide mode and telephoto, you can record up to 1080p 30fps video. In terms of video quality, we tried the 1080p 30fps video using the main camera and ultra-wide camera, and I think the videos have great details. Colors and dynamic range are also on point. Videos are sharp, and if you're a content creator, you can use the realme X3 SuperZoom's camera as your video recording device. Moreover, the main camera features optical image stabilization which kicks in very well in our video test - to my surprise, car shakes and walking paces are instantly negated resulting in a very smooth video.

Sample Video: Main Camera at 1080p 30fps

Sample Video: Ultra-wide Camera 1080p 30fps


Check out this link for High Resolution Photos.

Software

The realme X3 SuperZoom boots with realme UI on top of Android 10. As usual, we love how close to stock Android the interface has become since realme implemented its own UI. Every elements in the interface are in their proper place. The icons are also simple and minimalist. I also loved the fact that the notifications shade and control toggles are found on one place. On top of that, you'll have the option to activate the app drawer for a more traditional Android experience.


If you want to customize your phone, the realme UI allows you to download icon packs or themes in the Theme Store. And, the realme UI also allows you to use Swipe Gestures which is very convenient compared to using an on-screen navigation buttons.

There's also a Smart Sidebar which I don't normally use. It is positioned at the edge of the screen just like the ones you see in Samsung's One UI. You can put your favorite apps or quick tools in this retractable area. Of course, there are also a number of bloatwares found in the interface. Some of them you can't delete.

Battery

The realme X3 SuperZoom is packed with a 4200 mAh battery. For fair to moderate use, the smartphone could last a day and even the next day. In our day of usage, we had a total of six hours screen time with activities ranging from one-hour video streaming in Netflix, one-hour music streaming in Spotify, 30-minute Google Chrome (60Hz) web browsing, 30-minute Mobile Legends at Auto Select refresh rate, two dozen of snaps, five-minute video recording at 1080p 30fps, and the rest are occasional emails, messaging apps, and a 3-minute call.


In our charging test, we charged the smartphone while it's off from 0% to 100% in just 1 hour and 5 minutes using the X3 SuperZoom's Dart Charger. realme is advertising 55 minutes to full charge, and I think the difference in our test is quite acceptable.

Verdict: Should You Buy The realme X3 SuperZoom

Aside from being a top-notch camera phone, the realme X3 SuperZoom proves that it is a balanced smartphone. This means that it's not just a one-trick pony. And I'm quite impressed with its Php 24,990 price tag. To me, it's hard not to recommend this phone to those who are looking for the best value out of their hard-earned money.

It's also a very dependable handset due to its long battery life and fast-charging capability. On top of that, I also fell in love with its premium design and clean software. You guys who are working from home or home-schooling could definitely consider this smartphone. In the sea of phones released in the past months, the realme X3 SuperZoom definitely sticks out from the rest.

realme X3 SuperZoom Specs

6.6-inch IPS LCD FHD+ Display, 399 ppi density
120Hz Refresh Rate
Gorilla Glass 5 Front, Glass Back
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC
12GB RAM LPDDR4x
256GB UFS 3.0 storage
Rear: 64MP Quad Camera, 8MP Periscope Telephoto, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP Macro
Front: 32MP + 8MP
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 5.0 LE
GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, BDS
USB Type C
USB OTG
Android 10 with Realme UI
4G LTE; Dual SIM; Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB Type-C 2.0
Side-mounted fingerprint reader
Accelerometer, Gyro, Proximity, Compass
4200 mAh battery, 30-watt Dart Charging
Arctic White, Glacier Blue
Php 24,990
Previous Post Next Post