2019 has been a big year for Realme. With a steady spate of well performing, and well received devices, the company has managed to grow its market share by leaps and bounds. Now, with the Realme X2, the company is ending the year with yet another blockbuster release. The phone takes direct aim at the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, and in many ways supersedes it as a mid-range champ.

In our Realme X2 review, we find out if it has what it takes to earn the crown of best mid-range phone around.

Realme X2: Design

The Realme X2 carries the same design DNA as the Realme XT, rather than the X2 Pro (Review) as its name would lead you to believe. Physically, it's hard to tell the two phones apart, unless you get the new Pearl Green colour which is only available for the X2 right now. This colour trim has a glossy frame, instead of the matte finish on the other colour options. Build quality and finish are both good, and this phone is not terribly slippery. The back also has the same ‘hyperbolic' pattern that the XT had, which means it will glisten when light hits it as it moves.

The screen is still relatively large, so using this phone comfortably with one hand can be challenging at times. Button placement is good and the layout of the ports is also the same as on previous Realme phones, with the speaker, USB Type-C port, and headphone socket all placed at the bottom. The X2 supports expandable storage and has a dedicated slot for a microSD card, in addition to the slots for two Nano-SIMs.

Realme X2: Display

• 6.4-inch AMOLED
• 2,340 x 1,080 pixels
• 402ppi

The Realme X2’s display is a beautiful canvas for media consumption. While there is a water drop notch, I didn’t find it to be a hindrance and got used to it quickly.

The screen skews towards cooler tones and isn’t very natural looking. It is possible to adjust it, but I didn’t observe a drastic difference. A bigger issue is that the peak brightness level tops off at about 418nits, which isn’t very good. If you plan to use the phone while out and about in the sun, visibility will be an issue.

Realme X2: Performance

The main reason for the Realme X2's existence was the lack of a phone in the Rs 20K segment from Realme and a rival to Xiaomi's Redmi K20 series. It was able to kill two birds with one stone here by equipping the X2 with the Snapdragon 730G chipset. It not only makes it the cheapest phone to be powered by this SoC but also one of the most powerful phones you can buy in this segment.

Unveiled less than a year ago, the Snapdragon 730G is built on an 8nm manufacturing process, with a total of 8 cores spread over two clusters. That is paired with the Adreno 618 GPU clocked at a higher 575MHz.

In terms of real-life use, that translates to an extremely responsive experience that never really falters. Any combination of moderately heavy tasks such as social media, calls, photography, etc. will not slow the phone down. It handles everything you throw at it like a champ.

When it comes to gaming too, the Realme X2 held its own, even for extended durations. We've seen earlier generations of the Snapdragon 7 family struggle to provide a consistently smooth gaming performance, but it seems like Realme has done its share of optimizations. PUBG Mobile could efficiently run at over 30fps with barely any stutters. After about 15-20 minutes, the phone did get warm, but nothing too extreme. 

If you're contesting between the Realme X2 and the Redmi Note 8 Pro, especially on the gaming front, these phones are neck to neck, and neither will disappoint you.

Realme X2: Battery

The Realme X2 houses a 4,000mAh battery, which combined with the 8nm Snapdragon 730G and ColorOS to provide pretty decent battery backup. In our regular usage, we could consistently get over a day’s use out of it.

To sweeten the plot, 30W VOOC 4.0 charging can take the battery from 0 to about 60% in 30 minutes, and full tank in a little over an hour. You will have to use the included USB Type-C charger for the best results. While the battery life may not be best in class, the charging speeds definitely are.

Realme X2: Camera

Like most of Realme’s product line-up, the Realme X2 also ships with a quad-camera set up. The cameras cover a range of focal-lengths, which should let you capture an array of potential scenarios. The Samsung GW1 is the primary sensor. Curiously, the camera ditches the telephoto camera of the X2 Pro for a dedicated macro camera.

It’s been a cloudy few days here in Delhi, and the settings were hardly ideal for a proper camera test. However, the Realme X2 did better than I expected. Like every other Realme phone so far, the camera has a tendency to push blue tones. Details are reasonably good, but on an overcast day it is easy to see smudging when pixel-peeping. The camera relies on sharpening to achieve a crisper look.

The 119-degree ultra-wide angle camera is a step down from the primary module in terms of image quality. There’s a perceptible softness to wide-angle images, as well as significant distortion around the edges. Dynamic also range takes a step back, with lost detail in shadowy areas. It’ll serve in a pinch, but pure image quality isn’t close to what you get from the primary shooter.

Realme X2 details

The Realme X2’s camera is able to capture highly detailed shots when up close, and aside from the blue tint, colors look fairly true to life.

I’m not entirely convinced by this macro camera trend. The 2MP resolution is too low to be useful. However, if you do like to take close-up images, the Realme X2 can capture a sharp image at about 4cm from the subject. As you can see from the sample image, results look passable, but you certainly don’t want to put them on poster-sized prints.