REALME NARZO 60 PRO 5G REVIEW

 

REALME NARZO 60 PRO 5G DETAILED REVIEW

The Realme Narzo 60 series is finally here; the company has launched two phones in this lineup – the Realme Narzo 60 and Realme Narzo 60 Pro. I got the latter for review and upon opening the box, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the phone feels very familiar. In fact, all the specifications were also oddly familiar. Finally, it hit me that the phone shares the exact same specifications as the newly-launched Realme 11 Pro (review). Save a few. For instance, the Realme Narzo 60 Pro comes with a 1 TB storage variant unlike the Realme 11 Pro and it sports a slightly altered design. When we recently spoke to a Realme executive about the latest Narzo 60 Pro, they denied that the phone is a rebranded Realme 11 Pro, you can read that interview here. However, it certainly looks and feels like a rebrand, in my opinion. With that said, the world of smartphones is no stranger to redesigned/rebranded phones, but let’s see if the Realme Narzo 60 Pro is actually worth its asking price.

REALME NARZO 60 PRO 5G REVIEW: BUILD AND DESIGN

The design of the Realme Narzo 60 Pro 5G is extremely eye-catching for the price. Then again, as with all other specifications, the design is very reminiscent of the Realme 11 Pro. The phone is available in two colourways – Mars Orange and Cosmic Black. The former, which we got for review, sports a luxurious-feeling vegan leather back, while the Black variant comes with a matte-textured rear panel. 

The vegan leather material looks very premium, and we’re seeing more and more phones adopt this texture on their mid-range offerings. There’s a circular camera module – much like the Realme 11 Pro – which houses two camera lenses and a flash. The words “100 MP OIS Camera” are etched on the bottom of this lens module. The design is beautiful but it misses out on an IP rating, which could be an issue for some. 

The sides of the front and the back are curved, adding to the premium factor. The phone’s leather variant weighs 189 g, so it is quite comfortable to hold for hours on end. The display has minimal bezels and they look well-balanced. There’s a small punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera. The curved display, however, is prone to some mistaps being registered.

REALME NARZO 60 PRO 5G REVIEW: DISPLAY

Moving on to the display, let's dive into the details. The Realme Narzo 60 Pro boasts a 6.7-inch curved AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and a touch sampling rate of 360 Hz. The display is protected by AGC DragonTrail Star glass. Realme claims a 1,260 Hz instantaneous touch sampling rate. The optical in-display fingerprint sensor, although slightly slower than ideal, performed adequately during testing.

With its FHD+ resolution, the display offers plenty of crispness for its price point. The colours are vibrant, and the details are crisp. The display supports over 1 billion colours, ensuring a rich visual experience and overcoming the colour banding issues found in its predecessor. The AMOLED panel is surrounded by thin bezels, providing an immersive viewing experience.

Brightness levels are impressive, leaving little room for complaints. Realme claims a peak brightness of 950 nits, and in our tests, we measured a reading of 923 nits under direct sunlight in Auto-Brightness Mode. This is quite impressive. Additionally, the AMOLED display can dim significantly, allowing comfortable usage even in low-light conditions.

The Realme Narzo 60 Pro supports HDR10+. Although HDR10+ is a welcome addition, it's worth noting that some streaming services like Netflix do not currently support HDR on the Realme Narzo 60 Pro. 

REALME NARZO 60 PRO 5G REVIEW: PERFORMANCE

Priced below ₹25,000, the Realme Narzo 60 Pro delivers decent performance. However, the overall performance is significantly hindered by excessive bloatware. The number of pre-installed apps is quite overwhelming. On top of that, there are excessive pop-up notifications, unremovable "suggested apps" folders, and more, resulting in an unpleasant user interface experience.

The phone runs on Android 13 with Realme UI 4.0 on top. Realme promises 2 years of OS updates and 3 years of security updates, which is commendable. Now, let's delve into the hardware that powers the phone.

The Realme Narzo 60 Pro is equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 7050 SoC – the same as the Realme 11 Pro. It is manufactured using the 6 nm process and clocked at a maximum speed of 2.6 GHz. The phone comes with up to 12 GB RAM and up to 1 TB storage. This is one of the first, if not the first, phones to offer 1 TB storage at this price, so that’s commendable. Considering its price range, the processor delivers admirable performance, outperforming a couple of similarly priced alternatives. We compared the Realme Narzo 60 Pro to the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite and POCO X5 Pro.

In both the AnTuTu and GeekBench Single-Core tests, the Realme Narzo 60 Pro outperformed the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite and POCO X5 Pro. However, in the Multi-Core test, the POCO X5 Pro pulled ahead. One area where the Realme Narzo 60 Pro excelled was in the PCMarkWork test, which simulates day-to-day tasks such as spreadsheet usage and photo editing. The Realme Narzo 60 Pro easily outperformed most competitors in this benchmark.