The Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G: A Budget 5G Challenger With Tradeoffs
The race for the most affordable 5G smartphone in India is heating up, with brands launching new contenders almost every week. The latest entry in this contest is the Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G, which launched at the end of February 2021. At a starting price of Rs. 16,999, it’s currently the least expensive 5G phone in India. However, with its budget-friendly price tag, it introduces some trade-offs that you’ll want to consider before deciding if it’s the right fit for you. This review delves into the Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G to see if it delivers on its promise of an affordable 5G experience.
Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G Price and Variants
The Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G comes in two variants:
- 6GB RAM + 64GB storage: Rs. 16,999
- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage: Rs. 19,999
Both variants offer LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.1 storage.
Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G Design
The Narzo 30 Pro 5G sports an all-plastic body, which feels robust and sturdy. The ergonomics are good, and despite weighing 194g, the phone doesn’t feel heavy. The "Blade Silver" colour reviewed here looks nice and hides fingerprints well, although it might appear a bit bland without any patterned design on the back.
The side-mounted fingerprint sensor is highly responsive, unlocking the phone with a quick tap. Similarly, face recognition is fast and reliable. All the physical buttons are conveniently placed and offer good tactile feedback.
The phone features a 6.5-inch full-HD+ LCD panel with decent brightness and colour saturation. While an AMOLED panel would have been desirable for a "Pro" model, the 120Hz refresh rate compensates for that. However, the default "Auto" setting limits the refresh rate to 90Hz, and you need to manually set it to 120Hz to experience the smoothest scrolling. Fortunately, even on the 120Hz setting, the refresh rate intelligently adapts to the content on screen, switching between 120Hz, 90Hz, and 60Hz.
Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G Specifications and Software
Powering the Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G is the MediaTek Dimensity 800U SoC, which is also found in Realme’s own X7, priced at the same price as the 8GB/128GB variant of the Narzo 30 Pro 5G. The Dimensity 800U boasts a built-in 5G modem and offers efficient performance.
The Narzo 30 Pro 5G supports dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1, and the usual suite of sensors. You also get support for multiple satellite navigation systems. However, the phone lacks NFC or any official IP rating for water resistance. Realme claims that it can withstand light splashes of water.
Software-wise, the Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G ships with Android 10 and Realme UI 2.0. Although we’d prefer Android 11, the phone should get the Realme UI 2.0 update based on Android 11 soon. The current UI is highly functional and offers plenty of customization options through shortcuts, gestures, and settings.
Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G Performance and Battery Life
The Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G offers solid overall performance thanks to the powerful Dimensity 800U SoC. Multitasking, demanding tasks like gaming, and general usage are handled with ease. Heating issues are minimal, with the back becoming warm only during extended gaming sessions. The high refresh rate display contributes to a snappy interface, making scrolling through menus and apps very smooth. The screen’s excellent legibility makes it easy to read content even under direct sunlight.
The bottom-firing speaker gets quite loud and is further amplified by Dolby Atmos, which is permanently enabled for the speaker. While the sound quality is good, don’t expect a true surround sound experience from a single speaker. The vivid colours of the display make it ideal for watching movies and TV shows. Games like Call of Duty: Mobile run smoothly with playable frame rates.
The Narzo 30 Pro 5G packs a 5,000mAh battery, which easily lasts more than a day with heavy to medium usage. The phone supports 30W Dart Charge fast charging, which is a step down from the 65W charging found on the Narzo 20 Pro, but still gets the job done. Charging the battery to full takes slightly over an hour, which is still reasonably quick. The phone achieved just shy of 17 hours in our battery loop test, a promising result.
Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G Cameras
The Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G features a standard camera setup:
- Rear:
- 48-megapixel primary camera
- 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera
- 2-megapixel macro camera
- Front:
- 16-megapixel selfie camera
The primary camera is the most competent of the rear cameras and is likely the one you’ll use most often. The ultra-wide camera has its uses, but it’s best avoided in low-light conditions.
During daylight, the main camera captures good detail and colours in landscape shots. The AI scene enhancer tends to boost colours when it detects the sky or foliage, so turn it off if you prefer natural tones. Close-ups also boast excellent detail and a smooth bokeh effect. You only get a 10x digital zoom for stills, but cropping your subject from a native 48-megapixel photo often yields slightly better results.
All the usual shooting modes present on previous Realme phones are included, such as Portrait, Expert, Slo-mo, Pano, and more. The macro camera isn’t impressive and should only be used if absolutely necessary.
Low-light performance, especially for landscape photos, is lacking. The lack of detail is evident even without magnifying the image. Close-ups fare better, but still require good lighting on the subject. Night mode helps improve exposure but doesn’t significantly enhance detail.
The selfie camera performs decently outdoors in bright sunlight. Detail and exposure are handled well, and the default skin smoothening isn’t too aggressive. However, skin tones become inaccurate in low light when using the screen flash.
For video, the autofocus system works well in well-lit conditions. Video quality is decent during the day but not exceptional. Stabilization is available at 4K and 1080p 30fps, but there is some noticeable jitter in the footage. Unfortunately, there’s no stabilization for the ultra-wide camera. Low-light video quality is quite poor with noticeable grain and below-average detail.
Verdict
The Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G is a solid all-rounder from Realme and a decent upgrade over the Narzo 20 Pro. Its weakest point is the lackluster low-light camera performance, but it compensates with several appealing features.
The 120Hz display, 5G support, good performance, and strong battery life make the base variant at Rs. 16,999 excellent value for money. The top-end variant offers less value as it competes with several other solid 5G smartphones in the Rs. 20,000 segment. For instance, the Realme X7, with its same MediaTek 5G SoC, starts at the same price as the top-end Narzo 30 Pro 5G, but lacks a high refresh rate display. The X7 compensates with an AMOLED screen, in-display fingerprint sensor, 50W fast charging, and a slimmer, lighter design. The Xiaomi Mi 10i also offers better features for slightly more money.
Ultimately, if you’re considering the Realme Narzo 30 Pro 5G, sticking to the base variant is the more value-driven choice. While the Narzo 30 Pro 5G doesn’t break new ground, it successfully delivers an affordable 5G smartphone with excellent value proposition, making it a worthy contender in the ever-growing market.
