Realme P3 Pro Review: A Good Upgrade That Fails to Stand Out

Realme’s P3 Pro, in my first impressions, seemed like a solid upgrade to its predecessor, the P2 Pro. It offered good value given the hardware on offer and also introduced some segment-leading features like a quad-curved display and an IP69 rating at its price point. However, it’s time to check out how well those new features perform and whether they make a difference to the phone’s overall value, keeping competing smartphones in mind. Despite the solid upgrades, a few things stand out for all the wrong reasons.

Realme P3 Pro Design: Snazzy stuff

• Dimensions – 163.51 × 77.34 × 8.29mm
• Weight – 192g
• Durability – IP68 + IP69

The Realme P3 Pro is available in three finishes: Nebula Glow, Galaxy Purple, and Saturn Brown. The glow-in-the-dark Nebula Glow is the most exciting (yet gimmicky) finish. However, we received the Galaxy Purple variant with a vegan leather-wrapped rear panel.

Contrary to my expectations, this vegan leather rear panel does not feel as premium as it should. It is not as soft as most vegan leather backs, but quite hard. However, its construction also makes it feel more durable. There’s plenty of grip, so there’s a small chance this phone will slip out of your hands even if you are clumsy.

The Realme P3 Pro’s vegan leather rear panel feels more durable than premium

Overall, the design of the P series has changed for the better. It is one of the few smartphones offering a vegan leather finish under Rs. 25,000. It’s overall design reminds me of the Vivo V50, a mid-range smartphone I recently reviewed. While it does not feel as premium, it does have a similar rounded design with well-rounded corners and curved sides for its polycarbonate mid-frame that blend almost seamlessly into one another, making good use of the quad-curved display on the front.

Despite packing just one usable camera, the rear camera module has gone from a squarish design to a circular layout. Even though the phone is quite thick (it appears that way, too), the camera module also protrudes quite a bit, making it appear chunky. Despite its chunky design, the phone is quite stylish. Its bright colours and unique finishes will definitely attract youth.

Realme also claims that its phone is tested to MIL-STD 810 standards

The phone also offers IP68 and IP69 protection against the elements, but do keep in mind that Realme’s warranty policy does not cover damage caused by water ingress.

Realme P3 Pro Display: Quad-curved, but at what cost?

• Display size – 6.83-inch, 2,800 x 1,272 pixels, 1.5K (391 PPI)
• Display type – OLED, 60-120Hz
• Display protection – Panda Glass

Realme P3 Pro’s display looks plenty sharp when browsing through its software interface, and it shows slightly saturated colours when using its default Vivid screen colour mode. Given its quad-curved nature, there are some distracting reflections, but when using it outdoors, I also found its brightness to be a bit below the mark. Realme claims a maximum global brightness of 1,200 nits, which isn’t all that bright, as the display appeared a bit dim outdoors compared to competing smartphones at this price point.

Weirdly, this display’s refresh rate only switches between 60 and 120Hz

When streaming content through OTT apps indoors, the brightness did seem sufficient. The phone also supports Widevine L1, meaning you can enjoy movies in full HD streaming resolution. However, the device lacks HDR support, which is obvious given that its display can’t get too bright.

Weirdly, this display’s refresh rate only switches between 60 and 120Hz, so it’s not exactly an adaptive refresh rate either. Even if you are watching a movie, the screen’s refresh rate will lock up at 60Hz instead of dropping to a more optimal 30Hz.

What I loved about this panel were its skinny borders. The thin border makes the content appear quite immersive, regardless of which angle I was viewing the display from.

Realme P3 Pro Software: Bloatware buffet

• Software version – Android 15
• Software – Realme UI 6.0
• Software commitment – 2 years software + 3 years security updates

You’ll immediately notice the phone’s bloatware when you turn it on. Realme apps aside, there are numerous third-party apps, games, and a selection of “Hot Apps” as well, which keep changing every time you open the folders (there are two). And since there’s such a wide variety of apps on display along with several double apps (Google Files versus My Files), it can get a bit confusing as to which apps you should choose, especially if you are a first-time smartphone user.

A two-year commitment for software updates seems a bit too little, given that this is a mid-range smartphone

The interface is typically Realme UI with a focus on customisation. Some practical AI tools (AI Writer, AI Recording Summary, and AI Reply) are handy and work as expected. And then there’s image editing, which is something Oppo has yet to figure out before it trickles down to Realme UI.

Realme UI Performance: An everyday performer

• Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, 2.5GHz, (4nm)
• RAM – 8/12GB (LPDDR4X)
• Storage – 128/256GB (eMMC 5.1)

Realme UI feels quite smooth when using it, whether it’s multitasking between apps or even recalling apps from memory. The only instance when I did notice a slowdown is when shooting photos using the camera app. The phone takes a second or two to process photos just after you have captured them, and so there is a bit of waiting if you have the habit of tapping the photo thumbnail after every shot for closer examination.

Speaker performance isn’t the best. Despite packing two speakers, the audio delivery isn’t balanced and is driven mainly by the bottom-firing speaker. The primary speaker also lacks sufficient bass, even though it does get very loud.

The phone performed as expected in our benchmark test results.

Gaming performance is quite solid. I ran Call of Duty: Mobile at ‘Very High’ graphics and frame rate, and the game remained at a steady 59-60 fps during play. Touch sampling rate also felt sufficient, and the phone did not get too warm.

Realme P3 Pro Cameras: Average stuff

• Primary camera – 50-megapixel, f/1.8, OIS, AF
• Secondary camera (Depth) – 2-megapixel, f/2.4
• Selfie camera – 16-megapixel, f/2.4, FF

The Realme P3 Pro has only one user-accessible rear-facing camera

Realme P3 Pro primary camera samples (tap images to expand)

The primary camera snaps 12-megapixel binned photographs. They are a bit saturated in terms of colour reproduction. Dynamic range is not the best, so the photos appear a bit contrasted, omitting some detail in the brighter and darker areas of an image. When shooting in low-light or street-lit scenes, I noticed that the camera can’t pull out much detail, leading to flatter textures on objects and surfaces. In short, the low-light photos aren’t the best we have seen at this price point.

Realme P3 Pro 1X photos (top), 2X digital zoom (bottom) (tap images to expand)

The 2X digital zoom can be used when capturing photos in daylight, but even here I spotted some garbled textures (because of oversharpening), which the camera’s algorithms failed to process accurately. The 2X digital zoom is not worth using when shooting in low light.

Portrait mode photos captured using the same rear camera show impressive detail and edge detection when used in daylight, but the quality drops quite a bit in low light or dim lighting (tap image to expand)

In daylight (top), selfies look fine, but they lack detail and pack in more contrast. Edge detection appears a bit soft and isn’t accurate either.

The video recording capabilities of the Realme P3 Pro are far from the best we have seen at this price point. The video quality overall is a bit below average, with limited dynamic range. There’s limited detail in the shadows, and the overall quality at 1080p is a bit low. Stabilisation is tolerable when recording video at 1080p 30fps, but it starts getting noticeably wobbly at 1080p 60fps with some focus hopping. There is no stabilisation possible at 4K (30 fps), and the video appears too shaky, both when walking and panning. However, the 4K mode managed the best detail. In low light, 1080p video recordings appeared soft and lacked resolved details, with noise taking over. 4K recordings appeared the best, provided you can look past the nauseating camera shake.

Realme P3 Pro Battery: The usual

• Battery capacity – 6,000mAh
• Wired charging – 80W
• Charger in the box – Yes, 80W

The Realme P3 Pro lasted a solid 26 hours and 54 minutes in our standard video loop test, where a video is played on loop until the battery runs out. While these numbers sound impressive, OnePlus’s Nord CE4 managed better when I reviewed it last year, lasting an impressive 32 hours and 21 minutes on a single charge.

The Realme P3 Pro has a 6,000mAh battery

We also ran PCMark’s Work Battery Life test, which simulates basic usage, and it lasted 17 hours and 29 minutes with the phone connected to Wi-Fi and the brightness set to a fixed 50 percent. With daily use, which varies from person to person, I did find the battery to easily manage a whole day (24 hours) and some more, meaning this phone will comfortably last a little over a day, even if you use its camera and play games on it, apart from the usual calls, messaging, and social media usage. While it sounds great, I did expect it to last longer given its higher-than-usual capacity.

Charging speeds were pretty good. The phone also supports bypass charging, which produces less heat by directly powering the motherboard when playing games. The phone charged from a dead battery to 55 percent in 30 minutes, completing the charge in 1 hour and 6 minutes. This is good for a large battery but is still not as fast as the Nord CE 4.

Realme P3 Pro Verdict

Realme impressed the youth with its design, but it fell short in important areas, like cameras, software support, and charging speed. Despite its smooth performance, the software is also loaded with bloatware. Surprisingly, to a Realme P2 Pro user, the phone is still a worthy upgrade.

However, compared to the competition, the Realme P3 Pro’s segment-leading features bring about small qualitative differences in the real world. The OnePlus Nord CE 4 (Review) is a better alternative to the P3 Pro, provided you are fine with its average low-light camera performance. It offers a delicate balance of raw power, battery performance and style. If you are looking for a solid gaming device, then the Poco F6 (Review) should be the right pick. The Nothing Phone 3a that we are currently testing (review out soon) is also a better choice overall with its standout design, impressive bloatware-free software, good battery life and wider selection of cameras.