[Realme X2 Guides, News, & Discussion] sobox:
Realme X2 vs Redmi Note 3 Pro

This is a short overview/rant about Realme X2 compared to my old phone Redmi Note 3 Pro. Some stuff is better, some worse, some just disappointing.

From now on Realme X2 will be referred to as X2 and Redmi Note 3 Pro as Redmi.

== Screen

X2 has high resolution OLED while Redmi has a 1080P LCD

Despite X2 having better screen on paper, in real world use I find it less practical than Redmi.

Here is why:

1. X2 minimum brightness is VERY bright, almost unusable in night setting, even with dark themes and all that. This is most likely a software issue but still annoying at night.

Max brightness on X2 is much brighter than Redmi though, so for day usage it's a win. Had no issues seeing things on X2 at all, while on Redmi somtimes I had to place it strategically so sun is away from screen.

2. X2 OLED color lag. When browsing dark content and scrolling (say on a website or reddit), you can see dark colors sorta "dragging"/ghosting along. No idea if this is OLED or just X2 limitation but it is very noticable. Not a big deal but compared to Redmi LCD I'm used to, a bit annoying.

3. Reading white text on black background at night causes "halo" effect around text on X2. Although it makes sense, it makes text harder to read, I had to actually switch to black text/white bg mode at night to read more comfortably. No such issue on Redmi since LCD is evenly lit even on black pixels. This wouldn't be a problem if min brightness wasn't so bright still.

== Flashlight

Not much to say here, Redmi LED flashlight is much brighter than X2. If I had to eyeball it, I'd say at least 1.5x brighter, maybe even 2x. For non photo use (searching stuff in the dark, shining farther, walking in the dark, actual usages a standalone flashlight could be used for) X2 is nearly useless unfortunately.

== Connection

Despite having BT5.0, X2 bluetooth range is sad compared to Redmi. With Redmi I can go three walls behind and sound is almost perfect. With X2 going behind one wall already causes artifacting. Going behind 3 results in no sound at all. Everything (environment, headphones) was the same, only difference was in phones when testing. So I can't use BT headphones in kitchen unless my X2 is next to me. With Redmi I could leave it in my room and all is fine.

On the other hand X2 cellular network strength is much better than Redmi. 3/4G works flawlessly and provides better speed than on Redmi. Areas where Redmi has no network connection, X2 has at least half bars and stable internet.

Call voice quality is ok. That's all. Not bad, not good. Just okay. On the other hand the included case will hurt your ear if you talk for a long time with your phone pressed against your ear.

== Battery

X2 discharges faster than Redmi but X2 has fast charge so if you have an outlet nearby it's no issue. But having USB C means public charging might or might not work. Especially if there's no fast charge. But going 20% to full in 30 minutes is godsent on X2.

== Software

Default software is junk (compared to gapps at least).

Phone app sucks, it's combined with contacts app and is overall inferior to google phone app I find. Same can be said about SMS app. Sure the google one is barebones, but realme one is just... off. It feels like they wanted to replace gapps for the sake of replacing them, not innovating in any way as everything is either the same or worse.

Despite being a fancy rom, it offers almost no customization options.

Notification pulldown also sucks as it shows the quick toggle buttons first rather than notifications.

== Camera

Hardware wise it is great. Software wise... sucks. 64mp mode only allows 4:3 aspect for some reason. Normal photo mode does not allow 16:9 or such aspects, only 4:3 or "fullscreen", which is too wide to be practical but not wide enough to be wide, that's what wide lens is for. Switching between modes is painful and annoying. On default settings colors are far too washed out and/or too warm. This is not a sensor issue since going into advanced mode and making manual configurations alleviates this issue easily. But not in default photo mode.

In summary, if I had known about all these issues, I would've bought a different phone.