Rating: 7.5/10
Realme has always been working hard enough to come up with a smartphone that works for people. The company has a range of smartphones and perhaps the number series – like its latest one, the Realme 13 Pro – has always been the middle-order player which is also an all-rounder.
What I mean is the number series phones from Realme are a “do-it-all” type of phone that offers good value, sufficient performance, a capable camera and battery.
Realme 13 Pro+ carries the same DNA from the previous generation models and the phone, while its price starts at Rs 32,999 for the base 8GB + 128GB variant – around Rs 3,000 more than the Realme 12 Pro+ 5G.
Has Realme packed enough in this phone to justify the increased price? Moreover, does the phone has that value quotient that previous generation models have been offering? I spent several nights and days with the phone. Read on to find out how it performs.
Design and display
Since the Realme 12 series, the company literally stepped up the design game. The 13 Pro+ 5G comes with the same design language as Realme 12 series. The phone is one of the most beautiful looking in its price range.
This time around, Realme has gone a bit subtle with the vegan leather design. The golden accent line running at the center of the back panel is now gone. I did like that golden touch in Realme 12 Pro, but not having it does not make me like the Realme 13 Pro+’s design any less. Also, the vegan leather finish here is also more premium than before.
People who aren’t a fan of the vegan leather back panels, Realme also has a glass back colour option called Monet Black.
The phone continues to have that centrally placed camera housing. There’s a new branding – Hyperimage+ at the bottom of the camera housing.
Button placements are the same as the previous generation model. The right side has the power button and volume buttons. The bottom part of the phone has a SIM tray, Type-C port and speaker grille and the top has a second speaker grille and another microphone.
Realme has also added the IP65 water and dust resistance to the picture to make the phone more durable. The front of the phone has a 6.7-inch AMOLED curved panel with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.
The display, being AMOLED, offers deep blacks and contrast. The sharpness and saturation is also well-balanced here. I have to say – I like what I see and the Realme 13 Pro+ 5G’s display is pleasing in every way possible. In fact, the peak brightness is set at 2000-nits and in my experience, the built-in auto brightness works perfectly and the display gets bright enough to remain legit even in bright daylight conditions. It also gets pretty dim and that makes it comfortable to use the phone at night. Plus, the 2160Hz PWN high-frequency dimming reduces the low light flicker of the display and reduces eye fatigue.
The panel isn’t HDR supported, but it is a 10-bit panel so, the colours and details are on point and on par with the competition. Realme UI offers the option of Vivid, Natural and two Pro modes to fine-tune the colours of the display as per the requirement.
The phone also comes with Armor Shield Glass with Gorilla Glass 7i protection – something that I always appreciate in smartphones. On top of this, Realme 13 Pro+ also comes with a screen protector applied on the display out of the box. And, we advise you to leave it as it is considering how complicated it is to find screen protectors that stay for curved displays.
Performance
The Realme 13 Pro+ carries the torch of offering a balanced proposition and performance is something most brands try to cut corners in favour of other things like a better camera, bigger battery, etc. Realme hasn’t done any of that.
The phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset. The way Realme 13 Pro+ caters to the company’s mid-range lineup, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 caters for the mid-range lineup for Qualcomm and the 4nm chip packs enough punch to handle most day-to-day tasks without running out of breath. In fact, the performance is good enough to handle even demanding tasks, to an extent.
I started using the Realme 13 Pro+ 5G as my go-to phone and one thing that I realised is how smooth the phone performs. It could be due to the 120Hz refresh rate, it could be the animations. I think it’s both and the 12GB RAM. And, I haven't counted the virtual RAM here which, by the way, can go up to 12GB and you can have a total of 24GB RAM in total. That’s massive. So much so, the phone can keep as many as 30 apps open at a time and in my experience, most apps remain active in the background. I don’t have a number, but for all the apps that I opened and circled back, the app loaded instantly without any delay or lag. The multitasking experience is really good here.
Gaming performance is another strong suit of the phone. Games like Subway Surfer, Candy Crush run without any issues. The phone can handle demanding titles but at medium graphic settings. There were no issues with titles like Asphalt 9 Legends Unite, CoD Mobile, CoD Warzone, BGMI and Genshin Impact.
The phone’s thermals also remain in check even under load like playing games, and editing photos and videos. Although, it got warm under heavy load but not beyond the point where I had to keep the phone cool down.
The onboard dual speaker setup is loud and clear and the onboard audio tuning options work as expected.
Moreover, the Realme UI 5.0 with Android 14 is extremely feature-rich and offers a host of customization options including the ability to change icons, wallpapers, themes, and even theme colour for icons.
The only problem is that the phone comes with a ton of bloatware. Most of them can be uninstalled though.
I also like the two AI features that Realme has added. The AI Eraser and AI Ultra Clarity works as expected and are mostly accurate too.
Camera
This is where the Realme 13 Pro+ 5G shines. And, that does not come as a surprise. The previous generation introduced the 200MP primary sensor and this one replaces that with a new 50MP primary sensor.
The phone is loaded with Sony sensors. The primary 50MP is the Sony LYT-701 sensor with OIS, then there’s another 50MP Sony LYT-600 with 3x optical zoom and 120x digital zoom and an 8MP ultra-wide sensor.
At the front, the phone has another 32MP Sony sensor.
Let’s talk about the main camera – the 50MP Sony LYT-701 sensor. The primary camera captures impressive shots in daylight with realistic colours and has good dynamic range too. There’s no compromise in details. However, the sensor does misread the saturation and at times some photos turned out to be slightly oversaturated.
The primary sensor is also capable of capturing good-looking low light photos. Also, the built-in low-light mode works without going overboard with the exposure, colour and details. In fact, shadows, vibrance and saturation levels are well-balanced and do not feel over-processed.
Moving on to the telephoto lens, the 3x optical zoom also retains details despite the zoom levels. And has more or less similar colour science compared to the primary sensor. The photos are full of details and have impressive dynamic range too. Low-light shots are also pretty good with the 3x telephoto lens.
The lens further enables up to 120x zoom and that’s something we won’t advise anyone to use unless you are trying to capture the Moon. The 8MP ultra-wide sensor is just average. For me, it gets the job done with okay-ish results in every aspect.
There’s a dedicated Portrait mode. The cutout around the subject is accurate and the separation between the background and subject is also good. With gradual blur, the photos appear more natural and pleasant.
Selfie quality is also good and details remain intact in most lighting conditions. I also liked the fact that the camera maintains the true skin tone of the person when photos are clicked without the beautification options.
I think Realme has done a really good job at fine-tuning the camera experience of the phone. However, I wish I could say the same for the video recording. While it isn’t bad, the colours, saturations and details are on point. But stabilisation isn’t as good as I was expecting, despite the onboard OIS.
Battery
Realme 13 Pro+ 5G comes with a 5200mAh battery with 80W SuperVOOC fast charging support. The battery life of the phone is pretty good. I got around a day and half under moderate usage which includes browsing, playing games, taking calls, texting, music and social media.
The charging speed of the phone is also good and a full charge takes around 1 hour and 15 minutes from a completely depleted battery.
Verdict
Realme 13 Pro+ 5G is a well designed phone that serves its duties as the middle order and an all-rounder pretty well. So, the phone offers good performance, an impressive camera and battery and a display that can keep up with users' needs without any issues. And, most importantly, it is one of the most good looking phones in this price range.
Sure, there are a few niggles here and there like the bloatware, video stabilization, but those aren’t a deal breaker. If you are looking for a phone that offers a balance of everything --- price, performance and camera and also looks premium than it costs, then Realme 13 Pro+ 5G is a good phone to go with.
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