Realme recently held their press conference in which their latest smartphone, the Realme U1 was unveiled. The Realme U1 is a budget-oriented smartphone focussed towards the youth of India and comes with a very capable selfie camera among others. The Realme U1 poses stiff competition to several smartphones from other brands and also offers some competition to brand’s other devices.
The Realme 2 Pro was launched a few months ago at a slightly higher price point but offers several updated specifications and a better overall smartphone experience. In this article, we compare and contrast the major differentiating factors between the recently launched Realme U1 and the Realme 2 Pro.
Design
Both the devices offer a very bold design and it is difficult to set one of them apart from the other. Both, the Realme U1 and the Realme 2 Pro come with a water-drop display on the front with a minuscule notch on the top to accommodate just the selfie camera. While the solid back panel, the Realme U1 uses a uniquely crafted Dual 2.5D based on a 13 layer lamination giving it a distinctive look. Both the smartphones bear several similarities in terms of look and are almost indistinguishable from the front of the device. Almost everything in the two smartphones are identical including the positioning of the rear cameras and the fingerprint sensor.
Display
The display is yet another segment where both the devices bear striking similarities, both, the Realme U1 and the Realme 2 Pro come with a 6.3-inch display with a FullHD+ resolution. Both the panels look identical and have a 19.5:9 aspect ratio that maximizes the display area, the water-drop notch on both the display panels help further increase the display to screen ratio on the device. It is also expected that both the devices are using the very same display panel bearing the similarity observed. Both the smartphones here come with a 1080 x 2340 pixels resolution panel that brings the pixel density to about 409 PPI.
Performance
The Realme U1 is an upgrade over the Realme 1 in terms of the processor that it comes with, the Realme U1 is powered by the MediaTek P70 processor which is an upgrade over the Mediatek P60 present on the Realme 1. The Realme 2 Pro, however, has a better processor and more RAM when compared to the Realme U1. The Realme 2 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset with the AI engine, the RAM on the Realme 2 Pro ranges from 4GB to 8GB while the Realme U1 has a more modest 3GB and 4GB RAM variant offerings. The Realme 2 Pro is a clear winner in terms of the performance and the added price does help the device perform better.
Camera
The camera is a complicated component to judge and rate on any device, the Realme U1 has a 13MP rear primary camera with a 2MP additional sensor for depth sensing on the rear, the primary camera is powered by the AI engine using the P70 AI enabled chipset for scene recognition and other optimizations, the Realme 2 Pro, on the other hand, has more capable 16MP primary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture combined with a 2MP depth-sensing camera on the rear.
The higher aperture on the primary camera of the Realme 2 Pro helps it take in more light even in the dark conditions to produce a sharper and more vivid image. The front camera on the Realme U1 is a higher resolution 25MP sensor with AI that takes sharper images than the 16MP selfie camera on the Realme 2 Pro. While the rear camera on the Realme 2 Pro is better than the Realme U1, the front camera on the Realme U1 is a better option any day.
Battery
Both the devices in context here come with a 3,500mAh battery based on Lithium-ion technology, the Realme U1 also has an AI power master utility to further enhance the battery life on the device. Both, the Realme U1 and the Realme 2 Pro offer very similar battery lives as they have the same capacity battery and equally optimized chipsets.
OS and Interface
The Operating system and the interface are very similar on both the devices, the Realme U1 and the Realme 2 Pro run the ColorOS based on Android 8.1 Oreo operating system. Both the device comes with a few modifications and a few additional features in the camera and other applications. However, despite small differences, both the devices run very similar operating systems and interface making them almost indistinguishable.
Pricing
The Realme U1 comes for a lower price and the based model with 3GB RAM and 32GB Storage starts for just Rs 11,999 while the 4GB RAM variants with 64GB internal storage retail for a slightly higher price of Rs 14,499. On the other hand, the Realme 2 Pro with the 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage is available for Rs 13,990 making it an overall better buy. The Realme 2 Pro is also available in 6GB RAM and 8GB RAM variants with internal storage up to 128GB.
