Old wine in an old bottle. Yes, the Realme Narzo 60 Pro 5G borrows heavily from the Realme 11 Pro+ that came before it. If you’ve seen the more expensive Realme 11 Pro+, then you’ll feel right at home with the Realme Narzo 60 Pro as both are crafted by renowned Gucci designer Matteo Menotto. Both have a circular camera module and a vegan leather back. The Realme Narzo 60 Pro has a slightly brighter colour, and apart from that, you can’t tell the difference.
The Realme Narzo 60 Pro, which will cost you ₹23,999, uses the MediaTek Dimensity 7050 chipset, the same as the 11 Pro+. There’s the 5,000mAh battery (with 67W SUPERVOOC fast charging support) and Realme UI 4.0 (based on Android 13). The phone also features stereo speakers but skips out on an official IP rating for dust and water resistance (just like the 11 Pro+).
The two smartphones are strikingly similar, and if you didn’t know a thing about either, you wouldn’t be able to tell which one was more expensive.
The Realme Narzo 60 Pro has a matte finish at the back that helps it avoid smudges or fingerprints. It’s got a boxy body, but thanks to its narrow frame and curved edges, feels good to hold and grip. There’s the circular camera module (which, sadly, missed out on an ultra-wide camera) at the top (the same as 11 Pro+) and just the Narzo branding at the bottom.
The highlight of the Realme Narzo 60 Pro is its vibrant 6.7-inch curved AMOLED screen (with support for HDR10+). The display has a resolution of 1080x2412 pixels, a 20:9 aspect ratio, a 120Hz refresh rate, and an in-display fingerprint sensor (which sits way too down on the display). The display is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5, something we like to see in this segment.
With uniform bezels, punchy colours, good viewing angles, and a snappy refresh rate, the display on the Narzo 60 Pro is a winner. With a peak brightness of about 1,000 nits, outdoor legibility is hardly a problem. The one downside is the fact that the in-display fingerprint sensor is located so far down on the display that it’s hard to unlock the smartphone while holding it one-handed. There is face unlock, as an alternative, but that’s less secure.
Realme UI 4.0 based on Android 13 is smooth and optimised for good daily performance. I didn’t like the fact that the smartphone came with bloatware - apps like Josh were preinstalled - but fortunately, one can uninstall them.
There are also the hot apps and hot apps suggestions on the user interface (UI) that I’m not at all a fan of. Beyond that though, the UI is quite responsive. The MediaTek Dimensity 7050 chipset delivers a good amount of performance. I was multitasking between snapping photos, looking things up on Google, sending out tweets (now called “Posts”), making Instagram Reels and more. The phone hardly broke a sweat and neither did it get hot during extended sessions of Call of Duty: Mobile. Yes, the game doesn’t run smoothly on maximum settings, but the Realme Narzo 60 Pro isn’t a gaming smartphone.
The Narzo 50 Pro from 2022 featured an ultra-wide camera. It baffled me to no end when I learnt that the Realme had omitted the ultra-wide camera for the Narzo 60 Pro. I haven’t seen this in any other smartphone that I can remember. It might be a cost-cutting measure, but why not get rid of the 2MP portrait camera instead?
As it is, there’s nothing to write home about the 100MP main sensor. It provides decent photographs that lack many details. The good thing is that there is no shutter lag and the camera app is easy to understand.
Daylight shots come out well, and dynamic range is good. The shots are far better than the Narzo 50 Pro, but that isn’t saying much. Portrait mode is good, thanks to the dedicated 2MP sensor, but edge detection could have been better. In any case, I’d much rather have an ultra-wide sensor.
For the camera alone I’d say spend the extra few thousand rupees and get the Realme 11 Pro+.
There’s no need to go into detail about the battery life because it isn’t anything extraordinary. A 5,000mAh battery, along with 67W SUPERVOOC Charge support, means battery anxiety is kept at bay.
With my mixed-to-heavy usage, I got just under 6 hours of screen-on-time. Thanks to the 67W SUPERVOOC charging support one can fully charge a depleted Narzo 60 Pro in just 50 minutes.
The Narzo 60 Pro sits in an odd position within Realme’s smartphone family. A twin of the Realme 11 Pro+, the base variants of both sit at the same price. What the Narzo 60 Pro has up its sleeve is the fact that it’s the only smartphone with 1TB as a storage option.
The Realme 11 Pro+, starts at ₹27,999 and has an ultra-wide and macro camera, higher resolution main camera and faster charging (100W SUPERVOOC charger).
There are a ton of options from other smartphone manufacturers in this price range. Still, both these phones - 11 Pro+ and Narzo 60 Pro - are good performers. If only Realme fixed the bloatware and introduced a better cooling system.
If you’ve read the article and reached this section, then you’d know that my pick would be the Realme 11 Pro+ over the Narzo 60 Pro. It’s just that the price gap isn’t big enough to justify the Narzo 60 Pro as the more value-for-money smartphone.
With a good display and battery life, the Realme Narzo 60 Pro won’t let you down. But then, the Realme 11 Pro+ is just that much better.
Sahil Bhalla is a Delhi-based journalist
Also read: Realme 11 Pro+ review: This smartphone is a case of affordable luxury
