Logomania, the famous shouty logo trend from the 1990s, is back with a vengeance.
From high-end brands, like Fendi, Gucci, Burberry, Christian Dior and Vetements, to Supreme, Nike, Adidas and many others, prominent logos have once again reemerged in the fashion scene. Printed slogan and logo elements on clothes, shoes and handbags are massively popular with big celebrities, street culture lovers and fashionistas. And for a generation who thrives on social media, these big, bold brand logos emblazoned on apparel have become the perfect way to show that “if you’ve got it, flaunt it.”
Will the tech world be the next to follow?
Smartphone brand realme seems to be counting on it.
The two-year old brand just reclaimed the top spot as the Philippines’ No.1 smartphone brand in for the first quarter of 2021, and it may just be the momentum it needs to push this design trend.
As it launched the latest in its number series, the first thing you’ll notice with the realme 8 series is its tagline “DARE TO LEAP” boldly emblazoned at the back of the phone.
realme calls this the Infinite Bold Design, combining hip, street elements and showcasing their unique comprehension of trendsetting design that captures the brand spirit. The text has a glossy finish which makes it pop against the sandblasted textured finish on the rest of the back. Its one of the best finishes I’ve seen in a smartphone and it definitely gives it more grip.
Two colors are available at launch: the dreamlike Infinite Blue and the mysterious Infinite Black. Both look equally good, but they are relatively tame compared to the Illuminating Yellow that’s been released in other countries. realme, if you are daring people to make the bold choice, you better give them an adventurous color option as well.
Exploring the phone, you’ll find the power and the volume buttons on the right which are well-positioned and easy to reach during one-handed use. The SIM tray is on the left side and can accommodate two SIM cards and one micro SD card (up to 256GB). The type-C charging port, mic, 3.5 mm headphone jack and single loudspeaker are all located at the bottom. On the front, the realme 8 Pro looks a lot like its predecessor, the Realme 7 Pro. You still have get a nice 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a hole-punch housing the 16MP front camera on the top left corner.
What is noticeably different is just how slim and light the realme 8 Pro is, weighing only 176g and just 8.1mm thick. If you are using those generic ring lights, you know that having a light phone makes it a lot easier to shoot topdown or flatlay shots as most of those packaged phone clip holders are quite flimsy and could barely support heavier phones.
The realme 8 Pro’s main selling point is its 108-megapixel main rear camera, the first in its number series—and for most of the time, the camera does live up to its top billing.
The primary camera adopts the third generation ISOCELL HM2 of the Samsung sensor with 108MP ultra high pixel, with an extra large sensor of 1/1.52 inch and the maximum resolution of 12000×9000. Also advertised is its 3x lossless zoom. The rest of the lens are your usual midrange snappers. The 8MP ultra wide-angle lens meanwhile has a 119° field of view and a f/2.25 aperture. Rounding up the quad camera setup is a 2MP macro lens with a 4cm shooting distance and a 2MP B&W portrait lens that assists the main lens to capture light better, enhance image contrast, create retro-style images, and add texture to portraits.
As you might expect, the leap to 108MP makes the realme 8 Pro the best shooter in the series. The 108MP sensor uses pixel binning to produce better 12-megapixel images which result in reduced noise and better overall quality. Shots do take a bit longer to process, so don’t move your hand right away after hitting the shutter to prevent blur, but the results especially outdoors and in daylight are fantastic—clear, vibrant, with lots of details even if you zoom in close on the photo.
The ultra-wide angle camera, on the other hand, also does a capable job, but you need to have adequate lighting to get the best results, otherwise photos appear grainy with some noise. The two other cameras are merely there to complete the quad camera module.
Worth mentioning are the several new camera modes on the realme 8 Pro. First is the Starry Time-Lapse video mode where the realme 8 Pro takes 16 individual photos every 15s for 4mins, and then the algorithm combines them into a final picture. Tilt-Shift Mode turns the real world into a miniature world, using some kind of optical illusion of the human eye. Now you can also shoot Tilt-Shift Time-Lapse Video with 10x playback, presenting the real world in a more artistic way. This is fun to use when shooting from a high building and capturing cityscapes. The last is Trendy Portrait that gives you a neon effect to create a more “dreamy” shot; Dynamic Bokeh that highlights your subject against a busily moving background, creating an eye-catching sense of motion; and AI Color Portrait where people are in color while the background is in black and white.
For the rest of the specifications, the realme 8 Pro actually shares several similarities to its predecessor such as the Super AMOLED panel with a full-HD+ resolution, the in-display fingerprint scanner, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor. But this doesn’t affect the performance of the phone. Instead, realme says they’ve found the Snapdragon 720G as the most optimized to partner with its new camera. You also get 8GB RAM + 128 GB, which again is at par with other mid range smartphones. The 4500mAh battery can be charged to 100 percent in 47 minutes using the 50W SuperDart Charge and nearly 50 percent in 17 minutes. This makes it really convenient when you need a quick charge before leaving the house.
While the realme 8 Pro does make a brave bold leap in terms of its design and its 108MP main shooter, internally its just more of an iterative update over the realme 7 Pro with most refinements happening in the camera department. Still, it does a pretty good job overall and won’t disappoint aspiring photographers and content creators.