Realme 14 Pro+ Review: Plenty of Refinements

Realme introduced its newest 14 sequence to India in January with the Realme 14 Professional and 14 Professional+. The brand new telephones carry enhancements over the Realme 13 Professional sequence however are actually barely cheaper than earlier than. The Realme 14 Pro+ sits on the high and comes with a brand new chipset, improved design and sturdiness, a bigger battery, and barely higher cameras with some alien-looking flash setup. I have been utilizing the cellphone for a few weeks now, and here is my tackle the most recent flagship Realme quantity sequence.

The Realme 14 Professional+ 5G begins at Rs. 29,999 for the 8GB + 128GB variant. You could possibly additionally get the cellphone in 8GB + 256GB and 12GB + 256GB choices, which is able to value you Rs. 31,999 and Rs. 34,999, respectively. The cellphone is on the market in Bikaner Purple, Pearl White, and Suede Gray colourways. We acquired the top-end variant in Suede Gray.

Realme 14 Professional+ Design: Fashionable and sturdy

• Dimensions – 163.51×77.34×8.29mm (Suede Gray)
• Weight – 196g
• Colors – Pearl White, Suede Gray, Bikaner Purple

The Realme 14 Professional+ introduces a number of delicate design refinements over its predecessor. The signature round digital camera module stays on the again, however the watch-like outer ring has been changed with a smooth metallic bezel. The up to date digital camera module now incorporates three LED flash models, branded because the “MagicGlow” system by Realme.

The luxurious watch design from final 12 months isn’t any extra

Our Suede Gray evaluate unit encompasses a vegan leather-based suede again panel, providing a noticeably softer texture in comparison with the usual vegan leather-based finishes discovered on different smartphones. In the meantime, the Pearl White variant boasts a singular temperature-sensitive rear panel that reacts to chilly—turning streaked blue when the ambient temperature falls beneath 16°C. This variant can be barely slimmer at 7.9mm.

The suede vegan leather-based is mushy to the contact and presents a premium really feel

The rear panel’s quad-curved design enhances the cellphone’s ergonomics, delivering a clean, premium in-hand really feel. Whereas the body is made from plastic, it sports activities a shiny end. The facility and quantity buttons are positioned on the correct, whereas the underside homes the SIM tray, a microphone, a loudspeaker, and a USB Kind-C port. On the high, there’s one other microphone, a speaker, and an IR blaster.

The body remains to be produced from plastic

Realme has additionally bolstered the 14 Professional+’s sturdiness. It boasts an IP69 ranking for resistance towards high-pressure water jets, an IP66 ranking for cover from mud and water jets, and an IP68 ranking for submersion in as much as 1.5 meters of water for half-hour. Moreover, the handset meets US MIL-STD-810H military-grade sturdiness requirements.

Realme 14 Professional+ Show: Immersive

• Measurement and sort – 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED, 450ppi, Quad curved
• Refresh charge – 120Hz
• Safety – Corning Gorilla Glass 7i

Realme 14 Professional+ encompasses a barely bigger display screen in comparison with the earlier era. The show additionally encompasses a quad-curved design, which makes the already slim symmetrical bezels seem slimmer. This additionally interprets to a extra immersive expertise. The curved sides aren’t very deep and do not register any ghost touches.

The show is vivid and vivid however lacks HDR help

You get a hole-punch cutout on the high for the selfie digital camera, and an optical under-display fingerprint scanner is on the decrease a part of the display screen. The ear speaker cutout above the show is barely seen, nevertheless it’s there. The show presents as much as 1,500 nits peak brightness and is simple to learn beneath direct daylight. It’s a 10-bit panel, however you aren’t getting HDR or Dolby Imaginative and prescient certifications.

The cellphone permits you to select between auto, 60Hz, and 120Hz refresh charges, and you too can change the color profile.

Realme 14 Professional+ Software program: There’s some Bloatware

• UI – Realme UI 6.0
• OS – Android 15
• Newest safety patch – February 2025

Like most Realme telephones, the software program on the 14 Professional+ is riddled with bloatware. Nevertheless, most of those could be uninstalled or disabled. When you ignore the bloatware, which you’ll’t, you are handled with a software program expertise much like Oppo’s Coloration OS or OnePlus’ Oxygen OS. The cellphone runs Realme UI 6.0, which is predicated on Android 15. Realme guarantees 2 years of OS updates and three years of safety patches.

You may discover loads of bloatware on the cellphone

When it comes to utilization, the Fast settings and notifications are actually separate. You continue to get the Sensible Sidebar function, and there are a few distinctive options, equivalent to Air Gestures. There are a number of AI options sprinkled throughout the system as properly, together with Google’s Circle to Search and Gemini. You may additionally discover AI Eraser and AI Extremely Readability instruments within the Gallery app. More often than not, the erase function did job, nevertheless it’s not very correct.

Realme 14 Professional+ Efficiency: Adequate

• SoC – Snapdragon 7s Gen 3
• RAM – As much as 12GB LPDDR4X
• Storage – As much as 256GB UFS 3.1

The Realme 14 Professional+ has an improved chipset when in comparison with the older 13 Professional+. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is a 4nm octa-core chipset that’s paired with as much as 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. Animations throughout the person interface, navigation, and every day duties are simply dealt with. App launches are additionally fast.

The cellphone performs properly in day-to-day utilization

We ran our regular set of artificial benchmarks on the cellphone, which did about in addition to different telephones with an analogous chipset. Nevertheless, the 14 Professional+ did barely higher than newer telephones such because the Nothing Cellphone 3a.

The chipset can be very succesful in terms of gaming. I used to be in a position to run BGMI in Very Excessive settings with ease. The cellphone additionally does not warmth up loads when on longer gaming classes. There’s additionally a GT Mode that improves efficiency when gaming.

Gaming on the cellphone is enjoyable, and it does not warmth up loads

The in-display fingerprint scanner on the cellphone is of the optical sort and carried out flawlessly through the evaluate. You get a hybrid twin stereo speaker setup on the smartphone. The audio system do provide some bass and get fairly loud indoors. Nevertheless, the sound high quality is on the muddier facet. The earphones carried out fairly properly, and so did the microphones. Antennas on the cellphone additionally did not give me any points, equivalent to name drops.

Realme 14 Professional+ Cameras: Similar however totally different

• Broad – 50-megapixel Sony IMX896, f/1.8, OIS
• Telephoto – 50-megapixel Sony IMX882, f/2.65, OIS
• Ultrawide – 8-megapixel Sony IMX896, f/2.2, 112 diploma FoV
• Selfie – 32-megapixel, f/2.0, autofocus

Realme has upgraded the first, ultrawide, and selfie digital camera sensors on the 14 Professional+, with the selfie digital camera now that includes autofocus. The telephoto periscope digital camera stays unchanged from final 12 months, however the brand new MagicGlow triple-flash system provides a notable enhancement. This method utilises three LEDs with totally different color temperatures, permitting you to regulate the brightness to your choice and obtain extra natural-looking portrait photographs in low-light situations.

The MagicGlow triple flash system does really enhance lowlight portrait photographs

The digital camera app is intuitive, with all important picture modes simply accessible. Among the many varied taking pictures choices is an Underwater mode, which Realme claims permits taking pictures for as much as 60 minutes at a depth of 1.5 meters.

The first rear digital camera captures well-detailed daylight photographs with a large dynamic vary and barely boosted colors. Nevertheless, zooming in reveals that the telephones lack sharpness.

Daylight samples from the first rear digital camera [Tap to expand]

The 8-megapixel ultrawide digital camera additionally performs properly in daylight, delivering photographs with good element and constant color replica. The dynamic vary and white stability are well-balanced, and Realme has successfully minimised lens distortion across the edges.

Daylight samples from the 8-megapixel ultrawide digital camera [Tap to expand]

The standout performer is the 3x periscope telephoto digital camera, which produces extremely detailed photographs with glorious sharpness, close-to-natural color replica, and a powerful dynamic vary. Portraits taken with this lens exhibit good topic separation and a lovely bokeh impact. Whereas larger zoom ranges can be found, they depend on digital zoom and lack superb element except seen on the cellphone’s show.

Daylight samples from the 3x Telephoto periscope digital camera [Tap to expand]

Portrait shot at 3x zoom utilizing the telephoto digital camera [Tap to expand]

In low-light situations, the first digital camera retains particulars whereas providing vivid colors, good dynamic vary, and well-balanced publicity. The cellphone robotically prompts Evening mode in low-light situations. The telephoto digital camera additionally performs properly at night time, although its stage of element falls barely wanting the first sensor. Nevertheless, colors, dynamic vary, and publicity stay commendable. The ultrawide lens experiences a larger lack of element, however its photographs are nonetheless usable.

High to backside: Lowlight samples from Predominant digital camera (2), Ultrawide (2), and Telephoto 3x (2)

Testing the MagicGlow flash for low-light portraits yielded extra natural-looking outcomes than an ordinary flash.

The selfie digital camera sees a slight enchancment over the Realme 13 Professional+ because of autofocus, although sharpness nonetheless diminishes upon zooming in. However, it delivers respectable element and dynamic vary.

On the video entrance, 4K recording presents good element, publicity, and vivid colors. Stabilisation is noticeably improved over the earlier mannequin. Sticking to the first or 3x telephoto digital camera is beneficial for one of the best outcomes, because the ultrawide lens introduces extra noise. The selfie digital camera additionally helps 4K recording, capturing movies with ample element and pretty correct pores and skin colors.

Realme 14 Professional+ Battery: Large Improve

1. Capability – 6,000mAh
2. Kind – Silicon-carbon
3. Quick charging – 80W

The Realme 14 Professional+ will get an enormous improve by way of battery life; nevertheless, it didn’t convert to longer battery life in our checks. In our HD video loop check, the cellphone lasted about 28 hours, a lot decrease than the 32 hours that the Realme 13 Professional+ managed with a lower-capacity battery. Nevertheless, the 14 Professional+ does function a brand new silicon carbide battery that’s not frequent on this worth vary.

The Realme 14 Professional+ presents a silicon carbon battery

When it comes to common use, the cellphone lasted a day and a half with regular utilization and a couple of day with heavy utilization. Topping up the battery is a quick affair because of 80W quick charging help. The cellphone hit 33 p.c from 0 in half-hour and 68 p.c in an hour, a lot slower than the claimed one hundred pc cost in an hour. Nevertheless, Realme has stated its charging efficiency has improved with the most recent firmware.

Realme 14 Professional+ Verdict

At a beginning worth of Rs. 29,999, the Realme 14 Professional+ presents loads of options. It impresses with its smooth design, immersive show (regardless of missing HDR or Dolby Imaginative and prescient), strong all-around digital camera efficiency—particularly with zoom—lengthy battery life, and an IP69 ranking for sturdiness. Total, it is a well-rounded package deal, although an improve is probably not crucial should you already personal the Realme 13 Professional+.

The cellphone competes with different choices within the worth vary, such because the Redmi Note 14 Pro+, the brand new Nothing Phone 3a, and the Poco X7 Pro. The Redmi and Nothing telephones provide the identical chipset. Nevertheless, the previous has Dolby Imaginative and prescient help and sooner charging. In the meantime, the Nothing Cellphone 3a gives a particular design, cleaner software program, and barely superior fundamental digital camera efficiency. The Poco X7 Professional, although not one of the best in digital camera high quality, delivers flagship-level efficiency.

Different opponents embrace the OnePlus Nord 4 and the Motorola Edge 50 Pro, each providing premium designs, succesful cameras, good shows, and higher software program experiences.