Realme X bootloader unlock & Camera2 API coming soon, Android Q confirmed as well

When it comes to consumer tech, breaking the glass ceiling is one of the earliest hurdles. From the perspective of the product maker, mass adoption and easy availability among the end users are the key to success. In a nutshell, this is the theme of today’s special episode of #AskMadhav.

Chinese OEMs, especially Xiaomi, are known for providing unbelievable specs under pocket friendly price tags. Realme further spiced up the competition, and actually started a controversial ‘processor war’ with Xiaomi.

PiunikaWeb readers should remember that we talked about the scenario in past. Apart from executives of Xiaomi, a major chunk of the tech community started to mock Realme’s decision to ship ‘older’ Snapdragon 710 in phones like Realme 3 Pro (sold as Realme X Lite in China) and Realme X.

In this convoluted context, Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth partnered with Rajen Vagadia (VP & President, Qualcomm India & SAARC) and addressed various concerns about smartphone processors (SoCs) curated from the community.

As a matter of fact, majority of SoC related questions – such as the advantage of custom Kryo cores, basic difference between CPU and GPU in a SoC, uniqueness of Qualcomm 7xx series platforms etc. – were answered by Rajen himself.

The extract of the discussion was rather vivid. Judging a particular SoC in terms of its benchmark score or overclocking capability would not reflect the real life usage experience. Coupled with proper software optimizations, even a theoretically weaker SoC can last long.

Rajen took the example of the (infamous) Snapdragon 625, which became quite popular for 3 long years. Madhav, on the other hand, insisted on the cost-performance optimization logic behind choosing industry-veteran SD710 in Realme X.

Talking about Realme X, Madhav also confirmed that the company would eventually publish official bootloader unlocking procedure. Full Camera2 API support is in the pipeline as well.

On another note, Realme 3 Pro is already a part of the public beta testing of Android Q. When asked about bringing Android Q to Realme X, Madhav replied: “Why not? Definitely!”. Although including the phone in beta testing at this moment is not feasible, a stable OTA will definitely roll out in due time.

Madhav also put some subtle hint about the upcoming 64 MP camera phone from the company. He emphasized on the gravity of software optimization, and told us that they were working hard to tune the sensor at this moment.

AI and 5G are the next two big things – both Madhav & Rajen couldn’t agree more on that. Qualcomm is the leading 5G radio supplier at this moment, as most of the first gen 5G phones in market are based on their design. Realme will also launch 5G phone(s) in India, as per the CEO.

Concluding the interview-cum-discussion, Madhav confirmed that the Spider-Man case from the limited edition Realme X Spider-Man: Far from Home variant could not be bought separately. You know… ‘limited’ and ‘exclusive’!

The special episode, which is also the eighth entry in the #AskMadhav series, can be watched by visiting the following link:

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