Shenzhen is a young city. Being only established in 1979, some dub it “The city without history.” But the truth is, it was a fishing village before turning into a metropolis.
Before coming here for realme’s Cool Tour, I prepared myself for the bustling cityscapes I’m about to see again. And for this very reason, we were given a unit of the newly-launched realme 13 Pro+ 5G.
It comes in two colorways: Monet Gold and Emerald Green. There’s a non-pro plus unit, and it’s called Monet Purple. But for this trip, we had the Monet Gold — and it’s gorgeous. Adding the famous French painter’s name on the title is not there for nothing.
Claude Monet is known for his impressionist art. He’s a key figure in the impressionist movement, where painters used the art style of capturing movement of a scene through soft brush strokes, pale and vibrant colors, airy and light subjects. Achieving the look of an “unfinished painting.”
Capturing Monet’s impressionist art, the realme 13 pro+ 5G does not come with a leather back design but a panel with glossy finish that shows the dance of gold and bronze laps of water.
Meanwhile, the Emerald Green version retained the leather panel. But in all the three colorways, they’ve removed the long zipper-like line in the middle.
The big, circular camera module is still the main attraction. Looking at it, there’s a small sleeve on the lower part of it with a ‘HyperImage+’ written on it.
Despite already having two 50MP Sony OIS Cameras, realme focused on bringing their own AI into the mix.
On July 30, realme launched HyperImage+. It’s their in-house solution for AI photography, which includes the AI Ultra Clarity, AI Smart Removal, and the AI Group Photo enhancement.
Thankfully, a phone from the first series that has this new technology is just on the palm of our hand.
Putting realme’s first AI camera system to the test
Shenzhen is just a border away from Hong Kong. Moreover, some people from mainland China pass through that border to fly from Hongkong to their next destination. So, it is a hot spot for tourists and locals alike.
And for tech-savvy travelers, going to the Huaqiangbei Tech Market should be first on the agenda. It’s like the Silicon Valley of China. Tons of people flock the market’s streets everyday. For us, it was a good spot to test out realme’s AI Smart Removal.
At first try, the results were okay. While it left smudges that show something has been removed, I was able to remove any sign of it on the second try.
On the second attempt, I tried removing more people from the scene. The removal of the group on the center-right was cleaner than the first attempt. However, the people in the center were replaced with what turned out to look like boxes and a string of blue sachets.
To me, it seemed that the AI had difficulty making cleaner erasures because there are alot of scene elements to work with. However, trying the tool on a different canvas-–one with fewer elements on it—made a way for me to see its full potential.
In this group selfie in the Hongkong International Airport, we had fewer people in the background. So, I AI-removed them using the lasso tool. True to the theory, it came out with a cleaner finish.
realme also has this beta feature called AI Ultra Clarity. It is only available on the realme 13 pro 5G and realme 13 pro+ 5G. In essence, it enhances an image’s resolution. It’s one of the editing features of the camera app. As per the recommendation, it’s best applied on shots taken 20x to 30x zoomed in.
I was able to test this feature on one of the portrait photos we took during a morning walk along the Shenzhen Talent Park.
If you can see the difference, the one with AI Ultra Clarity smoothened my face. It removed the blemishes like the pimple on my cheek and chin.
On another attempt, I tried applying the tool on a picture I took while walking, which came out blurry. And while it did clarify some of the facial features of my face and my friend, it does seem artificially-generated. Due to some limitations of AI in general, it can only work on what it has been trained on.
You may opt not to use the AI Ultra Clarity tool, but it can come in handy for when you want your blurred images to be more defined.
A DSLR alternative?
If you haven’t been made aware, realme has been marketing the realme 13 pro+ 5G as the “DSLR in your pocket.”
Upon reviewing the specs of the realme 12 pro+ 5G, some of the specs have remained the same. From the 32MP Sony selfie camera to the 8MP Wide Angle camera, you still get the same camera specifications.
Except this time, they’ve doubled the Sony lenses by having a Sony LYT600 Periscope Camera for the 120x SuperZoom and a Sony LYT701 OIS Camera. The HyperImage+ as its AI camera system is also an upgrade from its predecessor.
While the cameras are good news, you will be having the same processor as the realme 12 pro+ 5G’s. The realme 13 pro+ 5G still has the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 as its processor. Anyone will think that this is an old processor by 2024, especially when flagship phones today already have the Snapdragon 8. This might be something you want to consider.
In my opinion, having a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 is still okay at this point in time as long as you do not overspend for it.
The realme 13 Pro+ 5G (12GB + 256 GB) is priced at P28,999. While the realme 13 Pro+ 5G (12GB + 512 GB) is at P31,999. You can get the realme 13 Pro 5G (12GB + 256 GB) at P24,999 on realme’s Tiktok shop.
Now, is the realme 13 pro+ 5G truly a DSLR alternative?
It could be, but producing good photos does not only require having a good camera on hand. Skills are still something you cannot buy or have overnight.
Still, realme definitely upgraded this year with its own production of its AI camera system of the new addition to its number series. At a time where AI phones are becoming the status quo, young brands, like realme, are definitely up to speed.
