I have been a big fan of Realme for the past year now. To this day I think the Realme X2 Pro is the standout phone from the brand, you can pick it up for just £419 from Amazon UK. You can get the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage model for just 439-Euros from Amazon Spain, that works out as £383. I am confident there is no other phone from official EU suppliers that offers this price to performance ratio.
While the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 offers superior performance, if you want a fast phone, and don’t care about, or can’t get 5G, then the Snapdragon 855+ is a far better option due to pricing. This is true for all brands.
As well as the incredible price of Realme phones, they are also one of the few companies that allow you to unlock the bootloader, which then allows you to flash the phone with custom ROMS as well as gain some additional functionality from certain apps.
A prerequisite to the following – unlocking the bootloader can break things, and there are only a limited number of ROMs available for the X2 Pro. Most are unofficial. So you will likely lose some functionality and potentially brick you phone doing any of the following. Do so at your own risk.
How to Unlock Bootloader of Realme X2 Pro
Prerequisites:
- Keep battery charged atleast upto 50% for smooth unlocking.
- Make sure to back up essential data on any external media. The phone will be fully formatted, resulting in loss of data.
- A PC and a USB cable are necessary.
Downloads:
- Download and Extract ADB and Fastboot Drivers.
- Download Realme USB Drivers.
- Grab the Bootloader Unlock Tool App.
Steps to Unlock Bootloader of Realme X2 Pro
- Make sure you have data backup on external media.
- Update the Realme X2 Pro to the latest firmware version.
- Download and Install the Bootloader Unlock tool apk from the link above.
- Open the unlock tool and press start applying the In-depth test.
- After reading the disclaimer, tap the checkbox and submit your applciation.
- After submission, the unlock tool will show “Review successful” after an hour. The user can now proceed for the next steps.
- Tap “Start the in-depth test” and the device will reboot.
Note: The device will display fast boot_unlock_verify ok string. - Download and extract the fastboot tool in a folder via the above link in the download section.
- Connect the phone to the PC via a USB cable.
- Enter the following command to reboot into the bootloader mode
adb reboot bootloader- Now execute the command below to unlock the bootloader of Realme X2 Pro.
fastboot flashing unlock- Now, press Volume Up to unlock the bootloader.
- After, unlocking completes, Type the following command to boot the device.
fastboot reboot- The phone will take some time to boot, and all the data will be erased.
- The bootloader of Realme X2 Pro is successfully unlocked!
ROMS available for Realme X2 Pro in order of popularity
Xda-developers.com is the go-to place if you want to modify your phone, talk about it, or ask for help. Each phone has its own sub-forum and you can find all the information of the Realme X2 Pro here.
Unfortunately, there are not that many options available for the X2 Pro yet. All of the options will set SELinux to permissive which opens up the phone to potential security issues.
LineageOS 17.1 for Realme X2 Pro (RMX1931/CN)[UNOFFICIAL]
LineageOS is by far the most popular ROM for Android, and it is one of the best options if you want to de-google your phone and improve privacy while still retaining the Android experience.
LineageOS is based on the Android Open Source Project with extra contributions from many people within the Android community. It can be used without any need to have any Google application installed.
What’s working :
- Audio
- Bluetooth
- Camera
- Display
- Encryption
- Face unlock
- Fingerprint scanner
- GPS
- NFC
- RIL (VoLTE calls, SMS, Data)
- Sensors
- Video Playback
- Wi-Fi
Device specific features:
- DC dimming (flicker free feature). check Settings -> Realme Settings
- Game mode (touch boost). check Settings -> Realme Settings
- Toggle for display hz (auto, forced 90hz). check Settings -> Realme Settings
- Screen off gestures. check Settings -> system -> touchscreen gestures
- Ambient gestures (Pickup, handwave & pocket). check Settings -> Display -> Lockscreen display -> Ambient display
Known issues:
- SELinux is Permissive
AOSiP 10 [UNOFFICIAL]
AOSIP is a quality custom ROM based purely on AOSP. Twisted with the latest features and blended with stability
Device specific features:
* DC dimming (flicker free feature). check Settings -> Realme Settings
* Game mode (touch boost). check Settings -> Realme Settings
* Toggle for display hz (auto, forced 90hz). check Settings -> Realme Settings
* Screen off gestures. check Settings -> realme Settings -> TouchScreen Gestures
* Ambient gestures (Pickup, handwave & pocket). check Settings -> Display -> Lockscreen display -> Ambient display
KNOWN ISSUES:
* SELinux Permissive
Mokee OpenSource Project [RMX1931] [UNOFFICIAL]
MoKee Open Source is the biggest non-profit Android Open Source development team in China
What’s working :
Everything
Known issues:
Selinux Permissive
OrangeFox Recovery for x2 Pro[R10.1_1][RMX1931] [Unofficial] – No longer supported
Working
- ADB
- Decryption of /data
- Screen brightness settings
- Correct screenshot color
- MTP
- Flashing (opengapps, roms, images and so on)
- Backup/Restore
- Ozip decryption
- Vibration support
- USB OTG
