Realme GT Review: Top-tier Chip in an Average Phone
“The Realme GT is a solid mid-range smartphone with a flagship processor inside and an attractively low price. But don't expect it to compete with most other top of the line phones elsewhere. "
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Vegan leather model is an eye-catcher
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The Snapdragon 888 chip works great
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Compact and light
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Mediocre camera
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No watertightness
It's impossible to ignore the yellow and black color scheme of the eye-catching Realme GT, as well as Realmes repeated claims that the phone is a "flagship" because it uses the top Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. But a phone takes more than a fast processor to impress, and while the phone's other specs are good, they don't stand out. The Realme GT has the show and the run, but is that enough to make it a phone?
design
If Bumblebee used a smartphone, it would be the Racing Yellow Realme GT. The yellow vegan leather is softly structured and feels very comfortable and has so far left no traces from my hands covered with sunscreen and moisturizer or from being tucked into pockets and bags, which would suggest that it is durable. It's adapted to a strip of glass, but could very well be made of plastic that runs along the left side of the back and contains the camera module.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
At first glance it looks jet black, but on closer inspection it has a very faint V-shaped motif, complete with a slight bluish cast that runs along it. It's actually a little too faint and would look better if it were visible more often. While I think the Realme GT looks beautiful, these two primary design features elevate it well beyond what it actually is – another reworking of the same Realme and Oppo phone design we saw recently.
Paint the Realme GT black and it will look very, very similar to the Realme 8 5G, Oppo A54 5G, and other phones that have been released in the past few months. The lens layout can change a bit within the camera module, but on closer inspection, the crossover in the Oppo and Realme phone design is painfully obvious. Both are part of the BBK Electronics empire along with OnePlus, Vivo and IQOO, but work independently of each other.
Does that make the GT less attractive? Not really. If you want to reuse a drab design, it's best to disguise it in a crazy, eye-catching yellow and black color scheme. The Realme GT is pleasantly light at 186 grams and quite thick for the leather model at 9.1 mm, but overall reasonably proportioned to live with. A version in which the vegan leather back is exchanged for glass is also available.
screen
The GT's 6.43-inch Super AMOLED screen comes as a surprise. The resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, the lack of curves on the sides, and the screen-to-body ratio of around 85% aren't the stuff of mobile dreams, so I wasn't expecting anything special. However, it is very attractive for videos and can even compete with the higher-resolution Fluid AMOLED screen of the OnePlus 9 Pro without HDR10 + and massive brightness.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
If you look at Carfection's Litchfield Toyota GR Yaris review on YouTube at 1440p, there's nothing different from each other. Compare it to the Apple iPhone 12 Pro, and the Apple phone's more natural tones appeal to the standard coolness of the Realme GT screen, but it really manages to hold its own against these two display heavyweights in some ways.
The flatness doesn't appeal to me. I prefer a screen with a certain shape and I appreciate the way curved glass catches the light and feels in my hand. The GT lacks that, which makes it feel ordinary. Outside of video, the Realme GT's screen lacks vibrancy – even in Vivid mode – and the screen protector is poor quality, attracting fingerprints, and dulling the display when the operating system is in general use. On the positive side, the refresh rate of 120 Hz makes scrolling incredibly smooth.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
There's a fast and reliable fingerprint sensor at the bottom of the screen, but it has an annoying habit of not always activating when I pick up the phone or tap the screen to wake it up. However, face unlock with selfie camera usually worked before I became too frustrated. Audio is delivered through stereo speakers and is fine for casual use, plus the phone supports Dolby Atmos, but the phone's sound doesn't have much depth.
camera
Inside the module on the back there are three cameras, a 64-megapixel Sony IMX682 main camera, an 8-MP wide-angle camera and a 2-MP macro camera. There is a 16 MP selfie camera in a hole punch at the top of the screen. Realme calls the GT a flagship phone, but this isn't a flagship camera setup. The IMX682 is used in the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, for example.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The camera is acceptable but inconsistent and unable to compete with the best cameras available on phones today. On its worst days, the main camera tends to become oversaturated and does not always set the white balance correctly, while it destroys the mood in more complex lighting conditions with dark shadows and missing details. The wide angle camera is where the inconsistency is found mostly in the way it matches the colors.
Realme GT main camera Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends
Realme GT wide angle camera Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends
Realme GT 2x digital zoom Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends
Realme GT 5x digital zoom Andy Boxall / DigitalTrends
When the conditions are right, the Realme GT can take well-balanced, detailed photos that I'm happy to share with minimal editing. It seems to favor general photos of people, pets, and food, struggling with scenes that required more nuance and skill to capture effectively. The selfie camera has an activated beauty mode as standard, which significantly smooths the skin.
The camera app annoys me. Although the Realme GT doesn't have an optical zoom feature, Realme adds a 2x and a 5x option that you can use in the camera app. Unsurprisingly, the photos aren't very good. The 2x digital zoom can be passable, but the 5x is bad, and by making it an option, Realme confuses people about the actual capabilities of the camera, causing people to ruin photos they are too Rightly expected them to get better.
A "flagship" camera must encourage you to take pictures by producing stunning photos that will increase your creativity and fun. The Realme GT's camera lacks the general capability or hardware to do this, which is unfortunate given the imaging capability of the Snapdragon 888, but is fine for general everyday use.
Performance and battery
The Realme GT's flagship references come almost entirely from using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. The Snapdragon 888 chip is tremendously powerful and I had no issues playing Asphalt 9: Legends and Genshin Impact. Realme speaks of a 360Hz adaptive touch sampling rate, but I didn't notice any difference when gaming on the GT compared to other phones.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Realme UI 2.0 software, which is based on Android 11, is almost identical to Oppo's Color OS V11 software, to the point where you can choose the same icon shape and size, as well as the same font, to do just that to achieve the same look, all from identical settings pages. Both brands are part of the BBK Electronics empire so this is no surprise, but don't buy a Realme phone if you've used an Oppo phone and didn't like the software.
The Snapdragon 888 chip is tremendously powerful /
Is it below average? No, it's fine and has plenty of customization options to make it your own if the look is awkward. I've found it to be reliable and fast, the settings menu is logical enough, and notifications have been delivered for the most part without any problems, although some apps don't always notify you of a new message until you unlock the phone. I find that the keyboard is set very low on the screen, which has resulted in more typos than usual.
Inside is a 4,500mAh battery that has enough power to last for almost two days, but only under normal conditions of use. Make a video call and play a few games and the battery will run out by the middle of the second day. It is charged with the 65-watt SuperDart Charge from Realme, which fully charges the battery in about 35 minutes, but has no wireless charging.
Price and availability
The Realme GT is available now in Europe and is coming soon in the UK, but the only official prices are currently available in euros. The phone costs 449 euros, which is around $ 550 for the 8GB / 128GB version or 599 euros / $ 725 for the 12GB / 256GB model. It's not currently available directly through Realme's UK online store, but it can be found through Amazon in Europe and as an import from sellers on AliExpress, where it starts at $ 480. If you choose to import the phone, make sure it is the Global model or you will not have Google Play or Google Services installed.
Our opinion
I've been using the Realme GT every day for a couple of weeks now and have had no real problems with it at all. People have commented on the striking yellow and black color scheme, and the battery has kept up with my activities, but I haven't really settled down with the phone. The problem is, outside of the vegan leather and yellow paintwork, it's not very exciting.
The camera and screen are satisfactory but do not encourage me to use them and certainly do not offer anything above the competition. The existence of the Realme GT is based solely on the Snapdragon 888 processor and the performance it delivers.
While it's a solid everyday phone, the rest of the specs don't take full advantage of the Snapdragon 888's capabilities or what we expect to go with it, which is unfortunate. It also lacks many other features that we would expect from a top-of-the-line phone, including wireless charging, a great feature-rich camera, and water resistance. It certainly has a lot of guts and gaming is great. So if all you're looking for is performance, the GT delivers it for a reasonable price. But the rest of the phone doesn't keep that monster processor's promise.
Is there a better alternative?
The unclear pricing of the Realme GT in the UK and the lack of an official US release make it difficult to compare directly, but we'll compare it to phones that cost less than $ 500. The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G doesn't have the Snapdragon 888, but it does have a better camera and screen, plus long battery life and a pretty design. The software is great too, and it's our recommended Android smartphone for this price point. Similarly, the Google Pixel 4a beats the Realme GT's camera and software, but it can't keep up with its processing power.
Less obvious competitors include the Asus Zenfone 8 and Xiaomi Mi 11, both of which cost about the same as the Realme GT and offer similar specs, but also have disadvantages.
How long it will take?
The Realme GT has 5G so it can be connected to the fastest mobile data service at any time, which gives it a good start in terms of longevity. The phone isn't waterproof, and other than the leather back being likely to be moderately more durable than the glass version, it's not a particularly rugged phone either. It is advisable to put it in a case.
Realme offers software updates for two years, but doesn't go into timing. Due to the custom user interface via Android, it takes longer for major Android version updates to arrive than for example on a Google Pixel phone. However, the Snapdragon 888 processor will help ensure that the phone lasts for at least two years.
Should you buy it?
No, unless your only requirement is to have the fastest Qualcomm processor at the cheapest price. There are better all-rounders for a similar price.
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