Realme GT First Impressions: The Good, The Bad & The X-Factor

As for the Master edition GT, Realme once again roped in the contemporary Japanese industrial designer- Naoto Fukasawa, who previously designed the Concrete and Red Brick-themed Realme X2 Pro and the Garlic-Onion Edition Realme X handset. We like his unique approach of transforming mobile handsets into a piece of art with daily life objects. This time around, the designer took inspiration from a suitcase and crafted the back panel of the Realme GT Master Edition with a vegan leather finish.

For now, we will be focusing on the Realme GT smartphone in the following first impressions. In addition to the top-notch processor, the Realme GT also brings a 120Hz AMOLED display, 65W fast-charging, a 64MP triple-lens camera, and even a 3.5mm audio jack. We are testing the top-end Racing Yellow variant, which comes in the lone 12GB + 256GB configuration at Rs. 41,999. Can it be your next value flagship handset? Let's find out.

 

The X-Factor

The Realme GT is our first review handset to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC, and boy! Is it fast? This is the most advanced chipset from the house of Qualcomm and can be seen on the most premium devices such as the latest Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 and the Flip 3 foldable handsets.

The octa-core chipset is paired with 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB/256GB UFS3.1 storage. We are testing the 12GB RAM variant and it feels super responsive no matter what task and how many apps are running on the device simultaneously. Realme mentions that the handset also gets dynamic RAM expansion technology with 7 GB of expandable RAM. The smartphone runs on Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11.

We played some Battleground Mobile and Asphalt 9 sessions and experienced buttery smooth graphics and response times. Realme has also added a newly-designed stainless steel vapor cooling chamber with multi-layer 3D graphite thermal conduction to keep the device cool during long gaming sessions and heavy multitasking.

We will stress test the device in our comprehensive review to test the new hardware. But our initial tests suggest that this could be the most powerful handset in its respective price bracket. The Realme GT will give some of the most premium smartphones a run for their money in the performance department.

The Good

Fluid And Well Color Tuned 120Hz AMOLED Display

The Realme GT sports a 6.43-inch Full HD+ Samsung-made AMOLED display. The screen size is marginally smaller than what other flagships offer in 2021; however, it serves well for most phone-related tasks and also gives the handset slightly better ergonomics. The 1080p OLED is very fluid and responsive, thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate and the 360Hz touch-sampling rate. The UI navigation, scrolling, and gaming response are prompt and lag-free.

The screen seems to be tuned very well and I found the color calibration on point. Needless to say, Realme is promising a full 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 wide color gamut. Besides, the screen gets HDR10+ support, and some useful features to enhance the visual feedback such as O1 Ultra Vision Engine, which offers two settings- SDR to HDR (video color enhancer) and Video image sharpener (enhances the video resolution).

A Real Show-Off With Compact Form-Factor

The Realme GT is available in three color options- Dashing Silver, Dashing Blue, and the head-turner Racing Yellow color variant. This unique variant has a vegetal leather dual-tone finish which gives it a luxury feel and also ensures good grip.

Anyone can confuse the Racing Yellow color variant of the GT for a special edition Realme device. Realme says, "The 'speedy yellow' represents the "dawn" of the bright future at morning, which is a tribute to the young people who are moving at full speed."

I wish Realme could have given a metal frame. The plastic frame with a chrome finish feels a bit cheap and doesn't go with the overall fit and finish of the device. Moving on, the Realme GT is one of the very few flagships that maintain a compact form factor.

The phone weighs 186g and measures 158.5 x 73.3 x 8.4 mm. It's slightly compact than most flagships and makes for a good on-hand device. Basics are also covered in the form of a 3.5mm audio jack, dual SIM card, stereo speakers, and a snappy in-screen fingerprint scanner.

The Realme GT line-up also benefits from Oppo's class-leading 65W fast charging. A humble battery cell and 65W means crazy fast charging speeds. The bundled brick can replenish the 4,500 mAh battery in less than 38 minutes. Once you get accustomed to such fast charging, there's no turning back. As far as the battery life is concerned, this device can easily last for a day with most day-to-day tasks.

The handset makes no compromise on connectivity. It supports multiple 5G bands (n1/n3/ n28A, n41 (2496-2690 MHz) / n78/ n79, NSA NR : n41/ n77/ n78/ n79), has a dual nano-SIM card slot, Wi-Fi 6 support- 2.4Ghz/5GHz, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC and SBC, AAC, APTX, APTX HD and LDAC Bluetooth audio codec support.

The Bad

No IP Rating & No Wireless Charging

The phone lacks an official IP rating, which means it can't survive water-dust damage. This is a serious bummer for a flagship killer but that's how you keep the price low if you want a top-notch processor at such aggressive pricing. If the ingress protection is on your priority list, the Realme GT isn't going to cut the deal. Moreover, the phone comes sans wireless charging, which is another good-to-have feature in the GT's respective price category.

Pretty Usual Realme Camera Hardware

Last but not the least, the cameras on the Realme GT don't excite us. The GT is a flagship phone with a mid-range camera system. There's a 64MP primary sensor accompanied by an 8MP wide-angle sensor and a minuscule 2MP macro sensor. For selfies, the Realme GT boasts a 16MP wide-angle selfie front-facing camera. The camera can record 4K 60 fps videos and gets an ultra steady mode with EIS and UIS Max video stabilization. There's no OIS on board.

The picture/video output is decent enough to qualify as good but that's how most phones are in 2021. A flagship killer deserves a flagship-grade camera. More on the camera performance in our detailed review.

Should You Consider Buying The Realme GT?

The Realme GT's strength is its raw performance, thanks to a top-tier chipset, 120hz AMOLED display, and Realme's snappy software. The phone lacks some flagship features but compensates it with the power-packed performance. We will stress test the handset to find more about its strengths and weaknesses. The Realme GT comes at a starting price of Rs. 37,999 for the Dashing Silver and Dashing Blue variant. The Racing Yellow variant flaunting a dual tone vegan leather design costs Rs. 41,999. The first sale The first sale is scheduled for 25th August, 12:00 noon onwards on realme.com, Flipkart & mainline channels.