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Introduction
Realme's 2021 flagship has made it to the Old Continent, and we are thrilled to finally meet the company's first Snapdragon 888-powered handset. It's one of these smartphones that are jam-packed with high-end features yet sold at prices that are hard to ignore. Meet the Realme GT 5G.
The Realme GT 5G is based on the latest Qualcomm flagship chip, but that's only one of its key selling features. It also employs a Samsung-made 120Hz AMOLED screen with 360HZ touch sampling. There are Dolby dual speakers, too, and one large battery with incredibly fast 65W charging. And that 65W SuperDart charger ships with the phone.
Realme has opted for a triple camera on the back and a single selfie snapper. The primary rear shooter is a 64MP Sony IMX682 camera, sitting next to an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro snappers. The front cam has a 16MP sensor.
The Realme GT 5G is one of those devices that we are now used to calling 'flagship killers', following that one(plus) completely different company which was first to use the term publicly. And this device has everything to deserve such a title - a flagship screen, flagship performance, flagship camera, flagship battery/charging, and a killer price.
Realme GT 5G specs at a glance:
- Body: 158.5x73.3x8.4mm, 186g; glass front, glass back, plastic frame.
- Display: 6.43" Super AMOLED, 120Hz, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 409ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm): Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 680; Adreno 660.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 11, Realme UI 2.0.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.73", 0.8µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.3, 16mm, 119˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, 26mm (wide), 1/3.0", 1.0µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4500mAh; Fast charging 65W, 100% in 35 min (advertised).
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; 3.5mm jack.
No flagship killer is perfect, and the Realme GT is no exception. Being a high-end mid-ranger means something had to give, and in this case, that's ingress protection and a zoom camera for the Realme GT. Well, we can certainly live without these, especially at that price.
Unboxing the Realme GT 5G
The Realme GT 5G ships within a larger than usual box, and this time, it's not realme yellow; it's black. Inside, you will find a 65W SuperDart Charger with a USB-C port and a 6.5A-rated USB-C cable.
The paper compartment contains a transparent silicone case and some paperwork.
The Realme GT arrives with a thin screen protector that is already applied, but it's a massive smudge magnet and of cheap quality, and we peeled that off immediately.
Design, build quality, handling
Realme is experienced in making good-looking phones, and the premium Realme GT 5G is a real showoff. It's an all-glossy smartphone with a traditional dual-glass build and a plastic frame in-between.
The front glass is flat, while the back panel is curved towards the sides. It's what Realme calls a 3D curve - a fancy name for something we've seen a thousand times. There is no official word on who the glass maker may be.
As you can imagine that these two glass pieces are giant smudge magnets, but that's often the tradeoff for looking pretty.
Realme is offering the GT in Dashing Blue (ours), and Dashing Silver, both featuring Accelerated Track Pattern as the maker calls it. The Blue one has this dark blue patch in the middle that slowly transitions into black towards the side. There is also a subtle V-shaped texture embedded under the glass.
The Silver model transitions from silver towards blue, and the effect is equally, well, dashing.
There is also a Racing Yellow option, available only with the top-tier memory configuration. It has Dual-Tone Vegan Leather back - most of it is yellow with a black stripe that's as wide as the camera glass. Realme says the leather is wear- and tear-resistant and is treated to be odorless.
The 6.43" Super AMOLED screen is one of the Realme GT's highlights, with the other one being the most current flagship Snapdragon chip. The display is of 1080p resolution and 20:9 aspect, but it impresses with 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate.
There is a small punch-hole around the top left corner for the 16MP selfie camera. It's not the smallest we've seen, but not the largest eyesore either.
Above the screen, within its frame, is the earpiece behind a thin grille. This earpiece also acts as one of the speakers, and our initial impressions are good, though far from the best we've experienced.
There is also an under-display fingerprint scanner - it's the latest optical solution and works great. The sensor is fast and responsive, with excellent accuracy.
Finally, looking at the OLED bezels, we've certainly seen thinner, but for this size, feature set and price, we'd say they are perfectly fine.
The rear glass has fancy 3D curves, more prominent on the longer sides. Our Dashing Blue version is captivating - all these subtle effects make for one really cool and unique look. The camera glass is jutting out and contains three snappers - a 64MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro. A dual-LED dual-tone flash is the last thing of interest here. The Realme GT 5G wobbles on a desk just as any other recent flagship or mid-ranger.
There is an instant tell-tale sign that's it's not a full-blown flagship, and that's the plastic frame. The frame has mostly flat top and bottom and slightly curved sides. Ours is painted in dark silver, and while glossy, it is not that smudge-friendly.
The dual-SIM tray and volume keys are on the right, while the power/lock button is on the left side of that frame.
The top houses a lone microphone for stereo audio capturing during video recording.
The bottom has the USB-C port, the 3.5mm jack, the mouthpiece, and the second speaker.
The Realme GT measures 158.5 x 73.3 x 8.4 mm and weighs 186 grams - meaning it is a bit more compact than most of the recently released high-tier mid-rangers and flagships. But despite being smaller than usual, the phone manages to fit a great screen, chip and one particularly large 4,500mAh battery.
Handling a glossy phone is not an ideal experience, no two words about that. Yet, the Realme GT provides some grip thanks to its frame - it's not as slippery as the panels, on the contrary. And with the smaller than average body, the GT makes for a good user experience and handling. If you are going to shoot a lot of pictures or switch the phone's orientation often on the go, we'd advise using the bundled protective case - it won't take away a whole lot from the looks but will make handling the phone feel much safer.
Display
The 6.43-inch Samsung-made AMOLED is one of the Realme GT's key features. It's the usual 20:9 panel with rounded corners and extended 1080p resolution (2,400 x 1,080 px, 409ppi). It goes the extra mile with premium features like HDR10+ support, 120Hz refresh rate, and 360Hz touch sampling.
Let's talk about these features now. For starters, the screen indeed supports HDR10 and HDR10+ and is recognized as such by all hardware reading apps. YouTube streams HDR, but Netflix and Prime Video cannot, though they can do Full HD streaming thanks to Widevine L1 DRM.
Realme offers O1 Ultra Vision Engine, which has two options - SDR to HDR video color enhancer and Video image sharpener. Only one of these can be on, but honestly, we didn't notice much (if any) difference.
The Realme GT display supports up to 120Hz refresh rate. You can choose between 60Hz, 120Hz, and Auto Select refresh from display settings. In our testing, the Auto Select and 120Hz do the same thing - they run all compatible apps (games excluded) in 120Hz and revert to 60Hz for static images and video playback/streaming. HRR gaming is a no-go on the Realme GT, just as it wasn't possible on previous HRR-capable Realme phones.
Finally, there is 360Hz touch sampling rate, and the screen feels incredibly responsive. This matters for gamers mostly, but it's still a value-adding feature that improves the sense of speed whatever you are doing.
Moving on to our brightness measurements. The display maxes out at 443 nits when brightness is adjusted manually. But when we used the Auto setting and faced the screen with bright light, it will go as high as 650 nits.
The minimum brightness at point white we were able to measure on the Realme GT screen is 2.0 nits - meaning it's an excellent one.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 443 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 650 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 635 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0.038 | 871 | 22921:1 | |
| 0 | 450 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 821 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 498 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 926 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 514 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 846 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 386 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 794 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 511 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 716 | ∞ | |
| 0.327 | 458 | 1401:1 | |
| 0.4 | 534 | 1335:1 | |
| 0 | 454 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 627 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 459 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 585 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 457 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 725 | ∞ | |
The screen is tuned to comply with the DCI-P3 (Vivid mode) or sRGB (Natural mode) color spaces. The accuracy is great - the Vivid profile is not too saturated, but the white and gray hues are a bit bluish. You can fix that by using the Warmest setting of the Color Temperature bar.
The Natural profile does yield a perfect color accuracy to sRGB (deltaE of 1.8).
Battery life
The Realme GT 5G is powered by a 4,500 mAh battery. It has a similar battery and screen size as the Realme 8 Pro, but offers a more powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset and 120Hz refresh rate support.
The Realme GT scored a 98h endurance rating on our battery life test. It can last a full day in 3G calls; you can browse for nearly 14 hours or watch videos for more than 16 hours. The standby performance turned out one of the best we've seen from an SD888 smartphone.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.
Charging speed
Realme GT 5G supports 65W SuperDart Charge, and that 65W power adapter is part of the phone's retail bundle. Realme is advertising the 65W SuperDart charge to replenish 100% of a flat battery in 35 minutes.
There is no wireless charging or reverse charging support on the Realme GT.
We also received the super-thin 50W SuperDart Mini charger, which is sold separately, and we've included it in our tests as well.
So, in our testing, the 65W power adapter recharged 87% in 30 minutes - that's incredibly fast. If you use the 50W mini charger, then it would take you up to 68%.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9 Pro
99% - Realme X50 Pro 5G
95% - Realme 7 Pro
94% - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
89% - Realme 8 Pro
88% - Realme GT 5G (65W)
87% - Xiaomi Mi 11
83% - Realme GT 5G (50W mini)
68% - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
67% - Poco F3
67% - Realme 8
56% - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
54%
You reach the 100% mark in just 39 minutes. And you get to Charged after additional 2 minutes of charging.
When we used the 50W Mini charger, we achieved 100% in 57 minutes, and it took another 2 minutes for Charged to appear on the screen.
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- OnePlus 9 Pro
0:32h - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
0:37h - Realme 7 Pro
0:37h - Realme 8 Pro
0:38h - Realme X50 Pro 5G
0:38h - Realme GT 5G (65W)
0:39h - Xiaomi Mi 11
0:50h - Poco F3
0:56h - Realme GT 5G (50W mini)
0:57h - OnePlus Nord CE 5G
1:03h - Realme 8
1:09h - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
1:12h
Looking at the 50W times, they are more in line with what we may expect to get from 30W chargers instead of 50W. Maybe the charger is too thin to support 50W for a long period of time, but that's just a guess though.
Speakers
The Realme GT has two speakers - one dedicated at the bottom, and the other one is the earpiece. They support Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio.
The bottom speaker is probably larger as it offers a bit more bass than the top one, and we could argue it's louder, too. But when working together, they are tuned rather well, and the overall loudness seems balanced enough.
In our new speaker test, the Realme GT 5G scored a Very Good mark as far as loudness is concerned though it sounds a lot quieter. That's because of the quality - it's okay, but far from the best. The audio isn't tuned great - the mid-tones are a bit lacking, the bass isn't as punchy as on other models, though the high notes seem well presented.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Realme UI 2.0 on top of Android 11 base
The Realme GT 5G boots Android 11 with Realme UI 2.0. The latest version of the launcher offers richer customization options, more AOD themes, a couple of extra Dark Mode styles, refined floating and mini windows, and enhanced security.
The phone supports fingerprint unlock, and the optical sensor works very well - it's fast and with high accuracy. You can also add a face for an even speedier unlock - though this is not as secure.
The launcher has no-nonsense homescreens, a simplistic and clean notification/toggles area, and an easy-to-use task switcher. An App drawer is available, too, and it is as clutter-free as one could hope for. You can opt out of the app drawer if that's your thing.
Realme UI 2.0
Always-on screen is available, and it can show the usual content - clock, date, notifications icons, battery. The Realme UI 2.0 also brings many new AOD themes - we had a really hard time picking one.
Edge Lighting is available, too, and it's quite useful as there is no notification LED light on the Realme GT, but not everyone is keen on using the AOD screen as it impacts the battery life.
AOD • AOD • AOD • Edge Lighting • Edge Lighting
Realme UI supports different icon packs, so if you are not happy with the default one, you can opt for material style, pebbles, or you can even fully customize them by your liking. Thanks to Realme UI 2.0, you can also change the system colors, the fingerprint scanner animation, the notification drawer icons, even the system font. And there is a whole Theme Store if that's not enough for you.
Customization options
Dark Mode is available, too, and it's been enhanced with Realme UI 2.0 with support for three different dark styles - black, dark gray or light gray. It can be manual or scheduled. You can also opt to force it on third-party apps, though this doesn't always end well.
Dark Mode
There are many powerful tools within the settings menu if you want full control over your Android OS. Or you can leave everything as is and enjoy a hassle-free Android experience optimized by Realme's AI algorithms and machine learning.
Settings
You can also minimize an app to a mini-windows or a floating window from within the Task Manager. If an app is compatible, you can do either of these or use the familiar Split Screen.
Task Manager • Mini app • Floating window • Split screen
Similar to the Galaxies, the Realme UI offers a Smart Sidebar on the edge of the screen - you can customize the actions and app shortcuts that appear there.
Smart Sidebar
The multimedia apps such as Gallery, Music, and Videos - are provided by Realme. There is also a redesigned File Manager and even a Phone Manager app. This completes the non-Google app list.
A Game Center app is also available for better game management and notification behavior. You can also opt for smart resolution switch and performance/balanced/energy saving modes.
Gallery • Music • Videos • Phone Manager • File Manager • Game Center
We are fond of the Realme UI, and we like the new direction. The interface is snappy, clutter-free and easy to use. Yet, it retains plenty of powerful tools should you choose to dig deeper and use them.
Performance and benchmarks
The Realme GT 5G is the maker's first smartphone running on the new Snapdragon 888 5G chip. The SoC is based on the 5nm manufacturing process.
The flagship SoC has an octa-core processor with a familiar core configuration 1+3+4 - 1x2.84 GHz Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1 derivative) & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78 derivative) & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55 derivative).
The Adreno 660 is part of the SD888 and is currently one of the best in the smartphone segment.
Realme GT is available with either 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5. The storage options are 128GB and 256GB, and the storage is of the UFS 3.1 kind.
The SD888 chip supports the latest connectivity standards - dual 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band GPS.
Realme used a new multi-layer cooling system for the Realme GT in an attempt to make "the coolest Snapdragon 888". It is comprised of a copper vapor chamber surrounded by stainless steel. Then come multiple layers of graphite covering the entire chip area.
Let's run some tests now, shall we?
The Snapdragon 888 processor is the current best, and the benchmark tests confirm this. The Realme X7 Max 5G, also known as GT Neo, runs on Dimensity 1200 and its CPU performance is in line with the mid-rangers.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9 Pro
3636 - OnePlus 9
3629 - Realme GT 5G
3555 - Xiaomi Mi 11
3489 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
3486 - Realme X50 Pro
3175 - OnePlus 9R
3117 - Realme X7 Pro
2997 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
2909 - Realme X7 Max 5G
2614 - Poco X3 Pro
2574 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
1780 - Realme 8 Pro
1678 - Samsung Galaxy A72
1627
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
1139 - OnePlus 9
1129 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
1128 - OnePlus 9 Pro
1126 - Xiaomi Mi 11
1085 - OnePlus 9R
969 - Realme X7 Max 5G
967 - Realme X50 Pro
911 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
803 - Realme X7 Pro
756 - Poco X3 Pro
735 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
569 - Realme 8 Pro
566 - Samsung Galaxy A72
537
The Adreno 660 is also one of the most powerful GPUs on the market and will handle whatever game nicely. The GT Neo's / X7 Max 5G is also showing some real flagship potential with its 9-core Mali-G77 GPU, which is on par with the Snapdragon 865's.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9 Pro
119 - OnePlus 9
119 - Realme GT 5G
112 - Xiaomi Mi 11
111 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
111 - OnePlus 9R
93 - Realme X50 Pro
86 - Realme X7 Max 5G
86 - Realme X7 Pro
80 - Poco X3 Pro
75 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
65 - Samsung Galaxy A72
29 - Realme 8 Pro
28
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9 Pro
70 - OnePlus 9
70 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
69 - Xiaomi Mi 11
67 - Realme GT 5G
65 - OnePlus 9R
57 - Realme X50 Pro
51 - Realme X7 Max 5G
50 - Realme X7 Pro
46 - Poco X3 Pro
45 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
40 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
19 - Realme 8 Pro
18 - Samsung Galaxy A72
17
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
5872 - OnePlus 9 Pro
5701 - Xiaomi Mi 11
5673 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
5667 - OnePlus 9
5667 - Realme X7 Max 5G
4216 - OnePlus 9R
4154 - Realme X7 Pro
3938 - Poco X3 Pro
3401 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
3136 - Realme 8 Pro
1051 - Samsung Galaxy A72
1031
Unfortunately, no game or GPU benchmark could utilize the screen's high refresh rate. We've seen a similar thing on previous HRR-capable Realme phones, and it seems even the GT won't be the one to allow HRR gaming.
A spoiler alert of sorts - the Realme GT Neo/X7 Pro Max allows using higher refresh rates in GPU tests and hopefully in games and seems to be the one to break the mold of this restrictive pattern.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
101 - Realme X7 Max 5G
79 - Poco X3 Pro
67 - Realme GT 5G
60 - Realme X50 Pro
60 - Realme X7 Pro
60 - OnePlus 9
60 - OnePlus 9R
60 - Xiaomi Mi 11
57 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
57 - OnePlus 9 Pro
57 - Realme 8 Pro
31 - Samsung Galaxy A72
26
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
59 - OnePlus 9
58 - Realme GT 5G
55 - OnePlus 9R
49 - Realme X50 Pro
45 - Realme X7 Max 5G
44 - Realme X7 Pro
40 - Poco X3 Pro
38 - OnePlus 9 Pro
36 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
35 - Xiaomi Mi 11
33 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
16 - Realme 8 Pro
16 - Samsung Galaxy A72
15
Finally, AnTuTu says the Realme GT 5G is one of the fastest phones on the market right now.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9
715196 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
708156 - Realme GT 5G
703986 - OnePlus 9 Pro
691055 - Xiaomi Mi 11
668722 - OnePlus 9R
617766 - Realme X7 Max 5G
605819 - Realme X50 Pro
592447 - Realme X7 Pro
510317 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
465534 - Poco X3 Pro
453223 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
295442 - Realme 8 Pro
286666 - Samsung Galaxy A72
279342
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R
823354 - Realme GT 5G
810433 - Realme X7 Max 5G
680671 - OnePlus 9R
676913 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
522490 - Samsung Galaxy A72
333668
Well, the Snapdragon 888 5G chip makes the Realme GT look like an over-equipped device, especially when the maker doesn't allow HRR gaming. But having such power under the hood means a lot for the future, and the phone can surely last a long time. We experienced hiccup-free performance across the board. Hopefully, Realme will allow HRR gaming with an upcoming firmware update.
Stability and sustained performance are also important. The phone has new stainless steel (+VC copper) cooling system, providing better conductivity and heat dissipations. Well, we can confirm the phone doesn't get as hot as many other SD888-powered phones. Warm - yes, hot - no. But that's because it throttles. The Realme GT scored a 55% stability score on the 3D Mark Wild Life Stress Test - an uninspiring number. It also exhibited a huge drop of battery life for these 20 loops (each 1m long) - about 35%.
The nubia Red Magic 6R also relies on a passive cooling solution, but it seems it does much better. The RM6R achieved 89% stability score on the 3D Mark Stress Test, and the battery dropped 19%. While the SoC was kept relatively cool, the phone's frame got incredibly hot, and we guess that's the tradeoff for not throttling.
3D Mark Stress Test
We've also decided to run the CPU Throttling test for an hour. The stainless steel cooling system allowed the CPU to keep just 47% of its maximum performance. For comparison, the passive cooling system of the Red Magic 6R managed to keep 83% of its CPU performance.
CPU stress test result
So, while Realme tried to make the coolest running SD888 - it came at the price of throttling. Both the Realme GT and the nubia Red Magic 6R use the same chip but different passive cooling solutions, and the Red Magic's much better even if the phone heats a lot under peak load around the frame. Maybe if Realme used a metal frame instead of plastic, things would have looked different. But it is what it is.
We want to end this chapter on a positive note, though. Few games, if any, will use 100% of the SD888 and games like Asphalt, Dead Trigger 2, Ace Force and Call of Duty ran fine for hours, and we did not notice any obvious throttling.
The usual triple camera; single selfie shooter
The Realme GT 5G features a triple-camera setup on its back. There is a 64MP primary shooter, an 8MP ultrawide snapper, and a 2MP macro cam. A dual-LED dual-tone flash is also around.
The front camera for selfies is a 16MP imager.
The Realme GT 5G has a 64MP primary camera with Sony IMX 682 Quad-Bayer sensor with 26mm f/1.8 lens, 0.8µm pixels, and PDAF. There is no optical stabilization. This camera shoots by default in 16MP. Night Mode is available on this camera.
Unlike on the Realme 8 Pro and its 108MP camera, there is no lossless zoom available on the Realme GT's 64MP primary.
Second is the ultrawide snapper with an 8MP sensor behind f/2.3 lens. There is no autofocus. Night Mode works on this camera, too.
The macro camera uses a 2MP sensor with f/2.4 aperture and focus fixed at about 4cm.
Finally, the selfie camera has a 16MP sensor with 1.0µm pixels behind 26mm f/2.5 lens. The focus is fixed. Night Mode should be available on this shooter, too.
The camera app is the familiar Oppo/Realme one with a few tweaks for the latest version. There are fewer menus - most of the modes are now on the main rolodex, which is good. It offers AI Scene Enhancement (also known as Chroma Boost or Dazzle Color) - it's like an advanced HDR mode, which may stack several images to offers even further improvements in the dynamic range, but the most prominent "improvement" is the higher color saturation.
In the Expert mode, you get to tweak exposure (ISO in the 100-6400 range and shutter speed in the 1/8000s-32s range, 1/2s for the ultrawide), white balance (by light temperature, but no presets), manual focus (in arbitrary 0 to 1 units with 0 being close focus and 1 being infinity) and exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/6EV increments).
You do get to shoot on the main and ultrawide cams in this Expert mode, but switching them is handled in a truly bizarre way. You get the familiar 1x-2x-5x selector, but that doesn't operate the actual cameras - it's a digital zoom from whichever camera you've picked from the tree selector on the opposite end of the viewfinder. Indeed, the trees switch cameras, and once you select a module from there, no focusing distance considerations will auto-switch it - that's good.
Camera app
We were happy to find the video resolution issue has been fixed since the Realme 8 Pro - now the ultrawide toggle is always visible, no matter the chosen resolution.
Photo quality - daylight
The main camera saves 16MP photos by default, and those are pretty good. There is enough detail, the noise is incredibly low, while the contrast and the dynamic range are excellent.
The white balance is spot on, and the colors are always accurate.
These are not flagship-grade photos, though. High-frequency detail is once again an issue for Realme's image processing, and things like grass and bushes are often smeared by the processing algorithms. We can also spot oil-painting-like effects across various sports - reflections, monuments, people.
Indeed, the 16MP photos from the primary camera are more than good for a mid-ranger, but we found them a bit overprocessed with somewhat artificial look at times. They are not bad, not at all, just not the best we've seen for the reasons we've mentioned.
Main camera, 16MP
Realme offers an AI Scene Enhancement toggle (previously known as Chroma Boost and Dazzle Color) within the camera app. It usually makes an HDR photo with eye-popping colors, depending on the scene.
When the algorithm detects Blue Sky, Buildings or Grass you can clearly see the saturated colors. If saturated colors is what you are looking for, then you should keep the AI toggle on.
Main camera with AI, 16MP
Unlike the Realme 8 Pro, the Realme GT does not offer lossless zoom. Whether it's 2x or 5x, it's a pure digital zoom done by cropping and upscaling. The photos look okay on the phone's screen, but you better not look at them in full resolution.
Main camera 2x zoom, 16MP
There is a dedicated 64MP mode, and it produces good high-res photos. They are huge in size - between 20MB and 30MB. But they lack the overly aggressive processing applied on the regular photos - the sharpening, then smoothing and noise reduction.
That's why the 64MP photos aren't that sharp and noticeably noisier. They won't yield (much) more detail if downsized to 16MP, but if you like their natural look - you should try shooting in 64MP.
Main camera, 64MP
We liked the 8MP ultrawide photos. They offer enough detail for this type of camera and sensor, the noise is kept reasonably low, and the dynamic range is particularly wide.
Just like it was with the Realme 8 Pro's ultrawide snapper, this one also saves photos with a noticeable reddish tint. It's not the end of the world, but the color difference between the main and ultrawide camera is noticeable immediately.
Ultrawide camera, 8MP
The 2MP macro camera has its focus fixed at 4cm, and shooting a sharp picture requires a bunch of tries but eventually, you learn the sweet spot and how to recognize when your subject is on focus.
The 2MP macro shots are good - they are detailed, colorful and sharp. The contrast is high, too. The photos once again look a bit overprocessed, but we doubt that your Instagram followers looking at that flower petal or bug would mind the look.
Macro camera, 2MP
The Realme GT can shoot portraits with its main camera even if there is no dedicated depth sensor. The subject separation isn't stellar because of that, but the photos are excellent - detailed, sharp, with good colors and contrast. We liked the blur, too.
Portraits, 16MP
The Realme GT has the same selfie camera as the 8 Pro - it uses Quad-Bayer sensor behind f/2.5 lens, while the focus is fixed.
The selfie photo quality is okay, considering the GT saves photos in 16MP instead of the natively binned 4MP. The resolved detail is obviously average, but everything else is great - contrast, colors, dynamic range.
Selfies, 16MP
Portrait mode is available for selfies, too. The photos have the same qualities as the regular selfie photos. The subject separation, while far from ideal, is acceptable for such a camera, and the defocusing looks good.
Portrait selfies, 16MP
Photo quality - low-light
The main camera takes balanced 16MP photos at night. The exposure is quite balanced, the sharpness is good, and the resolved detail is plenty. The noise reduction process is gentle as it doesn't smear fine detail, but it obviously leaves a lot of noise across the photos. The noise levels are tolerable, and we think that Realme has done a great job with the low-light processing striking the right balance at everything.
There are many clipped highlights, but that's to be expected as there are no other enhancements when shooting in the default Photo mode.
Main camera, 16MP
The AI opts for Night Mode at night and may or may not over-saturate the colors. There is a dedicated Night Mode switch, too. It usually takes about 2-3 seconds to take a photo and another 2s to save it.
The Night Mode saves much brighter photos and exposes even a lot more detail than before. The noise is clean a bit better here, and overall the Night Mode photos are excellent.
The highlights remain clipped even with all the enhancements. And there are various artefacts in areas of high-frequency detail such as building decorations, foliage, and the tiny white stones. But these are not enough to ruin our positive impressions.
Main camera Night Mode, 16MP
The 8MP low-light photos from the ultrawide camera are not good. While they offer good colors, they are soft and dark, making them mostly unusable.
Ultrawide camera, 8MP
Night Mode works on the ultrawide camera, and it does a brilliant job at saving a great ultrawide image at night. The noise is cleaned proficiently, there is a ton of fine detail, the sharpness is excellent, and the exposure is much better - all photos are noticeably brighter (not over the top bright).
We strongly recommend using the Night Mode when shooting with the ultrawide camera.
Ultrawide Night Mode, 8MP
And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the Realme GT 5G. Here's how it stacks up against the competition. Feel free to browse around and pit it against other phones from our extensive database.
Realme GT 5G against the Poco F3 and the nubia Red Magic 6R in our Photo compare tool
Video quality
The Realme GT captures videos with its main camera and ultrawide snappers. The main camera records video up to 4K at 60fps, and there's 1080p at both 30fps and 60fps. The ultrawide shooter is limited to 1080p@30fps video capturing.
You get the option to choose between the h.264 and h.265 codecs.
Electronic stabilization is available - it is always-on and applied across all cameras, on all resolutions and frame rates.
The Realme GT is generous with the bitrates - the 4K footage gets 50Mbps while 1080p/30fps is allocated a similarly above-average 15Mbps when using the h.264 codec. The audio bitrate is always 320kbps, and the sound is stereo.
The 4K videos captured 30fps with the main camera are great - there is plenty of resolved detail, the noise is low, the colors are accurate, and the dynamic range is above average. The audio sounds quite nice, too.
Shooting in 4K at 60fps uses a small crop from the center of the sensor. The picture is equally good to the 4K30 as far as colors, contrast, and dynamic range are concerned. But the captured detail is not good same - the video looks more like digitally zoomed or, say, upscaled from lower resolution.
Realme is also offering this AI Highlight video mode. It is shot in 1080p at night and does look good, probably because of the lower resolution. What it does is literally highlighting the light sources giving them a slightly better look and color saturation.
The 1080p clips from the ultrawide camera are rather average. The detail is okay, but the dynamic range is low, and there is a noticeable reddish tint.
Finally, here is the Realme GT 5G in our video comparison database.
2160p: Realme GT 5G against the Poco F3 and the nubia Red Magic 6R in our Video compare tool
The competition
The base 8/128 version of the Realme GT 5G is priced at €399 for the early birds, while later, the price should be set €449. The Vegan Leather 12/256 variant will set you back €549. These are more than reasonable prices for such a feature-rich smartphone, and it has everything to be called a flagship killer.
There are various interesting offers on the market, so let's take a look at a bunch.
The Poco F3 is the first smartphone that comes when we think of flagship features at bargain prices. It has a 120Hz AMOLED screen, flagship-grade Snapdragon 870 5G chipset, good stereo speakers and a similar triple-camera on the back. The F3 is €100 cheaper than the GT, and it trumps it with splash resistance, and even if we can live perfectly fine with the SD870 SoC, others may not.
We recently reviewed the nubia Red Magic 6R, and we were impressed with the phone's passive cooling - something Realme may want to explore further. The Red Magic is €100 more expensive, but it offers HRR gaming without throttling, dedicated gaming triggers, 8K video capturing, and outstanding photo and video quality from the main camera. It's not an issue-free phone, but if your budget allows it - you may want to give it a chance.
The Black Shark 4 costs as much as the Realme G5, but it's pretty much the same device as the Poco F3 but with a 144Hz AMOLED and dedicated gaming triggers. It runs on the SD870 instead of the SD888, but it can play HRR games, and it can play them really well.
The OnePlus 9 is the flagship-killer company's alternative to the Realme GT. It has slightly larger 120Hz AMOLED, runs on the same SD888 chip, offers a similar tri-camera setup but with a 50MP ultrawide snapper, and we are big fans of its OxygenOS. The OnePlus 9 costs €640 though, so there is no way we can recommend it over the Realme GT.
Xiaomi Poco F3 • ZTE nubia Red Magic 6R • Xiaomi Black Shark 4 • OnePlus 9
The verdict
The Realme GT is a particularly good smartphone of the rare flagship killer breed. That's what we call the mid-rangers with top-notch chipsets and displays. And the GT model not only impresses with its 120Hz AMOLED and Snapdragon 888 performance, but it also adds stereo speakers and good camera skills in the mix.
The Realme GT runs on Android 11 with the latest Realme UI 2.0 launcher, which is as fluid and responsive as OnePlus's Oxygen, and we are fans of both.
Finally, with value-adding features like plenty of connectivity options and super-fast charging, it's really impossible not to recommend the Realme GT, not at that bargain price of €399 anyway.
The Realme GT is surely not the perfect phone - there is no splash resistance, all games are capped at 60fps, and the ultrawide and selfie snappers are somewhat outdated. Throttling is not great either, though it's not noticeable under real-life conditions.
The Realme GT is an easy recommendation, of course, just make sure you've explored all possibilities as there are better phones if gaming is your top priority.
Pros
- Excellent Super AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+.
- Dependable battery life, incredibly fast to charge.
- Good stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos support.
- Snapdragon 888 5G delivers flagship performance.
- Great photos from all cameras.
- The primary camera shoots good videos.
- 3.5mm jack, NFC, Wi-Fi 6, dual 5G.
- Fast and fluid Realme UI.
- Inexpensive for the feature set.
Cons
- No IP rated water/dust resistance.
- Games capped at 60fps.
- Throttles considerably under peak loads.
- No OIS, lossless zoom or a tele camera.
- Outdated front camera.
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