Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
The original Realme GT was released in March, and the toned-down version named GT Neo followed shortly after. Interestingly enough, a successor to the latter is already out in China, and it's about to make its rounds globally, starting with India. The Realme GT Neo2 isn't just your ordinary hardware refresh, though. The handset offers quite a few welcome upgrades over its predecessor, while its pricing is just as aggressive. It's also the first Neo phone to reach European shores.
In any case, the GT Neo2 bumps up the screen diagonal to 6.62", gets a brighter display beneath the Gorilla Glass 5 sheet, snatches 2GB of extra RAM for its base configuration and employs a considerably more powerful Snapdragon 870 chipset. Moreover, the GT Neo2 gets a significant upgrade in the battery department as it now houses a bigger 5,000 mAh battery and faster 65W charging.
Realme GT Neo2 specs at a glance:
- Body: 162.9x75.8x9.0mm, 200g; Gorilla Glass 5 front, plastic back and frame.
- Display: 6.62" AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 398ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8250-AC Snapdragon 870 5G (7 nm): Octa-core (1x3.2 GHz Kryo 585 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 585); Adreno 650.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 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), 1/3.09", 1.0µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 65W, 100% in 36 min (advertised).
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC, no 3.5mm audio jack.
The camera setup, on the other hand, is borrowed from the previous generation, which fared well in our testing in March, and we suspect even better processing thanks to the Snapdragon 870's more proficient ISP on board.
It all sounds well on paper but with the upgraded hardware comes a considerable price bump as well so the phone will now compete in a different price category. The original GT Neo had an excellent price/performance ratio and great feature set that made it stand out. We are about to see if the GT Neo2 has retained those and whether it maintains the same competitiveness against its direct rivals.
Unboxing the Realme GT Neo2
The device comes in a fairly large box containing all the usual stuff. The appropriate 65W charger is in the box (not always a given these days) and a USB-A to USB-C cable.
The box also carries a soft-touch, matte case for the phone, which is a nice change of pace given all the cheap-looking transparent ones OEMs usually include with the retail package.
Design and ergonomics
Looking at the Realme GT Neo2 and the original Neo side by side, it's hard to tell the difference. However, there are quite a few subtle changes, and most of them are for the better. Luckily, we got both the Neo Green and Neo Black colors, so we have some impressions from both.
For starters, the display on the front is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The back panel and the side frame remain plastic, though. Realme says it's a 7 nano-multilayer with AG (anti-glare) coating, which feels a lot like the predecessor. Interestingly enough, we found the Neo Black color to be less of a fingerprint magnet. Sure, there are still some smudges if you look close enough, but they are definitely less apparent. This is true for the Neo Green option as well.
Speaking of, this is the only color option with the rather polarizing stripe design. It might appeal to some, but others may find the "Dare to Leap" slogan a bit too much. The contrasting glossy stripe makes fingerprints a tad more visible, but it also looks kind of fresh, we'd give it that. Either way, the base color options are your logical choice if you are looking for something less flashy. The Neo Black and Neo Blue variants have a medium-sized Realme logo, which is far from annoying.
Sadly, there's still no ingress protection, and the extra screen diagonal, and battery capacity have bumped up the weight to almost 200g while the profile is now 9mm.
The camera island retains the shape but adopts a familiar design and arrangement. It's looking a lot like OnePlus' 9-series, and the two main lenses protrude by a little. Interestingly, the two-tone flash consists of two separate modules positioned right next to the primary and ultrawide cameras, probably for the sake of symmetry. Although, we find the asymmetrical distance between the two cameras and the edge of the glass piece OCD-inducing.
Overall handling is nice, mostly because the side frame is super grippy. It's made of plastic and imitates anodized aluminum. The curved back also helps with the grip, but we were mostly surprised by the back, which doesn't come off as too slippery despite its smooth, frosted finish.
On the left side of the frame, you'd find two separate buttons for the volume and, on the right, a patterned power button. And there's something odd about them; maybe a bit more travel and clickiness wouldn't have hurt. And while we are on the buttons, we can't miss mentioning the fingerprint scanner's positioning. It's a bit too close to the bottom edge requiring some awkward thumb twisting, or you have to hold the phone really close to the bottom edge. That last option isn't ideal too because the handset is top-heavy.
Realme GT Neo2
The bottom houses the bottom-firing loudspeaker (the second doubles as an earpiece behind the top bezel) along with the USB-C port and the SIM card tray. The latter offers two SIM slots but no room for microSD.
We are sad to see the 3.5mm jack go despite this updated model being considerably bigger. We wonder why Realme chose to skip it this time around.
Although not perfect, the design appears to be much improved from the previous generation. Most of the issues we outlined in the original GT Neo review are no longer here. The finish isn't a fingerprint magnet; it's less slippery, there's a Gorilla Glass 5 sheet on the front, and Realme offers cleaner-looking paint jobs this time around.
Bright AMOLED panel with 120Hz and HDR10+
The new GT Neo2 retains the same 1080 x 2400px resolution but bumps up the screen diagonal to 6.62" from 6.43". But don't worry, the display doesn't appear less sharp than before. The same off-centered punch-hole selfie camera is at hand. It's still AMOLED, and it's still 120Hz, but this time around, Realme has upgraded the supported HDR certification, and it now can display HDR10+ content. This means that the screen can peak at up to 1300 nits of max brightness with the appropriate content.
We couldn't confirm those numbers because the advertised peak brightness in HDR video is usually achievable only across small, bright regions of the screen.
In our tests, we got respectable 659 nits in Auto Mode, whereas we got 498 nits in manual mode. These results are more than respectable and should be ideal for comfortable outdoor use even under bright sunlight.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 498 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 659 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 433 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 640 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 383 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 800 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 396 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 825 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 438 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 633 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 443 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 650 | ∞ | |
Color accuracy isn't its strongest suit, however, as we found the whites and grays to have too much of a blue tint regardless of the pre-calibrated modes. Still, for the best possible accuracy, we suggest you go for the Gentle mode. This one gets the rest of the colors right, at least.
Unfortunately, HRR control hasn't improved much since the previous generation, and it's kind of a mixed bag. You get 120Hz in all system menus and most apps out there, especially if you force 120Hz using the said mode, but we were expecting more dynamic control over those hertzes when using the Auto Switch mode. For instance, the software won't switch to 60Hz when you are not touching the device, and it would choose 60Hz for some apps.
Still, we appreciate that entering full-screen during video playback would tone down to 60Hz while scrolling through YouTube and Netflix; the system stays at 120Hz. Neat!
Unfortunately, the games we tested on the original GT Neo seem to be still locked at 60fps when running them on the GT Neo2, so you still can't use the full potential of the screen during gaming.
Battery life
The Realme GT Neo2 comes with a generous 5,000 mAh battery and scored exceptionally well in our video playback test, and did pretty well in our web browsing one too. In short, you can expect great screen-on runtimes. The standby and 3G talk runtimes seem to be just about the average for the class.
However, the overall endurance rating is predominantly higher than most phones we've tested in the same price bracket. Seems like two days of normal usage or one whole day with intensive use are not far-fetched scenarios. We were kind of surprised by the GT Neo2's results compared to the Dimensity 1200-powered handsets, which tend to last longer in our tests.
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.
The battery settings menu isn't anything out of the ordinary and offers pretty much all the standard features today's smartphones have. You can restrict background usage on a per-app basis or nuke them all when the phone turns off the screen. Two power saving modes are also available, and, of course, since there's 65W fast charging, there's optimized charging as well to keep your battery healthy for longer.
Battery settings
Charging speed
It's no surprise that a Realme phone charges fast. Almost all Realme, Oppo and OnePlus phones that came out in the last two years feature some kind of fast charging and more often than not, it's 65W. The GT Neo2 is no exception to the rule, and the 5,000 mAh battery can be charged from 0 to 100% in just 32 minutes, while a 30-minute charge would get you 97% of the juice. Only a handful of phones beat that, and most of them are packing smaller, 4,500 mAh batteries.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
98% - Realme GT Neo2
97% - Realme GT 5G (65W)
87% - Realme X7 Max 5G
60% - Samsung Galaxy A72
54% - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
53%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- OnePlus Nord 2
0:31h - Realme GT Neo2
0:32h - Realme GT 5G (65W)
0:39h - Realme X7 Max 5G
1:00h - Samsung Galaxy A72
1:15h - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
1:28h
Speakers
The handset uses a bottom-firing loudspeaker and an amplified earpiece that doubles as a second loudspeaker. Surprisingly enough, the setup sounds pretty balanced, and it's hard to tell the difference between a phone running two full-fledged speakers and the Neo2. Loudness is also good, although not the highest one around, and quality is respectable. The lows provide fullness to the sound, while the highs may get distorted at higher levels.
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 and Android 11
Even though, Realme said that the GT Neo2 would most likely launch with Android 12 and Realme UI 3.0 in Europe, the update has been pushed back to December going by recent official news. This isn't such a bad thing, though, as December is just around the corner, and the Neo2 will be running the latest and greatest shortly after its global release anyway. As for now, we will focus on the well-known Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11. We've already reviewed the Realme GT Master and GT Explorer Master, both employing the Realme UI 2.0. However, the GT Neo2 has a couple of additional features, but the basics are the same.
Despite its customizable nature, Realme's UI has a cleaner approach to Android, much like OnePlus' OxygenOS. However, most of the ColorOS features from Oppo's skin can be found here. You can say that Realme's UI is an interesting mix of the two. In any case, once you boot up the device for the first time, you will be greeted with the standard home screen, the usual notification shade stock-ish looking icons, and a no-nonsense recent apps menu with the carousel style formation.
Home screen, recent apps, app drawer, notification shade
A couple neat things to note here - there's the option to open each app in a separate mini window or floating one. A nice multi-tasking feature that's been around for a while. Also, you can scroll through the recent apps faster using the icons at the bottom as a scroller.
Recent apps menu and floating window
Opening the Home screen settings menu would show some useful features. For instance, you can set the keyboard to slide out every time you open the app drawer, you can set the animation speed, activate some screen-off gestures and enable the so-called Icon pull-down feature. We've first seen this on Oppo's ColorOS, and we found it to be quite helpful on phones with extra-large screens. It's pretty simple, and the gesture seems to work consistently. Slide down along the left or right edge of the display, and the icons on the Home screen would minimize towards the bottom half. Proceed with dragging your finger across the apps, and the highlighted one will be opened once you lift your finger.
Icon pull-down
Most of the visual customizations are gathered in one place. You can choose the icon pack or customize one by yourself, set a fingerprint animation to your liking, choose the accent colors, adjust the font and even change the shape of the quick toggles in the notification shade. The color of the edge lighting can be changed too.
Personalisation options
The Always-on display is customizable as always - a wide selection of clock styles, animations, graphics is available, and in case that's not enough, you can set an image from the gallery.
Always-on display
The Dark mode isn't a new feature, especially for Realme's UI, but with the second iteration of the OS, you get some additional options. Scheduling the Dark mode is possible, of course, and forcing it on third-party apps is also available. We were surprised by the color schemes, however, as the Dark mode now offers three variations - dark gray instead of black and a bit lighter gray. The gray color has been proven to be just as effective as the pitch-black color when it comes to energy consumption. So going for a lighter gray might be a sweet spot for users that are hesitant to use the conventional Dark mode.
Dark mode
The Convenience tools section is home to some of the iconic Realme/Oppo/OnePlus screen-off features. Drawing letters on a locked screen can launch an app or execute a task. Gestures for multimedia control are also on the menu.
Convenience tools
Similarly to Samsung's Edge panel, Realme has a Smart Sidebar feature. The actions and apps that appear along with the sidebar's position along the edge of the screen are all customizable. That last one is crucial as it can interfere with the back gesture if you are using Android's default gesture-based navigation.
Realme labs
The Realme Lab sub-menu holds three unique features, which we haven't seen before. They are located in the Realme Lab tab for a reason - these features are still in beta. DC dimming is old news, but the Smooth scrolling and Sleep Capsule are new. The former doesn't seem to improve scrolling; at least we couldn't see the change. Sleep Capsule restricts your phone usage so you can get a good night's sleep. Lastly, Realme is working on a feature that can stream music on a set of wired and wireless headphones. Seems like a cool feature to be able to share your music with a friend.
Performance
The Realme GT Neo2 utilizes the potent Snapdragon 870, which is basically a re-badge, flagship Snapdragon 865+ from last year with a slightly higher clock of the main Kryo 585 Prime core clocked at 3.2 GHz while the 3x Kryo 585 Gold cores are running at 2.42 GHz. These two clusters are based on ARM's Cortex-A77 cores for serious number crunching, while the 4x Kryo 585 Silver cores ticking at 1.8 GHz are Cortex-A55. A slightly higher clocked Adreno 640 GPU is on board as well.
The Neo2 comes in a couple of flavors - 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB with no expandable storage, but funnily enough, you can expand the memory by allocating storage. We've got the 12GB/256GB unit that allows up to 7GB of memory allocation. But from our experience, the maximum allowed value may vary depending on the phone's memory configuration.
Let's see how it fares against the competition in strictly synthetic workloads.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
3555 - Realme GT Neo2
3186 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
2801 - OnePlus Nord 2
2792 - Poco X3 Pro
2574 - Samsung Galaxy A72
1627
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
1139 - Realme GT Neo2
1019 - OnePlus Nord 2
814 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
771 - Poco X3 Pro
735 - Samsung Galaxy A72
537
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
810433 - Realme GT Neo2
726039 - OnePlus Nord 2
598022 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
506432 - Samsung Galaxy A72
333668
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
65 - Realme GT Neo2
59 - OnePlus Nord 2
46 - Poco X3 Pro
45 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
33 - Samsung Galaxy A72
17
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
55 - Realme GT Neo2
49 - OnePlus Nord 2
38 - Poco X3 Pro
38 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
28 - Samsung Galaxy A72
15
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
38 - Realme GT Neo2
33 - Poco X3 Pro
27 - OnePlus Nord 2
26 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
20 - Samsung Galaxy A72
10
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
29 - Realme GT Neo2
24 - OnePlus Nord 2
20 - Poco X3 Pro
18 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
14 - Samsung Galaxy A72
7
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Realme GT 5G
5872 - Realme GT Neo2
4250 - OnePlus Nord 2
4224 - Poco X3 Pro
3401 - Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
2491 - Samsung Galaxy A72
1031
As expected, the Realme GT Neo2 smokes its direct competition as the latter is mostly powered by the Dimensity 1200 while the Samsung alternatives are even running the Snapdragon 7xx-series. Only the more expensive Realme GT 5G boasts this year's flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 888, and even then, the difference isn't dramatic. In all three - CPU-intensive, GPU-intensive and mixed workloads, the Snapdragon 870 slots comfortably between the Snapdragon 888 and the Dimensity 1200.
Familiar triple-camera setup
For the second iteration of the GT Neo, Realme used the same 64MP Sony IMX682 sensor, which is a common sight in this price segment as well. It's 1/1.73" big and has 0.8µm pixels. The sensor sits behind an f/1.8 lens with no OIS. The main unit is joined by an 8MP 1/4.0", 1.12µm unit with f/2.3 aperture, no AF and a dedicated 2MP f/2.4 macro shooter with no AF as well.
On the front, we have the same 16MP camera with f/2.5 aperture. The sensor is bigger than the one used for the ultrawide, measuring 1/3.09" in size with 1.0µm pixels.
Camera menus
The default camera app is business as usual, with no major changes to the UI. The main modes are arranged in a carousel formation, with the additional ones tucked away in the More sub-menu. In addition to the standard Expert mode for stills, there's a Movie mode for video capturing with all the "pro" settings available on both cameras - main and ultrawide. In Movie mode, you get to tinker with stabilization, exposure, autofocus, white balance, shutter speed and ISO.
Camera menus
On the top of the viewfinder in the standard Photo mode, you'd see the AI and HDR toggles along with some filters. What we found to be particularly frustrating is the standard Video mode, where you can't adjust the resolution and frame rate. Or so we thought at first. In fact, to change those, you'd have to look for a tiny bar located right next to the AI toggle on the viewfinder - you have to either press it or pull it down.
Photo and Video Expert modes
Daylight samples
Main camera
The main camera's default 16MP photos look just about average, or slightly below, what we would expect from a mid-range setup. There's enough detail in the shots, and despite the challenging overcast conditions, the shots came out with a wide enough dynamic range.
Colors are close to natural, and the noise is mostly absent - it's apparent only on homogeneous backgrounds and shadows. However, sharpness could be improved, especially along the edges of the frame. We observed considerable deterioration with the slightest change in ambient light while the additional sharpening introduced by the software processing can leave some objects in the frame like painted with watercolors.
16MP main camera daylight samples
More consistency with white balance and exposure is also needed. Our unit seems to favor the colder end of the spectrum in some of the shots, and the exposure is a tad darker. Switching on the AI mode boosts contrast and color, making everything look juicier. More importantly, it goes for the right exposure and makes the photos look brighter and instagaramble.
16MP main camera AI daylight samples
The 64MP mode lacks the HDR toggle, so images shot in full resolution come out with a narrower dynamic range and softer-looking overall, too. You do gain a little bit of detail, but it's definitely not worth it.
64MP main camera daylight samples
2x zoom
There's a dedicated 2x zoom mode right on the viewfinder, but it crops from the main camera, of course. It's needless to say that the 2x zoom photos are nowhere near the quality of a proper telephoto, but you can get decent shots under the right conditions. The main camera's flaws become more apparent, and you can see some soft patches around the scene at times, and foliage is often the victim. That's due to the noise suppression algorithm brushing away fine detail. But that watercolor effect, it's near impossible to miss when the lighting conditions are sub-optimal. Notice the cat in the sample photos below.
2x zoom samples
Ultrawide camera
The 8MP ultrawide camera behaves just like pretty much every other mid-range 8MP ultrawide camera out there. Photos are generally soft, noisier, with a narrow dynamic range and lack fine detail. In addition, these ones feature soft patches all-around, probably courtesy of the noise suppression algorithm once again. Realme did try to retain consistency and boosted some of the colors because ultrawide cameras often produce dull-looking pictures. The end result is greener foliage, brighter red and orange but the rest still looks washed out.
Ultrawide daylight samples
On the bright side, the lens correction algorithm is doing a pretty good job, and there's virtually no color fringing even as you get closer to the edge.
Macro camera
The 2MP macro camera's lack of autofocus and resolution makes things a bit difficult when it comes to macro photography. There's just not enough detail in the macro shots, and you need to take several photos of your subject just to make sure at least one of them is in focus. Colors are anemic, and contrast is poor too. And yet, the samples below don't look much different from most of the competitors using the same sensor.
Macro camera samples
Low-light samples
Main camera
Honestly, we're kind of surprised by how well the main camera handles low-light scenes. In fact, we liked the low-light samples more than the daylight ones. Sure, there is plenty of noise around, but we are impressed by the fine detail resolved in the shadows that would have been otherwise lost. The dynamic range is okay, and the highlights are not that bad too.
Main camera low-light samples
Contrast is good, and colors are close to natural. Sharpness is respectable, and the amount of fine detail is more than we could have asked for. We liked how accurate the white balance is as it always captured the right look of the light sources.
The dedicated Night mode is considerably more aggressive than we remembered from the previous review of the original GT Neo. It makes the photos almost look like they are rendered from the ground up. Perhaps that's due to the overly bright shadows and the additional sharpening.
Night mode main camera samples
However, one would argue that the oversharpening and overprocessing is more noticeable on a big screen. For social media posting, the Night mode is great. It takes care of the noise without washing away the fine detail, highlights are well-contained and not blown-out, while the overall look of the images is considerably clearer. Gone are the soft patches; gone is the coarse grain. Ultimately, the Night mode takes just a couple of seconds to stitch all the images together, so we would suggest shooting your scene with and without the Night mode and deciding which one you like more afterward.
And in case you don't like a specific part of the whole Night mode, Realme offers a Pro Night mode, which you can activate using a toggle at the bottom-left corner of the viewfinder. It's precisely the same mode with the same processing and everything, but it lets you adjust ISO, white balance, shutter speed, etc.
2x zoom
It may sound a bit counter-intuitive, but we suggest leaving the Night mode off when doing 2x zoom photos. Not that the standard mode produces usable images all the time in the first place. The main camera's flaws become more apparent. The Night mode, to our surprise, softens up the photos, clears the noise and brightens them up just a little. Definitely not worth it, especially considering the wait time.
2x zoom low-light samples: Normal • Night mode
Ultrawide camera
The Night mode is no endless magic, but it does make the unusable ultrawide samples semi-usable. The sensor struggles to produce images that are not foggy, noisy and without any detail. Dynamic range and general contrast are also lacking. The Night mode clears up the noise, improves dynamic range drastically by lighting up the shadows without doing much for the highlights, though. With everything said, it's about what you'd expect from an 8MP ultrawide camera in this price segment.
Ultrawide low-light samples: Normal • Night mode
Here's how the primary camera on the Realme GT Neo2 stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.
Realme GT Neo2 vs. OnePlus Nord 2 5G and the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
Portraits are not ideal but are par for the course. Our biggest issue is that they turn out a bit soft even under good lighting conditions, noise is easily spotted, and the software isn't consistent with the subject's skin tone. It can sometimes be reddish or pale. Edge detection is convincing, though.
Portrait samples
Selfies
Selfies are a bit underwhelming, especially for a 16MP camera. They are softer than expected and with washed-out colors turning the subject's skin pale, even. Softness becomes more apparent with the slightest decrease in light, and we suspect the narrow f/2.5 aperture is the culprit. Portrait mode's faux bokeh is rough around the edges, too.
Selfie samples: Normal • Night mode
Video recording
The device is capable of recording 2160p@60fps videos, but most of the special modes are capped at 1080p. For example, the Ultra Steady mode goes up to 1080p@60fps to mimic the action camera stabilization, and the same goes for the AI mode, which is only allowed to go up to 1080p.
We start off with the standard 4K video, which is looking pretty good. It has vibrant colors, good contrast, plenty of detail and sharpness is just average for the price range. Some shadows and dark cars appear to be darker than usual, but we blame the overcast for this. Otherwise, it's a nice-looking 4K video with virtually no noise.
Switching on the AI mode would only boost colors leaving everything else just about the same. The trade-off here is that it records up to 1080p resolution, and as a result, you get considerably less sharp videos and a little bit of added noise. And given that colors are punchy enough with the standard 4K video, we can't think of a reason to opt for the AI mode anyway.
Recording with the ultrawide camera is also possible, but it's once again capped at 1080p because of the sensor's resolution. The recorded sample below is considerably softer, with a narrower dynamic range, less detail but retains the rather punchy color reproduction.
Stabilization in 2160p is available, and although not perfect, it does a pretty good job of taking care of the general shakiness of videos.
And in case that's not enough, there's a dedicated Ultra Steady mode that records in 1080p@60fps and offers a narrower field of view due to the more aggressive EIS. The sample below does look a bit smoother than the 4K video above, but it can sometimes produce jitter. We've seen this to be a common issue on mid-range Oppo phones, so it's no wonder we see the same behavior here as well.
Ultra Steady Max uses the ultrawide camera for a wider field of view, but the result is underwhelming. We can even go as far as saying that the standard 4K stabilization looks better than this one.
Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the Realme GT Neo2 stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.
2160p: Oppo Reno6 5G vs. OnePlus Nord 2 5G and the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G in our Video compare tool
Competition
The Realme GT Neo2 comfortably roams in the upper-mid-range segment with some premium features and hardware, notably the Snapdragon 870 SoC, the 5,000 mAh battery with blazing-fast charging and the bright and fluent 120Hz OLED panel. From what we see, the GT Neo2 is not bringing a knife to a gun party, that much is clear.
But pricing is a bit tricky. The handset has already been launched in India at INR 32,000 for the 8GB/128GB version, whereas the European market is still expecting delivery. Seeing how the Realme GT Master is currently selling for around €380 and accounting for import taxes and sales taxes in Europe, we would assume the starting price of the GT Neo2 to be in the mid-€400. And we will use this guesstimation for the sake of the comparison below.
One of the first alternatives that comes to mind is the Nord 2 5G from Realme's sister company, OnePlus. The handset is selling for about €400 in Europe and asks INR 30,000 in India. Noticeably lower price than the GT Neo2 in both regions and is able to match Realme's contender in terms of charging speed, battery life (although a tad lower) and is able to pull off generally better camera performance too. It may also convince some potential buyers with its stock-ish Android. However, for a few extra bucks, the GT Neo2 would give you a faster, brighter and bigger display and noticeably better performance (after all, the Dimensity 1200 struggles to keep up with the Snapdragon 870).
It's a close call, that's for sure, but perhaps the Neo2 takes the lead with slightly higher price/performance and price/feature ratios, even with its higher price tag.
The Poco F3 GT would be representing Xiaomi's camp with the excellent feature set. Sadly, it's only available in India but undercuts the GT Neo2 with INR 29,000 price tag (equated for memory configuration). It's running a less potent Dimensity 1200 chipset but impresses with a Gorilla Glass 5 build all-around, IP53 certification against water and dust and flaunts a flagship-grade 10-bit, 120Hz AMOLED panel.
Unfortunately, we haven't tested the device in our lab. Still, according to Xiaomi's official metrics, the display should be about as bright as the GT Neo2's, while battery life will be better. The Dimensity 1200 isn't famous for being a power-hungry SoC, and combined with the F3 GT's 5,065 mAh battery, we expect to beat the GT Neo2. The latter outpaces Xiaomi's solution in terms of charging, though, that's for sure.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G • Xiaomi Poco F3 GT • vivo iQOO 7 (India)
Another unexpected alternative on the Indian market is again from one of Realme's sister companies - vivo. The vivo iQOO 7 seems to be a tad cheaper, starting at around INR 29,000 and employs the same Snapdragon 870 SoC, has OIS on the primary camera, higher resolution ultrawide unit, identical 6.62-inch 120Hz AMOLED display and similar 66W fast charging solution. It seems like battery capacity is the only considerable advantage of Realme's GT Neo2, and one would think that the extra 500 mAh probably aren't worth the extra bucks.
Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G • Samsung Galaxy A72
Last, but not least, Samsung has two similarly-priced offers that are often mentioned n in our reviews. However, they may come as a bit pricey for someone looking at the INR 32,000 GT Neo2 in the first place. The Galaxy A52s 5G asks INR 36,000 whereas the Galaxy A72 asks INR 35,000, but strangely enough, the European retailers are willing to sell those for €380 and about €430, respectively. That's a little below what we expect as a price tag on the GT Neo2 once it arrives at European shores. And in case you are interested in the latter, these two phones are worth considering.
Surely, they both are no match to the Neo2's raw horsepower and won't charge as fast, but the more competent and capable camera setups (the ultrawide are higher resolution, the A72 has a dedicated 3x zoom with OIS, even) may win over some of you. Battery life is also longer than Realme's contender, although marginally. And you get microSD card slots, 3.5mm audio jacks and IP67 certification against water and dust as a bonus.
Verdict
The Realme GT Neo2 is probably the phone with one of the highest price/performance ratios in its class, outpaced only by considerably pricier handsets. The Snapdragon 870 SoC is capable of some serious number crunching and works well with the speedy 120Hz OLED panel. Pity that it doesn't go north of 60Hz in games, an issue we found with the previous generation.
The big battery, fast charging and rather long endurance build a very compelling case for the GT Neo2 - not to mention the loud stereo speakers. However, if you are looking for a phone that excels in photography, the GT Neo2 shouldn't be your first choice. There are quite a few more competent and versatile alternatives. Not that the Neo2's camera experience is lackluster, it's just that we've seen better. We did like the 4K video recording, nighttime performance and the granular control over the hardware provided by the camera software. But with the price premium that this phone comes with, the Neo2 now competes against better-equipped phones.
And if you are willing to forget about the missing microSD card slot and 3.5mm audio jack, the Realme GT Neo2 is still easy to recommend.
Pros
- Bright AMOLED screen, 120Hz, HDR10+ support.
- Great price/performance ratio.
- Long battery life, blazing-fast charging.
- Good stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos support.
- Snappy and customizable Realme UI.
Cons
- Games capped at 60fps.
- No microSD card slot, no IP rating, the jack is also gone.
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