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Introduction and specs
The Realme GT2 series launched in China last year and replaces the flagship Realme GT 5G from March 2021. But this time, we get two versions - a standard GT2 and a GT2 Pro option, which Realme says is the most premium flagship it has ever made. And we can see why. The GT2 Pro offers an impressive set of improvements over the GT 5G in every key aspect.
Starting with the display, of course. The GT2 Pro now carries a bigger, LTPO2 AMOLED panel that boasts low energy consumption and adaptive refresh rate ranging between 1Hz and 120Hz. And that's on top of the 500 mAh battery increase, raising our expectations in the battery endurance department.
Realme GT2 Pro specs at a glance:
- Body: 163.2x74.7x8.2mm, 189g; Gorilla Glass Victus front, plastic/bio-based polymer back, aluminum frame.
- Display: 6.70" LTPO2 AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1400 nits (peak), 1140x3216px resolution, 25.39:9 aspect ratio, 509ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.50 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 12, Realme UI 3.0.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.2, 15mm, 150˚; Microscopic: 3 MP, f/3.3, (microscope), AF, 40x magnification.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, 26mm (wide), 1/2.74", 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 65W, 100% in 33 min (advertised).
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC.
Another notable upgrade is the camera setup. There are even a couple of industry's first in there as well. The main 64MP camera from before has been swapped out for a more sophisticated Sony-made 50MP sensor with multi-directional PDAF and OIS. And the ultrawide unit uses a Samsung 50MP sensor paired with an impressive 150-degree lens allowing for some unique fisheye shots. Sadly, there's no telephoto camera, and there is only a 3MP microscopic macro camera with AF and 40x magnification to make up for the omission.
Last but not least, the same designer behind the Realme GT Master, Naoto Fukusawa, has designed the back of the current GT2 Pro. It's not made of glass, and it's conceived so that it feels like paper in person. It's reportedly, the industry's first bio-based polymer leaving 35.5% less carbon footprint.
So, in a sense, Realme is right about the GT2 Pro being the most premium smartphone it has ever created. The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is at the helm with all the bells and whistles a flagship phone should offer. Well, except maybe a telephoto camera, but we've seen Realme's produce impressive cropped 2x and 3x zoom photos, so let's not judge prematurely.
Unboxing the Realme GT2 Pro
The Realme GT2 Pro comes in a nice, big box that, nonetheless, should have reduced carbon footprint as per Realme. The company says that in combination with the new bio-based polymer back, every 1 million GT2 Pros shipped account for the equivalent of 3.5 million fewer plastic bottles.
Retail box and bonus case
Anyway, the box contains all the usual user manuals, a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging and data transfer, the appropriate 65W charger and a nice-looking gray silicone case for extra protection. This one provides a nice grip and doesn't feel cheap like the other cases that OEMs usually bundle with their phones.
Design, ergonomics and connectivity
Once again, Realme tries something different with the build. And we can get behind that. Last year's top-tier version of the GT 5G had vegan leather option, while this year's special Paper Green and Paper Green color variants are available in the lower storage tiers as well. They are made of bio-based polymer, leaving 35.5% less carbon footprint, but Realme doesn't specify compared to what. Perhaps the OEM refers to the standard materials used for smartphones, such as plastic and glass.
The company has worked with the Saudi Arabian firm Sabic to come up with a paper-like texture, hence the color names. Realme once again worked with Naoto Fukusawa, the designer who helped make the GT Master series from last year. That's why you get the laser-engraved signature of the designer.
The surface itself indeed feels like paper, but we couldn't get over the notion of plastic. It's definitely lighter than glass and takes away that premium feel you usually get from a proper flagship phone. We are not saying the GT2 Pro isn't a flagship, it's just that it's not super premium to the touch. However, there are some upsides to this.
First, scratches would be less noticeable on a non-shiny surface. Secondly, the material provides a superior grip compared to glass and smooth plastic. And thirdly, the fingerprints and smudges are no longer an issue here. So for some, the not-so-premium-feel could be a reasonable trade-off given the advantages of the polymer. The non-designer Steel Black and the Titanium Blue variants remain plastic, though, or at least Realme isn't boasting a glass build.
Going around the sides, we see anodized aluminum and the back plate seamlessly transitions into the oval side frame with no protrusions or ridges. It feels quite nice. You can easily see the antenna cutouts all-around, as the phone incorporates a 360-degree antenna design, which Realme is really proud of.
Just like the iQOO 9 Pro and the Oppo Find X5 Pro (both BBK Electronics-made phones, yes), an Antenna Array Matrix System improves the phone's reception and connectivity capabilities. A combination of software and hardware optimizations improves the 5G cellular connection, Wi-Fi and NFC. The software decides which of the 12 antennas to use depending on the scenario.
Realme GT2 Pro
While we can't confirm those claims through testing, we must take Realme's word for it. However, we found the so-called 360-degree NFC to be quite handy in practice. Meaning no matter how you hold the phone or where you tap it, the NFC chip will work.
There's nothing else out of the ordinary around the frame. We have the volume rocker on the left and the power button on the right. The latter is a tad higher but still within thumb's reach. The bottom houses a dual SIM card slot, the USB-C connector and the bottom-firing speaker.
While the back of the handset wasn't very convincing, the front glass leaves no doubt in the GT2 Pro's premium status. The side bezels are razor-thin, while the top and bottom bezels are ever so slightly thicker but symmetrical. It's really pleasing to the OCD eye. The punch-hole for the selfie in the upper-left corner is small enough not to be distracting. The Gorilla Glass Victus has discreet curves around the edges and feels nice in hand.
Thanks to its lightweight back, the Paper White and the Paper Green variants weigh in at just 189 grams (add 10g for the glass options), and thickness is just 8.2mm. All that camera hardware gives the handset that distinct top-heavy feel, yet the GT2 Pro doesn't feel hefty at all. It's not too shabby for a 6.7-inch device.
Overall, we liked the design, and we applaud Realme's effort of offering something different in the sea of glass sandwiches. Although the sub-premium feel of the texture may not be to everyone's taste, it does have its positive traits.
120Hz, LTPO 2.0 AMOLED display
One of the Realme GT2 Pro's standout features is undoubtedly the second-generation Samsung-made LTPOP 2.0 AMOLED display, which should be comparable to that of the high-end flagships from 2021 and 2022. The biggest appeal of the screen is its energy efficiency, as Realme claims about 50% lower consumption compared to other OLED solutions. It's also capable of incremental refresh rate steps and is highly adjustable depending on the scenario. In short, the panel can do anything between 1Hz and 120Hz.
Other notable features include HDR10+ support (we found it to work in YouTube, but we weren't able to download Netflix since the GT2 Pro is yet to be added to the streaming platform's white list), 1000Hz touch sampling rate, 10-bit color depth, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, 10,240 brightness levels for granular automatic adjustment and WQHD+ (1440 x 3216px) resolution. All of this fits in a 6.7-inch diagonal and is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus.
Now off to our usual display tests. Cranking up the brightness slider to a maximum in manual mode ensures 482 nits of max brightness while the Automatic mode triggers a significant boost, achieving 778 nits. This is an excellent result, yet it's a tad lower than what most high-end flagship models have to offer. Don't forget that the Realme GT2 Pro's pricing puts it in the lower-end of the flagship spectrum, though. In any case, 778 nits outdoors are perfectly fine for comfortable use on a bright sunny day.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 482 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 778 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 443 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 650 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 498 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 659 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 437 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 634 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 792 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 459 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 883 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 477 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 846 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0.038 | 871 | 22921:1 | |
| 0 | 438 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1000 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 516 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 837 | ∞ | |
However, that's still far from the advertised 1,400 nits peak brightness, so we went along and tested that at just 10% APL. In this case, the panel reached 847 nits - still great but nowhere near the promised 1,400 nits.
When it comes to color accuracy, though, the panel's ability to reproduce accurate colors is excellent. The standard Vivid mode has a noticeable blue-ish tint in whites and grays but using the Natural color mode ensures an average dE2000 of just 1.7. Some bright shades of white still have the tendency to look blue-ish but it's nowhere near the tinge produced in Vivid mode. There's also a color temperature slider if you wish to achieve even more accurate color reproduction.
HRR control
We are happy to report that Realme has fully taken advantage of the LTPO 2.0 AMOLED's capabilities when it comes to refresh rate control. If the brightness in the current scenario isn't at maximum level (or close to maximum), all static imagery will be displayed at 10Hz. However, at max brightness, the variable refresh rate can go as low as 1Hz. For video playback, the system prefers 30Hz but depending on the video's frame rate, it can also be 24Hz, 48Hz and 60Hz.
As long as you are interacting with the screen, the refresh rate stays at 120Hz in system menus and most apps we tried. Sadly, the same cannot be said about games, which appear to be locked at 60Hz at all times. None of the titles we tried went beyond the 60Hz mark.
Battery life
Coming from the original Realme GT 5G, the GT2 Pro adds another 500 mAh to its battery capacity, and as you'd expect, the overall endurance rating is significantly higher. But we suspect the more efficient hardware - display plus chipset - also deserves some credit. The web browsing score hasn't changed much over the last year's model, but the video playback runtimes are up, and so are the 3G talk times. There's a proper boost in standby, too.
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.
The 117 hours overall endurance rating is comparable to some mid-range phones, and we mean that in a good way. Budget-oriented handsets usually employ energy-efficient chipsets and big batteries, while flagship models prioritize raw power over power consumption, so it's interesting to see the GT2 Pro achieve such impressive runtimes. Here's how it stacks against the competition.
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
The Realme GT2 Pro employs the same charging tech as last year's Realme GT 5G - 65W SuperDart charging that pumps two separate battery cells at the same time, achieving high charging speeds. And despite the larger battery capacity (5,000 mAh vs. 4,500 mAh), the GT2 Pro's charging times are comparable to that of its predecessor. In the first 30 minutes, the GT2 Pro replenished 91% of its juice, and ten more minutes are required to a full charge.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi 11T Pro
100% - iQOO 9 Pro
100% - Realme GT2 Pro
91% - Oppo Find X5 Pro
91% - Realme GT 5G (65W)
87% - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
54% - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
51% - Google Pixel 6 (65W)
48%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- Xiaomi 11T Pro
0:21h - iQOO 9 Pro
0:21h - Realme GT 5G (65W)
0:39h - Realme GT2 Pro
0:40h - Oppo Find X5 Pro
0:40h - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
1:12h - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
1:15h - Google Pixel 6 (65W)
1:50h
Interestingly enough, those charging times are exactly the same as the Oppo Find X5 Pro's, which has the same 5,000mAh unit but uses a theoretically faster 80W SuperVOOC Flash charging. Either way, the GT2 Pro doesn't disappoint when it comes to charging, quite the opposite.
We are just a little disappointed that there's no wireless charging in this price range.
Speakers
The GT2 Pro sports a standard dual-speaker setup that consists of a bottom-firing one and a smaller one that acts as an earpiece as well. When playing together, they seem to be well-balanced for the purpose but covering the bottom one reveals a flatter sound coming out of the top one, and it's considerably quieter, too.
Just like last year's Realme GT 5G, this one doesn't necessarily impress with sound quality. At higher volumes, the highs are a bit distorted, although the vocals are clear and punchy. The mid-tones are a bit lacking again, and so are the lows. It lacks that particular fullness.
As far as loudness goes, it has gone down since last year's GT as it gets a "Good" overall score thanks to its -26.3 LUFS.
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 3.0 based on Android 12
As one would expect, the Realme GT2 Pro runs on the latest Android 12 plastered with Realme UI 3.0. Since this is a flagship device, you can expect at least two years of major updates.
Visually, the OS hasn't changed much. Realme UI has a colorful UI with customizable UI elements and its own iconography for the notification shade and the general Settings menu. The app drawer hasn't been tweaked either, but we did notice a bit of inconsistency with the swipe up and swipe down gestures on the Home screen when opening/closing the drawer. A small annoyance that shouldn't bother most users.
Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, app drawer
Realme also kept the so-called Icon pull-down gesture. Swiping alongside the left or right edge of the screen crams icons at the bottom half of the screen so they can be easily reached with your thumb. The gesture is pretty reliable as well. By default, the swipe down gesture on the Home screen opens up the so-called global search, but you can always set the notification shade instead.
When it comes to Android 12-specific features, most of them are under-the-hood changes. However, the privacy-focused efforts from Google are translated into Realme UI 3.0. The so-called Privacy dashboard is one example. It's a unified view for all your permissions and user data settings. It gives you information on which apps and how often they access your information or ask for certain permissions. It looks and feels like the Digital wellbeing dashboard introduced with Android 10.
Android 12 privacy settings
In addition to those privacy features, Android 12 lets you choose the accuracy of your location shared with certain apps. Let's say you want to share an approximate location with some apps instead of your exact location. And when a certain app is accessing your mic or camera, a green dot will appear in the upper-right corner of the screen so you'd know what's going on.
For a more in-depth look at Android 12, we suggest reading our full Android 12 review as we will try to focus on the Realme UI itself in the following paragraphs.
As before, Realme UI offers deep customization of the interface by letting you choose accent colors (or a combination of accent colors), wallpapers, icons, the shape of the quick toggles as well as the font and size. All of these settings are found in the Personalization sub-menu.
Personalization settings
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.
The Always-on display customizations aren't left out. You can customize it to your liking or choose from the default presets. Scheduling is also an option.
ALways-on display settings
Under the Special features sub-menu, Realme put the Smart sidebar and Flexible windows features, both of which boost multitasking. When turned on, the sidebar offers quick access to some of your favorite apps. The system allows you to adjust the position of the sidebar, which is crucial because it might interfere with the back gesture if you are using the standard Android gestures. Anyway, tap and hold on an app icon enters split-screen mode while a single tap opens up the app in a floating window or as Realme likes to call it, "Flexible window". The supported apps can be opened in small, draggable and size-adjustable windows.
Flexible window
A few good words about the vibration motor - it seems to be improved upon as the haptic feedback feels precise, punchy and strong. It feels great alongside the whole frame of the phone when typing or during certain actions when navigating through menus and apps.
The good old screen-off gestures that allow you to launch certain apps or the flashlight by drawing letters on a locked screen are here to stay.
Screen-off gestures
In the Realme labs, where the company likes to introduce experimental features, there's one that caught our eye. You can stream music to a Bluetooth headset and wired headphones simultaneously. Pretty neat if you are traveling with a friend and want to listen to the same tunes.
Realme labs and heart rate measurements
Lastly, let's talk about the fingerprint reader. It's fast, it's accurate, reliable, and it seems to be well-positioned. We see a tendency in some phones lately with fingerprints placed way too close to the bottom edge. This one seems to be at the right spot. Two new features are now available with the fingerprint reader, though. One of them is the built-in heart rate monitor, which seems to be rather okay in terms of accuracy in the user's resting state, but it's largely inconsistent also. A Quick launch option is now available and seems to be taken straight from OnePlus' OxygenOS. You just tap on the fingerprint scanner and hold until icons for your pre-defined apps appear. Dragging your finger on one of them launches the app in question.
All in all, though, the Realme UI 3.0 looks snappy, offers some new features and looks and feels the same as the previous iteration of the software, for better or worse. It's also highly customizable, and that's something a lot of Android users are looking for. Bonus points for that.
Synthetic and sustained performance
The Realme GT2 Pro employs Qualcomm's latest and greatest - the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC based on Samsung's 4nm process. It holds an octa-core CPU with three different clusters. The main Cortex-X2 core runs at 3.0 GHz, aided by 3x Cortex-A710 cores ticking at 2.5 GHz, plus a third cluster of 4x Cortex-A510 runs at 1.8 GHz for less demanding tasks to preserve energy. The Adren 730 GPU takes care of graphically-intensive tasks.
The GT2 Pro offers either 8 or 12GB of RAM with non-expandable storage. The 8GB variant comes paired with either 128 or 256GB of storage, while the 12GB option offers 256 or 512GB.
We ran the usual benchmarks to see if the GT2 Pro utilizes the chipset's full potential and also see how it stacks against the competition.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
3855 - iQOO 9 Pro
3708 - Realme GT 5G
3555 - Realme GT2 Pro
3501 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
3476 - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
3049 - Google Pixel 6
2899
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
1246 - Realme GT2 Pro
1238 - iQOO 9 Pro
1231 - Realme GT 5G
1139 - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
1096 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
1091 - Google Pixel 6
1030
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
1056488 - iQOO 9 Pro
997948 - Realme GT2 Pro
966251 - Realme GT 5G
810433 - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
719696 - Google Pixel 6
676831
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
64 - Google Pixel 6
43 - Realme GT2 Pro
39 - Realme GT 5G
38 - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
38 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
37 - iQOO 9 Pro
37
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
48 - Realme GT2 Pro
46 - iQOO 9 Pro
44 - Google Pixel 6
30 - Realme GT 5G
29 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
26 - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
25
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
77 - Google Pixel 6
57 - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
56 - Realme GT 5G
55 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
54 - Realme GT2 Pro
48 - iQOO 9 Pro
46
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
97 - Realme GT2 Pro
95 - iQOO 9 Pro
95 - Google Pixel 6
66 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
66 - Realme GT 5G
65 - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
57
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 7
10118 - iQOO 9 Pro
9673 - Realme GT2 Pro
9487 - Google Pixel 6
6832 - Realme GT 5G
5872 - Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
5757 - Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
5432
Unsurprisingly, the handset came out ahead of the competition in pretty much all scenarios and also showed the promised 20% gains over the Snapdragon 888/888+. We even see it a tad faster than Samsung's Exynos 2200 in CPU-bound tests and asserting significant dominance in the combined and GPU-intensive tests.
However, since the handset is running a higher resolution 1440p display, the onscreen GPU test results are lower compared to other 1080p flagships while maintaining the lead in offscreen scenarios.
The GT2 Pro also seems to have comparable performance to other Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered devices such as the iQOO 9 Pro and the ZTE nubia Red Magic 7. It's important to note, however, that in some tests, the phone refused to go beyond 60fps, so some results are lower than they should be. Specifically the onscreen tests.
Sustained performance
Realme thinks users will take advantage of the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC and play games on the phone. For a good gaming session, however, you need a proper cooling solution that keeps temperatures at a reasonable level and maintains high performance over long periods of time. That's why the new passive cooling system is the largest on any smartphone available today. We can't confirm those claims, so we take Realme's word for it.
The so-called Stainless Steel Vapor Cooling Max solution covers a 36.761mm2 cooling area, which is 105% up from last year's design and improves efficiency by 25%. The system consists of 9 layers that include a Diamond Thermal Gel, which is around 50-60% better thermal conductor than the standard thermal paste.
Now, let's put that cooling design to the test.
CPU throttle stress test
The CPU maintained about 74% of its maximum performance but judging by the graphic, this is just one dip that touched the 74% mark. For the most part, the CPU performance hovered around 80%. By the looks of it, you may experience some drastic dips when playing, but those should be short and far and few between.
The good news is that the side frame gets warm while the back is perfectly comfortable to hold after long gaming sessions.
Two 50MP sensors, fisheye and microscopic lenses
The Realme GT2 Pro has similar to the iQOO 9 Pro's and the Oppo Find X5 Pro's camera setups with two 50MP sensors. They use different optics, though.
In this case, the primary shooter uses Sony's IMX766 50MP, 1/1.56" in size with 1.0µm pixels. The sensor is aided by OIS and supports multi-directional PDAF, and the lens provides a fairly wide f/1.8 aperture.
The secondary ultrawide camera is the star of the show. It's one of the few cameras with a 150-degree field of view. The other phone running such a setup is the aforementioned iQOO 9 Pro. Sitting behind the extremely wide lens is the Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor, 1/2.76" in size and having 0.64µm pixels. Тhe lens features f/2.4 aperture and doesn't support AF, although the EXIF data contradicts the official specs and reports a narrower f/2.4 aperture.
Sadly, there's no telephoto camera, which is a big omission for a flagship phone but it's at least replaced with a 3MP, f/3.0 camera with a microscopic lens capable of 20x native magnification and up to 40x digital zoom. The unit supports AF and produces neat photos.
On the front, we have a 32MP f/2.4, 1/2.74", 0.8µm camera for selfies that shoots in the full 32MP resolution.
Camera menus
Realme's overhauled software didn't reach the default camera app as it looks exactly the same as before. Swiping left or right switches between the usual camera modes while the "More" section accommodates the secondary modes, including the Expert. The latter gives you granular control over ISO, exposure, focus, white balance and shutter speed.
Default camera app
In the standard Photo mode, you will find an AI toggle for a boost in colors, HDR control, three toggles for the ultrawide, main and 2x zoom.
To our surprise, the iconic 150-degree and fisheye modes are tucked away in the additional camera modes as well as the microscopic lens. You can always rearrange them to your liking and put them alongside the main camera modes in the carousel.
Daylight samples
Main camera
The daylight samples look great and are comparable to that of the big brands in the industry. Sharpness is great, the level of detail is good, and the dynamic range is excellent. Expectedly, going inside with the camera produces slightly noisier pictures and sharpness drops by a little, but the fine detail is retained.
12.5MP daylight samples
The color reproduction is a bit more conservative so if you are going after punchier colors, use the AI toggle on the top of the viewfinder. It boosts the color saturation depending on the scenario.
12.5MP daylight samples
Shooting with the full 50MP resolution bears little to no benefits. You can get a bit more detail but at the expense of sharpness and noise.
50MP daylight samples
2x zoom
Since there's no telephoto, the phone resorts to cropping out the center of the binned 12.5MP images and upscaling them back to 12.5MP, or at least that's what we suspect happens behind the scenes. The end result isn't what you'd normally expect from a proper 2x telephoto camera, but the overall quality is good enough for social media posting. Sharpness is okay, the level of detail is good, and the dynamic range is rather wide. Overall, the rendition is comparable to that of the non-zoomed samples.
2x daylight samples
Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide's camera is paired with an extremely wide lens with an advertised 150-degree field of view, so we suspect that the standard ultrawide shots are cropped and upscaled back to 12.5MP for consistency. They are considerably softer than the main camera's samples, as a result, but they are also quite detailed.
Ultrawide daylight samples
Compared to other ultrawide solutions, the GT2 Pro edges out the competition. The consistency between the standard 12.5MP photos and the ultrawide ones is apparent. Both cameras produce comparable stills (minus the sharpness) with recognizable color reproduction and overall rendition. This, in turn, means that color reproduction is true to life.
Ultrawide daylight samples
Dynamic range is also impressive, and so is the ability to retain acceptable sharpness indoors. Sure, noise starts to creep in, but nothing too major. The sensor outputs good images even in more challenging lighting conditions. Oh, and the lens correction algorithm is impressive, especially considering the wider-than-usual lens.
150-degree and fisheye samples
If you are willing to trade some of that ultrawide sharpness, which isn't all that much, to begin with, you can get some nice-looking, dramatic shots. The overall rendition is exactly the same as the standard ultrawide shots, but the barrel distortion is considerably more visible, which is the desired effect anyway.
150-degree daylight samples
Fan of the fisheye effect? Well, the GT2 Pro is capable of some cool-looking shots. Sharpness and detail deteriorate fast, but they will still look great on social media channels.
Daylight fisheye samples
Microscopic camera
The native zoom is 20x, and some digital enhancement pushes it to 40x. In our opinion, the former shots look way nicer. There's a little learning curve to it as you have to get really close to the subject, but there's also autofocus support to help you out. The best part is that the LED flashes positioned at both ends of the lens help with additional light so your subject is well exposed.
Microscopic camera samples: 20x • 40x
Despite the neat shots we got, we'd still prefer a proper telephoto lens over this.
Low-light samples
Main camera
Even without Night mode, the GT2 Pro shows impressive nighttime performance. Images are generally sharp with plenty of detail, including the shadows. Dynamic range is wide, and there's definitely some HDR and image stacking going on in the background, but most of the time, the standard Photo mode didn't prompt us to wait. You can easily see fine detail in the dark while highlights and bright light sources are contained and not clipped.
Low-light main camera samples
Noise isn't easy to spot either, and colors are once again close to real-life. Quite frankly, there's nothing much to say about these photos, they are great.
Low-light main camera samples
Using the Night mode brings out a bit more detail across the whole scene while brightening up the shadows. Sharpness and color rendition remain comparable. We've noticed that the dedicated Night mode isn't very aggressive with the sharpening and the exposure. It doesn't make the stills look like they are rendered. If we need to get nit-picky, a tad more sharpening overall wouldn't have hurt.
Night mode main camera samples
2x zoom
Two surprises here. The first one is that the standard Photo mode produces better results than the Night mode. And the second one is that the 2x zoom mode produces good low-light images in the first place. Sure, there's a significant loss in sharpness, but other than that, the crop zoom photos look good for social media purposes too. Expect a similar rendition as the non-zoomed stills.
Low-light 2x zoom: Normal • Night mode
Ultrawide camera
For an ultrawide camera in the dark, this one seems to be doing a more than decent job. We can see a similar rendition to the main camera with true-to-life colors, a decent amount of detail, a wide dynamic range and balanced highlights. Noise is also absent. And while we didn't find the Night mode all that useful in the main camera (especially combined with the 2x zoom mode), the mode significantly boosts the ultrawide's quality.
Low-light ultrawide: Normal • Night mode
The ultrawide Night mode adds some sharpness, brings out more detail from the shadows, brightens them up (without going overboard) and clears out the fine grain. You can definitely get some nice-looking ultrawide shots in the dark, and that's something very few phones can do.
150-degree samples
Since the 150-degree lens adds a considerable amount of edge softness, which is an even bigger issue in the dark. The 150-degree samples in the dark have a somewhat narrower dynamic range as well, judging by the darker shadows and clipped highlights in some cases.
Low-light 150-degree samples
Once you are done with the real-life examples, take a look at our Photo compare tool for some pixel-peeping and see how the Realme GT2 Pro fares against the competition.
Realme GT2 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S21 FE and the Google Pixel 6 in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
To be honest, we expected more from the Portrait shots. The faux bokeh effect is convincing enough, and you can adjust the strength of the blur using the "electronic aperture" slider. However, we expected more from a flagship-grade phone. Even in decent lighting conditions, the images come out a bit soft, and the subject's skin is often a bit pale. You can also spot some noise in uniform areas.
Portrait samples
Selfies
Selfies are good, although a little pale. A touch more color wouldn't have hurt, but we appreciate the level of detail and sharpness. Noise becomes more apparent in sub-optimal lighting conditions, and that's to be expected. Dynamic range is wide in the standard Photo mode, probably because HDR is enabled, but you can expect accurate exposure of the subject's face at all times.
Selfies: Normal • Portrait
Video recording
Having a flagship SoC enables the GT2 Pro to record 4320p@30fps videos and also implement EIS on its 2160p videos. The 8K video isn't stabilized, however, and you probably don't have to resort to this mode unless you have an 8K TV. Speaking of stabilization, the handset doesn't offer that action camera-like stabilization we are used to seeing on modern flagships for the past couple of years. It's strange because we've seen it on other Realme devices supported in 1080p mode. It may be added with a future update.
Anyway, the 8K video below shows good sharpness and level of detail with once again rather conservative color reproduction. The dynamic range is wide, but the videos feel like they need a touch of contrast. Interestingly enough, we noticed that the 8K footage has a narrower field of view compared to the 4K videos below.
The 4K videos look exactly the same but understandably with slightly lower detail and softer. For 2160p footage, though, we can say it's pretty good.
The ultrawide camera can also do 4K videos, and to our surprise, these ones look a tad more pleasing than the ones taken with the main camera. Colors are a hair better, the wide dynamic range, detail is excellent, and sharpness has suffered ever so slightly. Compared to other ultrawide videos, these are indeed excellent.
Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the Realme GT2 Pro stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.
2160p: Realme GT2 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S21 FE and the Google Pixel 6 in our Video compare tool
Competition
The Realme GT2 Pro is the company's most premium flagship ever; there's no doubt about that. And its price shows. If you get it as an early bird, you can snatch one of the base 8GB/128GB memory options for just €650, making it quite competitive. However, the regular price is €750, and in this segment, the competition might be better equipped.
The GT2 Pro has almost all the bells and whistles - excellent HRR screen, a flagship SoC, an unorthodox design, great camera capabilities, big battery combined with fast charging solution and some neat features such as 360-degree NFC, nice haptic feedback and a built-in heart-rate sensor. Still, there are two big missteps that need to be taken into account. The lack of a proper telephoto camera and the absence of wireless charging are the most noteworthy. Those are features that you'd expect in a €700+ phone.
Let's start with the recently released vivo iQOO 9 Pro from BBK Electronics. It's currently one of the few Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered alternatives in India, asking INR 64,999 and offers almost the same feature set as its not-so-distant sibling, the GT2 Pro. It even has wireless charging, faster wired charging and a full-fledged telephoto camera. That last bit comes with some caveats, so we suggest referring to our full review to learn more about that. Nonetheless, we are pretty sure that the GT2 Pro will be priced considerably lower than the iQOO 9 Pro in India.
vivo iQOO 9 Pro • Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G • Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G • Google Pixel 6
The recently released Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is a great alternative to the GT2 Pro, especially in Europe, as the device can be found at less than €600 right now. That's way below the early bird price of the GT2 Pro even. Samsung's contender has a comparable, if not better, display, great camera hardware that includes a real 3x telephoto camera, wireless charging, and although it runs on a last year's chipset, it's still the flagship Snapdragon 888. And that's more than enough for the vast majority of users. The GT2 Pro, on the other hand, edges out the S21 FE with superior ultrawide camera performance, longer battery life, charging speed and bigger screen with higher resolution.
While we are in the Samsung camp, let's not forget the still widely available Samsung Galaxy S21+. Sure, it's a flagship from exactly one year ago but Samsung's recent pledge to extend its software support to four years of major updates and five years of monthly security patches instantly grants some added value to its older flagships. After all, the Galaxy S21+ is one of the company's top flagships for 2021 with a superb display, great camera performance, wireless charging, comparable battery life and the Exynos 2100 from last year is a perfectly capable SoC. The GT2 Pro only has the price advantage in the first few weeks of its release (€650 vs. €750) and offers faster charging.
And in case you are lucky enough to reside in a market where Google's Pixel 6 is available, you may want to consider it as well. In fact, the vanilla Pixel 6 asks about €650 and offers a slightly better camera performance with its main cam, wireless charging and vanilla Android OS eligible for long and timely software support from Google. It's hard to argue with the GT2 Pro's faster charging, excellent ultrawide camera and longer battery life, though.
Verdict
The early bird price of the Realme GT2 Pro makes the phone a lucrative offer, but its regular price of €750 puts it against some big, more recognizable names in the industry. That's not to say the handset is not well-equipped for the job. The GT2 Pro still has a great display, long battery life, fast charging, excellent camera performance across all scenarios (especially the ultrawide with its added-value features), and utilizes the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1's full potential. We are quite keen on the Paper White and Paper Green design options as they eliminate smudges and provide superior grip to glass-made devices. Oh, and the bio-based polymer seems to keep the surface temperatures low even after long periods of gaming.
So even at €750, the Realme GT2 Pro is an easy recommendation, but it could have been one of our top picks for this year if it wasn't for the telephoto camera and wireless charging omission.
Pros
- Superb 120Hz LTPO2 AMOLED display with granular HRR control.
- We really liked the Paper-like texture of the back.
- Good sustained performance, low surface temperatures.
- Excellent camera performance all-around (especially the ultrawide).
- Extra long battery life, fast charging
- Customizable and feature-rich Realme UI 3.0, Android 12
- Neat features such as 360-degree NFC, crisp vibration motor, microscopic lens
Cons
- The Paper designs might not feel as premium for some.
- Selfies are meh.
- Lacks telephoto camera.
- No wireless charging.
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