Realme GT 5G review

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.