Realme GT 3 review

The Realme GT 3 is the primary cellphone you’ll have the ability to purchase with crazy-fast charging speeds that may flip flat battery right into a full one in simply ten minutes.  

However 240W quick charging apart, can this cellphone compete with equally priced handsets from the likes of Google and OnePlus? That’s precisely what I’ve been discovering out over the previous couple of weeks. 

Do observe which you could’t really purchase the Realme GT 3 but: it ought to go on sale round Might/June of this 12 months.

Design & construct 

• Black and white color choices
• RGB lighting on digital camera module
• No headphone jack

Lengthy gone are the times of garish branding. As an alternative, Realme has opted for a couple of sporty touches for its newest GT cellphone.  

Coming in a selection of two colors, Pulse White and Booster Black (seen under), the cellphone has a clean, matt end with a delicate Realme brand on the underside left-hand nook. There’s a big digital camera module, which takes up the highest third of the cellphone’s rear.  

On the right-hand facet of the module is a window which, bizarrely, exhibits off a pretend model of the Snapdragon chip and NFC antenna. Surrounding it’s a rectangular RGB gentle, which glows completely different colors. For instance, it should pulse inexperienced once you get a brand new message, gentle up purple when it wants charging and so on.  

Having this on drains the battery faster, so you possibly can flip it off if you want. The cellphone is 8.9mm thick and weighs 199g, so it’s comparatively slim and light-weight.  

The plastic physique means it’s much less vulnerable to wreck from unintended drops than telephones with glass rears, although it doesn’t really feel fairly as premium as some flagships. It has an IPX4 water-resistance score, which suggests it’s protected in opposition to gentle splashes, so it’s greatest to keep away from holding it over baths and swimming pools.

There’s a USB-C port for charging, and also you’ll want to make use of Bluetooth for headphones until you get a USB-C to minijack adapter for wired headphones. My evaluate pattern had a single-SIM tray, however dual-SIM variations can be found in sure areas.

Display screen & audio system 

• 6.74in AMOLED show
• 144Hz refresh price
• Loud stereo audio system

The Realme GT 3 has a 6.74in AMOLED show, with a decision of 2772 x 1250 – a higher-quality show than some equally priced rivals, which solely provide Full HD decision. It has a peak brightness of 1400 nits. 

The show is shiny and dazzling, even underneath daylight and intense indoor lights equivalent to at a conference centre, the place I first obtained my fingers on the GT 3. 

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

You’ll be able to both run the display screen at 60Hz, 144Hz or go for the auto mode, which picks between 60Hz, 72Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz relying on what you’re doing. Its contact sampling price of 360Hz provides it lighting-fast response when scrolling and swiping.  

Haptics are quick and clipped on this cellphone, with the choice to alter their depth or flip them off fully. Vibrations aren’t as sturdy as some rivals, however they’re on the quieter facet.

The display screen options an under-display fingerprint sensor, which I discovered labored a deal with. You may as well allow face recognition, however that’s much less safe.

Stereo audio system produces loud, punchy sound. Nevertheless, don’t anticipate a lot in the best way of bass tones.  

Specs & efficiency 

• Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
• 5 completely different RAM and storage choices
• Good efficiency
• Solely Wi-Fi 5

The Realme GT 3 makes use of a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. This is similar processor seen within the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the OnePlus 10T.

It’s paired with both 8GB RAM/128GB storage, 12GB RAM/256GB storage, 16GB RAM/256GB storage, 16GB RAM/512GB storage and 16GB RAM/ 1TB storage, although you won’t have the ability to get each single configuration in your nation. Word that storage isn’t expandable.

Total, efficiency is nice, and mixed with the high-refresh-rate display screen, the GT 3 is great for scrolling via social media posts. 

It’s good for informal gaming too, with titles like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp operating easily. I used to be even capable of play the demanding title Genshin Impression on medium graphics settings, although there was some stuttering. The cellphone additionally will get noticeably scorching should you play video games for some time.

You’ll be able to see the GT 3’s benchmark outcomes under:

Cameras 

• Respectable principal and selfie cameras
• AI processing oversaturates colors
• Secondary cameras underwhelming

Like many telephones, the GT 3 has a triple rear-camera setup. That is led by a 50Mp principal digital camera, which makes use of a Sony IMX890 sensor and a f/1.88 lens. There may be additionally an 8Mp wide-angle digital camera with a 112-degree subject of view and f/2.2 aperture, and a 2Mp ‘microscope’ digital camera.  

The principle digital camera performs greatest in shiny lighting however doesn’t have hassle in dimmer environments, partly due to the 1/1.56in picture sensor. Textures and positive strains pop properly, and colors are vivid.  

In truth, maybe a little bit too vivid: the GT 3 makes use of the identical ‘AI’ enhancing that I’ve seen earlier than on different Realme telephones, by which colors are barely oversaturated and unrealistic trying.

That is particularly evident on the shot taken at evening, the place the sky has taken on an unnatural blue tint. The identical is true for the grass, which seems a lot greener than it does to the attention.  You’ll be able to flip the AI off, in fact, however even then colors are nonetheless a bit too saturated for my liking.

There’s a downgrade in high quality in relation to the 8Mp digital camera, with much less element being resolved. Nevertheless, colors stay good and aren’t washed out like on another wide-angle cameras.  

When you’re trying to take close-up macro pictures, then I like to recommend sticking with the principle lens, because it was practically unimaginable to get a transparent shot with the 2Mp ‘microscope’ one. No big shock there: it’s an analogous story with all telephones which have this type of digital camera.

The entrance 16Mp digital camera isn’t fairly as spectacular as these you’ll discover on extra premium telephones. Nevertheless, it lets an inexpensive quantity of sunshine in, and particulars are fairly sharp. In portrait mode, the bokeh impact isn’t excellent, usually blurring strands of hair.

Alfonso Casas / Foundry

Video is fairly secure, due to the inclusion of OIS on the principle digital camera. You’ll be able to report video in 4K, 1080p and 720p in both 30fps or 60fps. The microphones decide up good sound, and there may be an computerized nightscape mode accessible should you’re taking pictures in decrease gentle.  

Battery life & charging 

• Stupidly quick charging
• Round a day’s value of battery with heavy utilization

And now the half you’ve all been ready for – the charging.  

This would be the first cellphone on sale with 240W fast-charging. Though you might have examine even faster speeds, these are from idea telephones. You’ll want to make use of the included twin GaN (Gallium Nitride) mini charger with a customized 12A charging cable, not simply any previous USB-C cable.

There are some things you’ll must do to get super-fast speeds. You need to allow ‘sensible speedy charging’ within the battery well being part within the settings and switch off the RGB lighting. Realme additionally recommends decreasing the variety of occasions that the display screen lights up, equivalent to if a notification pops up.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

As well as, the cellphone gained’t allow sensible speedy charging when turned off. Realme’s declare of 9 minutes and 30 seconds is a bit sooner than the 11 minutes and three seconds that my evaluate cellphone took to cost from 1% to full. There is no such thing as a wi-fi charging.

Nonetheless, with the ability to cost your cellphone in 11 minutes is game-changing. And that’s very true should you solely keep in mind to take action simply earlier than you’re heading out the door. Nevertheless, it’s value taking into account that each the cellphone and the charger get extraordinarily scorching, which isn’t massively reassuring.

Realme claims that the battery ought to preserve 80% battery capability for round 1,600 cycles, however it’s unimaginable to know if that is true. These within the US doubtless gained’t have the ability to obtain these speeds because of the decrease voltage used.

Sadly, battery life itself doesn’t fairly have the identical wow issue. The 4600mAh cell managed 11 hours and 59 minutes within the PCMark battery take a look at and on common it lasted a couple of day when watching the odd video, searching social media, taking photographs and different regular stuff.

When you use the bottom refresh price and don’t use battery-draining apps you then might be able to stretch it out for longer.

Alfonso Casas / Foundry

Software program & apps 

• A lot of app bloat
• Two years of OS updates

The GT 3 comes with Realme UI 4.0 primarily based on Android 13. This pores and skin just isn’t too dissimilar to Oppo’s ColorOS, and presents a good degree of customisation over the icons, theme and format. 

Nevertheless, there may be quite a lot of pre-installed bloatware, with video games equivalent to Tile Join, Piano Hop and others taking over area and cluttering up the homepage. There are additionally duplications of sure sorts of apps. For instance, you get each Realme’s personal notes app, plus Google’s Preserve Notes.  The video games might be uninstalled merely sufficient, however some apps can’t such because the Realme App Market.

Sometimes, Realme presents two years of OS updates (so Android 14 and 15), and three years of safety updates. This isn’t as beneficiant as what Samsung and Google provide and doesn’t essentially encourage you to hold onto the cellphone for a very long time.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Value & availability 

The Realme GT 3 was formally unveiled at MWC 2023 however gained’t go on sale till round Might or June of this 12 months.  

The cellphone begins at $649 for the bottom mannequin, which interprets to round £537/€610. After all, worldwide prices aren’t all the time easy conversions. Realme remains to be finalising pricing and launch dates, so we should always know extra within the coming months.  

This value is a bit more costly than the previous-generation GT 2, which price round $600 when it first launched. Nevertheless it’s not far off the likes of the Pixel 7 and the OnePlus 10T, and undercuts many different flagships just like the Samsung S23 and the Xiaomi 13. 

Nevertheless, there are many different mid-range telephones to contemplate. And should you’re not averse to spending a little bit extra, you may additionally like to take a look at our roundup of the perfect smartphones.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Verdict 

If you’d like the speediest charging round, then the Realme GT 3 is the cellphone for you. It isn’t a one-trick pony both: has a fantastic display screen, a succesful processor and a good principal digital camera, should you can overlook the oversaturated AI picture processing.

Would I purchase one although? No. For barely much less cash, I’d go for Google’s Pixel 7. Positive, its charging is sluggish, however it’s higher in nearly each different manner, together with the standard of its cameras and, importantly, its software program.

The Realme GT 3 isn’t dangerous worth, however getting the fastest-charging cellphone round isn’t well worth the compromises elsewhere.

Specs

• Android 13 with Realme UI 4.0
• 6.74in AMOLED 144Hz show with 2772 x 1240 decision
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
• 8/12/16GB RAM
• 128GB/256/512GB/1TB non-expandable storage
• 50Mp, f/1.88, principal digital camera with OIS
• 8Mp, f/2.2 wide-angle digital camera
• 2Mp, f/3.3 microscope digital camera
• 16Mp, front-facing digital camera
• Stereo audio system
• 5G
• Bluetooth 5.3
• USB-C port
• 4600mAh battery
• 240W quick charging
• 163.85 x 75.5 x 8.9mm
• 199g
• Launch colors: Black and White