Realme GT 2 Pro Review: Exceeds Expectations

The Realme GT 2 Pro is currently the most expensive phone Realme sells in India, but it’s also one of the most affordable top-of-the-line Qualcomm processors you can buy. It has only one direct competitor – Motorola Edge 30 Pro (review). With a starting price of Rs. 49,999, the GT 2 Pro has many advantages, such as a 2K display, fast charging, a good set of cameras, and the promise of very good gaming performance. So is it a better choice than Moto? Let’s find out.

Realme GT 2 Pro design

The Realme GT 2 Pro has an additional unique back panel texture that is said to mimic the look of paper products. A special material for the back panel, which Realme says is sourced from renewable sources, is used in the white and green versions of the phone. The Steel Black variant has a more common matte-textured glass panel.

After using the white device for a few weeks, I’m happy to report that it doesn’t have any stubborn stains or marks from daily use that I thought it would. The wavy texture provides good grip and also ensures that fingerprints and smudges are never a problem. While I really like the understated look of the brushed aluminum frame and the overall aesthetic of this phone, I wish Realme gave its most expensive model a little more character to make it stand out from the rest of its portfolio. If you use a case, the GT 2 Pro is easily confused with any other GT, 9 or even C series phone.

Realme GT 2 Pro comes with a case and 65W fast charging.

One of the main draws of the Realme GT 2 Pro is its display, which is usually found on more expensive Android flagships. The 6.7-inch AMOLED panel has a resolution of 2K (3216×1440) with 10-bit color depth and a maximum brightness of up to 1400 nits. What’s more, it also features LTPO 2.0 technology, which means the refresh rate can vary from 1Hz to 120Hz depending on your activity. To top it off, Realme has used Corning Gorilla Glass Victus for scratch resistance. Needless to say, the display is incredibly good for gaming and watching videos.

The Realme GT 2 Pro box contains a 65W SuperDart fast charger, a USB cable, and a carrying case.

Realme GT 2 Pro Prices, Specifications and Software

The base variant of the Realme GT 2 Pro costs just under Rs. 50,000 and has 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Rs. 57,999 option gets you 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and that’s the one I have.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC in the Realme GT 2 Pro supports a total of 13 5G bands, and you get dual 5G support for both SIMs, which should be enough to handle any new 5G networks in India. The phone also has stereo speakers and is Dolby Atmos certified. There are color temperature sensors on the front and back of the phone to adjust the color of the display (mainly white balance) based on ambient light (similar to Apple’s True Tone feature), and Realme has implemented heart rate monitoring with an in-display fingerprint scanner. as an experimental feature.

The Realme GT 2 Pro also boasts a stainless steel evaporative cooling chamber which, along with multiple layers of heat dissipating materials, promises to keep the phone from overheating under load. The software includes a GT mode switch that should prevent SoC throttling to ensure consistent performance in heavy applications.

The Realme GT 2 Pro features a crisp and bright WQHD+ (2K) AMOLED display.

The two features that are missing and that I would like to have are wireless charging and an IP rating. There is a water-repellent rubber seal around the edge of the SIM tray, which may indicate that the phone has water-repellent protection, but Realme does not officially offer any guarantees. The lack of these features on the base GT 2 Pro variant is perhaps forgivable, but at the price of the more expensive variant, it’s a bit conspicuous. The Motorola Edge 30 Pro offers both of these features along with competitive specs that could put buyers off the GT 2 Pro.

The Realme GT 2 Pro runs Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12. The appearance of the interface can be customized and runs smoothly. There are many related apps, including some from Realme such as Realme Store and Community. I was surprised that I didn’t run into issues with notification spam from Realme’s own apps. You can clean up your phone by simply deleting most of them.

Realme has also promised to support this phone long term with three years of Android OS updates and four years of security updates, which I think is good faith.

Realme GT 2 Pro Performance and Battery Life

The Realme GT 2 Pro is not a bulky phone to live with, which is not the case with many Android flagships. It’s not overly thick, and the weight (189g) is well distributed, making it relatively light and easy to carry around. The black version with glass back is slightly heavier at 199g.

The GT 2 Pro handled most of the popular social and productivity apps very well. The interface has always been fast and fluid. I liked that the fingerprint sensor is placed closer to the center of the display for ease of use. The display becomes bright enough to see content clearly even in direct sunlight. I had the screen resolution set to “Auto Select” throughout the entire review period and noticed that almost all apps and content, including games, were displayed at native WQHD+ resolution.

Games look great and run great on the Realme GT 2 Pro.

The Realme GT 2 Pro does a great job with media playback and gaming. The video looked very good with excellent color saturation, sufficient brightness, and good HDR rendering. The stereo speakers were also very loud and sounded good. Gaming performance was just as solid. Asphalt 9: Legends runs smoothly, with good frame rates and good graphics. The phone didn’t overheat. However, more demanding games like Fortnite made the GT 2 Pro’s body uncomfortably hot after a long game. Even while playing this game indoors, I noticed that the top half of the case and some parts of the back panel got very hot after about 20 minutes. After a while, I had to put a case on this phone because the heat became unbearable.

This wasn’t a problem for every game, but graphically demanding games certainly push the GT 2 Pro’s cooling system to the limit. The phone also performed very well in tests, scoring an impressive 972,119 points on AnTuTu.

Battery life was also pretty good for a phone with this SoC. On average, I easily managed to get through one full day and a little more without recharging. The phone also lasted 20 hours and 41 minutes on our HD video loop test. Charging the 5,000mAh battery won’t take long either, thanks to the 65W charger. You can fully charge it from empty in just over half an hour, which is very fast.

Cameras Realme GT 2 Pro

The Realme GT 2 Pro has a good set of cameras that perform well during the day and in low light. Realme has used a 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor for the main rear camera, and it also has optical stabilization and a wide f/1.8 aperture. It can shoot video up to 8K at 24fps. In daylight, autofocus was fast, and landscape shots were rich in detail and color. Close-ups also had very nice background blur and great detail. Low-light shots were also very good, with little to no noise and above-average levels of detail. Close-ups taken in low light were sharp and had good detail thanks to OIS.

Realme GT 2 Pro main camera sample (click to view full size)

Realme GT 2 Pro Ultra Wide Camera Sample (Click to View Full Size)

Realme GT 2 Pro main camera sample (click to view full size)

The Realme GT 2 Pro’s ultra-wide-angle camera uses the 50MP Samsung JN1 sensor we’ve already seen on the OnePlus 10 Pro (Review). Ultra-wide shots contain slightly less detail and colors don’t always match the real scene very closely, but barrel distortion and HDR are handled well. The camera app has a 150-degree shooting mode, like the 10 Pro, that lets you use the entire field of view of the lens. Low-light photos weren’t as bright compared to those taken with the main camera, despite Night Mode being automatically enabled, but it was still very handy.

A very close-up of the stamen of the flower from the sample above taken with a Realme GT 2 Pro micro lens camera.

The third camera is equipped with a 2-megapixel sensor with a “micro lens” that allows you to shoot very close-ups at 20x or 40x magnification. You can use it to capture interesting perspectives on everyday subjects. In Microscope shooting mode, the phone must be a few millimeters away from the subject in order for it to be in focus. Since lighting in such close proximity is usually a problem, the two LEDs located above and below the microlens are automatically activated when this mode is used. There are some fun filters to play with.

Realme GT 2 Pro main camera sample (click to view full size)

Realme GT 2 Pro Ultra Wide Camera Sample (Click to View Full Size)

Realme GT 2 Pro main camera sample (click to view full size)

Realme GT 2 Pro selfie camera sample in portrait mode (click to see full size)

The selfie camera on the Realme GT 2 Pro features the same 32MP Sony IMX615 sensor found on the OnePlus 10 Pro. it takes good photos during the day and in low light. Skin smoothing is on by default for selfies, but skin tones and textures get a lot better if you switch to a natural profile.

Video recording capabilities are also on top of the Realme GT 2 Pro. 8K videos shot day and night looked good, but the stabilization made any camera movement look a bit jerky. Video recorded in 4K also looked great and had much smoother stabilization. The camera app allows you to switch between the main and ultra wide cameras while recording at this resolution.

Verdict

By now, there should be no doubt that the Realme GT 2 Pro is a very good premium smartphone that far exceeds its weight. The base variant with 8 GB of RAM offers the best value for money in my opinion. I would recommend it over the Motorola Edge 30 Pro due to its excellent display, unique textured design, better battery life, and solid cameras. However, if IP rating and wireless charging are important to you, then Motorola would be the smarter choice.

The 12GB GT 2 Pro variant is cheaper than most other Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 smartphones, but costs almost Rs. 58,000, I think options like the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (review) or even the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G (review) are more advanced flagships and offer a better price since you can often find them cheaper now. They may lack the brute strength of the GT 2 Pro’s SoC, but they more than make up for it with features like wireless charging and official IP ratings.