Realme GT 3 review: a real top of the range

Realme GT 3 is a smartphone that is at least bulky in terms of size: a good 16.38 cm tall and 7.57 cm wide. The thickness stands at 8.9 mm while the weight stops at 199 grams. Not a negligible weight, but which still makes us think that the body can be made entirely of plastic and not only painted on the surface, as it could be anyway. The matte finish is very pleasant, however, both to the eye and to the touch. Then the camera block it’s not too protruding and the design is both modern and recognizable. It is unfortunately not resistant to water and dust, but it is a limitation shared with practically all top-of-the-range (non-premium) smartphones.

What makes it distinctive is certainly the glossy black space next to the camera: here there is not only a rectangular notification LED, but also a a transparency showing the processoror at least a reproduction of it.

Too bad you only notice it against the light. At the same time, someone could see it as a virtue, in not having an element that is too flashy. Even if the LED is off, it is not particularly noticeable.

Realme GT 3 is in all respects a true top of the range. We have the recent Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1: very powerful and with a good balance between power supplied and energy consumed. Of course it’s not the more recent Gen 2, but it’s essentially impossible to notice a concrete difference in daily use and if this has helped keep the price lower it’s absolutely appreciated.

We then have 8, 12 or 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512 GB of UFS 3.1 internal memory. Unfortunately, the memory is not expandable but the quantity is more than good. Excellent connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3dual SIM support and also an infrared emitter and a 360° NFC which therefore does not require a particular orientation of the phone to work.

The vibration system and the fingerprint reader inside the display are also good, even positioned a little too low. The audio is stereo and there is Dolby Atmos support.

Realme has equipped this GT 3 with three main cameras: one 50 megapixels ƒ/1.9 with optical image stabilizer (at least it would seem so, even if it is not mentioned in the technical specifications), an 8 megapixel wide angle ƒ/2.2 and a 2 megapixel ƒ/3.3 microscopic. We are happy that this low-resolution lens has been used more creatively than the classic useless macro. There front camera is instead a 16 megapixel ƒ / 2.5.

The photos as a whole surprised us positively, in a world where it is usually the first element sacrificed to keep prices a little lower. The photos have a lot of detail, have well-balanced colors and perform very well even in the dark, where the manual night mode is almost useless. Show the side a bit in dim light situations where the photos are a little too contrasty, but without compromising the detail too much.

Even the wide angle, despite the not exactly astonishing resolution, behaved fairly well. Camera resolution is very low microscopicbut still fun. Also good in selfies and portrait mode photos. To all intents and purposes a complete smartphone from a photographic point of view, if it weren’t for the absence of a zoom lens.

The videos are also good 4K at 60fpsstable and with good detail even in low light.

Realme GT 3 does not want to fall behind even on the display, where it sports a large 6.74-inch in AMOLED technology, flat on the edges, as many like it. The specifications, however, rise, contrary to how many competitors who have stabilized a bit in recent years. The resolution grows, reaching up to 1240 x 2772 pixels and also the refresh rate which reaches up to 144 Hz. We then have a peak brightness of 1,400 nits and a touch sampling at 360 Hz.

In practice, it is also an excellent display, absolutely in line with the expectations of a true top-of-the-range smartphone.

Realm GT 3 it features Android 13 and Realme UI 4.0 customization. The software therefore has the classic OPPO setting with the Realme theme. The options are many: we have the heartbeat sensor in the fingerprint reader, the Hyperboost mode for gaming, the GT mode for maximum power, the sidebar and the apps in the window.

In the settings we also find the possibility of customizing the LED on the back, both in operation and in color. It can be activated when a notification is received, when charging is complete, or when the battery is almost empty. Finally, it can be turned on when the GT mode is active or even choose that it works only in certain time slots.

In all this, the software is lightning fast and we have not encountered any bugs during use.

The battery is from 4,600mAh. Not huge considering the size of the smartphone, but all in all more than good. It’s all in all quite easy to get through the day on a single charge, but it’s still possible that you’ll run out after dinner. In that case, and in any case you need a little extra charge, you can use the 240W power supply in the package, which thanks to its cable that supports up to 12A, you can enjoy a full charge in 12 minutes. Which means that with the phone almost empty in 5 minutes you will have about 60% of autonomy. We tried it and it’s amazing. You can also have it slow down the charging speed depending on the time and place, but you can of course disable this automatism and use all the charging power as you like.

We do not yet have an official price for our market, but internationally we are talking about $649.

We can therefore imagine a figure close to €699, which would be decidedly appropriate for a similar product, especially in such a complicated market.