Recently, Realme new phones--flagship Realme GT and an affordable GT Master Edition-- in India.
Realme GT Master Edition comes in three configurations-- 6GB RAM + 128GB storag, 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage-- for Rs Rs. 25,999, Rs 27,999 and Rs 29,999, respectively.
On paper, Real GT Master Edition has a really set of hardware for its asking price. But, does it deliver? let's check it out.
Design, build quality and display
Our Realme GT Master Edition review unit is the Cosmos Black model. It flaunts a super glossy shell on the back. It's so smooth, users can use it as a mirror.
The only qualm I have is that it is a fingerprint smudge magnet and have to clean the back most of the time. Thankfully, the company is offering soft silicone case with the retail package. It is opaque and offers a really good hand grip.
The material looks premium and is capable of saving the device from accidental falls, even if it falls face-down or sideways or on edges. The four tips around the rail that it covers, protrude a bit, this helps display panel getting cracked.
Also, the company pre-fits an additional guard on the screen. It is a welcome to move as it increases the durability of the device and also saves a few hundred bucks and time for the consumer to buy the screen guard themselves.
Besides Cosmos Black, the company is offering Luna White and Voyager Grey colour variants.
On the front, Realme GT Master Editon sports a 6.43-inch (2400 × 1080 pixels) full HD+ OLED screen. It also supports a 120Hz display refresh rate and offers up to 1,000 nits peak brightness.
The display is bright and really good to watch movies for long hours. I also did not face any pressing issues while reading or watching content outdoors.
The company has incorporated an in-screen fingerprint sensor and works like a charm. It matches my registered finger impression almost 8-9 times out of 10 and opens the screen without wasting any time.
Performance
Realme GT Master Edition houses Qualcomm's reliable Snapdragon 778G octa-core chipset. It is backed by Adreno 642L GPU, Android 11-based Realme UI 2.0, 6GB/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 128GB / 256GB UFS 2.2 storage.
As mentioned in my first impressions article, the Realme GT phone boasts a dynamic RAM expansion (up to 5GB) feature. It helps in loading apps faster, smoother workflow in terms of switching apps, browsing the web and other day-to-day tasks.
I played Asphalt 9: Legends and it performed well with discerning issues to complain as such. On Geekbench 5.0, it scored 750 and 2,571 on single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. It is on par with rival brands in the upper mid-range phone segment.
Android 12 is confirmed to come to the original Realme GT, hope the company makes it available to the Master Edition soon.
The phone comes with a 4,300mAh cell and it consistently offered a full day of battery life during the testing period.
A notable aspect of the GT Master Edition is that the device boasts 65W Super Dart fast charger, which is very rare in the under Rs 30,000.
With this, the device was able to fully charge from zero to 100 per cent under 40 minutes.
Photography
It comes packed with a triple camera-- main 64MP (f/1.8) + 8MP (f/2.2) 119-degree ultra-wide sensor+ 2MP (f/2.4) macro camera with LED flash on the back.
Realme GT Master Edition takes really good photos in both regular sunlight and night modes. The most impressive is the autofocus, it locks the subject swiftly and the resulting image contains a lot of details with near accurate colours.
The ultra-wide-angle shots too look good. It succeeds in capturing a wide area of the scene in the frame. The night mode pictures too, come off impressive. They manage to keep the dark essence of the night sky, take in street lights and don't blow out the image with too much light.
It features a 32MP(f/2.45, Sony IMX615 sensor) selfie camera on the front. It takes decent selfie photos under normal sunlight and even in controlled conditions indoors. It manages to retain colour tone of the face, but I notice a tinge of skin smoothening. This is much better than rival brands, which sometimes overdo in this aspect.
If you'd like to enhance appearance, it too does offer a range of filters and editing tools to even adjust the size of chins, cheeks, eyes and nose too. But, I have to note that the final appearance doesn't change much. However, the smoothening of the skin works fine.
Final thoughts
Overall, Realme GT Master edition is a well-packaged phone worth the asking price. Among all the previous models released by Realme in the mid-range segment, GT Master Edition is better equipped to deliver good performance. Also, I'm pretty impressed with the camera hardware.
It is a potential alternative to the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite and the Google Pixel 4a.
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