Best Gaming Phone? Flagship Killer? realme GT 5G Unboxing and Quick Review

realme GT 5G. Oh wow! I’m really happy to be one of the lucky few here in the Philippines to have this smartphone from realme.  As of now, the realme GT 5G is only available to some countries and no updates yet from realme PH if they will launch it here in the Philippines anytime soon.

I saw and read some reviews online, and it has nice feedbacks. That is why i’m so excited to share with you my first-hand experience and impressions about this smartphone from realme. 

PACKAGING:

Let’s start with the packaging. realme GT 5G‘s box is not like the usual realme smartphones which carry their signature golden yellow color box. This time, the long box packaging is in black with realme logo on top and sides. You can also see some specs. highlights at the back and other details like memory capacity, serial number, IMEI, etc.

WHAT’S INSIDE THE BOX?

The realme packaging comes with the following:

• realme GT 5G unit
• USB Type-C cable
• 2-pin 65W SuperDart charger (10V-6.5A)
• SIM Ejector tool
• Earphones
• FREE protective case
• User Guide and Warranty information

Oh yes! You read it right. Earphones are included in the package. Though for the SuperDart charger, you have to use an adapter. Unless you have a 2-pin power socket, then you can plug it in directly.

DESIGN:

Surprisingly, it’s very slim and lightweight with only 73.3 mm width, 8.4mm depth, 186g weight. That is why it is easy and comfy to hold.

realme GT 5G comes in two versions of design, one with Dual-tone(Racing Yellow) vegan leather back and a 3D glass back(the one I’ve got) which is available in two colors- Dashing Silver, Dashing Blue.

Going back, the back panel design has that glossy glass-like appearance which exhibits a unique 3D pattern of lines which is more visible when light strikes on it. Just like other smartphones with glossy back panel, this can be a fingerprint and smudge magnet. So that free back casing from the package can be of big use to prevent it.

For the button placements, the power button is present on the right side, while the volume rockers are located on the left along with the dual SIM slot.

On the top, you’ll find the secondary microphone, and at the bottom the 3.5mm audio jack, primary microphone, USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grill are present. Audio from the stereo speakers produces good quality sound as it has Dolby Atmos support.

The screen panel has a punch-hole which houses the 16-megapixel camera. The pack panel on the other hand, houses the triple camera set-up with dual tone flash.

realme GT 5G has 2 nano sim card slots. As for this smartphone model, it does not have a micro sd slot, so its memory is not expandable. Don’t worry because GT 5G comes with 8GB/128GB or 12GB/256GB RAM /ROM options. If you need more storage, choose the latter.

I got the 8GB/128GB, and so far so good as it can still cover my storage needs.

DISPLAY: 

The realme GT 5G has a 6.43-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen with 2400 × 1080 pixel resolution making the display of colors vibrant. The 20:9 aspect ratio is also a plus for better viewing and gaming experience. For me, the screen size is just right. Not to big and not too small either.

The screen has a 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate. Compared with the 120Hz touch sampling rate, the realme GT has an automatic sampling rate adaptation function, which greatly balances power consumption and performance. In the game mode, it reaches a 360Hz sampling rate, and the touch is more user-friendly, and the response is more quickly.

The screen is also visible even when viewed under sunlight, thanks to its 1200nits peak brightness. It is also equipped with dual ambient light sensors, which can adjust automatically to the most comfortable brightness for the eyes.

CUSTOMIZATION:

Customizing this smartphone is super easy as the realme GT 5G runs on RealmeUI 2.0 based on Android 11. It’s has a very user-friendly interface and what I like about realme’s own UI is that I can customize the display and choose over a variety of customization options from system colors, themes, wallpapers, fonts and display size, icon styles, app arrangements, plus the edge lighting is ♥️!(it lights up when there’s notifications).  I can even change the fingerprint sensor  and Always-on display design.

CAMERA: 

Enjoy taking selfies with realme GT 5G’s 16-MP Sony front facing camera. Same with other realme smartphones that I have reviewed, the GT 5G can take nice quality selfie photos, especially when you use its features such as AI beauty mode, Bokeh Effect, Portrait Mode. With this smartphone, realme created a new beauty algorithm for different genders, different skin types, and different facial shapes and features which allows you to take selfies that show natural and delicate skin easily. How’s that for a Korean glass-skin look? (See sample photos above.) Videos can also be recorded with the front and rear lenses simultaneously via Dual-view video feature.

For the rear camera, this smartphone boasts a 64-megapixel main camera with IMX682 sensor, 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, 2-megapixel macro camera. It also supports 4K 60fps video recording.

Check out the sample photos below.

Click here to see photos in high resolution.

The main sensor does a pretty good job in producing decent quality photos with good detail vibrancy, and contrast. Although I noticed that there’s still noise if you look closely or if you zoom in, but it is good enough if you will use it on your social media posts.

Taking photos in low light isn’t GT 5G’s strongest camera feature, but it has a Night mode that can help in improving photo results taken on poorly-lit environment.

For Macro-shots the camera struggled a bit to focus on close subjects.

This smartphone does not have telephoto lens for zoom photography, instead, you can digitally zoom subjects up to 20x. If you go beyond 2x zoom, pictures become a bit blurry. Actually, I don’t usually zoom a lot when taking photos, so it’s not of a big deal for me. I sometimes use it just to look at subjects or read details from afar.

Performance:

Performance wise when it comes to games,  This smartphone can handle quite a load. I played Mobile Legends and set the graphics to Ultra and turned on everything else such as outline, HD mode, shadow, HFR mode and others to see if it will cause lag. It doesn’t.  I also tried launching different apps and everything still ran very smoothly. Thanks to its top of the line Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset-realme‘s first, which is as of writing, the most powerful processor available to android smartphones. Well, realme will not call it “GT” for nothing.

Adding to the good performing processor is the Smart 5G technology which enhances your gaming and watching experience. It can automatically adjust from 4G to 5G which improves networking strategy, better allocation of bandwidth and optimizes the phone’s battery life- reducing power consumption by 30%. It also has Dual Channel Acceleration where you can use both Wi-Fi and 5G simultaneously to further improve network speed, stability and of course less lag.

Ok. About heating issues on phones. All smartphones usually heats up when being used continuously for a long period of time.  realme addressed this issue with the GT 5G and introduced a next-gen steel-copper composite structure. This provides excellent thermal conductivity and is wrapped in a stainless steel shell for enhanced strength. The design provides 42% higher strength than that of traditional copper VC cooling systems and solves the structural stability problems faced by other designs. With multi-layer 3D graphite thermal conduction and 100% coverage of core components, the GT features greatly improved cooling efficiency.

In testing, the next-gen 3D stainless steel VC cooling system showed 50% increased cooling power and was capable of reaching CPU core temperatures by up to 15°C.

BATTERY AND CHARGING

This realme flagship device is powered by a 4500mAh battery and can be charged with the newly upgraded 65W SuperDart Charge. Charging was a breeze as it can charge the device to 100% in just about 35 mins. Wow! That was really fast. 

The charging algorithm developed for the realme GT 5G includes five layers of security protection and provides hardware-level security protection for the entire charging process.

• Adapter Overload Protection
• SuperDart Charge Condition Identification Protection
• Interface Overload Protection
• Overcurrent-Protection and Voltage Overload Protection
• Battery Fuse Protection

Other battery features:

• Super Power Saving: Through CPU frequency adjustment, backlight adjustment and other strategies, targeted power saving measures for specific actions, to reduce system power consumption and extending the battery life. 
• Sleep Standby Optimization: Leaving the phone running at low power during sleep to save power.
• App Quick Freeze:The system will automatically freeze idle applications. After the application enters the quick-freeze state, it will not consume power backstage.
• Screen Battery Optimization: Reduces power consumption by intelligently reducing brightness.
• Power Saving Mode: Close some background applications, pause the background automatic synchronization function, reduce the screen brightness, and turn off the touch vibration effect.
• OTG Reverse Charge: Supporting charging for mobile phones and some AIOT products such as TWS headphones and smart watches, bands; Output: 2.5W (5V0.5A).

VERDICT:

For the meantime, since the realme GT 5G model is not yet available in the Philippines, and if you really want to have a powerful realme GT phone, you might want to consider checking out the realme GT Master Edition which you can purchase in realme stores nationwide.

realme GT 5G Specifications