The Pixel 6 is a head-turner and an upper-mid-range stunner, but the Realme GT Neo 3 is a good substitute thanks to its powerful main camera, quick charging, and powerful performance.
The Realme GT Neo 3 delivers a number of flagship-challenging characteristics in an affordable mid-range body, just like the brand’s earlier GT phones.
A 150W cable charger that can fully recharge your battery in 15 minutes is the standout feature, at least in this version. Although it’s unfortunate that the battery has been somewhat downscaled as a trade-off and the execution isn’t very reassuring (why do we need to toggle it on?), this is fantastic stuff for a phone of this price.
The Realme GT Neo 3’s 50MP primary camera, which uses a flagship-level Sony IMX766 sensor, is also rather good. If this feature hadn’t already been included on even more affordable phones like the Realme 9 Pro Plus and the OnePlus Nord 2T, it would have been more notable, but it can still take good photos in a range of lighting situations.
The phone’s two secondary cameras provide forgettable macro photos and poor quality ultra-wide images, so we’re far less impressed. Although it’s not a certainty at this price, there is also no telephoto.
This performance is unquestionable. The Dimensity 8100 chip that powers the Realme GT Neo 3 is remarkable in every manner, even if it does not have a well-known flagship CPU.
With its unique appearance, clean software, wireless charging capability, and class-leading camera, Google’s Pixel 6 outperforms the Realme GT Neo 3 at this price point. However, the Realme GT Neo 3 offers some notable advantages of its own and competes effectively.
Although its appearance and value proposition aren’t as impressive as those of the Realme 9 Pro Plus a few months ago, the Realme GT Neo 3 is still a good upper-mid range option.
Design
The GT Neo 3 feels and looks a much like the Realme GT Neo 2, which it was held next to. At 163.3 x 75.6 x 8.2 mm, its dimensions are almost comparable; but, it loses 12g to weigh a more manageable 188g.
In contrast to its dead-smooth predecessor, the rear panel has a slightly textured finish, which is the primary distinction. Although it’s still a little slick, this is an improvement in handling. Additionally, the GT Neo 3’s new texture increases its fingerprint resistance.
Although our model is painted Asphalt Black, we noticed a faint green sheen from specific viewpoints. The Nitro Blue edition, which features two go-faster stripes and Realme’s “Dare to Leap” tagline printed on the back, is the one that is attracting the most attention. You may have different results depending on which is better.
Another change is a slightly rearranged camera module that gives the new super-sized wide sensor more attention. With the exception of the hole-punch notch moving from the left corner to the center, the front is essentially the same.
Because the bezels are consistently small, the screen-to-body ratio is an extremely remarkable 94.2%. Although it doesn’t feel particularly cheap to grip, the phone’s plastic frame is less expensive.
Corning Gorilla Glass 5 is in front of that display, so it should be sufficiently scratch-resistant.
Stereo speakers are another nice feature, though we’re starting to see them appear in more and more mid-range and even low-cost phones these days. Though a bit reedy in comparison to more costly phones, they are loud and clear.
Display
For the GT Neo 3, Realme has provided a sizable, high-quality 6.7-inch AMOLED screen. It boasts a full 120Hz refresh rate and 1080 x 2412 or FHD+ resolution.
This refresh rate isn’t entirely adjustable because flagship phones don’t have this type of LTPO panel. That’s bad news for the screen’s efficiency, but it has no effect on responsiveness, which is spot on.
When exposed to intense outdoor lighting, the GT 3’s screen brightness setting is adequate, although it is not as good as flagship phones. It is more than sufficient under all other circumstances.
A responsive in-display optical fingerprint sensor is located near the device’s bottom. If you navigate to the Realme Labs area of the Settings menu, you can use this as a heart rate monitor, just like the Realme 9 Pro Plus did before it.
Camera
Although the Realme GT Neo 3’s 150W charger may be its most notable feature, the camera improvement may end up being the most significant addition.
The Sony IMX766 sensor supports the phone’s 50MP wide camera. Although it is no longer the newest or most remarkable image sensor available, it is still a flagship (or at least flagship-adjacent) component. This primary camera outperforms a large portion of the mid-range crowd by producing photos that are appropriately sharp and colorful in the majority of lighting situations.
However, if this isn’t precisely the same camera technology as the OnePlus Nord 2T and the much less expensive Realme 9 Pro Plus, then it’s at least quite comparable. All three phones are powered by the same Sony IMX766 sensor.
The shared primary sensor is fine with us, but we would anticipate some enhancements from that 8MP ultra-wide camera, which is a significant drop in dynamic range, color balance, and detail. The disparity in quality is not aesthetically pleasing.
In the meantime, it’s a little more difficult to accept that a £600 phone doesn’t have a dedicated telephoto than a £400 phone. No, the Pixel 6 also lacks one, although we also voiced our displeasure about it in that review. To compensate, Google’s phone captures even better images elsewhere.
A useless 2MP macro sensor was also omitted by Google from their own mid-range phone. Although we can appreciate the box-ticking benefits of including it in a less expensive phone, its inclusion feels a little offensive at this end of the market.
The AI camera mode that Realme offers is optional and turned off by default. This helps to brighten and punch up the colors in general shooting, which helped balance out some difficult HDR circumstances (such shooting up at a skyscraper against a brilliant but foggy sky) and blurry food images. However, we opted to omit the AI because it could make sceneries appear a bit artificially vivid while shooting landscapes in general.
Thanks to the huge 1/1.56″ primary sensor and OIS, night images are of a respectable quality. Scenes can be brightened out without appearing overly fake with Realme’s Night mode.
Although the 16MP front camera has a certain softness and lacks depth, it captures good selfies as long as there aren’t any bright spots that might blow things out.
Specs and Performance
Realme has added a brand-new MediaTek Dimensity 8100 chip to its upper-mid-ranger. Constructed with a cutting-edge 5nm process, it sits comfortably at the top of the mid-range CPU category and even challenges certain flagship competitors.
The average Geekbench 5 scores of 4061 multi-core and 966 single-core make this clear. In example, the latter score easily outperforms top phones with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200 by 400 to 600 points.
This is basically flagship hardware, with 256GB of internal storage and 12GB of RAM as standard.
From a practical standpoint, we were able to run Genshin Impact on high settings at 60 frames per second and obtain some quite pleasing results. Again, that is flagship territory.
For everyday use, the Realme GT Neo 3 is an ideal gadget. Everything runs at full 120Hz with no discernible stutters. Actually, it performs no better than phones that are twice as expensive.
Software
With Realme’s proprietary Realme UI 3.0 installed, the Realme GT Neo 3 operates on Android 12. The bloatware warnings are the same because it’s the exact same interface that we used with the Realme 9 Pro Plus.
The preinstalled offerings of Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Booking.com, and Amazon Shopping are all the same. Although having these options available during the installation process would have been good, this is by no means one of the most egregious instances of front-loading such apps that we have seen.
A modest wallpaper theming element is available on the Android 12 side of things, but it’s not quite Material You like it was on the Pixel 6. Compared to standard Android and iOS, Realme UI 3.0 can feel nearly archaic despite all of its personalization choices.
However, overall, there aren’t many issues with Realme UI 3.0 on the Realme GT Neo 3. The Google Feed and app tray features are placed precisely where they should be, it operates well at the full 120Hz refresh rate, and it is reasonably clean.
Battery life
Although Realme has made a rare hardware issue with the battery of the Realme GT Neo 3, everything else has been consistently competent thus far. This phone model only comes with a 4,500mAh battery.
To be clear, a variant with a substantially larger 5000mAh capacity is provided in some areas. This has a payout, which we’ll discuss later, but let’s just say that we’re not sure if it’s worthwhile.
Although the Realme GT Neo 3’s endurance is not poor, it is nevertheless unimpressive. We discovered that the Neo 3 would decline to about 35 to 40% on a typical 16-hour day with just over 3 hours of screen time—what we would call moderate usage.
That’s by no means a reason to dial 911, but in comparable situations, it’s common for a well-maintained Android phone with a 5000mAh battery to drop below 50% and beyond.
The western model’s fast 150W charging is the source of the trade-off we discussed. 80W charging is provided to other regions.
Rapid charging may not be the greatest option for people who are worried about heat buildup or battery longevity because you will need to manually enable it in the Settings menu.
Unquestionably impressive, we were able to fully charge the phone in just 15 minutes after it was turned on. However, the 80W model is hardly slow—it takes you just over 30 minutes to get full. To be honest, we would have liked the extra endurance.
Wireless charging is another feature you’re missing out on. Google’s Pixel 6 offers wireless charging for the same price, though this isn’t exactly a standard feature at such low-end pricing.