Realme GT Neo 2 Review: Smooth screen with great performance and super fast charging, but camera disappoints

Realme GT Neo 2 is the company’s latest premium offering in India. The smartphone, which was previously launched in China, competes with, among others, OnePlus 9R, I live X60 Pro, Mi 11X, and more, fueling the battle against the affordable flagship even more. Right away, the Realme GT Neo 2 comes with flagship level specs – a 120Hz AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset, up to 12 GB of RAM, stainless steel vapor cooling and a capable triple rear camera (on paper). I’ve been using the Realme GT Neo 2 as my primary device for the past few days, and to mark the product’s launch, I’ll tell you my first impressions of the smartphone to help you decide if the Realme GT Neo 2 is worth your while. Rs 31,999 or more.

So the smartphone comes with a very attractive packaging and only the box tells you that the smartphone means serious business. We get the smartphone, a 65W charging block with a USB A to Type-C cable and a silicone case for the Realme GT Neo 2, in addition to all the paperwork. The smartphone comes in a pretty good looking black box with carbon fiber pattern and yellow details to tell that it is a flagship from Realme. When you first hold the Realme GT Neo 2, it feels like you’re holding a well-built, sturdy glass sandwich that’s surprisingly lighter than it first appears.

DESIGN

The Realme GT Neo 2 comes with a 6.62-inch flat punch screen with negligible bezels and a slight chin. While a curved screen looks more premium, a flat screen is less prone to accidental touches. I personally prefer a flat screen so this is good. The back panel of the realme GT Neo 2 has an interesting finish. We got the black color for our review, which looks like it has a matte finish when there’s no light, but shines when exposed to light. Beautiful finish that will please both types of users – those who like matte and those who like a gradient finish. I personally liked it because it is not glossy and does not catch fingerprints like those glossy finish back panels.

The camera module is a thick rectangle that makes the phone wobble on a flat surface. The camera module has two large lenses positioned vertically and the third, smaller lens to the right of the two large lenses. The Realme branding is subtle (thank goodness!) with a small “realme” tag in the lower left corner of the back panel. The USB Type-C port is located on the bottom, next to the speaker grille. The power button is located on the right and the volume rocker on the left of the Realme GT Neo 2.

SCREEN

Display is one of the things that impressed me most about the Realme GT Neo 2. The 120Hz refresh rate makes the experience super smooth, along with the 600Hz touch response. The adaptive refresh rate also seems to work well, and scrolling on the Realme GT Neo 2 is super smooth. In terms of resolution and brightness, the Realme GT Neo 2’s display is also great. It runs YouTube videos up to 4K resolution and has a peak brightness of 1,300 nits. Watching videos and playing games is a pleasant experience on Realme’s latest flagship.

Where the screen lags is the color accuracy. While this is a super bright and super smooth screen, the details and color accuracy are not the best. Overall it’s a great screen and right on par if not ahead of the competition.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY

Now performance is what Realme bets on the most on the Realme GT Neo 2. The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset combined with up to 12 GB of RAM (we have the 12 GB RAM variant for our review), which can be further expanded up to 19 GB via Realme’s RAM expansion technology that allows users to take 7 GB of free storage and convert it into expanded RAM. Like the display, the performance of the Realme GT Neo 2 is also super smooth. The smartphone showed no signs of slowing down during our test. Please note that I have the Realme GT Neo 2 on full brightness and locked to 120Hz for most of my test and I played some heavy games like Battlegrounds Mobile India, Asphalt 9, and more and the smartphone gave no problems. The smartphone can run Battlegrounds Mobile India at maximum settings with no signs of slowing down. The benchmark tests of the Realme GT Neo 2 showed a single-core score of 1,014 and a multi-core score of 3,085.

Realme says that the Realme GT Neo 2 comes with an eight-layer cooling system with a Diamond Thermal Gel and stainless steel vapor cooling technology. During my gaming sessions, the smartphone showed signs of heating up, but there was nothing significant. Good thermal control.

While I had no issues with the speed of the device, the user experience is not the best. Realme UI does not make the Android experience any easier or smoother. While it’s improved quite a bit since the last time I used Realme UI, it’s still not as good as stock Android or some good launchers like OxygenOS. The bloatware still exists and the controls are not smooth in some areas.

The battery of the Realme GT Neo 2 is also great. During my use, I charged the phone to 100 percent on Saturday and used it on full brightness all the time with a 120Hz refresh rate, in addition to playing demanding games like Battlegrounds Mobile India, and the smartphone still lasted about 48 hours. , with about a few hours worth of juice left. Great battery backup.

The charging speed on the Realme GT Neo 2 is also crazy fast. The smartphone comes with Realme’s 65W fast charging technology. I put the smartphone on a 7 percent charge at about 2:48 PM and it was 100 percent by 3:20 PM – that’s less than 40 minutes from 7 to 100 percent!!

CAMERA

The camera on the Realme GT Neo 2 is just average. There is a triple rear camera on the smartphone that includes a 64-megapixel primary shooter, a wide-angle lens and a macro shooter. The camera takes good, sharp pictures in well-lit environments through the primary lens.

However, the wide-angle shooter and the macro shooter are disappointing and affect the quality. In macro mode, the Realme GT Neo 2 gives good subject detail, but there were light streaks at the edges of the photos we clicked through in macro mode.

The portrait mode on the Realme GT Neo 2 is nice and cuts the edges with good precision, still not the best we’ve seen in this segment.

The camera on the Realme GT Neo 2 isn’t its forte, to put it more simply, and that’s not a deal breaker, at least not for those who don’t prioritize the smartphone camera when making a purchase. One thing I’ve always found annoying about most Realme smartphone cameras is the unnecessary AI over-processing, and the Realme GT Neo 2 is no different.

JUDGMENT

Although the first impressions of the smartphone are nothing but good so far, the smartphone will be extensively tested in the coming weeks. So far, the Realme GT Neo 2 has given me a true flagship experience (other than camera quality), from how it looks to the way it performs. Is it worth your money? Definitely. It offers everything the OnePlus 9R offers, for a lower price. A super smooth screen, expandable RAM with fast performance and a huge battery with very fast 65W charging is exactly what most users want if they are looking for a flagship experience at non-flagship prices. However, if your priority is a great smartphone camera, the Realme GT Neo 2 is not for you. Realme UI also remains the chink in the armor of Realme that makes otherwise pretty decent smartphones. So that’s that, our first impressions of the Realme GT Neo 2. We are still using the smartphone and will give you a detailed long-term review shortly. Until then, consider the Realme GT Neo 2 in your top pick for an affordable flagship experience.