Realme GT Neo 3 review

• GT Neo 3 is an affordable flagship smartphone featuring Dimensity 8100 5G chipset.
• One of its variants supports 150W charging that can fully charge it in just 17 minutes.
• It sports the typical GT-series design with sports car stripes.

Realme is back with a new GT phone that promises to push above its competitors. The GT Neo 3 has mid-range specifications and sports a sleek design that isn’t really distinctive, but the race car banding makes it stand out. But that’s about the looks. On the inside, the phone packs the flagship MediaTek Dimensity 8100, which is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 equivalent. This evidently makes it a powerful phone, which is supported by a high-specced display and camera.

The GT Neo 3 comes with typical Realme packing similar to other Realme smartphones. You will get a transparent silicone protective case, SIM ejector, 150W/80W charger depending on which variant you choose, and a USB Type-C charging cable. The charging cable is thicker and feels more durable than most charging cables that come bundled. It is available in three colours, nitro blue, sprint white, and asphalt black.

It comes with Dimensity 8100 5G chipset. Similar to GT Neo 2 it offers 120Hz 6.7-inch Full HD AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection, which essentially means it is less prone to scratches and is more durable. It features three rear cameras, a 50MP primary camera with a Sony IMX766 sensor, an 8MP ultra wide-angle camera and a 2MP macro camera. The specifications and even the design is strikingly similar to the OnePlus 10R, which launched a day before the GT Neo 3. The only difference is the OS, the rest remains the same.

I’m using nitro blue with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. So far, I can say GT Neo 3 can be called an all-rounder as it impresses with charging speeds, runs games well, has an average battery life and a decent set of cameras. Read the review to find out in detail.

Price and availability
The Realme GT Neo 3 is available in 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage and 12GB RAM and 256 GB of internal storage options.
The GT Neo 3 will compete against mid-range phones, such as the OnePlus 10R, the Xiaomi 11T Pro Hypercharge and similar.

Design and build

The Realme GT Neo 3 has a unique dual-tone glass back panel. The two white strips that run all the way down the back panel make it look contrasting when compared to most smartphones. The back panel does not pick up any fingerprints and makes this device easy to grip which is good for in day to day usage and also for gamers. Note that the asphalt black colour does not have the stripes on the back. So if you’re particularly attracted to that, then make sure you check for it.

The camera has a little bump which makes the phone wobble when placed on a flat surface, but that’s a common trait on all phones these days. The bezel around the display is thicker than usual, which is good for gaming. The thing which has impressed me the most is its weight distribution and handy form factor. It's just 189g, making it lightweight compared to most 6.7-inch phones these days.

The body feels sturdy, ports and button placement are easily accessible and is made of decent quality material for the price. The material is a mixture of multiple variants of glass that is said to be more durable than normal glass. Note that the phone does not have IP certification, so it loses some scores there. It is one of the few areas where Realme has cut corners to keep the price low.

Display

The Full HD+ AMOLED screen is bright and sharp and colours pop out as expected. The 120Hz refresh rate is not as rare as it once was, but it's still good to have for a smoother-looking scrolling experience, playing games, and watching videos.

The colour output is clear and accurate and the touch response is also very satisfying. The benefit of these specs come in handy while gaming and multitasking. The responsiveness and graphic performance were promising while playing games like BGMI, Call of Duty: Mobile, Asphalt 9 and Shadow Fight 3.

It also does a good job in terms of viewing angles and sunlight legibility. There’s ample brightness and several preset modes to suit your needs.

Performance and features

Realme GT Neo 3 is the first phone in India equipped with Dimensity 8100 5G chipset. It has 12GB/8GB of RAM and 128GB/ 256GB of storage. There is no microSD slot. The phone has 2 nano-SIM slots, stereo speakers, and two microphones.

The Realme GT Neo 3 comes in two variants, one with a 150W UltraDart charger and 4500mAh battery and the other one comes with 80W SuperDart charging. The phone sports Realme 3.0 UI build on top of Android 12.

There’s a GT mode that claims to improve phone performance. Though I didn't feel any difference while using it in this mode with normal usage. The phone comes with other additional modes such as a simple mode for larger texts, bigger icons. The kid space feature can be used to limit the child’s app usage time.

The GT mode also kicks in when you launch a game and it claims to crank up the processor's clock speed, but I did not notice anything vastly different in terms of responsiveness, compared to without this mode. In addition, you also get Low power mode and balanced mode to increase battery efficiency.

Coming to overall performance, Dimensity 8100 has done its job well. While gaming and multitasking there was no lag or stutters. Even while playing graphic-intensive games the GT Neo 3 has shown decent performance.

Camera performance

The Realme GT Neo 3 features three rear cameras – a 64MP, 8MP ultra-wide-angle, and a 2MP macro camera. Selfie are handled by a 16MP front-facing camera.

Photos clicked by the primary camera in daylight showcased ample details and are worthy of posting on social media. If you are good at photography, you can certainly click good looking photos. The photos look sharp, show good dynamic range. The autofocus is quick and it handles light pretty well in well-lit situations.

I have seen a noticeable shift in colour tone when switching between the primary camera and the ultra-wide-angle camera. Overall it is not worth complaining but we’ve seen better ultrawide cameras in the same price range. The night mode is pretty effective as it gives balanced exposure and good color tones with both cameras.

It offers up to 20x zoom, but the results were good upto 5x zoom whereas 10x and 20x feel like a step too far in terms of clarity.

The 2MP macro camera clicks decent pictures but needs proper lighting for a good shot. If you want to go even closer to the subject, you just have to dig into ‘More’ menu for Ultra Macro mode. The Ultra Macro does well but you need to keep the subject and hand extremely steady to focus and get a clear shot.

The 16MP front-facing camera is not very impressive and offers a lot of opportunities for improvement. The photos get overexposed and the colors look far from natural. But if you like enhanced skin tones and smoothness, then you might just like it.

Video quality in daylight and night is decent at best. You can shoot 720p at 60fps, 1080p at 60fps and 4K at 60fps. GT Neo 3 doesn't offer any stabilisation in these settings.

Battery
The GT Neo 3 comes in two variants as mentioned - the 80W variant has a 4500 mAh battery and the 150W variant offers 5000mAh. We are using the latter.

According to Realme, it is the world’s fastest charging smartphone with 150W charging. In my usage, the phone managed to go from a dead battery to a 100% charge in just 17 minutes.


The battery life is average, so far I can say Realme has used all its potential in charing but not in increasing battery life. It doesn’t last a full day even with medium to light usage. I had to plug it in to charge way before I went to bed, but on the positive side it got ready to go with 100% battery in a jiffy. But travellers or commuters might not benefit from this.

Verdict
After using the Realme GT Neo 3 for a week, it's clear that the phone is an all-rounder. But it’s also true that it is not the best in any of the departments except for charging. It’s a good phone for its price, but if you’re on the lookout for the best camera in the segment, or the best software experience, then you might want to consider other phones like the OnePlus 10R, or the Xiaomi 11T Pro.

The best time to buy it will be during the initial sale as the company is offering huge introductory discounts. Buy it for the performance, fast charging, display or the standout design.

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