JOIN USRealme GT Neo 3 150W review: Flashy all-rounder
It's been barely four years since Realme made its debut in the subcontinent and has risen up the ranks on the chart really fast, displacing well-established Chinese peers.
It now commands the third-biggest share in the highly competitive Indian smartphone market. Two primary reasons for Realme's popularity are low prices for phones. And, how the company was swift inmaneuverring the shortage of chipset supply and signing partnerships with multiple semiconductor companies to mitigate shipment delays. This helped the company see good growth during and post Covid-19 pandemic periods compared to other brands.
Also, Realme has also done well by offering phones with colourful and visually different from competitors. The latest is the Realme GT Neo 3 series. It has a racing stripe design and packs MediaTek's powerful Dimensity 8100 chipset. Does it deliver? let's check it out.
Design, build quality and display
The most interesting aspect of the Realme GT Neo 3 series is the eye-catchy racing stripes on the shell. The engineers have done a good job placing the triple camera module with curved corners in the centre of the two stripes, mimicking a car zooming on a racing track.
Also, the white stripes blend beautifully with the nitro blue shade of the AG glass-covered shell. When looked at from different angles, the cover switches between blue and purple colours. Also, the device manages to resist fingerprint smudges to an extent. It is noticeable only when looked at from a certain angle. Thankfully, the company offers a transparent back cover. This helps in keeping the visual appeal of the phone intact and also saves the device from physical damage due to accidental falls.
Realme has incorporated Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 shield on the display. This will protect the screen from scratches that may occur due to keys or pens kept in a pant pocket.
It features a 6.7-inch full HD+(2412×1080p) AMOLED 10-bit display and it supports a 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 1000Hz instant touch sampling rate.
The screen reproduces the multi-media content with rich colours and objects with black shades look darker and natural. I had a good time watching documentaries and trailers on YouTube with high-resolution video quality on.
Also, there is also 'Eye comfort' mode in the display settings. This will help reduce the blue light emission on the screen and lessen the strain on the eyes during binge-watching videos or reading an e-book or an article on a website.
It also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor and works smoothly. There is a low false rejection rate in terms of recognising the thumb impression and unlocking the screen. But, if you have sweaty hands, ensure to swipe the finger first on the pant or shirt and then go ahead and unlock the phone. Or else, it will take a few tries to unlock the screen.
Performance
It ships with a 5nm class Dimensity 8100 octa-core processor backed by Mali-G510 MC6 GPU, Android 12-based Realme UI 3.0 and 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM with 128GB/256GB (UFS 3.1).
Our review unit has 12GB RAM + 256GB UFS 3.1 storage and the former can be expanded for an additional 7GB, which adds up to 19GB RAM. This way, the phone can be made to respond faster to the touch inputs, load apps, switch between multiple apps swiftly, operate the camera to record 4K videos or play games such as Asphalt 9:Legends without any lag-ness.
During the review period, the device did perform to my expectations and I did not face any noticeable lag-ness as such.
The phone storage is limited to 256GB and cannot be expanded. The device comes with several pre-loaded apps and combining that with the 13.5GB space occupied by the system OS and 5.81GB (others: not specifically named by the company), it totals up to 30GB. Users are left with 220GB plus storage which is enough to store thousands of new images and also instal hundreds of apps and games too.
The phone packs with 4,500mAh battery and it was able to last a whole under normal usage. However, if you are an extreme user and stream content directly using the cellular network, the device may not last a full day. However, if you carry with 150W charger, there won't be any such anxiety. The phone can power up from zero to 50 per cent capacity in under 10 minutes. And full charge, it can complete the task in under 20 minutes. It should be noted, that the user has to turn on the Rapid Charging feature in the phone's settings.
Photography
It boasts triple-camera module-- 50MP (with Sony IMX766 sensor, OIS, f/1.88) + 8MP 119-degree ultra-wide lens (f/2.25) + 2MP macro (f/2.4) with LED flash.
Realme GT Neo 3 does a fine job of taking still images in the natural sunlight. Even under the overcast cloudy conditions too, the device was able to capture decent pictures. Of course, like the other phones on the market, the camera does make the colour come off warmer than usual.
I do not complain, because, despite the dull light caused by cloud cover, the subjects, in this case, flowers still look vibrant.
Also, the style and stigma of the hibiscus flower are captured well even from a distance. The close-up shot (below) is actually a zoomed-in version of the photo above.
As far as the ultra-wide-angle shot is concerned, you can make out how much area is covered in it and how it looks in the normal mode. It is decent and the native camera ensures, there is no case of uneven bending of objects in the background to accommodate more in the frame, which I have noticed in other phones. But, not in the Realme GT Neo 3.
The 2X zoom too is good and the camera ensures there is less loss of photo quality. We can see the natural rock colours with green vegetation around the Nandi hills. The camera manages to hold decent picture quality up to 5X, but noise begins to creep in when the zoom goes past 10X.
In night mode, the phone's camera manages to get decent-quality photos and does not blow out the street lights.
On the front, it houses a 16MP (Samsung S5K3P9 sensor, f/2.45) sensor. Realme GT Neo 3 captures really good selfies in the natural light. And, indoors, the quality is decent.
The phone can record videos in 720p (HD), full HD (1080p) and 4K. They come off stable and the video quality is up to the mark. Slow-motion videos are decent at best.
Final thoughts
Realme GT Neo 3 150W, particularly the nitro blue variant is undeniably the most unique-looking phone in sub-Rs 30,000 price range. The racy white stripes on the left of the shell resemble the racing track and beautifully blend with a dark shiny blue shell.
Performance-wise, it works smoothly be it day-to-day tasks such as web browsing and even while playing games, the device never showed any noticeable lag-ness. Also, the photography hardware is good too, takes pretty decent pictures on par with any of the rival brands in its class.
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