Gaming smartphones are gaining serious hype in the Indian market. This gaming hype has forced smartphone companies to launch several gaming smartphones ranging from premium to mid-range categories. We all know that currently the Snapdragon 800 series chipsets like the SD 888, SD 888+, and the SD 870 as well are the most powerful offerings from Qualcomm right now. So smartphone brands are using these chipsets in high-end and mid-range gaming smartphones for a better capturing of the market.
Other than gaming smartphones, we also have various mainstream smartphones that feature these chipsets for not only gaming purposes but also for different other activities as well. In this segment, we have many smartphones like iQOO 7, Mi 11X, and others that feature the Snapdragon 870 processors. A new addition came from Realme as well last month where they introduced the Realme GT Neo 2 5G smartphone in India featuring the previously mentioned chipset Snapdragon70 along with other additional features like 67W VOOC charging, 64MP primary rear camera, and others.
Here we are going to give you a proper idea about the smartphone in the form of a detailed review after using it for almost a month. Here we will discuss the practical day-to-day issues and benefits that I have faced in a month of usage. This is not a sponsored article, we have purchased this device from the very first sale on Flipkart about a month ago.
Design:
The Realme GT Neo 2 I have purchased has the NEO Green colour which is the most unique design. It has a unique dual-tone finish with glass and polycarbonate. The dual-tone includes the matte finish of Neo Green polycarbonate design running through that is a glossy black glass on which we can see the ‘realme’ branding. B its side we can also see another thin glass line that embeds the “DARE TO LEAP” slogan on it. While the Neo Blue and Neo Black options don’t have such stripes, and while the former has a gradient, the latter is completely plain.
The backside of the smartphone prevents the fingerprints to stay on the matte finish area while the glossy black glass retains fingerprints and different visible specks of dirt on it.
The area where the rear cameras are placed within a rectangular glass bump that hoses all three camera lenses and the flashlights as well.
Now coming to the sides of the smartphone we get the power and volume rockers on the right and left sides respectively. We get a Type-C charging port along with the speaker grill at the bottom of the phone. There is also a mic at the bottom left side of the smartphone. At the top, we get to see only one noise cancellation secondary mic. The sides of the smartphone come with a glossy metal design.
Overall the smartphone looks really good in the Neo Green colour on it and it stands out even after covering with the grey silicon case. The feel on had is pretty decent and keeping in mind the smartphone is over 200grams it feels a bit heavy with the cover on it but without that, it is a perfect handy device to carry on.
Display:
On paper: It has a 6.62″ E4 AMOLED display with a 92.6% screen-to-body ratio. The display has a peak brightness of 1300 nits and also has HDR10+ support. The display has a high refresh rate of 120Hz, the device can adjust its refresh rate for gaming and video purposes. It offers a touch-sampling rate of 600Hz.
Reality:
The screen of the Realme GT Neo 2 5G is really big, where the punch hole cut at the top left corner of the display doesn’t really bother much. The punch hole cut is a decent one and can be ignored most of the time.
Now coming to the brightness of the E4 AMOLED panel that supports HDR10+ is really impressive. In outdoor conditions like bright and sunny days, users can see the screen clearly.
The 120Hz refresh rate and 600Hz insane sampling rate really helps while gaming multiplayer arena games.
Processor, UI and Storage:
On paper: The Realme GT Neo 2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC that is based on the 7nm process technology with a 1+3+4 octa-core design and a 3.2GHz Prime core. The phone is available in 8+128GB and 12+256GB storage options. Here we are getting UFS 3.1 storage which is one of the fastest in the market right now. The phone also comes with a dynamic 7G RAM expansion. The device runs on Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 11 OS.
Reality:
The sub-flagship processor Snapdragon 870 is perfect for this upper mid-range smartphone. The processor carries out the processes like gaming, image, and video processing at an impressive speed. The processing power is only utilized at full potential while performing heavy tasks like playing games and processing photos and videos. So, while using on a day-to-day basis I have not faced any kind of issues until now. I am a heavy user who likes to play games like BGMI and PUBG: New State whereas I also use social media and click pictures on the 64MP camera as well. On my usage Realme GT Neo 2 5G carries out these processes with ease.
The storage options are quite good where we get 5GB dynamic expandable RAM on the 8G variant whereas 7GB dynamic RAM on the 12GB RAM variant. The phone does not come with an extra SD card slot which is the only drawback we found in the smartphone.
Camera:
On paper: The Realme GT Neo 2 has a triple-camera setup with a 64MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultrawide sensor, and a 2MP macro camera shooter at the back. It has a 16MP selfie shooter. There are dual flashlights within the rear camera bump.
Reality:
The 64MP primary camera at the back of the smartphone is an excellent addition to the Realme GT Neo 2 5G. The daytime and nighttime images are equally good. The daytime images are naturally saturated and give proper contrast balance on every shot. In the case of night photography, the camera has a dedicated Night mode that clicks clear and crisp night shots with proper clarity and no noise.
The Wide-angle camera gives a decent wide-angle view but compromises the picture quality due to its low megapixel count. It also varies with different lighting conditions while clicking the pictures. The macro lens clicks decent images with moderate clarity.
While clicking indoor pictures we have not seen any kind of abnormality in the images but we felt the images are a little smoothened in-room lightings. There it seems that the AI is doing its work the colour and contrast adjustment seems a bit artificial, but it does not make any noticeable difference.
The 16MP selfie camera is all about AI. In proper daylight, the selfies are clicked to give a natural look but once the surrounding lights are not up to the mark the camera seems to make all the images overexposed to a certain limit and makes it smooth. Whereas, the portrait mode from the rear camera gives more clarity and more accurate edge detection.
The video section offers several options like Ultra Stead mode, AI Highlight Video mode, Live bokeh effect, and others. The most interesting among these features is the Ultra Steady mode that uses EIS and intelligently stables the video shots up to 80% to 85%.
Gaming and Performance:
Realme GT Neo 2 creates one of the most amazing and one of the best gaming experiences ever. Among the sub-flagship smartphones, this device gives the best gaming experience out there. One of the reasons is the 120Hz refresh rate and the 600Hz touch sampling rate which gives the best touch sensitivity experience while playing multiplayer or any arena games where the touch sensitivity and refresh rate matter. The Snapdragon 870 SoC gives an amazing and lag-free boost to the gaming experience.
Realme GT Neo 2 5G has the largest Vapor Cooling Chamber in the segment. The 4129 square mm Stainless Steel Vapour Cooling Plus is the largest and spreads the heat properly and keeps the device relatively cooler even after hours of playing games. The phone starts heating a bit after playing for long hours and the heat does not exceed approximately 38-39 degrees. This gives a better gaming experience. The Tactile Engine 2.0 and the GT Mode 2.0 gives the best gaming experience and customisations while playing the games respectively.
The phone has shown stable readings while tested with the CPU Throttling app. The readings were stable and at both 1min and 15min marks. The Realme GT Neo 2 pulled some impressive numbers in our benchmark tests. It did better than its competition, with scores of 7,19,508 in AnTuTu, and 1,005 and 3,152 respectively in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests.
Battery and Fast Charging:
Realme GT Neo 2 5G has a massive 5,000 mAh battery that gets fully charged in around 31 to 35 minutes with the 65W SuperVOOC fast charger. The phone charges insanely fast and the full charge remains for more than a day. This battery life will remain for moderate to heavy users for almost a year and then will degrade with time.
Verdict:
After using this device for almost a month I can say that it is an all-rounder. Though the smartphone is a bit heavy it gives one of the best camera experiences in the segment and needless to mention the gaming experience on this device is off the charts because of the GT Mode 2.0 and Snapdragon 870 processor. The battery is also long-lasting that eases the free usage of the device without worrying to get drained quickly. Even though it drains 30mins is all you need to fuel it up completely.
The high-quality AMOLED display paired with a 120Hz refresh rate gives the best media experience as well. Keeping in mind the price range the Realme GT Neo 2 5G starts at Rs. 31,999 on Flipkart and this seems one of the best among the others in this segment so far. I would definitely recommend you to go for this device and have an amazing experience.
