Realme GT Neo 3T Review: A top-tier mid-range performer that aims to be more

Realme is one of the biggest players in India’s affordable to mid-range smartphone market. And while Realme has released several smartphones across different price segments, one segment has eluded it, the sub-30K market.

While the Realme GT 2 and Realme GT Neo 3 falls in the sub-40K space, the Realme 9 Pro+ sits in the sub-25K market. However, the company only recently revealed a new smartphone for the sub-30K market in the form of the Realme GT Neo 3T. The phone, which was unveiled in Europe, back in June, has only now reached Indian shores. The Realme GT Neo 3T comes with a Snapdragon 800 series chip, a high-refresh-rate OLED display, a large battery and super-fast charging, and a triple-camera setup.

Realme GT Neo 3T Price in India

Before we dive into our Realme GT Neo 3T review, let’s look at pricing in the country. The Realme GT Neo 3T features a starting price of Rs 29,999 for the 6GB/128GB model. The phone also comes in 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB configurations that will set you back Rs 31,999 and Rs 33,999, respectively. It is worth noting that the Realme GT Neo 3T is available at a discounted price of Rs 4,000 during the company’s festive sale, which will run till October 16.

Design and Build

Straight off the get-go, it is easy to see that Realme has put a quite a bit of effort into the design of the Realme GT Neo 3T. The shape of the front and rear panel is pretty similar to that of the Realme GT Neo 3 (Review), although there is a myriad of differences in the finish. First off, the Realme GT Neo 3T comes in three colour options, Drifting White, Shade Black, and Dash Yellow. Our white model had a checkered pattern on the rear panel, which is meant to resemble a racing flag.

However, the unique pattern is only visible when certain light the back at a particular angle. Speaking of the back, the GT Neo 3T has a slightly curved design with a plastic back and frame, although there is a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protecting the screen. In terms of button placement, the power button sits on the right, while the volume buttons are placed on the left. There is hole-punch cut-out on the top left of the screen, while the USB-C port and SIM tray sit on the bottom.

I quite like the design of the Realme GT Neo 3T. In my opinion, the while colour option has a nice balance of subtlety and pizazz. And although the build is mostly plastic, the smooth matte finish on the back ensures the phone doesn’t feel cheap. However, I did find that the panel was less resistant to smudges when thrust into the light to see that checkered pattern. Additionally, for a mostly plastic build, the phone is also on the heavy side, weighing 195 grams. Lastly, there’s a snappy in-display fingerprint reader on the bottom of the screen.

Display

And since we’re talking about the screen, you’ll be pleased to know that the GT Neo 3T doesn’t skimp on its display. The phone uses a 6.62-inch FHD+ E4 AMOLED panel with a peak brightness of 1,300 nits and HDR10+ support. The screen also boasts a 120Hz refresh rate and a 360Hz touch sampling rate as well as a 1000Hz instant touch sampling rate that is tailored towards gamers. Unfortunately, the screen can only toggle between 60Hz and 120Hz, but you can use the “Auto-select” mode to allow it to pick the best refresh rate for any given app. The phone had good viewing angles and picture quality was quite good considering the price range.

The screen got plenty bright and was easily visible in direct sunlight, although achieving the 1,300 nits will require some niche scenario involving HDR playback. The display reproduces vibrant colours with deep blacks and as a 100 percent DCI-P3 gamut. The Realme GT Neo 3T also packs a dual-stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support and Hi-Res Audio certification. The speakers got plenty loud on maximum volume, but I did notice a bit of distortion as with most mid-tier smartphones. Overall, not much has changed from the display on the Realme GT Neo 3, which is a good thing as this phone is a several thousand rupees cheaper.

Performance

In terms of performance, the Realme GT Neo 3T comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC. The chip is paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The phone also has an improved cooling system with the largest stainless-steel VC of any Realme smartphone, which results in better heat dissipation, efficiency, and sustained performance. The X-axis linear motor also helps enhance the gaming experience. On paper, the specifications of the Realme GT Neo 3T look solid, making it feel like the phone can handle anything you throw at it. But let’s see how it fared in some real-world scenarios.

In Geekbench 5, the Realme GT Neo 3T managed a single-core score 1001 points and a multi-core score of 2810 points. In 3DMark Wild Life, the Neo 3T managed to score a total of 4401 points. When it comes to gaming, the Realme GT Neo 3T ran Call of Duty: Mobile, Apex Legends Mobile, Asphalt 9: Legends, and Diablo Immortal all ran without a hitch. All the titles ran on high graphics without any lag or delays. I also noticed that the phone remained relatively cool after a 30-minute gaming session. After 25 minutes of Apex Legends Mobile, I didn’t notice any frame drops, with the phone performing quite well under pressure.

Cameras

Moving on to the cameras and the Realme GT Neo 3T opts for three rear cameras, which include a 64 MP primary shooter with an f/1.8 aperture and a 1/2-inch sensor size. The main camera is accompanied by an 8 MP ultrawide unit with an f/2.3 aperture and a 119-degree FoV and a 2 MP macro lens. On the front, the GT Neo 3T gets a 16 MP selfie camera with an f/2.45 aperture.

The primary camera on the Realme GT Neo 3T takes above-average photos in daylight with a good amount of detail and even better dynamic range. The camera also reproduced colours well and delivers balanced exposure. The camera also keeps noise levels under control, although there is a bit of over sharpening. You can also use the 64 MP mode to take photos in the full 64-megapixel resolution, which will allow you to get more detail in a shot, but overall image quality tends to suffer.

When moving indoors, the Realme GT Neo 3T tends to struggle with visible noise showing up in shots. The Realme GT Neo 3T can take 2x magnification by cropping a photo from the main camera. You can go all the way up to 20x magnification but all you get is a blurry mess after 5x zoom and the lack of stabilisation only makes things worst. When shifting to the ultrawide unit, I found that colour consistency remained constant, although there is a dip in detail and an increase in noise. Images also appear to be visibly softer on the ultrawide and tend to fall apart in more complex, late evening or indoor, lighting.

The macro unit tends to be a hit or a miss depending on the light in the scene and even then, it takes a few attempts to get it right. In low light, the main camera does a good job of introducing more detail and removing noise from scenes with decent ambient light with the use of Night mode. Additionally, night mode also increases brightness and improves detail in darker parts of an image. Moving to the ultrawide unit and things aren’t the same. The ultrawide camera wasn’t very effective in low light and even using night mode, it does little to improve things.

The 16 MP selfie camera also failed to impress with the beautification mode making photos looking artificial. However, turning it off led to photos with good detail and more natural-looking skin tones. Portrait shots using the selfie camera wasn’t always accurate, blurring out parts of the subject at times. In good lighting, I found that the selfie camera was above average but not so much in dimly lit or indoor scenarios. When it comes to video, the Realme GT Neo 3T’s main camera can capture 4K and 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second, which is impressive given the phone’s price. There’s no OIS so you have to rely solely on EIS, although footage looks best in outdoor lighting.

Battery

Realme has packed a large 5,000 mAh battery in the GT Neo 3T, which can easily surpass a day of heavy usage on a single charge. Gaming for 30 minutes did consume little over 10 percent of battery life. And even if you were to exhaust the entire battery in a day or leave yourself with just 10 percent going into day 2, the GT Neo 3T supports 80W fast charging. This will give you a 50 percent charge in under 20 minutes, which is impressive in its own rank. Realme also adopts a dual-cell battery structure to ensure good battery health in the long run.

Software

On the software side, the GT Neo 3T runs Android 12 with the Realme UI 3.0 skin on top. There’s not a lot to say about Realme UI. Realme’s interface is easy to navigate and most bloatware on the device can be uninstalled. That being said, it almost feels like the bloatware on the GT Neo 3T is too much. However, the interface still remains uncluttered, although it is still a far fry from stock Android or Oxygen OS.

Realme UI has a ton of wallpaper to choose from, while you also get an always-on display and access to a floating window that can be accessed with a sideswipe. The Realme UI 3.0 experience is getting better with every major update, although it could have been done without some of the bloatware. Realme has also committed to two years of major OS updates and three years of security updates with the GT Neo 3T.

Verdict

If you’re wondering whether the Realme GT Neo 3T is a successor to the original GT Neo 3, I’d assure that it is not! At its current price, the Realme GT Neo 3T sits in between the Realme GT Neo 3 and Realme 9 Pro+. There’s no doubt that the Realme GT Neo 3T is one of the best-performing smartphones under Rs 30,000 in India. Additionally, the phone also features a best-in-class display, excellent battery life, incredibly fast charging support, and a unique design. But that’s not to say that the Realme GT Neo 3T is not without its flaws.

The Realme GT Neo 3T could do with cleaner software and a better build. Additionally, the camera setup while good in daylight is not the best in the segment and at times falls flat in complex lighting and indoors. At times, I found camera performance to be less effective than the more affordable Realme 9 Pro+ (Review). However, there are a lot of things about the Realme GT Neo 3T that work, and work very well, which makes it worth considering, especially if you want some of the best performance in the segment. If camera performance isn’t a priority, then you’ll find that the Realme GT Neo 3T more-than fits the bill.