Recently Realme has launched its successor GT Neo 3. It has a main camera with OIS feature and a new processor. It also has a special 150W fast charging model which I am going to review today. Is Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) a step up from its older model? Let’s know in the review how it competes with the rest of the premium smartphones in this segment.
Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) Price in India
Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) The price of this model in India is Rs 42,999. This model has a 4,500mAh battery and a 150W charger is available in the box. Its 80W model has a 5,000mAh battery. This model comes in two variants. One has 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, its price is Rs 36,999. The second variant has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. Its price is Rs 38,999. Both models come with three color options which include Asphalt Black, Nitro Blue and Spring White. Of these, racing stripes are available on the rear panel in Nitro Blue and Spring White while the black variant has a plain finish.
Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) Design
The design of Realme GT Neo 3 is similar to that of GT Neo 2. The difference is seen in its new finish, rear camera layout and center punch hole cutout for selfie. This time the company has given a simple matte finish AG glass instead of the glossy dual tone rear glass panel found in GT Neo 2, which gets fingerprints very quickly.
GT Neo 3, OnePlus 10R It looks more premium than the 2018 and feels good in the hand. Its weight is 188 grams which is not too heavy, but it cannot be said to be good for one-handed use. The large display has Gorilla Glass 5 protection and fingerprints are visible on it. But they can be cleaned easily. Its hole punch AMOLED display has thin bezels all around which add more value to its premium look.
The mid frame of the phone is made of polycarbonate. Like the back panel, it also has a matte finish, which makes it slippery in the hand. But the company has provided a transparent TPU case with the box which gives a good grip and even after wearing it, the design of the phone is easily visible to everyone.
Realme GT Neo 3 Specifications and Software
Realme GT Neo 3 is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC. The company has given an imaging chipset in it which is called a dedicated display processor. The company says that it will reduce power usage and increase gaming performance. For connectivity, it has support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and Type-C port as well as satellite navigation system. The fingerprint scanner is given inside the display and it works well.
Realme has created a better user interface by mixing Material You and Realme UI with Android 12. Realme UI 3.0 looks like stock in the phone and its icons look slightly different from the Pixel phone. All the widgets of Android 12 work as expected and its theme engine changes the color of the keyboard, widgets and other icons depending on the wallpaper applied. The personalization section found in the Settings app looks similar to OnePlus and Oppo. In this, you can customize things like icon shape, quick settings icon and system font.
Like other Realme phones, it also comes with pre-installed third party apps from around the world. But these software do not spoil the experience and can be uninstalled if needed. But the notifications received from the Themes Store app annoyed me a lot.
Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) performance
The Realme GT Neo 3 has a 6.7-inch FullHD+ AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. It is bright enough even in direct sunlight and there is no problem in reading. Colours look quite punchy in its default Vivid screen colour mode. The refresh rate is adaptive but can only switch between 60Hz and 120Hz, depending on the app running. It was running at 60Hz while watching movies and at 120Hz while navigating the user interface. In games, the display got locked at 60Hz when it should usually be 120Hz, which disappointed me.
HDR10 video streaming certification is missing for apps like Netflix, but standard content looks sharp, with good black levels. The stereo speakers on the phone sound loud and clear, making the video and gaming experience much better.
Its software performance was also good. Its benchmark scores are close to those of a phone with a Snapdragon 888 chip. The phone scored 8,10,225 points on AnTuTu. In single and multi-core tests on Geekbench, it scored 969 and 4,065 points respectively. In GFXBench’s T-rex and Manhattan 3.1 gaming tests, it managed 54fps and 60fps while the Snapdragon 888-powered phone Xiaomi 11T Pro Here it runs at 121fps and 100fps.
Its real world gaming performance was also not very impressive unless GT mode was enabled. In regular mode, games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends were seen skipping frames on high graphics settings, but ran smoothly in medium mode. In GT mode, these games ran smoothly even on the highest possible settings but did not feel as smooth as I would have liked. Surprisingly, I also got a 60fps mode while playing Asphalt 9:Legends, which is something I have only noticed in a Snapdragon processor powered device so far.
The battery life of the phone is good. It lasted for a day and a half on a single charge while I was gaming heavily and using the camera. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted for 19 hours and 26 minutes which is pretty good for a premium smartphone.
Its 150W charger charged the phone from zero to 100 percent in just 16 minutes. This is the fastest charging speed found in any phone so far. During this time the phone got very hot, which made me a little worried. However, the company has claimed that many safety measures have been taken in it to prevent any kind of accident. Like the OnePlus 10R Endurance Edition, it also gets a notification, which warns of the phone getting hot during charging.
Cameras of Realme GT Neo 3
Realme GT Neo 3 comes with a primary camera (OIS), it is a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor. The second camera is an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens and the third camera is a 2-megapixel macro shooter. Both secondary cameras have fixed focus. A 16-megapixel camera is provided in the front for selfie. In this, the company has used Samsung sensor, which has a larger aperture and a larger field of view.
Compared to the GT Neo 2, the phone’s performance in daylight is quite good. Landscape photos had good exposure and dynamic range was also good. Photos taken with the primary camera had good details but the photos looked a bit saturated, especially when compared to photos taken with the ultrawide camera.
Photos taken with the ultrawide camera offer a large field of view of 120 degrees, but the dynamic range in these photos was comparatively limited and the photos were giving a slight blur effect at the edges of the frame. Close-up shots of flowers taken with the primary camera had good sharpness but the photo looked saturated. Its 2X digital zoom works fine but the detail in the photo is reduced a bit.
Photos taken in portrait mode managed colors well. They were toned down and looked natural. Edge detection was good and dynamic range was also good along with background exposure. Selfies taken with its front camera were a bit oversharp and looked saturated. The background looked too bright. Portrait mode selfies looked better in quality but edge detection was average here.
The macro camera took average photos with a purple fringing effect at the edges. The focus system was a bit of a problem here. Photos taken in low light with the phone’s primary camera had good details and the dynamic range was also good. The scene seemed to be over-brightened in the photos taken in night mode, which made the bright areas of the original scene look more blown out. Selfies taken in low light were not great and looked soft with less details. Low-light selfies taken with portrait mode were noisy and there was a lot of lack of texture on the subject.
The quality of the videos recorded from the phone was quite good. Videos shot at 1080p in daylight were good but the details were not that great. Videos shot in 4K showed good details but the dynamic range was reduced here. There was also a lack of stabilization in these. Its AI highlight feature improved the dynamic range but the videos were not as smooth and sharp and the resolution was limited to 1080p 30fps. Videos recorded at 1080p in low-light had limited dynamic range and appeared soft. Footage recorded in 4K at 30fps looked the best, but again there was a lack of stabilization here.
The image quality of its primary camera has improved a lot compared to Realme GT Neo 2. The company has also used this sensor in low-cost smartphones like Realme 9 Pro + 5G. I liked the quality of the photo but it is far behind competitive devices like iQoo 9 SE.
Our verdict
For the GT Neo 3 (150W), I agree with the company that it is a smartphone built for speed. It has a car racing-inspired design, a 150W charging system, a crisp 120Hz display and a well-performing processor. Its camera has improved a lot compared to the older model.
Having more features does not make it a competitive smartphone. Apart from the upgrade from the older model, it is only close to the rest of the competitors. Its 150W charging system heats up the phone a lot and its 120Hz refresh rate is not useful in most of the games that I tried to play. The phone lags behind its competitors with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 in terms of performance. It does not get features like IP rating and wireless charging which are available in the Oppo Reno 3. Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G And iPhone 12 Pro (2022) These are available at the same price.
I would even say that even the regular 80W model seems a bit expensive as the iQoo 9 SE offers better camera and performance at a lower starting price. If you are a Realme fan, you can buy the Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) at its current price, or you can also consider buying it as the smartphone with the fastest charging speed currently.