Recently Realme has launched its successor GT Neo 3. It has a main camera with OIS feature and a new processor. It also comes with a special 150W fast charging model, which I am going to review today. Is the Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) a step ahead of its predecessor? Let us know in the review how it competes with the rest of the premium smartphones in this segment.
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Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) PRICE IN INDIA
Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) The price in India is Rs 42,999. This model gets a 4,500mAh battery and comes with a 150W charger in the box. Its 80W model gets a 5,000mAh battery. This model comes in two variants. One gets 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, its price is Rs 36,999. The second variant has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Its price is Rs 38,999. Both the models come with three color options which include Asphalt Black, Nitro Blue and Spring White. In 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 build 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 selfies. Instead of the glossy dual tone rear glass panel found in the GT Neo 2, the company has now given a simple matte finish AG glass, on which fingerprints fall very quickly.
GT Neo 3, OnePlus 10R Feels more premium than this and gives good feel in hand. It weighs 188 grams, which is not too heavy, but can’t be said to be better for one-handed use. The large display gets the protection of Gorilla Glass 5 and fingerprints are visible on it. But they can be cleaned easily. Its hole punch AMOLED display has slim bezels all around which adds 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 so that it feels like slipping in the hand. But the company has given a transparent TPU case with the box which gives good grip and even after applying the design of the phone is easily visible to everyone.
Realme GT Neo 3 Specifications and Software
MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC has been given in Realme GT Neo 3. The company has given an imaging chipset in it which is called Dedicated Display Processor. The company says that this will reduce power usage and enhance gaming performance. For connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and Type-C port as well as satellite navigation system. The fingerprint scanner is placed inside the display and it works well.
Realme has created a better user interface by mixing Material You and Realme UI with Android 12. The Realme UI 3.0 on the phone looks similar to the stock one and its icons look slightly different from the Pixel phones. All widgets in Android 12 work as expected and its theme engine changes the color of the keyboard, widgets and other icons depending on the wallpaper installed. The Personalization section found in the Settings app looks similar to OnePlus and Oppo. In this, you can customize things like the shape of the icon, quick settings icon and system font.
Like other realme phones, it also gets pre-installed third party apps from around the world. But these softwares do not spoil the experience and they can also be uninstalled if needed. But the notifications I got from the Themes Store app bothered me a lot.
Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) Performance
Realme GT Neo 3 has a 6.7-inch FullHD+ AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. It shines brightly even in direct sunlight and there is no problem in reading. Colors look quite punchy in its default Vivid Screen color 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 a movie and at 120Hz while navigating in the user interface. In games, the display locked up at 60Hz compared to what it should normally be 120Hz, which disappointed me.
HDR10 video streaming certification is missing for apps like Netflix but standard content looks sharp, with decent black levels. The stereo speakers given in the phone make loud and clear sound, which makes the video and gaming experience much better.
The performance of its software was also fine. Its benchmark scores come close to that of a phone with a Snapdragon 888 chip. The phone scored 8,10,225 points on AnTuTu. It scored 969 and 4,065 points respectively in the single and multi-core tests on Geekbench. It managed 54fps and 60fps in GFXBench’s T-rex and Manhattan 3.1 gaming tests while powered by the Snapdragon 888 Xiaomi 11T Pro Here it runs at 121fps and 100fps.
Its real world gaming performance also did not attract much attention, until GT mode was enabled. In regular mode, games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends were seen skipping frames on the high graphic setting, but ran well in medium mode. In GT Mode, the game ran well even at the highest possible setting but didn’t feel quite as smooth as I’d like. Surprisingly, I also got a 60fps mode when playing Asphalt 9:Legends, which I’ve only noticed on a Snapdragon processor device so far.
The battery life of the phone is good. It lasted for one and a half days on a single charge, while I used heavy gaming and camera in it. The phone lasted 19 hours and 26 minutes in our HD video loop test, 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 ever found in a phone. During this the phone became very hot, due to which I was also worried a little. 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 that warns the phone about overheating during charging.
Cameras of Realme GT Neo 3
The primary camera (OIS) in the Realme GT Neo 3 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. Focus has been fixed in both the secondary cameras. A 16-megapixel camera is given in the front for selfie. In this, the company has used Samsung sensor, whose aperture is bigger and field of view is also more.
Compared to GT Neo 2, the performance of the phone in daylight proves to be very good. Exposure was good in landscape photos and dynamic range was also good. Photos taken with the primary camera had decent details but the photos looked a bit saturated, especially when compared to photos taken with the ultrawide camera.
Photos taken with an ultrawide camera provided a large 120-degree field of view, but these photos had comparatively limited dynamic range and the edges of the frame were giving a slight blur effect. Sharpness was good in closeup shots of flowers taken with the primary camera but the photo looked saturated. Its 2X digital zoom works fine but the detail in the photo falls slightly.
Photos taken in portrait mode were managing colors well. They were toned down and looked natural in appearance. Edge detection was good and dynamic range was good along with background exposure. Selfies taken with its front camera were a bit oversharp and looked saturated. The background seemed too bright. Selfies in portrait mode looked better in quality but edge detection was average here.
The macro camera took average photos with a purple fringe-like effect on the edge. The focus system here bothered a bit. Photos taken in low-light with the phone’s primary camera had good details and dynamic range was also better. In the photo taken with Night Mode, the scene seemed to be brighter, due to which the bright areas of the original scene were looking more blown out. Selfies taken in low-light were not special and felt soft with less details. Low-light selfies with Portrait mode were captured with a lot of noise, which lacked a lot 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 weren’t that great. Videos shot in 4K brought good details but the dynamic range fell short here. They also lacked stabilization. Its AI Highlight feature improved dynamic range but videos weren’t as smooth and sharp, and resolution was limited to 1080p 30fps. Video recorded at 1080p in low-light had limited dynamic range and looked soft. Footage recorded at 30fps in 4K looked best, but again there was a lack of stabilization.
Compared to the Realme GT Neo 2, the image quality of its primary camera has become much better. 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 the competitive devices like iQoo 9 SE.
our decision
As for the GT Neo 3 (150W), I agree with the company that it is a smartphone built for speed. It has a racing inspired design, 150W charging system, crisp 120Hz display and a decent performing processor. Its camera has improved a lot compared to the old model.
Having more features does not make it a competitive smartphone. Apart from the upgrade from the older model, it comes close to the rest of the rivals. Its 150W charging system tends to overheat the phone and its 120Hz refresh rate doesn’t work for most of the games I tried to play. The phone lags slightly behind the rivals with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 in terms of performance. It does not get features like IP rating and wireless charging, which Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G And Apple iPhone (2022) I get it for the same price.
I would even go as far as to say that its regular 80W model also seems a bit expensive as the iQoo 9 SE offers a better camera and performance for a lower starting price. If you are a fan of Reality, then you can buy Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) at its current price, or you can also think of buying it as a smartphone with the fastest charging speed at present.
