The Realme GT2 Pro is a great phone. Not only does it have the best flat screen so far, but it also won first place in our Speed Test. And today, the second half of Realme’s flagship phone is here, the Realme GT2 Master Explorer edition. The name is too long, so we’ll call it the “GT2 Master”. This GT2 Master Review comes a little late, but I promise this video will give you every detail of it.
Realme GT 2 Master Explorer Design & Display
Realme is one of the few brands that use a flat screen on their flagship phones. I’m sure many people will consider buying the GT2 Master for the ultra-narrow bezel flat screen. It’s true that the screen is great, and the ultra-narrow bezel alone is very appealing. Its downside bezel is about the same width as the iPhone, and its left and right bezels are even narrower than the curved screen Xiaomi 12S Ultra (review). And because it doesn’t have a plastic screen holder, it’s more refined than a phone like the K50 which also has a top-notch flat screen. The screen is not from Samsung, but the display is still excellent. Apart from the greenish side view and the fact that the resolution is FHD+, there’s nothing to complain about.
The GT2 Master we got is white. We didn’t buy that luggage design version. Trust me, not because it’s ugly, it’s just not my cup of tea. This white back cover will be yellowish, more to my taste. The camera module is still realme’s family design, just ordinary, and it’s like a cousin of the OnePlus ACE at first glance. The GT2 Master has the same features as the GT2 Pro, such as NFC and stereo speakers, and the SIM cardholder can support dual Nano SIM cards. And the finger recognition area has been moved a little down,so it’s not quite convenient to use. The GT2 Master’s biggest change is that the bezel being flat, and this makes holding it less comfortable. But there are many benefits, too. For example, the bezel looks narrower when viewed from the front, and the more rugged shape looks better to me. More importantly, you will be more comfortable when using the shoulder buttons.
Realme GT 2 Master Performance & Gaming
You might be thinking: what am I talking about, where are the shoulder buttons. The GT2 Master actually has two pressure-sensitive triggers built into the bezel, and the flat bezel certainly keeps you from slipping when you press it. It’s not like other gaming phones where the trigger has special visual or tactile processing, it looks and feels exactly like a normal phone. And it will not affect your control even if you wear a phone case.
But I still have two complaints, the first is that the position of the two triggers is not symmetrical, the left side will be a little shorter than the right side, and you need to get used to it. The second is that it can only be used as a game button, not a customizable shortcut button. I wish it could be used as a camera shutter button, but it can’t be. GT2 Master is also equipped with Pixelworks’ latest X7 chip this time, which is actually mainly used for game frame insertion. Perhaps it’s the new chip’s improved capabilities, I can’t feel the lag in the game anymore, although it’s not the same in every game, I recommend you to turn it on at least in Genshin Impact.
OK, let’s look at the actual game performance. The GT2 Master can run at 90fps on PUBG and the phone barely gets hot. There is no need to turn on the game frame insertion, plus with the trigger, it’s certainly a great PUBG machine. The frame rate curve on Genshin is a bit more interesting. In the early versions of the system, you could see the GT2 Master locked at 55fps in the second half of the game, and the frame rate fluctuated quite a lot. However, after an update, the maximum frame rate was further limited for a more stable gaming experience. However, the average fps and phone temperature did not change much. With the game frame insertion turned on, Genshin was able to reach 90fps and was very stable. Although Realme says that the game frame insertion will increase power consumption, however, we did not find such impact in this mode, and the temperature is almost unchanged. So that’s why I recommend you turn on this feature in Genshin Impact.
BenchMark scores don’t matter much for this phone anymore, the game performance has proven everything. So you can just pause and watch it here, and those who are not can skip this part.
Realme GT 2 Master Explorer Camera
Unsurprisingly, the main camera on the GT2 Master is again an IMX 766. The ultra-wide angle camera is an old dish, the JN1, and the third camera is a 40x macro camera. Let’s start with the most interesting one. This macro camera is not a first, we’ve seen a similar lens with the OPPO Find X3. It could take stunning photos. You can also use it to record video, although my hands have been holding the phone as steady as possible, the footage will still be a little shaky. Anyway, it is a fun lens to use. Although it may not be used much daily, it is also always more useful than some depth of field or 2 MP macro cameras.
As everyone should be well aware of the capabilities of the IMX 766, I won’t say too much about the GT2 Master’s main camera. Like most of the realme phones, they share the same advantages of having vivid colors and excellent dynamic range. In particular, the dynamic range is further enhanced in the night mode photos. However, this also makes the photos a bit flat, and my advice is to use the normal mode to take photos in most cases. There is no telephoto lens in GT2 Master, the main camera crop performs well in the daytime, it’s similar to phones with 2x telephoto, but the image quality is unacceptable at night. Plus realme likes to add sharpness to the photo, the whole photo looks like a painting.
You can check out the full-sized samples from the Realme GT 2 Master Edition here.
The JN1’s ultra wide-angle camera, which is almost identical to the OnePlus 10 Pro, is also a fisheye lens. But as a normal ultra wide-angle camera, the GT2 Master’s JN1 performs well. As long as you don’t turn on the fisheye mode, it performs at the level of a $500 phone. Not only does fisheye mode have poor image quality at the edges, but it also doesn’t have the same dynamic range as the normal ultra-wide angle mode. Not like my advice on the main camera, I do recommend you to use the night mode at night, as it will eliminate most of the noise for you.
Video recording supports up to 4k 60fps, with the ability to switch lenses in the recording at 4k 30fps.
Realme GT 2 Master Explorer Battery
Big battery and fast charging couldn’t exist on a phone at the same time in the past, but today, the GT2 Master with 5000mAh plus 100w charging power shows us that it can be done. 5 minutes to charge to 33% and only half an hour to fill this big battery, which is quite impressive. Compared to the Redmi K50 Pro with the same 5000mAh, the 8+ Gen 1 saves the GT2 Master a lot of power on games and performs well overall. All in all, the GT2 Master is off to a good start, and I look forward to more phones with large batteries and fast charging in the future.
The GT2 Master Explorer edition is now priced at around $518. It’s not a “cheap” phone, but it’s actually the cheapest 8+ Gen 1 phone available. And with the ultra-narrow bezel screen, gaming frame insertion, large battery, and 100w fast charging, its definitely worth the $500. Now I’m most excited about Redmi’s new 8+ Gen 1 phone, and then we’ll be able to compare who’s the best Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 phone to buy this year.
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