We recently published our review of the Realme GT. While it’s been less than a month since we met the GT, the brand has launched another new phone, the Realme GT Neo, which is more cost-effective than the GT model. And I believe everyone is interested in MediaTek’s Dimensity 1200 as well. So will the Realme GT Neo become the best budget phone to buy this month? Let’s find out! 

Realme GT NEO Review: Design & Display

To be honest, I like the color of the GT Neo better than the unchanging color of the Realme GT. Although the top left corner of the camera design is the same, the color and Realme logo is designed with great care. The Realme logo and slogan are hidden inside a glossy stripe on the left. And this logo is designed to imitate the trendy brand logo, framed in a box.

Interestingly, the color we have is called the “Final Fantasy”. But it has nothing to do with the game with the same name. Instead, it is almost the same color as the Redmi K40, with the only major difference being the GT Neo’s frosted material is a bit coarser than the K40.

NFC and 3.5mm headphone jack are both present. But because of the need to control costs, its frame and back are made of plastic. So it manages to keep the weight down to 180g. Combined with its 6.4-inch size, it feels great in the hand. But this makes the back easy to scratch, and the glossy part stained with fingerprints is also more difficult to wipe off than glass.

The realme GT Neo is equipped with a 1080P, 120Hz refresh rate Super AMOLED screen. This screen is supposed to be the same screen as the realme GT. The fingerprint recognition method is your usual under-screen sensor. While the fingerprint recognition position is relatively lower, because it’s only 6.43 inches, it’s not uncomfortable to use. Also, since it is powered by MTK’s processor, the HDR decoding problem is still the same as realme 8. The colors will be significantly darker when watching HDR videos.

Realme GT NEO Review: Hardware & Performance 

MTK’s new-generation flagship chip, the Dimensity 1200, was first launched on the realme GT Neo. Since realme dares to put a MediaTek chip on its GT series, it means they are very optimistic about this chip. In 3DMark the phone scores 4244, while in Geekbench 5 it scores 974 on single-core, and 3331 on multi-core tests. realme GT Neo’s Dimensity 1200 scores almost the same as K40’s Snapdragon 870 in the Benchmark test. So, is Dimensity 1200 a winner? Let’s find out.

The frame rate curve of PUBG is very smooth. It looks like there is no problem. However, because of the HDR Graphics Ultra frame rate, PUBG cannot enable HDR Graphics Extreme frame rate on the Realme GT Neo. And to enable Extreme frame rate you have to turn down Graphics to Smooth.

The frame rate limitation problem is also present in Brightridge. The maximum frame rate is locked at 35fps, but Genshin Impact runs at 60fps normally. I have to say, with GT mode on, it averages at 49fps. This average frame rate is almost as good as the Snapdragon 870 on the Redmi K40. And probably because of the all-plastic body. Surprisingly, the body does not heat up much.

But Dimensity 1200 is not perfect. For example, you’d experience more lags than the Snapdragon 870 powered K40. If you want the ultimate gaming experience, the GT Neo may not be the best option. But the gameplay is quite stable, and at this price point, its gaming performance can be considered to be fine.

Realme GT NEO Review: Camera 

The main camera on the Realme GT Neo is a 64MP IMX682. The other two cameras are an 8mp ultra-wide lens and a 2mp macro lens. Although the camera module of realme GT Neo is exactly the same as that of realme GT. But MTK’s optimization of the camera is much more difficult than Qualcomm’s chip. So how is the overall performance?

Main Camera & Night Mode

The main camera maintains the color style of realme GT. The colors are intense and the contrast is high. No significant noise reduction in order to retain details. The night scene in auto mode is also great. However, the stability of the night mode needs to be improved. The night mode is almost the same as the auto mode when there is sufficient light. But once the light is very low, the night mode does not perform as well as the auto mode. The exposure is not sufficient, and the details are almost lost.

Ultra Wide Angle Camera

The ultra-wide lens is not as good as the main camera. In the daytime, after triggering HDR you’ll probably notice a lot of noise in the highlighted area. The overall sample is often bad. The purple-fringing issue is still there, but it’s much better than the realme GT. At night with the ultra-wide lens, the picture is like a veil. There’s significant detail loss. It does improve when you turn on the night mode. However, in extremely low light conditions, the image is underexposed. The photo is almost unusable.

Macro Camera & Video Shooting

The macro lens is the same as the realme GT, with the closest focusing distance of 4cm. the image quality is not as good as the main camera. Let’s pretend it doesn’t exist.

Also just don’t expect realme GT Neo to shoot good videos. The stabilization of the main camera is very weak and almost unusable. As for the performance of the ultra-wide lens, I won’t say much, you just look at the video (please check our video review at the top) and you will know what I want to say.

Realme GT NEO Review: Battery Life & Charging

Although realme GT Neo is not equipped with a 65w charging adapter, the provided 50w charging power is also considered very powerful. There is a charger and charging cable in the box. In our test, it took ten minutes to reach 35%, thirty minutes to 75%, and a full charge takes only around 51 minutes.

The 4500mAh battery will also ensure average phone life. Half an hour of TikTok and half an hour of 1080p video each consumed 6%, half an hour of the Genshin Impact consumed 17%. 23 minutes of PUBG consumed 6%, of course, this is the result in the HDR Graphics Ultra frame rate setting.

The Realme GT Neo is certainly a good phone. It has good looks with decent performance. And the main camera is not bad for taking pictures. The most important thing is that it is still very well priced. If you want to buy a budget phone, it is definitely a choice you can’t ignore.

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