I’ve been trying the new one for a few days Realme GT 2 Pro, what in effect is Realme’s flagship smartphone. The Chinese company has started 2022 with a new attitude by reaping the good things it had sown in the last two years. This smartphone is the expression of the maturity of a brand that is no longer satisfied with focusing on the quality / price ratio but wants to offer its users a more complete and performing product, positioned much higher in terms of list hardware.
On this GT 2 Pro there is almost everythingfrom Qualcomm’s top-of-the-range SoC to a well-bodied photographic sector, fast charging, QHD display and a series of “goodies” dedicated to gamers.
INDEX
DESIGN: ENVIRONMENT AND OVERSIZED DIMENSIONS
The first impact with Realme GT 2 Pro is not at all trivial, the smartphone comes with one back cover in biopolymersa plastic material of natural origin that helps to lower the ecological footprint of the product by 35% compared to traditional smartphones.
The back is also embellished with a texture reminiscent of paperdesigned in collaboration with the designer Naoto Fukasawa. From Realme they explain that the goal was to create an eco-friendly but at the same time captivating and durable material.
The aluminum alloy frame with natural metal coloring and a satin finish. It has been a long time since I met a smartphone with this design, which was once very fashionable (remember the various full body products in satin aluminum? HTC was the school).
The dimensions are generous but the smartphone is relatively light (189 grams) and does not slip. The oleophobic treatment of the display and of the body is also good, to protect the front glass, a plastic film is also applied at the factory.
Attention to the environment for the structure of the smartphone as well as for the packaging, made with recycled materials and soy ink for printing the logos. This did not prevent Realme from “dressing” the sales endowment with one soft TPU cover, USB / USB Type-C cable and 65 Watt charging power supply.
TECHNICAL SHEET: THERE IS ALMOST EVERYTHING
As often happens with emerging brands, one of the main cards to play to convince customers is the technical sheet and this Realme GT 2 Pro is no exception. From the previous generation the quality has increased, therefore we are faced with a rather complete product on all sectors and not concentrated exclusively on the SoC.
REALME GT 2 PRO DATA SHEET
- Display: 6.7 “AMOLED LTPO (Samsung E4), QHD +, 1-120 Hz, 1400 nits in HDR, 1000 Hz sampling rate
- SoC: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
- memory: 8 / 12GB of LPPDR5m RAM, 128/256 / 512GB UFS 3.1
- cameras
- front 32MP
- triple rear:
- main 50MP with IMX766 sensor, OIS, PDAF
- 50MP (Samsung JN1), ultra wide angle lens, 150 degree viewing angle
- 3MP, microscope
- battery: 5,000mAh, support 65W fast charging
- safety: fingerprint sensor integrated into the screen
- connectivity and audio: 5G NR, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, GPS / GLONASS / BeiDou / Galileo, Dolby Atmos, stereo speakers
- dimensions and weight: 163 x 74.7 x 8.18 mm, 189 grams
- operating system: Android 12 with Realme UI 3.0 user interface
Going into more detail we are faced with a smartphone that easily places itself on the high end of the market, to which some specific features of premium products are clearly missing. I am speaking precisely of the wireless charging, certified against water and dust, video output on Type-C port, barometer, otherwise everything is “on point”.
PERFORMANCE AND DISSIPATION
The performances are solid, but it could only be so with all the horses available under the hood, Realme GT 2 Pro is responsive and snappy in everyday usebut most of all manages to fully convince in gamingthanks to a series of hardware and software precautions typical of gaming phones.
For example, the antennas are arranged in an ideal way to prevent the grip in landscape from shielding them while you are playing, inside the body there is a large dissipation plate (double size compared to the GT Neo 2) composed of nine elements, including a steam chamber in stainless steel and a patented thermal paste that “Realme calls Dyamond Thermal Gel”.
The technical solution for dissipation also allows you to activate the GT 3.0 modein which the power of the Snapdragon 8 is pushed to the maximum, in this context the temperature increase is well perceptible under the fingertips but the gaming experience becomes exceptional, with sampling frequency and refresh rate that give the impression of a responsiveness and fluidity that are rarely found even on the most expensive smartphones.
EVERYDAY USE EXPERIENCE
Realme GT 2 Pro is a smartphone that can be used well in everyday operations, does not suffer from particular bugs or malfunctions and relies on the high quality of the various components.
One of them is the display, Samsung E3 QHD, OLED, LTPO, HDR10 +, 100% DCI P3 and so on and so forth. Numbers aside it is a panel that immediately catches the eye for brightness and vividness of colorshowever, it is well calibrated (especially with the “pro cinematic” profile) and equipped with an adaptive refresh rate that is managed to perfection, varying step by step from 1 to 120 Hz. Attention, it is not a trivial matter, for now no Android smartphone who went to the editorial office has shown that he knows how to make the most of the characteristics of LTPOs, not even Samsung’s super flagships.
The audio part is also very good, entrusted to two powerful and deep stereo speakers, no 3.5 mm audio jack but consoles us with the Bluetooth version 5.2 and Dolby Atmos effects. Realme also took care of the haptic feedback, precise and clear, present for many gestures and touches.
The telephone part is entrusted to two physical SIMswhile there is no eSIM supportthe signal reception is more than good, no indecision in carrier aggregation and there are no problems whatsoever with the management of WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.
On board Realme GT 2 Pro there is the Realme UI 3.0 based on Android 12, the latest version of the green robot does not bring any particular novelties on the functions side but adds refinements on animations and resource management. Good news also on the updates front, Realme guarantees three years of updates.
AUTONOMY
I can’t unbalance for the moment, too few days of testing to be able to give you a true evaluation, but the first impressions are excellent, the battery module is important and notoriously the Realme are well optimized on consumption.
Fast charging is always appreciated, too bad only for the absence of the wireless one that would have been a cherry on the cake.
FUN PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPARTMENT
Atypical cameras for Realme GT Pro, without giving up a standard lens with OIS supported by the Sony IMX 766 50MP, proven sensor and excellent photographic yield. The fun part instead comes from an ultra wide-angle with FOV of 150 degrees, large enough to enter the fisheye field and from a microscope lens like the one seen last year on OPPO Find X3 Pro.
The image quality is more than good, the photos taken with the main camera are detailed and clean even at night. The ultrawide really fooled meI did not expect this yield from the Samsung Isocell JN1, a sensor that is often used on the low end for the main camera and that here manages to give a nice visual perspective, something new for smartphones, with the only regret of not being able to also be exploited in video.
There microscope camera it’s nice, much better than the usual 2 MP macro, maybe you won’t use it much but the wow effect is guaranteed.
In video you get to 8K but the most usable format is 4K at 30 or 60 fps, in both cases excellent images, effective focus and truly remarkable stabilization, Realme has taken a giant step compared to the latest smartphones that I had happened to try.
PRICES AND AVAILABILITY
Realme X2 Pro officially arrives in Italy starting from next 8 March at a introductory price of 649 euros for the 8/128 GB variant, while the list price is 749 Euros for the basic cut, it goes up to 849 Euros for the 12/256 GB version.
One concrete smartphone, with the right specifications, very balanced in everyday use and with a strong propensity for gaming, a first positive exploration of Realme on higher than usual price ranges. Of course, prices go up and there are many alternatives on the market, it will not be easy to participate in the banquet but the attributes are all there.
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