The new GT-series smartphone, Realme GT 6TMaking its India debut after a gap of two years, and it arrives in a different style. The handset features the recently launched Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset and an LTPO panel that comes with a never-heard-of 6,000 nits of brightness, Additionally, the Realme smartphone packs a 5,500mAh battery And supports rapid 120W charging to minimize downtime. Do these features make the Realme GT 6T the most affordable flagship on the market? We try to find out in this review.
Decision
The Realme GT 6T lives up to its promises. The handset delivers fast performance, great viewing experience even in direct sunlight, reliable battery life and fast charging speeds. However, if you want an attractive design and a versatile camera setup, you may have to look for alternatives.
Design and display
In my opinion, the design of the Realme GT 6T looks a bit weak compared to the latest Realme smartphones, especially the 12 Pro series. This is subjective though, and you might feel differently. The handset has a glossy dual-tone finish, which I feel looks quite dull and gets scuffed easily. The latter can be countered by using a case like the one provided in the box. If you are one of those who like to keep their phone protected in a case at all times, you won’t mind the appearance of the device.
The device is crafted from plastic and has a curved screen form factor, though the edges aren't as smooth as you might expect. The handset measures 8.65mm in thickness and has slightly flat edges to avoid accidental screen touches. This also ensures that users get a good grip on the device, which is also helped by its weight, which measures just 191 grams despite packing a 5,500mAh battery.
On the back, the handset has three different rings: two for the camera and one for the LED flash. The camera ring protrudes from the frame, which can cause the phone to wobble when lying flat on a surface. As for I/O, there's a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer at the bottom edge, located between the SIM ejector tray and the speaker grille. The earpiece works as a secondary speaker, which helps provide stereo output with crisp audio. Additionally, the phone includes an IR blaster for sending signals and controlling all compatible large appliances in the home. For security, the device has an in-display fingerprint scanner. While accurate, it's not the fastest, and its location, slightly below where your thumb naturally rests on the screen, can make it a bit challenging to access in some situations.
The Realme GT 6T is equipped with a 6.78-inch 1.5k panel of the AMOLED varietyA standard choice for mid-range smartphones nowadays. However, what sets it apart is its amazing peak brightness of 6,000 nits. While this figure is impressive and far exceeds even ultra-premium smartphones, it can only be achieved in a small display area, with specific colors and for short periods of time to prevent display burn-in. Otherwise, the display offers a normal brightness of 1,000 nits and a high brightness mode (HBM) of 1,600 nits, which is still quite high. For context, the iPhone 15 Pro Max display only offers 1,000 nits HBM.
The high display brightness ensures easy readability in direct sunlight, even during the scorching summer of Delhi. The realme smartphone has received certification from SGS that validates the excellent clarity of its display in challenging lighting conditions. Furthermore, it is an LTPO panel, which comes with an adaptive refresh rate that can go from 1Hz to a maximum of 120Hz depending on the content to save some battery. The viewing experience on the phone is quite impressive with vibrant and vibrant colours, high contrast ratio and excellent viewing angles. The display supports Dolby Vision, 2,160Hz PWM dimming and is flicker-resistant. It also boasts of eye protection certificate.
camera
Although cameras are not its strong point, the smartphone will not disappoint you in favorable lighting conditions. The Realme GT 6G opts for a dual camera setup, consisting of a 50MP Sony LYT600 main sensor and a 112-degree FoV 8MP ultra-wide lens. The main sensor outputs images with 12.5MP resolution by default, which displays a high level of detail and good colors even in contrasting lighting. The handset favours warm tones, which enhances the appeal of images, although the dynamic range can appear somewhat limited.
In comparison, motorola edge 50 pro ,Review), which has one of the best camera setups in the segment, outputs images with superior dynamic range, Retaining most of the highlights even in shadowy areas. However, its colours are not as natural as the Realme GT 6T. The Motorola smartphone tends towards cooler shades and oversaturates colours.
Moving on, the GT 6T's 8MP ultra-wide camera is average at best, Producing images that lack sharpness. There is a noticeable drop in both detail and color accuracy. Also, its field of view (FoV) is relatively limited. The selfie camera of the phone is a 32MP snapper arranged in a punch-hole setup. It captures images with respectable facial detail and accurate skin tones. However, there is a small problem with overprocessing, which can cause a noticeable loss in detail. Nevertheless, the resulting selfie is still likable and suitable for sharing on social media. The pictures it captures are also impressive, with excellent edge detection and minimal distortion, especially in well-lit environments. However, in low light or when the sun goes down the edge detection falters, as does the overall quality of the images.
Display and Software
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 at the core of the Realme GT 6T is a mid-range SoC with a 4nm manufacturing process and clock speeds of up to 2.8GHz. The phone promises lightning-fast load times, seamless multitasking, and the ability to handle intensive mobile games. The handset is available in 8GB/12GB RAM and 128GB/256GB/512GB storage options. The user cannot expand the storage, so choose your variant wisely.
The smartphone also has an 'Advanced Iceberg Vapor Cooling System' to control thermals. This was evident during our gaming testing, as the handset displayed less heat than some of its competitors, such as the Motorola Edge 50 Pro, OnePlus 12R and the IQOO Neo 9 Pro. The temperature of the Realme GT 6T rose by about 14 degrees after playing BGMI, Call of Duty and Real Racing 3. Furthermore, the handset delivered smooth gameplay without any stutters or frame drop issues. Furthermore, the phone handles casual usage activities like browsing, social media scrolling and multitasking well.
Users will also be happy with the performance of the smartphone. The handset scored 14,50,949 on AnTuTu, falling slightly behind the score of segment leader iQOO Neo9 Pro. On Geekbench, the Realme GT 6T scored 1,826 on single-core and 4,544 on multi-core tests, while its performance dropped by about 40 percent under intense load.
It is worth mentioning that the smartphone integrates an independent privacy protection chip and firewall system. According to the brand, this is a dedicated privacy chip that ensures that your private data like biometrics, facial recognition, screen lock, passwords, app locks, and file encryption never leaves the device.
On the software front, the new GT-series smartphone runs on Realme UI 5.0 based on Android 14 out of the box. A total of 52 apps are pre-installed on the smartphone, most of which are from Google and Realme. The list of third-party apps includes Snapchat, Paytm, LinkedIn, Facebook and Amazon. These apps have a huge user base and should provide convenience to those who use them. However, if you are not one of them, they can be uninstalled.
The handset has many customization options, as well as useful features like Split View, Flexible Window and Quick Launch feature for multitasking. With three years of major software updates and an additional year of security updates, the Realme GT 6T is future-proofed as well.
Battery and Charging
The Realme GT 6T is equipped with a 5,500mAh battery with 120W fast charging speed. The charger is bundled in the box and can charge the device from 20-100 percent in about 30 minutes. This is quite impressive for a phone that has a battery capacity of 5,000mAh.
A full charge should last more than a day with adequate use. When we tested the phone with YouTube video playback at 50 percent brightness and volume level, the battery life dropped by 3 percent after half an hour. As for gaming, the handset's battery life dropped by about 20 percent after playing BGMI, Call of Duty and Real Racing 3 with medium graphics for 30 minutes.
final call
The Realme GT 6T is packed to the brim for performance-focussed users. There are very few smartphones in this segment that can match its price, but none come close to offering a comfortable viewing experience even in direct sunlight. The impressive peak brightness of 6,000 nits is a game-changer for the smartphone. However, the design and cameras of the phone seem a bit lacking, which might discourage some buyers who might be better off with the Motorola Edge 50 Pro.
That said, if you prioritize performance, display quality, and fast charging in an affordable flagship, the Realme GT 6T is worth considering. The handset is selling in India at a starting price of Rs 30,999.
Editor's Rating: 8/10
Reasons to buy
- The phone promises lightning-fast loading, seamless multitasking and gaming.
- The peak brightness of 6,000 nits makes this smartphone stand out in terms of viewing experience.
- The primary camera displays a high level of detail and good colors.
- The handset should last more than a day with adequate usage and offer fast charging speeds.
reason not to buy
- The design seems a bit weak compared to the latest Realme smartphones.
- Cameras are not the strongest point for the smartphone due to the lack of a telephoto lens.
