The Realme GT Master Edition is a compelling mid-range smartphone that offers impressive specs for its price. With a stunning Super AMOLED display, a new Snapdragon 778G processor, and blazing-fast 65W charging, it’s a tempting option for those seeking value for money. But how does it stack up against competitors like the OnePlus Nord 2 and Motorola Edge 20? We dive deep into the Realme GT Master Edition’s design, performance, camera capabilities, and battery life to see if it truly delivers the "masterful" experience it promises.
Realme GT Master Edition: A Closer Look at The "Masterful" Design
The Realme GT Master Edition comes in three captivating finishes: Cosmos Black, Luna White, and the signature Voyager Grey. While the Cosmos Black and Luna White boast beautiful glass back panels, the Voyager Grey stands out with a unique mix of polycarbonate and vegan leather. This blend is touted as the reason for the lower price point of this particular finish, but does it hold up?
The vegan leather, while initially intriguing, falls short of expectations. Instead of a soft, natural leather replacement, it feels more akin to rubbery plastic, offering a decent grip thanks to the suitcase-like horizontal ridges across the back. The leather coating is shallow, lacking the depth and premium feel that one might anticipate. Despite its shortcomings, the material proves durable – a key factor for a smartphone bound to be jostled around in daily use. In contrast, the Luna White model feels more premium thanks to its frosted glass back and boasts a slimmer profile at 8mm compared to the Voyager Grey’s 8.7mm thickness.
Beyond the back panel, the Realme GT Master Edition features a 6.43-inch display with thin bezels, except for a slightly thicker one at the bottom. This design allows for a spacious screen-to-body ratio, enhancing the visual experience while ensuring a comfortable grip.
Realme GT Master Edition Performance: Powering Through Everyday Tasks and Beyond
The Realme GT Master Edition is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor, a flagship-quality chipset manufactured on a 6nm fabrication process. This powerful processor ensures smooth performance with a maximum clock speed of 2.4Ghz on its prime CPU core, complemented by three high-performance and four efficiency cores. The fast processor, coupled with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage, makes multitasking and demanding tasks a breeze.
Realme UI 2.0, based on Android 11, delivers a highly customizable software experience. Users can personalize icon shapes, create custom Always-on Display patterns, and personalize various settings. While the phone comes preloaded with Realme-branded and third-party apps, most are easily uninstalled.
The Realme GT Master Edition’s 6.43-inch Super AMOLED display boasts a 120Hz refresh rate and a fast 360Hz touch sampling rate, making scrolling and gaming incredibly smooth. The screen is sharp and bright, but the aggressive auto-brightness feature can sometimes be a bit overzealous, requiring manual adjustment in dimmed lighting conditions.
Realme GT Master Edition Performance: Testing the Limits
Synthetic benchmarks paint a picture of impressive performance. The Realme GT Master Edition achieves an AnTuTu score of 5,39,725, placing it on par with the OnePlus Nord 2 and its MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor. The Geekbench scores are similarly strong, with the GT Master Edition achieving 786 and 2,767 points in single and multi-core tests respectively. This represents a substantial jump in performance compared to devices equipped with the Snapdragon 768G, such as the iQoo Z3, which scored a significantly lower Antutu score of 4,45,029.
When it comes to gaming, the Realme GT Master Edition holds its own against demanding titles. The phone manages to stay relatively cool during extended gaming sessions, although it does warm up slightly when playing games like Call of Duty: Mobile at high settings. Realme’s GT Mode promises enhanced gaming performance by boosting the CPU and maximizing the display’s refresh rate to 120Hz. While the impact of GT Mode is not immediately noticeable, it does seem to contribute to a faster heating rate during sustained gaming sessions.
Realme GT Master Edition Battery Life: Long-Lasting Power for Your Daily Needs
The Realme GT Master Edition features a 4,300mAh battery that delivers impressive battery life. Under normal use, users can expect a battery life that comfortably extends beyond a full day, even exceeding one and a half days with light usage. However, intensive gaming, particularly with GT Mode enabled, can significantly reduce battery life, requiring a recharge after a full day. The phone shines in our HD video loop test, achieving a remarkable 19 hours and 53 minutes of battery life – an impressive achievement for a mid-range smartphone. The 65W fast charging technology allows the battery to be fully charged in around 35 minutes, making it a top contender in terms of charging speed.
Realme GT Master Edition Camera: Capturing Moments with Clarity
The Realme GT Master Edition features a triple rear camera system, comprising a 64-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. On the front, a 32-megapixel selfie camera handles those crucial self-portraits.
The Realme’s camera app follows the familiar Realme UI layout, with all essential controls readily accessible. Advanced settings, such as video resolution and frame rate options, are neatly tucked away in slide-out menus.
Photos captured in good lighting conditions are crisp and display excellent dynamic range. However, even with the AI feature turned off, colors tend to be slightly oversaturated. The ultra-wide-angle camera, while producing more natural-looking colours, can exhibit noticeable purple fringing in bright areas. Indoors, photos of people and pets tend to be slightly softer, lacking the same level of detail.
Nighttime performance is commendable, particularly in street-lit environments, but falls short in dimly lit areas. Shadow detail can be minimal, but the Night mode effectively enhances detail and delivers crisp, well-exposed images. The ultra-wide-angle camera struggles in low light, producing blurry and generally unusable photos. Thankfully, the Night mode does an excellent job of improving the quality but results remain average at best.
The macro camera, more a marketing gimmick than a practical feature, delivers photos that are not usable. The primary camera captures more successful close-up shots. Daylight selfies are sharp and detailed, but the Portrait mode’s edge detection can be slightly imprecise. Low light selfies are a mixed bag, tending towards blurry results. The Night mode improves the quality, but the results are still far from ideal.
Video recording reaches its peak at 4K 30fps. Clips recorded at 1080p 60fps also appear good and boast excellent stabilization, but dynamic range leaves something to be desired. Low-light video, regardless of resolution, exhibits a slightly murky appearance, though stabilization remains effective.
The Verdict: A Masterful Mid-Range Smartphone?
The Realme GT Master Edition makes a strong case for itself as a value-packed mid-range smartphone. The combination of a new Snapdragon 778G processor, a high-quality Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 65W fast charging, and respectable battery life makes it a compelling choice. While the camera system lacks the wow factor of something like the Moto Edge 20, it delivers solid performance in daylight. The phone also proves itself to be a capable gaming device, even if it doesn’t boast the dedicated gaming features of something like the Poco F3 GT. Compared to the OnePlus Nord 2, which offers similar performance, the Realme GT Master Edition emerges as a winner in terms of price, starting at Rs. 25,999 for the base 6GB RAM variant. If you’re seeking a feature-rich smartphone without breaking the bank and don’t mind the unique vegan leather design, the Realme GT Master Edition delivers on its promise of a "masterful" experience.
