Realme GT2 Pro

Introduction

The GT2 Pro signals an important shift for Realme as it’s the brand’s first true flagship phone.

While we have reviewed multiple Realme phones in the past, all of them have been cheaper devices. That’s not a dig at the firm, in fact, we have generally rated Realme devices highly.

However the GT2 Pro is the brand’s most interesting device yet. Not only because it’s not trying to work to a small budget, but because it does things a little differently to the majority of the best Android phones around. And that’s isn’t something I see very often.

The Realme GT2 Pro will cost £599 (I’ll update this with US and European pricing when I get it) when it launches on March 8 and it could very well be the most tempting smartphone to be released at MWC 2022.

Design and Screen

• High-res 6.7-inch 1440p display
• OLED for deep blacks and punchy colours
• Paper-like back feels great

There are multiple aspects of the Realme GT2 Pro I really like, but let’s start with the unique finish. In a clever way to make a plastic body not seem like, well, a plastic body, Realme has textured the back and given it a paper-like feel. It feels really nice and the textured add a little more grip than something like the Oppo Find X5 Pro.

I’m a huge fan of the colour too. My review sample has a very tasteful, pastel green hue that’s subtle and stylish. There’s a white model available too, though I do have concerns about how dirty that might get after continued use.

Realme says the use of this material produces 35.5% fewer carbon emissions during manufacturing and it’s produced more eco-friendly packaging.

If I did have one issue with the design it would be the obnoxious signature of designer Naoto Fukasawa that sits next to the camera module. He might have helped design the phone, but I don’t know why his signature needs to be on it.

Flip the phone over and the GT2 Pro has another unique feature – a high-res, high refresh-rate flat OLED screen. Now, Android phones like the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus have flat displays, but the GT2 Pro has a flat 1440p panel, with LTPO 2.0 tech. This means it can move between refresh rates in the range of 1-120hz – just like the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Having a greater range of refresh rates should help endurance.

It really is a surprisingly nice display. Colourful, bright, sharp and covered in Gorilla Glass Victus. I also really like that flat aspect and I would like more high-end Android phones to go down down this route. It’s nicer to watch content on than a curved panel and doesn’t reflect sunlight as much.

Now, some sacrifices have been made to ensure this phone doesn’t cost over a grand. There’s no IP rating and the back isn’t suitable for Qi charging. It also lacks that high-end heft you’d get with the Galaxy S22 Plus, iPhone 13 Pro or Oppo Find X5 Pro. 

Performance and Battery Life

• Large 5000mAh battery
• Snappy charging with the bundled charger
• High-end specs, including Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

Inside the Realme GT2 Pro just about everything feels flagship. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, has a massive vapour cooling chamber to keep the phone cool under load and has some clever antenna tech to ensure you get the best signal going.

I haven’t used the phone long enough to properly gauge performance in gaming, that’ll come in our full review, but I have run a few basic benchmarks. 

The phone scores over a million points in the all-around Antutu test, while it scores 1263 in Geekbench 5 single-core and 3718 in the multi-core tests. These are impressive scores, especially for a phone at this price.

In terms of software, the GT2 Pro runs an Android skin very similar to the ones you’ll find on Oppo phones. It’s got a distinct style, but it looks quite nice and has lots of customisations especially when it comes to the display. There are options for making the screen sharper, boosting HDR content and plenty of control over the colours.

Three major OS updates along with four years of security updates are promised, though how long these will come after Google releases Android 13 and so on remains to be seen.

When it comes to charging, the Realme GT2 Pro has 65w SuperDart tech that should get that 5000mAh battery from 0-100% in around thirty minutes.

Camera

• Seriously wide array of camera modes
• 50MP main camera sensor

There’s a lot going on with the GT2 Pro’s camera and not all the decisions are the obvious ones. There’s a slightly gimmicky but fun fish-eye camera, for example, which captures photos and videos with that bulbous look. There’s a 40x microscope camera too, letting you get right up to a subject. There was a similar feature on the Oppo Find X3 Pro, though it was ditched on the recent Find X5 Pro.

Both these feel like nice additions to differentiate the phone from the crowd, though not necessarily reasons to buy it. Coming in at the same price as the Pixel 6 and £100 less than the iPhone 13 Mini puts the GT2 Pro in a tricky spot.

The main 50MP camera has modes for very specific scenarios like street photography and it can take a nice picture. Though during my first few days with the phone the snaps are a little and miss. Sometimes colours look great, other times they are muted. I’ll be testing the camera out a lot more for the full review, but so far it does seem like one of the few areas of this phone where you can do better for the same price.