Realme GT 6T review
Android 14-based Realme UI 5.0
The Realme GT 6T runs on the latest Realme UI 5.0 with Android 14 underneath. Realme has promised three years of Android version upgrades and four years of security updates for the GT 6T, but it didn't commit to a specififc rollout frequency of the latter and said the security updates will be released "as needed."
The latest Realme UI version isn't all that different from the previous one, at least aesthetically-wise. You can find our full review of the software here. It is essentially identical to Oppo's ColorOS and OnePlus OxygenOS.
Even though the company doesn't market this as a generational upgrade, a few notable additions to the software, originally debuted on the GT 6, are also present on the GT 6T, namely AI-related features.
There are two new major additions to the software - AI Smart Loop and AI Screen Recognition. You can activate both with a simple gesture and let the AI algorithm analyze the content on the screen. It can read English and Chinese and extract images. The AI Smart Loop allows you to send selected elements to other apps, say images.
It works like Google Pixel's content recognition after taking a screenshot, but we found it to be considerably slower. It's also quite limited too. You can make it work only in select apps. There's also the AI Smart Removal, which is Oppo's version of Google's Magic Eraser tool. It can intelligently remove certain objects from photos.
Benchmark performance
The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is a brand-new chip that only came out this year. We've only seen it running in the OnePlus Nord 4 thus far. The chipset is a step up from the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 in pretty much all aspects. Both are based on the 4nm manufacturing process, but the newer 7+ Gen 3 has more powerful and modern cores and built-in AI capabilities, allowing on-device number crunching. The chip supports various Large Language Models (LLM).
The CPU uses eight cores separated into three clusters in a modern 1+4+3 configuration with a prime core. The main Cortex-X4 core is clocked at 2.8 GHz, the 4x Cortex-A720 cores ticking at 2.6 GHz, while the three remaining efficiency cores, Cortex-A520, are clocked at 1.9 GHz. The Adreno 732 GPU should bring a sizeable performance gain over the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3.
The Realme GT 6T has several memory configurations available: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM and 512GB 12GB RAM. It is worth noting that the 128GB base variant uses slower UFS 3.1 storage chips, while all other memory tiers use UFS 4.0. Our review unit is a 12GB/256GB model.
Let's start with some CPU benchmark scores and GeekBench. The following benchmark scores have been achieved using the Realme GT 6T's "GT" performance mode. The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is a decent mid-range chip. Regarding CPU performance, it trades blows with the likes of the Google Tensor G3 and the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra. While you can get better CPU performance in this price bracket, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 offers solid performance.
AnTuTu is a more compound benchmark with GPU and memory tests. It paints a very similar picture. The Realme GT 6T offers very solid performance once again in the same rough ballpark as the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra and a notch below the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3.
Finally, we have some graphical tests and 3D Mark. Well, just the one 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme test since the Realme GT 6T maxed out the regular Wild Life test and did not have the required Vulkan features to run Solar Bay.
Again, we see solid performance from the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 and the Adreno 732. The graphical performance is not too far off from that of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and the Adreno 735.
We've discontinued GFXBench graphics benchmarking as the app is often banned/blacklisted on the phones we receive for review. The graphics performance ranking in 3D Mark is just as meaningful, so we suggest you refer to that one instead.
The Realme GT 6T offers solid overall performance on a more practical level. The UI runs perfectly smoothly and is nice and snappy. The phone chewed through every task we threw at it and had no problem handling moderate and even intense games.
Thermal-throttling
The Realme GT 6T has great sustained CPU performance. It manages its thermals excellently both internally and on the device surface, which never got more than moderately hot, even with intense torture testing. The GPU was more prone to thermal throttling under prolonged heavy use.
In its "GT" performance mode, the GT 6T pushes itself a bit harder in the beginning for better burst performance, which results in a bit choppier long-term performance. Still free of sudden dips and stutters.
With "GT" mode disabled, long-term performance is even smoother, also with zero hiccups.
Reader comments
- Anonymous
- 26 Oct 2024
- s8L
realme phones are prone to green line issues. company claims to have extended the warranty for greenline issues but they don't have stock. alternatively they claim they will give a voucher with some depreciation... it turned out to be 65%for ...
- Anonymous
- 12 Oct 2024
- CbI
Hey which one did you end up getting?
- Bart
- 13 Sep 2024
- 8mC
Your points are valid, except for the last one. I'm using an iPhone 7(8 years old ), it does what I need. I have a Xiaomi mi 10t lite 5G which I Will change once Xiaomi stops supporting the OS. I understand that some people like to change the ph...