Realme GT Neo2 review

Introduction

The original Realme GT was released in March, and the toned-down version named GT Neo followed shortly after. Interestingly enough, a successor to the latter is already out in China, and it's about to make its rounds globally, starting with India. The Realme GT Neo2 isn't just your ordinary hardware refresh, though. The handset offers quite a few welcome upgrades over its predecessor, while its pricing is just as aggressive. It's also the first Neo phone to reach European shores.

In any case, the GT Neo2 bumps up the screen diagonal to 6.62", gets a brighter display beneath the Gorilla Glass 5 sheet, snatches 2GB of extra RAM for its base configuration and employs a considerably more powerful Snapdragon 870 chipset. Moreover, the GT Neo2 gets a significant upgrade in the battery department as it now houses a bigger 5,000 mAh battery and faster 65W charging.

Realme GT Neo2 specs at a glance:

• Body: 162.9x75.8x9.0mm, 200g; Gorilla Glass 5 front, plastic back and frame.
• Display: 6.62" AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 398ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8250-AC Snapdragon 870 5G (7 nm): Octa-core (1x3.2 GHz Kryo 585 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 585); Adreno 650.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 11, Realme UI 2.0.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.73", 0.8µm, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.3, 16mm, 119˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.5, 26mm (wide), 1/3.09", 1.0µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.
• Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 65W, 100% in 36 min (advertised).
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC, no 3.5mm audio jack.

The camera setup, on the other hand, is borrowed from the previous generation, which fared well in our testing in March, and we suspect even better processing thanks to the Snapdragon 870's more proficient ISP on board.

It all sounds well on paper but with the upgraded hardware comes a considerable price bump as well so the phone will now compete in a different price category. The original GT Neo had an excellent price/performance ratio and great feature set that made it stand out. We are about to see if the GT Neo2 has retained those and whether it maintains the same competitiveness against its direct rivals.

Unboxing the Realme GT Neo2

The device comes in a fairly large box containing all the usual stuff. The appropriate 65W charger is in the box (not always a given these days) and a USB-A to USB-C cable.

The box also carries a soft-touch, matte case for the phone, which is a nice change of pace given all the cheap-looking transparent ones OEMs usually include with the retail package.