Realme GT Neo 3T review

Already familiar camera hardware with 64MP main sensor

We've already seen that combo in many devices, including the GT Neo2, which is the Neo 3T's spiritual predecessor. The new phone has a 64MP + 8MP + 2MP combo at its disposal, but the main camera uses a slightly different sensor compared to last year's Neo2. The sensor is now smaller measuring 1/2" with 0.7µm pixel size, while the Neo2 had a 1/1.73" 64MP unit.

Anyway, the 64MP shooter is paired with a lens with an f/1.8 aperture and a 25mm focal length. The ultrawide snapper is the commonly used 8MP, 1/4.0", 1.12µm paired with an f/2.3 aperture and provides a 119-degree field of view. The third camera is, of course, a dedicated 2MP macro imager with a 4cm fixed focus and f/2.4 aperture.

On the front, the handset uses the same 16MP, f2.5, 1/3.09" unit found in the GT family and even last year's iteration.

Camera menus

Realme's software overhaul didn't include the default camera app as it looks exactly the same as before. Swiping left or right switches between the usual camera modes while the "More" section accommodates the secondary modes, including the Pro mode. The latter gives you granular control over ISO, exposure, focus, white balance and shutter speed.

In the standard Photo mode, you will find an AI toggle for a boost in colors, HDR control, and three toggles for the ultrawide, main and 2x zoom.

Camera menus

The so-called expert mode gives you complete control over focus, ISO, shutter speed, white balance and exposure. Strangely, the ultrawide toggle is located in the top black bar over the viewfinder, and since it doesn't support autofocus, there's no way to use the manual focus function as well.

Daylight samples

Main camera

The GT Neo 3T captures good-looking daylight images with a satisfactory amount of detail. The have punchy but not over-the-top colors, excellent dynamic range and accurate exposure, which is something the GT Neo2 didn't get right.

Artificial sharpening is already quite visible - notice the edges of the buildings, windows and their frames, and straight thin lines. There are some sharpening halos by the software's post-processing. On the other hand, you need to pixel-peep for those.

16MP daylight samples

Sharpness and noise get worse as you go indoors but still not enough to ruin images overall.

16MP daylight samples

Shooting in the full 64MP mode results in significant deterioration in quality. Noise is more visible, sharpness drops, and dynamic range is narrower.

64MP daylight samples

2x zoom

There's no dedicated zoom camera, so the software just crops from the existing, binned 16MP photos and upscales back to 16MP for the sake of consistency. And since the 64MP sensor is rather small, the zoom capabilities aren't impressive. You can expect the same overall rendition you get from the normal 1x photo mode, but also softer, noisier and more prone to loss of detail images with the slightest decrease in ambient light.

2x zoom daylight samples

On the other hand, the 2x zoom samples are par for the course in this price range and will likely be good enough for casual social media posting.

Ultrawide camera

The 8MP ultrawide camera delivers a level of quality that is in line with the industry's mid-range alternatives. When compared to the main camera, though, you will notice a significant drop in sharpness, detail, dynamic range and a substantial increase in noise, even in well-lit areas.

Still, this camera produces decently sharp samples if you are close enough to the subject. Notice how sharp and detailed the grass is in samples that are up close.

Ultrawide daylight samples

It's important to note that 8MP ultrawide cameras more often than not produce pale photos with extremely limited dynamic range, but the implementation here is considerably better in this regard. Colors are punchy, in line with the main camera's, even, whereas dynamic range, although not stellar, isn't narrow enough to produce clipped highlights or crushed shadows.

Low-light samples

Main camera

To our surprise, the overall rendition of the low-light photos is quite different from the one observed on the GT Neo2, even though they share identical hardware. Still, the GT Neo 3T's night performance is good. Even without Night mode, images are sharp with a fair amount of fine detail, including shadows. The exposure is on point, and light sources look good without clipped spots. Fine grain can be observed only in the shadows, which is to be expected. The only thing we didn't like was the color reproduction - washed out and bleak.

Low-light samples

The Night mode, on the other hand, boosts colors, clears out noise and introduces quite a bit of sharpness. Dynamic range is vastly improved as shadows are considerably brighter without ruining the highlights. One could make an argument that the Night mode comes off a little aggressive. The additional sharpening and brightened shadows make the images look as if they are rendered in a video game. On the other hand, these samples are quite instagrammable and eye-catchy. We will let you decide on this one.

Night mode samples

2x zoom

It's hard to recommend the 2x zoom mode after dusk. As a result of the cropping and the rather small sensor used for the main camera, you get murky and noisy photos with little to no detail. However, by switching over to Night mode, you can get some decent-looking photographs. Detail is restored, light sources look better, dynamic range is wider, and most of the noise is gone.

Low-light 2x zoom: Normal • Night mode

Ultrawide camera

As opposed to the most 8MP ultrawide cameras we've tested, this particular implementation appears to be taking decent enough photos with Night mode. The standard Photo mode produces soft images with plenty of noise and limited dynamic range, even though colors and contrast are nice. The Night mode samples are completely different, though. Dynamic range is wide, there's plenty of detail across the whole frame, and noise is hard to spot. Sharpness could be better, but we believe Realme got the best out of the said sensor. There are, after all, considerable hardware limitations to the ultrawide unit.

Low-light ultrawide: Normal • Night mode

Once you are done with the real-life examples, take a look at our Photo compare tool for some pixel-peeping and see how the Realme GT Neo 3T fares against the competition.

Realme GT Neo 3T vs. Samsung Galaxy S21 FE and the Xiaomi 11T Pro in our Photo compare tool

Portraits

Portrait photos are somewhat underwhelming. They appear to be soft-ish, the subject's skin is almost always a bit too pale, and noise can be spotted in sub-optimal conditions. On the other hand, the faux bokeh effect is pretty convincing and easily handles complex backgrounds.

Portraits

Selfies

We expected a bit more from the selfies, especially from a 16MP snapper. Colors are a little bleak, all of the scenes are soft, and noise can be easily spotted even in brightly-lit environments. Dynamic range is good, though, as the subject's face is always well-exposed while the background isn't blown out. Portrait mode is rough around the corners and often blurs out part of the subject's face.

Selfies: Normal • Portrait

Video recording

The chipset and the main camera can record 4K videos at up to 60fps, while the ultrawide is limited to just 1080p recording. There's also a movie mode capturing at 24fps in a 21:9 aspect ratio and gives you control over the shutter speed, focus, ISO, exposure and white balance.

Moving onto the actual 2160p footage, we see a high level of detail, clear scenery with excellent sharpness and a wide dynamic range. The contrast could be a little better, and colors need just a little boost as they come off bleaker than in reality.

The ultrawide camera, on the other hand, produces videos with higher contrast and juicier colors that are actually closer to the real thing. Unfortunately, though, where the main camera succeeds, the ultrawide fails. The footage below is way too soft, even for a 1080p resolution, the dynamic range is narrower, and shadows are crushed as a result.

Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the Realme GT Neo 3T stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.

2160p: Realme GT Neo 3T vs. Samsung Galaxy S21 FE and the Xiaomi 11T Pro in our Video compare tool