Realme XT review

Color OS 6 and Android 9, Realme edition

The Realme XT runs Oppo's latest Color OS 6 over Android 9.0 - a combo we've already seen on the Realme X as well as the 3 and 5 families. Realme likes to point this is Color OS 6 Realme edition, but at this point there's little to differentiate it from what Oppo uses on its phones.

Color OS 6 generally revolves around a light color scheme with the settings menu using a white backdrop with light color accents and gradients.

Registering a fingerprint takes a while, but that's a reasonable price to pay for its great performance after. Once activated it lights up the moment you pick up the device of pull it out of your pocket and is as fast and accurate as the conventional scanners.

You can also set up face unlock in addition to or instead of fingerprint security. Yet since it only uses a regular camera it's far inferior to the fingerprints in terms of security. There's an option that you can set to require your eyes to be open for the phone to unlock to add some extra security, but it can still be tricked.

Biometric security

Always-on screen is available on the Realme XT - it's called Off-Screen clock and you can automate it so it only works during part of the day. It displays the clock and date, as the name suggest with a power-saving dark-gray hue. It will impact your battery life though and the phone will automatically turn it off if the battery drops below 10%.

The user interface of the Realme XT hasn't changed much compared to its predecessors. There are the usual homescreens, Smart Assistant optional pane that is more like a widget page and an app drawer.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • Widget pane • App drawer • App drawer

The drop-down shade features notifications, quick toggles, and a brightness scrubber and has been redesigned for Color OS 6. The task switcher is reminiscent of Apple's, though it has an End All button. Split-screen multitasking is available for all compatible apps, and you can resize the windows and swap the two apps.

Notifications • Toggles • Task Switcher • Split screen

There are all sorts of navigation options on the Realme XT. There's the old-school nav bar on the bottom, swipe up gestures that replace it, but don't really change the dynamic much, and then there's the 'Swipe Gestures from Both Sides' option (the default one).

This last one is our favorite - it mimics partially the iOS way of doing things (you swipe from the sides for Back) which we've seen one way or the other on EMUI and MIUI, but that's not why we like it. It adds a welcome twist - swipe in from the side and hold to switch between the two latest apps - very convenient for multi-taskers.

Navigation settings

Of course, the usual set of tools comes pre-installed. There is a Phone Manager for handling memory cleaner functions, app permissions and encryption, and virus scanning, among other things.

Then there's Game Space which allows you to handpick which notifications to pass through when you are playing games and you don't want to be interrupted. There are also different performance modes and an option to lock the brightness only for certain games.

Game Space

Realme also provides basic multimedia apps - a gallery called Photos, and a Music player. A file manager is also part of the package as well as FM radio app.

Phone Manager • Gallery • Music • Files • Compass • FM radio

Performance and benchmarks

The Realme XT runs on the Snapdragon 712 chipset - essentially the Realme X's Snapdragon 710 with minor tweaks such as 0.1GHz higher potential clock speed on the high-performance cores. Those would be two Cortex-A75-based Kryo 360 cores, ticking at up to 2.3GHz. The other six cores are Cortex-A55 derivatives, clocked at up to 1.7GHz. There's been no upgrade to the GPU for the 710-to-712 transition, and it's still the Adreno 616.

Realme promises the Snapdragon 712 chipset 10% boost over the S710-powered Realme 3 Pro and X. The company is keen to point out that this chipset has the same ISP as the Snapdragon 845 and the AI engine is twice as fast as the one on the 710.

The Realme 5 XT is available in three memory configurations - 4/64GB, 6/64GB and 8/128GB. It is the company's third phone to use UFS 2.1 storage. That's much faster than eMMC and speeds up the load times for apps and games, plus it helps if you are moving large files around. If you need more storage, the dedicated microSD slot can add up to 256GB more.

We should mention that Realme XT limits a bit the CPU performance when not running on High Performance Mode. You must opt for this mode from the Battery Settings if you want to unlock the full potential of the chipset, otherwise you will lose about 10% of the overall performance. Naturally, we ran the CPU and AnTuTu benchmarks in Performance mode.

First, we ran GeekBench and indeed it showed the promised minor jump from the Realme 3 Pro and X numbers, while the XT scored on par with the Mi 9 SE - a phone with the same Snapdragon 712 chip.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  6863
• Realme 5 Pro
  6106
• Realme XT
  6102
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  6017
• Realme X
  5915
• Realme 3 Pro
  5881
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  5549
• Realme 5
  5493
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  5396
• Motorola Moto G7
  4755
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  4188

In the single-core test the Realme XT did excellent and is beaten only by the more expensive Mi 9T model and its more powerful Snapdragon 730 chip.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  2537
• Realme 5 Pro
  1913
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  1905
• Realme XT
  1899
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  1715
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  1576
• Realme 5
  1529
• Realme X
  1475
• Realme 3 Pro
  1471
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  1311
• Motorola Moto G7
  1255

The Snapdragon 712's Adreno 616 GPU is the same as the one that's part of the 710, but the Adreno 618 in the Snapdragon 730 isn't any more powerful, at least not in the Xiaomi Mi 9T's implementation and the 9T post virtually identical scores. And for its price tag, the Realme XT is just acing these graphic benchmarks.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 5 Pro
  27
• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  27
• Realme XT
  26
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  26
• Realme 3 Pro
  23
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  14
• Realme 5
  13
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  8.1
• Motorola Moto G7
  6.9

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  16
• Realme 5 Pro
  15
• Realme XT
  15
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  15
• Realme 3 Pro
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  9.2
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  7.7
• Realme 5
  7.2
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  5.2
• Motorola Moto G7
  3.8

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  2329
• Realme XT
  2284
• Realme 5 Pro
  2253
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  2218
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  1353
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  988
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  645
• Motorola Moto G7
  569

In the compound AnTuTu test, the Realme XT is showing a nice improvement over the Realme 3 Pro and even beats the Mi 9 SE. In fact, it beats all other phones but the Mi 9T, though the Xiaomi is more expensive than the XT and while their GPU prowess is equal the Mi 9T has a better CPU and thus a better score.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  211915
• Realme XT
  185193
• Realme 5 Pro
  182765
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  180057
• Realme 3 Pro
  155647
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  144574
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  141600
• Realme 5
  139516
• Motorola Moto G7
  106292
• Samsung Galaxy M30
  101651

The Realme XT scored as expected and often topped all other phones from its class. It offers a lot more bang that its buck suggests and that's what we've grown to love in every Realme. It has a really potent GPU, while its CPU power is more than enough for hassle-free experience on whatever app or game you run.

Better yet, the Realme XT doesn't get hot and we didn't observe any throttling even when we subjected it to prolonged stress.