Realme GT 6T Review: Stays True to the GT Legacy

After nearly two years, Realme India is bringing back its popular GT series smartphones. The last GT smartphone launched in India was the Realme GT Neo 3, announced way back in 2022. The GT series is designed for high performance and gaming. These phones typically have powerful processors, fast charging, and high refresh rate displays.

The first smartphone in this comeback series will be the Realme GT 6T, which launched in India on May 22, 2024, followed by the GT 6, which will be launched in India on June 20, 2024. I have been using the Realme GT 6T for almost three weeks now. Does it deliver what a GT phone promises? Let’s find out.

Realme GT 6T comes in four variants:

• The base variant with 8GB + 128GB is priced at Rs. 30,999/-
• The 8GB + 256GB variant is priced at Rs. 32,999/-
• The 12GB + 256GB variant is priced at Rs. 35,999/-
• The top-end 12GB + 512GB model is priced at Rs. 39,999/-

Realme GT 6T Specifications

Realme GT 6T: What’s in the Box

You get everything in the box when you purchase Realme GT 6T. The box includes:

• Charger: A 120W fast charger allows the device to charge rapidly.
• USB Cable: A USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable for charging and data transfer.
• Protective Case: A decent quality silicone case.
• Quick Start Guide: Usual quick start guide, sem ejector pin.

Realme 6T Design: Shiny Finger Print Magnet

I have mixed opinions about the rear design of the smartphone. Over the years, the GT series from Realme has featured unique, attractive designs. I liked the design of the Realme GT Master Edition; it was one of my favorite rear designs after the Realme 11 Pro. The back design of the Realme GT 6T doesn’t quite look like one to me. It comes in two color options: Fluid Silver and Razor Green. I have the fluid Silver variant and a fingerprint magnet; the shiny shade on the top could have been more minimal. The camera module design doesn’t look premium, either.

The rear and sides of the phone are made of plastic, which feels cheap while holding it in your hand. The best thing is that you can use it with a case all the time, which also prevents fingerprints. You get a color-matching case in the box itself. But fingerprints are still problems even with the case on because of the cutout on the top.

The Realme GT 6 is a tall phone, and the rounded corners on both the front and back make it easy to hold and use for longer hours. It weighs 191g and comes with an 8.65mm thickness. The power and volume-up buttons are placed on the same side, which can be inconvenient to reach and use with one hand. It has an IR blaster, which helps control devices like TVs and ACs. Finally Dual SIM (nano + nano) support with no SD card support. Main speaker, USB charging port on the bottom.

Realme GT 6T Display: Tall and Bright

Realme GT 6T comes with a 6.7-inch display with curved edges. I like curved displays, and I had no issues with them. However, many users have problems with curved displays due to accidental touches and the slippery nature of the smartphone, especially on performance-oriented smartphones like GT 6T.

Realme GT 6T’s tall phone’s lightweight design makes it comfortable to hold for long hours. I enjoyed using the smartphone for reading news, and its excellent sunlight visibility makes it easy to read text even in bright daylight. It technically supports 6000 nits peak brightness, up to 2000 nits in auto brightness mode under direct sunlight.

Speaking of media consumption, the display is set to a Vivid color tone by default. I haven’t changed this setting since I like punchy, vibrant colors. If you don’t like punchy colors, you can adjust the display tone in the settings. However, in natural color mode, the display tends to appear warmer.

The display comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, and with the RealmeOS animations, everything feels smooth. It is an LTPO display, which means it can go as low as 1Hz while not being used to help save battery. There is also HDR support, but it currently doesn’t support Netflix. The display is also protected with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which saved me when I accidentally dropped it at the Airport during my recent trip. It was a flat drop on a hard surface, but the display survived with only minor scratches on the pre-applied screen protector.

Performance: Snapdragon Powerhouse

I have a lot more to say about the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. Over the last few months, Qualcomm has had a somewhat confusing naming scheme for their processors. The 7 Gen now has three variants: the standard 7 Gen and s with slight performance and efficiency improvements, and the plus variants, which are enhanced versions with higher clock speeds. I’ve used the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 on the OnePlus Nord CE 4 and the Vivo V30. Both were good for day-to-day performance but not as smooth or snappy, with occasional frame drops and glitches.

The Realme GT 6T is the first smartphone with the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. When Qualcomm announced the 7+ Gen 3, it had impressive numbers and was close to flagship processors before the 8s Gen 3 was announced recently, which is found in the Realme GT 6T’s direct competitor, the Poco F6.

So, how is the day-to-day performance? It’s great overall. It feels like using a flagship smartphone; everything is fast, smooth, and snappy. For gaming, I’ve played BGMI, Infinite Flight Simulator, and Construction Simulator 3 on this smartphone. All three are AAA games with high graphic settings; as expected, they perform great. The phone got slightly warm while playing games extensively, which is expected due to the peak Indian summer and intensive gaming. I haven’t faced any issues with general room temperatures.

The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is a really good processor. It is just slightly lower than the recently announced 8s Gen 3, which was used on POCO F6. Here is a comparison of the 7+ Gen 3 vs. 8s Gen 3.

Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 vs 8s Gen 3 Comparison

Realme GT 6T Camera: Great in Daylight, Average in Low Light

The Realme GT 6T has a 50 MP main rear camera using the Sony LYT600 sensor with OIS, an 8 MP 112 degrees wide camera, and a 32 MP Sony IMX615 front-facing camera. The 50 MP rear camera takes good daylight shots with good detail and vibrant colors. I was impressed by the daylight camera samples from this smartphone, especially considering it is a performance-first smartphone. It can capture good shots whenever you take out this smartphone and instantly snap a photo. You will be really happy with the photos. The portrait shots are good, with decent edge detection.

However, this isn’t the case in low light. While you can still get really good shots in low light, as it makes the scenes a lot brighter and brings out nice details, the overall picture quality is good but not up to the mark, as noise usually kicks in.

The 8MP ultra-wide camera isn’t great, as expected. I hope companies start including higher resolution sensors for ultra-wide cameras, as they should have more megapixels to capture more details. The ultra-wide angle camera delivers subpar performance, especially during low-light conditions.

The 32 MP front camera takes really good selfies, but it struggles in low light. Additionally, it tends to over-smooth your face, as if a beauty filter is applied. However, you can disable this feature from the toggles on the camera preview.

Speaking of the video, Realme GT 6T can record 4K at 60fps from the main camera and up to 1080p at 30fps from the ultra-wide camera. The video quality is good, but sometimes it over-sharpens, and other times it struggles with color accuracy. But overall output is acceptable for the price.

Overall, the Realme GT 6T offers good performance for everyday use and produces really good shots in daylight. However, it struggles in low light, and the ultra-wide camera is the weakest part of this setup. The front camera also takes really good shots.

Check out more camera and video samples here: Link

Realme GT 6T Battery: Long-lasting with Fast Charging

The Realme GT 6T has a 5500 mAh battery with 120-watt fast charging support. The battery life is great. Consistently, I have gotten 6-7 hours of screen time with a bit of gaming, browsing, and media consumption.

On a full day of usage, I was still left out with 10-15 percent, which isn’t a concern since it comes with a 120-watt fast charger in the box that can charge from 0 to 50% in less than 10 minutes. To avoid degradation of the battery’s health, it’s better to use optimized charging and maintain good battery cycles. It also has a battery health indicator displaying maximum battery capacity.

Overall, battery life isn’t a concern for the Realme GT 6T pro. Even with the powerful Soc, the Realme GT 6T has a good battery life. Charging a smartphone for 5 minutes gives you hours of extra battery life.

Realme GT 6T Speakers: Loud but Flat

The Realme GT 6T comes with stereo speakers that sound flat. The speakers are loud enough to consume media in medium-noisy environments. I watched the entire season of Panchayat 3 at home without using headphones and had no issues. The sound quality is also good for gaming. The sound syncs perfectly and provides an immersive audio experience. Overall, I didn’t face any issues with the sound, except for a flat sound when listening to bass-heavy music.

Storage and Connectivity: Ample Options, No Expandable Storage

The Realme GT 6T comes in four variants. The base variant starts with 8GB of RAM and 128GB, which comes with UFS 3.1 storage. The 8/12 variant offers 8 GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage, and the top variant offers 12GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

I have the 12GB RAM variant with 512GB, so I have no issues with RAM usage. However, if you are considering the base variant, it comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage with no expandable storage. The read and write speeds on the base variant will be lower compared to UFS 4.0. Day-to-day performance might not be significantly different unless you push it hard. The difference is more noticeable when transferring files to a computer.

Finally, speaking of connectivity, Realme GT 6T comes with dual nano sim support and eight 5G bands. It also supports NFC.

Realme GT 6T Software: Smooth With Dark Patterns

Realme UI is ColorOS, which is found on Oppo and OnePlus smartphones. It is light and smooth. It is packed with features, is lighter, faster, and has very smooth animations, making it better overall. However, there are a few things you should be aware of when setting up your smartphone for the first time.

First, disable the “Allow ads and recommendations” option during setup. If you miss that, you go to Settings > Additional settings. Get a recommendation and turn it off. The smartphone also comes with some bloatware, which you can easily uninstall.

Next, disable Glance on the lock screen. Glance can be helpful in some cases as it automatically changes the wallpaper and offers news, but it can drain the battery. Additionally, you shouldn’t be immediately treated with ads without unlocking your smartphone. You can disable this in the settings.

The Realme GT 6T comes with Android 14 and Realme UI 5.0 out of the box. It will receive three years of Android updates and four years of security updates. Realme has a decent track record of providing updates, and the Realme GT series is usually among the first to receive updates compared to other smartphones. Apart from the dark patterns like suggestions, ads, and the lock screen Glance, Realme UI is great software. It is smooth and lightweight.

Realme GT 6T Review Verdict: Should You Buy?

Yes, Let me break it down for you. If you can spend Rs 32,000, go for the iQOO Neo 9 Pro; it offers the best value for money and great performance. We also have the Poco F6, a direct competitor to the Realme GT 6T; it is a tough choice to choose between them. I would suggest going for the Realme GT 6T; it offers better cameras, battery life, fast charging speeds, an LTPO AMOLED display, and a better software experience with almost very similar performance to the 8s Gen 3 found on Poco F6. The only downsides of the Realme GT 6T compared to the Poco F6 are slightly lower gaming performance, you have to spend 1000 more, and USF 3.1 storage in the base variant.

Buy the Realme GT 6T if:

• You need a high-performance phone for gaming and daily tasks.
• You want fast charging with the 120W charger included.
• You appreciate a tall, bright 6.7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
• You like vibrant, punchy colors for media consumption.
• You prefer good battery life with fast charging.
• You need a smooth, lightweight UI with regular updates.

Don’t buy the Realme GT 6T if:

• You need excellent low-light photography.
• You want better ultra-wide camera performance.
• You need expandable storage.
• You need premium build quality.
• You watch HDR content on Netflix.

Buy Realme GT 6T