Second member of Realme's GT range to arrive in France, the GT Master Edition is a less powerful smartphone than the original model. However, it retains some advantages, such as the camera equipment and the screen. It is also much cheaper. Is this a good formula to play? And for everything else? Answer in this comprehensive test.

Is gaming only for the high-end segment? This obviously depends on your definition of gaming. Does gaming include any type of game, but the "casual gaming" symbolized by Candy Crush Saga and Angry Birds? Or is this practice exclusive to demanding games, both for the smartphone and the user, such as Genshin Impact, Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile or Black Desert Mobile?

Read also – Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G review: the small folding smartphone that has everything of a big one

In the collective mind, gaming is more associated with the second definition, because it is closer to the experience offered by consoles and the PC. Adapting this definition to telephony therefore requires a powerful technical platform, especially those found in high-end smartphones. Perfect example: the Snapdragon 888 accompanied by 8 GB of RAM (or more). The specialized gaming models, Legion Duel 2 and ROG Phone 5 for example, are equipped with it.

You usually find it in smartphones sold for more than 700 euros. The only perfect counterexample: the Realme GT. It is the only smartphone sold below 600 euros with a Snapdragon 888. It is the only truly affordable gaming smartphone. However, thanks to the many software optimizations, it is possible to get a good gaming experience with less ambitious chipsets. We are thinking, for example, of the Dimensity 1200 of the OnePlus Nord 2. From this observation was born the Realme GT Master Edition, a lighter version of the Realme GT. Is this a good formula for gaming? Does it have other advantages? Answers in this comprehensive test.

Our test video

Specifications

Price and availability date

The Realme GT Master Edition comes in two versions. The first is sold for 349 euros. It is equipped with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The second is sold for 399 euros. It benefits from 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage.

These are prices that position the GT Master Edition against OnePlus' Nord range. And more specifically against the OnePlus Nord CE 5G (or even the OnePlus Nord 2). At equal configuration, the Realme GT Master Edition is more affordable than Samsung's Galaxy A52s, which is offered at 449 euros with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

The Realme GT Master Edition comes with several accessories in the box. A flexible polycarbonate shell that takes up the design of the smartphone. A SuperDART charger whose power can go up to 65 watts. And a USB type-A to USB type-C cable. A slot is provided in the box for a pair of headphones.

Design

For this test, Realme lent us the gray version of the GT Master Edition. Its design is quite different from that of the classic Realme GT. It's even quite different from anything we've come across so far. Even if it takes up a fairly classic ergonomics as a whole, the Realme GT Master Edition is decked out in a shell, some parts of which are thicker than others. Designer Naoto Fukasawa, who designed this shell, was inspired by luggage. And it is true that it is easily compared to a small rigid suitcase.

Each notch is spaced 18 mm apart and increases the thickness of the product by 0.3 mm. Note that there are also two other dresses for this smartphone: white and blue. Their design is much more classic, with a flat mineral glass back. The materials used for this phone are not all premium. If the shell at the back is in leather or glass, the chassis is in polycarbonate (given the absence of separation for the antennas), glossy finish.

At the back, you find a vertical photo module with three lenses. It is not metal, but mineral glass that defines the contours of this block. The elements available on the edges are very classic. Power button on the right. Volume control and SIM drawer on the left. USB type-C port, loudspeaker, 3.5 mm jack port and main microphone at the bottom. Secondary port at top.

At the front, you find a large touch screen with a punch in the upper left corner. There is a telephone earpiece between the screen protection glass and the polycarbonate border. Protection is pre-installed on the smartphone, as always. The fingerprint reader is integrated in the back. And it is quite effective.

The handling of this gray version of the GT Master Edition may seem surprising. But the slots formed by the shell offer excellent grip, especially for playing. In addition, vegetable leather retains less fingerprints and is less slippery than mineral glass or shiny plastic. Even if it lacks elegance, this design is a very good surprise.

Screen

Now let's talk about the screen in more detail. This is a panel very similar to that of the Realme GT. We find the same screen size of 6.43 inches in 20/9th format. The definition is Full HD+, as before, i.e. a resolution of 409 pixels per inch. This is good enough for almost all the usual uses with a smartphone.

The nature of the backlight is Super AMOLED, with no change here either. The promise: infinite contrast ratios and deep blacks. And this is confirmed with our probe. Realme announces that the GT Master Edition is capable of displaying 100% of the colors of the DCI-P3 sample. As always with Realme, the screen has three color profiles: vivid (dedicated to DCI-P3), soft (sRGB sample) and intense.

The soft profile is the best of the three, as before. The average Delta E is 2.7. Which is pretty good (without being excellent either). The average temperature is 6567°, which is excellent. The average gamma is at 2.3. The least respected colors are blues. Live mode, set by default, is less respectful. Average Delta E at 3.8. Average gamma still at 2.3. Average temperature at 7300°. And almost half the colors above a Delta E of 4.

The maximum automatic brightness of the panel announced by Realme is 1000 nits. We naturally found lower numbers in manual mode. Between 460 and 500 nits depending on the display mode. These are not bad numbers, but they are below the best in this field, at equivalent price.

The GT Master Edition uses the 120Hz refresh rate. There are three settings for refresh: always 60Hz, always 120Hz, and a dynamic mode that changes between the two rates depending on the application . The sampling frequency is 360 Hz, which is three times the refresh rate. It's quite high. And that's fine.

Interface

The GT Master Edition is based on Realme UI, of course. The installed version is numbered 2.0. It looks a lot like ColorOS 11. And it's based on Android 11. It takes all the advantages and adds some ergonomic elements, as well as a host of home apps.

Unlike other Chinese ROMs, Realme UI (like ColorOS) enables the app drawer by default. It is of course possible to deactivate it in the options. Like ColorOS, Realme UI offers many options to customize the interface, wallpapers and information displayed on the lock screen. However, the options are not yet as numerous as those of ColorOS.

An interesting feature is the lock screen wallpaper. Like Windows 10, for example, the operating system regularly changes the image of this screen (if you wish). It is also possible to switch from one image to another, without unlocking the phone. This function is not present in ColoroS. This is good news.

On the gaming side, you will find the Games Space which optimizes the performance of the smartphone and blocks certain notifications. Some additional options have been integrated, in particular the possibility of preloading in the RAM the games which you play most often to speed up their launch, or the possibility of lowering the resolution of the screen if a game is not compatible Full HD , but HD only. These are good ideas that are not offered at ColorOS.

The pre-installed applications are relatively numerous: there are system software, the usual skewer from Google Play, a few applications from Realme and Oppo, as well as commercial partners. We crossed Netflix, Facebook, LinkedIn, WPS Office and PUBG Mobile for the gaming guarantee.

Performance

Let's move on to performance. The Realme GT Master Edition is equipped with a Snapdragon 778. It is a SoC that replaces the Snapdragon 765G and the Snapdragon 750. And you find it in the Motorola Edge 20, the Galaxy A52s or the Honor 50 and 50 Pro. It is a very interesting chipset, because it theoretically offers good performance while being quite energy efficient. We could compare it to a "Lite" version of the Snapdragon 888.

This is the first time we've tested the Snapdragon 778 in our columns. We will therefore compare it to the performance of the Dimensity 1200, tested with the Nord 2, and to the performance of the Snapdragon 765G (Motorola Edge, Vivo X51, Oppo Find X2 Lite, etc.).

The SoC is accompanied here by 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. Note that, by default, 3 GB of virtual RAM (a portion of storage space transformed into RAM) is enabled by default. You can assign less (2 GB) or more (5 GB, provided you have the space available). You can also deactivate this function.

The little surprise on the cake is the appearance of a "GT" mode (in addition to the performance mode of the games area), which is activated using a button in the quick settings area. This is a mode that optimizes the performance of the chipset. When you activate this mode for the first time, the phone tells you that it is not only energy-consuming, but that it also risks doing the mobile. This is encouraging. Only, we couldn't help but try it.

Let's take a closer look at the results obtained by the Realme GT Master Edition and its Snapdragon 778. On AnTuTu, they reach the 520,000 point mark. We are therefore well above the Snapdragon 750 (Vivo V21 for example) and the Snapdragon 765 (Vivo X51). This is a very good first news. Note that the smartphone even comes close to 540,000 points if GT mode is active. The difference remains “negligible”, since it is less than 5%. But it allows, in some cases, to avoid some slowdowns.

The 3D Mark benchmarks confirm this positive trend. No "Slingshot" test is surpassed. But here we are also above the results of the previous Snapdragon 7XX. On the other hand, we find that we are below the Dimensity 1200 from MediaTek, which we find for example in the OnePlus Nord 2. Too bad.

The WildLife stress test tells us two more things. First, when the platform is under pressure, it performs identically at the start or at the end. Its stability is exemplary: more than 99%. This means that there is a difference of less than 1% between the performance at the beginning and that at the end of the session. This is very good news because, even if the fluidity is not optimal, it will not drop.

Second information, the processor does not heat up too much. The temperature never rose above 40°C. And it only slightly exceeds 35°C. No risk of overheating here, even if the gaming session drags on. This also means that the heat energy loss is moderate. This is good news for autonomy.

Autonomy

Let's talk about autonomy. The battery of the Realme GT Master Edition is a 4300 mAh model. It's a shame: this capacity is 200 mAh lower than that of the original GT's battery. At first glance, this is quite disappointing. However, consumption (excluding GT mode) less, the SD778 being less energy intensive than the SD888. Theoretically, the processor therefore partly compensates for this slightly less generous battery.

In reality, what is the autonomy of the Realme GT Master Edition? As always, there are two answers to this question. The first concerns the players. Those who wish to play Genshin Impact for example. Depending on the quality of the graphics, the autonomy of the smartphone ranges from 3 hours to 6 hours. 3 hours with the best quality. 6 with the worst quality. These figures are confirmed by 3DMark stress tests.

The second answer concerns those who do not play (or those who do not play every day). The autonomy of the Realme GT Master Edition with classic use (telephony, messaging, social networks, Internet, simple games, streaming) is between a day and a day and a half approximately. This is a result in the market average.

Once the smartphone is discharged, it is time to recharge it. The Realme GT Master Edition is, like the Realme GT, compatible with "SuperDART" fast charging, a more than first cousin of Oppo's Super VOOC. The maximum power is 65 watts. And if you already have a 65-watt compatible Oppo smartphone, its charger will be compatible with the GT Master Edition. It's very useful.

Charging is very fast. With the phone switched off and the battery empty, the GT Master Edition recharges to 99% in 35 minutes. It's a very good performance. Too bad it takes an extra 10 minutes to fill in the remaining percent to get to 100%. We think this is a protection of the charging system to avoid damaging the battery. Remember that the Realme GT took less than 40 minutes to reach 100% (with a more generous battery).

Audio

On the audio side, we have two important notes about the GT Master Edition. The first is the presence of a 3.5 mm mini jack port on the lower edge. This is rather good news, since, thanks to it, you will be able to use your headset to enjoy beautiful game music and soundtracks from films and series. The jack port present here does not benefit from advanced processing, like that of the ROG Phone 5.

Second remark, there is only one speaker in this smartphone. The telephone earpiece does not double as a secondary speaker. It's a shame, even if the configuration is often wobbly, because asymmetrical, it offers more power and better immersion. We are therefore content here with a single speaker, placed moreover on an edge and often obstructed by a finger. We hope that this point will be reinforced in a next generation.

Photo

Let's finally finish this test with photography. Let's briefly introduce the sensors present here. Briefly, because it is very much the same camera equipment as in the Realme GT. 64 megapixel main sensor with lens opening at f / 1.8 and phase detection autofocus (16 megapixel shooting by default).

8-megapixel sensor with ultra-wide-angle lens (119° viewing angle) opening at f/2.2 without autofocus. 2 megapixel sensor with macro lens opening at f/2.4. And 32 megapixel selfie sensor with lens opening at f / 2.5. This last sensor, larger than that of the Realme GT Master Edition, is the only novelty in the photo.

Let's get to the results. Overall, the photos produced by the Realme GT Master Edition are correct, but not surprising. The main sensor is of course the master card here: the shots benefit from beautiful colors and a lot of light (sometimes even a little too much). The contrast could be better. At night, the results remain correct, but without stabilization, we lose dive and precision. The night mode brings details in the shadows, but tends to lower the color temperature, to draw towards the red, going so far as to distort some of them.

The main sensor is in charge of portraits and digital zoom (up to a 30x ratio). In the first exercise, the results are clean, day and night, with beautiful blurred backgrounds and precise clipping. The digital zoom remains good up to the 5x ratio, then loses considerably in quality. The fault lies mainly with the absence of a stabilizer. At night, even the 5x ratio is no longer qualitative enough, despite the light supply. The noise is omnipresent there. It is also with the 2x ratio, but it remains sufficiently contained.

The wide-angle sensor offers good results during the day. The colors are natural. And the light is controlled. Beware, however, of the unsightly blurs that appear in the corners, due to distortions. The sensor offering a definition of 8 megapixels, it is strongly advised not to zoom, because you will quickly be invaded by noise. Also note that this sensor fails to focus on an object that is too close. When the day falls, the quality becomes low. Night mode brings a lot of shadow detail, but does not improve the noise problem.

The macro sensor is almost anecdotal. With a photo of only 2 megapixels, there is no need to print the photo on paper. The colors are degraded. Details are smoothed out. On your smartphone screen, it looks correct. But once the image is displayed on a computer screen, it is terrible.

Let's finish with the selfie sensor. This is certainly the best surprise of the GT Master Edition. He makes beautiful self-portraits, day and night. Beautiful colors. Good balance. Nice dive. Many details. Pay attention here to portrait mode where skin smoothing is activated by default (at 30%). If you want to gain in natural, do not hesitate to deactivate them. In addition, you also gain sharpness.

Conclusion

The Realme GT Master Edition is a pleasant smartphone to look at, to hold and to use. It benefits from a good screen, very efficient fast charging and a technical platform that offers a good balance between power and energy consumption. The Snapdragon 778 shows great qualities here, served by a fluid and easy-to-use interface. The few exclusive additions to the Realme UI Games Space are a nice surprise.

The fact remains that the Realme GT Master Edition, beyond its beautiful shell, lacks elements to not only assert itself as a gaming smartphone (unlike the Realme GT which has the means), but also to differentiate itself from more specialized competition in its price segment. Photo, autonomy, audio are average. Nothing more. And it is perhaps this lack of roughness that is lacking in a smartphone that is as smooth on the inside as it is not on the outside.