Realme XT review: Really good value for money 

Realme is cruising in India. You don’t even have to be an expert in market dynamics to kw it. reason why it’s cruising along so well in highly competitive Indian market is also simple. Realme has been coming up with really good value for money products, and it has been doing that consistently for some time w. And even though re is some overlap between its products every w and n, almost every Realme product somehow mans to offer something unique and compelling, ultimately making a strong case for itself. 

Realme XT is a classic example. Even though its existence is a conundrum, so much so that even Realme fails to put a ring on it, – we don’t kw if it’s a successor to Realme X or Realme 5 Pro or something else entirely - Realme XT stands its ground, and rar firmly at that, on back of t one but two unique and compelling aspects. Design and cameras.  

On inside – and even on outside to an extent – Realme XT is equal parts Realme X and Realme 5 Pro, and both se phones are terrific value for money. So oretically speaking, Realme XT should offer as much, if t more. And it does, making it quite an attractive proposition. But, does it offer more against competition? Let’s find out. 

Design and build quality 

Realme has been making good-looking almost glass-like phones for a while w. But almost glass-like isn’t glass. Which is something that competition, aka Xiaomi, has been doing for some time w. Realme XT is Realme’s first glass phone to counter that. And it’s toughened glass phone eir. Realme XT uses Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on front as well as on back – outer frame is me of polycarbonate. 

effect of glass is obvious. Realme XT is undeniably most premium-looking phone that Realme has ever me. What’s surprising to me is how Realme has been able to contain Realme XT’s physical dimensions despite all that glass – phone’s just 8.6mm in thickness and weighs in at 183 grams. That’s almost as much as all-plastic Realme 5 Pro.  

I have h almost complaints with Realme phones when it comes to build quality and Realme XT is different. In fact, all that ded premium only ups phone’s fit and finish making it easier to tag along and use. Realme XT is a very nice phone – a phone that feels much more expensive than it really is. Realme has kept power button and volume rocker on jacent sides which is a nice touch. It really helps that all buttons are well placed and offer excellent tactile feedback.    

only quibble I have with Realme XT’s design is that camera module sticks out a little too much which makes phone wobble when placed back facing down.  

all-round design of back is very reminiscent of Realme X, but yes re’s more depth to it – Realme is calling it 3D hyperbola design. phone is available in two color options, Pearl Blue and Pearl White. latter’s one to go for and you can take my word for it. 

Display 

re are two big takeaways here - 

-- Realme XT has a large 6.4-inch 1080p+ Super AMOLED display with a waterdrop-style tch - Realme claims a screen-to-body ratio of a 91.9 per cent on this one. 

--  Realme XT ditches a conventional fingerprint scanner for an optical in-display solution. 

w, to have both se features in a phone that starts at Rs 15,999 is quite an accomplishment in itself but having m to work like a charm is an even more impressive feat. It won’t be wrong to say that Realme XT has one of best displays in and around its price point.  

It gets plenty bright and viewing angles are quite good too. Colours are nice and punchy - even unrealistically so, at times. overall tone edges slightly towards warmer side but you can always change that from settings as per your preference. display of Realme XT is t HDR-certified like Redmi te 8 Pro but re’s Widevine L1 support out-of--box.  

optical in-display fingerprint scanner that sits at bottom of screen is fast and accurate.   

Performance and battery life 

Like Realme 5 Pro, Realme XT is also powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor. Even though  Snapdragon 712 is technically next-gen hardware, it’s t very different from last year’s Snapdragon 710 – same processor that powers  Realme X. Snapdragon 712 is based on same 10nm manufacturing process and 8x Qualcomm Kryo 360 CPU cores – it has same re 616 GPU as well. only difference worth talking about really is Snapdragon 712’s slightly higher clock speed (2.3GHz over 2.2GHz in  Snapdragon 710). 

Technicalities aside, here’s what’s important though – Qualcomm says Snapdragon 712 is 10 per cent faster that Snapdragon 710 and it is better suited for mobile gaming. Because that’s what every budget phone is aspiring to do today – playing PUBG at high settings.  

So, let’s just start with that. Realme XT can handle almost every GPU-intensive game (including PUBG at high settings) you throw at it well with minimal or frame rate drops (most of time) and it does this without breaking a sweat – also, it runs cool most of time, unless you’re really stress testing it. And even n, phone’s quick to cool so that’s nice. 

Realme XT is also an efficient phone and that reflects in phone’s outstanding battery life. Realme XT packs a 4,000mAh battery and is easily a one-day phone for even most demanding users. Toning things down furr should get you even more. phone also supports Oppo’s VOOC 3.0 flash charge through USB -C and ships with a 20W fast charger (and proprietary cable) in box that can charge whole thing from 0-100 per cent in around one and a half hours. 

Quick pointers on Realme XT as an everyday phone - 

-- Realme XT comes in 4GB/64GB, 6GB/64GB and 8GB/128GB configurations. That's LPDDR4X RAM and UFS2.1 stor. This ensures phone literally flies in everyday use. Realme XT supports expandable stor of up to 256GB via a dedicated micro-SD card slot. 

-- Software inside is Android 9 Pie-based ColorOS 6. While I am t a fan of Oppo’s ColorOS, I like direction in which it is going lately. You finally get an app drawer interface w. software’s a lot cleaner and more efficient from one found in past Oppo/Realme phones. Also, I can’t stress eugh – Realme XT doesn’t show any s. It does need to streamline its tifications though, and while at it, maybe it could also get rid of many duplicate apps on offer here. What really has me pumped however is fact that Realme is working on a custom version of ColorOS 7 – which should be based on Android 10 - that would be closer to stock Android.  

-- Realme XT has a mo speaker churns out good-quality audio that’s nice and loud with little or digitization at peak volume. ditionally, Realme XT also supports Dolby Atmos. 

-- Phone calls me with Realme XT are of good quality across board and I did t encounter any odd call drops beyond usual on my review unit. dual SIM phone supports dual 4G VoLTE. 

Cameras 

Realme XT basically has same qu rear camera setup as Realme 5 Pro. only difference is that it swaps 48MP main camera with an even higher resolution 64MP camera. That main camera uses Samsung’s 64MP GW1 sensor which works on same principle as its 48MP GM1 and 32MP GD1 sensors – effectively producing sharper, more detailed 16MP photos in low light, and using software interpolation to produce high resolution 64MP photos when required. Realme XT has same front camera as Realme 5 Pro. 

Here's a quick spec-check -  Realme XT has a - 

-- 64MP main camera with f/1.8 aperture 

-- 8MP ultra-wide camera with 119-degree field-of-view 

-- 2MP depth camera 

-- 2MP macro lens 

-- 16MP front camera with a Sony IMX471 sensor 

Hallmark Realme features like Nightscape and Chroma Boost are available on Realme XT. Nightscape is Realme’s take on night mode we’ve come to see on many phones lately - for cleaner low-light photos with more detail. Chroma Boost meanwhile is Realme’s take on HDR that helps achieve greater dynamic range and more balanced exposure under different lighting scenarios.  

As for im quality, it’s quite good across board – but if you were thinking to buy Realme XT solely for that 64MP camera, well, don’t do that. Realme XT’s 64MP photos may get you wee bit more detail and allow you to zoom furr in, but results from Sony’s IMX586 sensor – inside Realme 5 Pro – offer all round better output. re, I said it.  

w, coming to Realme XT. 64MP main camera (that uses pixel binning to produce 16MP photos by default) can capture some good photos in ideal lighting with lots of detail and punchy colours – punchier than what you get on Redmi te 8 Pro. dynamic range is also quite good. Chroma boost, when enabled, can bump up dynamic range a bit furr.   

Realme XT can also capture good photos in tricky light – and brighter, more detailed photos in low light courtesy Realme’s Nightscape. But surely, low light camera performance could be better. 

8MP ultrawide camera offers a wider perspective but needs ideal lighting for best results. Realme XT takes passable macros or close-up shots with macro lens and can capture one of best portraits in this price segment with its depth camera – even more so in case of n-human subjects.   

Realme XT can shoot n-stabilized 4K videos @30fps and electronically stabilized 1080p videos @30fps – results are one of best, in this price segment. Sly, you can’t record videos using ultrawide-angle camera just yet – this will be coming later through a software update, Realme has anunced.  

16MP front camera of Realme XT shoots great natural selfies with good detail in all sorts of lighting conditions.      

Should you buy Realme XT? 

While 4GB/64GB variant of Realme XT costs Rs 15,999, 6GB/64GB and 6GB/128GB variants sell for Rs 16,999 and Rs 18,999 respectively. That’s good pricing for a phone that’s all kinds of value for money. Even though Realme XT is t that different from Realme 5 Pro, it does bring some table extras - 

-- Corning Gorilla Glass 5 build 

-- Super AMOLED display with in-display fingerprint scanner 

-- 64MP rear qu cameras 

-- Dolby Atmos 

If all that’s what you’re looking for, Realme XT is an easy recommendation. If t, Realme 5 Pro is also a good buy – also, it costs less. But whatever be case, Realme is cruising, and with devices like Realme XT, it has absolutely reason to stop.  

(Photos by Saurabh Singh)

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