Realme is a relatively new smartphone brand and also sets foot on Dutch soil. Time to test the latest model, a midranger that costs less than 500 euros. Read our Realme GT Neo 2 review to discover the smartphone’s strengths and weaknesses.
Realme GT Neo 2
Price € 450,-
Colors Black, Blue, Green
OS Android 11
Screen 6.62 inch OLED (2400 x 1080, 120 Hz)
Processor 3.2GHz octa-core (Qualcomm Snapdragon 870)
RAM 8GB
Storage 128GB
Battery 5,000 mAh
Camera 64, 8 and 2 megapixels (rear), 16 megapixels (front)
Connectivity 5G, Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 6, GPS, NFC
Format 16.3 x 7.6 x 0.90 cm
Weight 200 grams
Connections usb-c, dual sim
Website realme.com 7 Score 70 
- Pros
- nice screen
- Battery life and fast charging
- Complete specifications
- Negatives
- Not waterproof and dustproof
- Cameras
- Gets warm when gaming
- Shorter guaranteed update policy
Realme is a sister brand of the larger Oppo. This support helps with the development, production and sale of the smartphones. In the Netherlands, Realme only sells its devices through its own webshop and via Belly simple. The latter also arranges the lending of review copies, including the device I tested.
Design and screen
The exterior of the Realme GT Neo 2 may be there. The smartphone – available in various colors – looks modern and has a clear camera island on the back. The back changes color due to the incidence of light, which gives a nice effect. At 200 grams, the phone is not remarkably light or heavy, holds comfortably and accepts two SIM cards (dual SIM). A point to note is that the smartphone does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack. You can listen to music wired via the USB-C port, if necessary with an adapter.
Interesting are the speakers of the Realme GT Neo 2. They are louder and better than usual in a smartphone. That’s good news for those who like to make calls on the loudspeaker, play a game or listen to music.
Less good news is that the smartphone does not carry IP certification and therefore does not like water and dust. In this price segment, the lack of an IP certificate is a drawback, in practice too.
At 6.62 inches, the screen is on the large side and difficult to operate with one hand. On the other hand, the screen is well suited for two-handed typing, gaming and watching movies. The OLED display delivers very nice colors and the Full HD resolution used means that the image looks sharp. The refresh rate of 120 Hz is nice, which makes the screen appear smooth.
All great features, but also all standard in this price segment. The same goes for the inconspicuous camera hole in the screen, for the 16 megapixel selfie camera. And under the screen is an optical fingerprint scanner. It is reliable and fast, even slightly faster than most competing smartphones.
It is remarkable that the back of the smartphone can get quite warm during gaming sessions. I don’t often notice that on modern devices. The GT Neo 2 doesn’t get so hot that I want to put it down, but it can get warmer than the competition.
Specifications
Realme is known as a manufacturer that puts good specifications in affordable smartphones. The GT Neo 2 builds on this trend. The smartphone runs on a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor with 8 GB or 12 GB of RAM. This includes 128 GB or 256 GB storage memory respectively. In practice, the GT Neo 2 feels very fast and is noticeably smoother than – slightly cheaper – devices such as the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G and OnePlus Nord 2.
The other hardware is also fine. The Realme smartphone has an nfc chip for contactless pins, supports fast Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and 5G (which will only eventually become faster than 4G).
Battery life and charging
The battery life of the Realme GT Neo 2 also leaves a good impression. A 5000 mAh battery provides the smartphone with power and lasts for a long day with my type of use. If you take it slow, you’ll be able to make it through one and a half to two days until you have to grab the charger. Fortunately, it is ‘just’ in the box – brands such as Apple and Samsung are increasingly omitting it.
Charging is very fast, with 65 Watts. This powerful fast charger takes half an hour to fully charge the battery. Very nice, especially if you only have ten minutes before you have to leave the house. This way you get tens of percents of power – good for hours of use. In this price segment there are practically no smartphones that charge as fast. Only the OnePlus Nord 2 (399 euros) also uses a 65 Watt charger.
Cameras
The Realme GT Neo 2’s cameras are certainly not its forte. The manufacturer puts a popular main camera in its device, a 64 megapixel copy with a Sony IMX682 sensor. That camera takes great photos and videos during the day and in the dark, but it loses out to the main cameras of modern Samsung smartphones. Photos look less realistic, moved faster and are certainly less clear in the dark.
The 8 megapixel wide-angle camera works properly and takes a photo with more on it. The quality is not special. You don’t easily print wide-angle images on a poster. Finally, the 2 megapixel macro camera. It takes pictures up close, but the pictures are of moderate quality due to the low resolution and simple sensor. We often see a bad wide-angle camera in this price range.
To be clear, the Realme GT Neo 2’s main camera is fine for your vacation shots, but keep in mind that the quality isn’t comparable to the images on more expensive smartphones.
Android 11 and update policy
The Realme GT Neo 2 has Android 11 installed at its release. Android 12 just came out and will arrive via an update – more on that in a moment. The Android 11 software on the smartphone has been adapted through the Realme UI 2.0 shell. It is strongly derived from Oppo’s ColorOS shell and therefore looks different from the standard Android version. Not a problem, but something to love. I personally find Realme’s shell quite busy in terms of colors and icons.
I also don’t like the fact that the software shell preinstalls apps and games from all kinds of parties. Fortunately, you can easily remove them. Still, I would have preferred that they were omitted, because you can simply download them from the Play Store. Realme’s choice pushes the apps and that, in my opinion, does not fit a smartphone in this price segment.
What I and other reviewers noticed is that games on the Realme GT Neo 2 can’t take advantage of the 120Hz refresh rate. They are limited to 60 fps, which makes the image look less smooth than it could be. A point of attention that does not play on competing devices. Realme may be able to roll out a software update that removes this limitation.
Realme’s update policy is nice, but not above average. The GT Neo 2 can count on an update to Android 12 and at least two years of security updates. Some brands, including Samsung, Oppo and OnePlus, guarantee four years of security updates for equally expensive smartphones. During the testing period – December – the November Android security update arrived on the GT Neo 2. At the same time, some other devices already got the December update. Realme can therefore take another step in terms of update speed.
The number of guaranteed version updates is also limited by one. Many brands promise two in this price range, Samsung even three.
Conclusion: Buy Realme GT Neo 2?
The Realme GT Neo 2 is a no-nonsense smartphone with clear priorities: a good screen, powerful performance and a battery that lasts and charges quickly. Very nice, but it also means that compromises have been made in other areas. Especially on the cameras, because they are a bit below average. It is also a pity that the smartphone is not IP-water and dustproof and that it can get warm while gaming. Why games can’t take advantage of the 120Hz screen but keep running at 60Hz is unclear and a shame.
Still, the Realme GT Neo 2 is one of the best smartphones that you can buy for about 450 euros. You get a complete device that you can use for years to come. Realme would do well to clarify its update policy, because that is now short and rather non-committal.
Interesting alternatives to the Realme GT Neo 2 are the OnePlus Nord 2 (from 399 euros), Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G (from 379 euros), Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (from 479 euros) and Nokia X20 (from 349 euros).
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