The realme GT line of smartphones was launched in 2021 and has always been positioned as a kind of affordable alternative to expensive A-brand flagships. Smartphones in the line always have powerful processors, high-quality screens, fast charging, and many features that are typical of flagships. But a more affordable price requires some compromises. This year's lineup includes two models: the top-of-the-line realme GT 6 and the slightly simplified realme GT 6T. Today we're going to talk about the older model, the realme GT 6.
realme GT 6 specifications
| Dimensions and weight | 162 x 75,1 x 8,6 mm199 grams |
| RAM and storage | 12/16 GB; 256/512 GB |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 |
| Graphics processor | Adreno 735 |
| Wireless modules | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6 (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, IR |
| Display | 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLEDResolution: 1264×2780 dpi, 450 ppiFrequency: 1-120 HzDolby Vision, HDR10+ |
| Main cameras | 50 megapixel wide-angle, 1/1.4", ƒ/1.69, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization;50MP telephoto, ƒ/2.0, phase autofocus, 2x zoom;8 megapixel ultra-wide-angle, ƒ/2.2, 112° |
| Front camera | 32 megapixels, ƒ/2.45 |
| Audio | Stereo speakers |
| Battery | 5500 mAh |
| Charging | Wired up to 120 W |
| Connectors | USB Type-C 2.0 |
| Operating system | Android 14 + realme UI 5.0 |
| Recommended price | from UAH 22,999 |
Package contents
The realme GT 6 is packaged in a black box with an orange model name without unnecessary printing. Unlike more popular brands, the smartphone comes with a good set of accessories.
In addition to the realme GT 6 itself, the box contains a proprietary 120W SuperVOOC power supply, a Type-C cable, a tray eject tool, a protective film (already on the screen), documentation, and a nice gray case with a matte surface.
Design and ergonomics
The first models of the realme GT line had an original back cover design with bright colors and stripes that hinted at sports cars. The current realme GT 6 line has a more classic design. From the front, the smartphone is not much different from a large number of current flagships and mid-range models.
The front is almost entirely occupied by a large curved AMOLED screen, with a round front camera notch in the center, and a barely noticeable earpiece speaker slot a little higher up. The frame around the screen is thin, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. While many brands use flat screens in their current flagships, realme decided to use a curved one in the GT 6. This decision has both supporters and opponents. Let's leave this question to the users' discretion.
The back cover is also glass, but the manufacturer does not specify the type of glass. The main part of the cover looks as if a glossy coating was applied to the frosted glass on top. The part with the cameras is absolutely mirrored. Perhaps there is some sense in this: you can use it for selfies. But in general, the lid turned out to be a great design and the included protective bumper is very appropriate. realme calls this solution "nano-mirror design". In addition to silver, there is also a green version.
The rear camera is made in the form of three large modules arranged in a triangle. The main and telephoto modules are slightly larger, and the smaller one houses the ultra-wide-angle camera and LED flash. The cameras protrude quite a bit above the surface of the back cover, so again, a protective bumper is a must-have.
Unlike the panels, the frame of the realme GT 6 is plastic and has a matte finish. It is flat around the perimeter, but has a taper on the side edges due to the use of a curved screen and back cover. The power and volume buttons are located on the right side. Their placement is quite convenient for both right- and left-handed users.
On the top edge there is a place for an additional microphone, an infrared transmitter for controlling the electronics, and an additional speaker hole that is also used for stereo sound.
Below are the main speaker, earpiece microphone, Type-C connector (unfortunately, version 2.0), and a tray.
The tray is unremarkable: it can accommodate two nano SIM cards. Unfortunately, the smartphone does not support eSIM.
Although the realme GT 6 cannot be called original, it looks quite nice and modern. It does not feel too big and fits well in the hand. But it's worth noting that the back cover is slippery. The smartphone has IP65 protection against dust and moisture. That is, formally, the smartphone is not afraid of water jets, but it will not survive immersion.
Display
realme GT 6 features a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display with rounded sides. It has a resolution of 1264×2780 pixels and a pixel density of about 450 ppi. This is a 10-bit matrix capable of displaying up to 1.07 billion colors. It is claimed that the color coverage is 100% of the DCI-P3 space, and the peak brightness is space-quality 6000 cd/m². However, the maximum declared brightness in manual mode is already at a more realistic level of 1000 cd/m². There is support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision standards.
The screen supports an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120 Hz, the sensor readout frequency is 2500 Hz (most likely in game mode), and the PWM frequency is 2160 Hz, which should theoretically reduce eye strain. Impressions of the screen are mostly positive. It is really very bright, the picture does not fade at all in the bright summer sun. The colors are very saturated, and the viewing angles are maximized. The only thing is a greenish tint to the white areas of the picture at certain angles. This is a feature of most AMOLED matrices due to the specific arrangement of subpixels.
The settings include a fairly standard set and a few more interesting features. Of course, there is a dark and light theme with the ability to activate by schedule and additional settings for the dark mode style. In addition to the brightness itself, there is also a high-brightness mode, as well as the ability to select the lowest allowed brightness. The refresh rate can be adaptive, fixed at 60 or 120 Hz, and you can also customize this setting for individual applications. There is an eye protection mode, as well as the ability to adapt colors depending on the ambient light. You can also choose the screen resolution: native or FullHD+. In addition to two basic color display modes (Vivid and Natural), there are several additional ones with color temperature and individual color settings.
In the high brightness mode with the "Bright" color scheme, hardware measurements showed that the brightness is 913.031 cd/m², which is really very high and generally close to the claimed 1000 cd/m². The color gamut is much wider than sRGB, while the color accuracy is quite high, with a color temperature between 6500 and 7000K (with a reference value of 6500K).
In "natural" mode, the brightness is almost the same, the difference is minimal: 922.366 cd/m². But the color gamut is slightly narrower than sRGB and the color accuracy is lower:
Security
For fingerprint scanning, the realme GT 6 uses a quite familiar modern optical scanner under the screen. At the time of scanning, it highlights the print, so there may be some difficulties with wet fingers. Its position is quite convenient to intercept a smartphone. It works accurately and quickly. It may not be the fastest scanner available, but I haven't had any problems while using it.
Face recognition is also fast, even in low light conditions. The only problem may be at night on the street. There are quite familiar additional functions: recognition only with open eyes and increasing the brightness of the display for recognition in low light.
Performance and software
realme GT 6 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor. This is a slightly simplified version of the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with lower frequencies, minimal differences in core configuration, and a simpler graphics accelerator. The processor includes one 3.0 GHz Cortex-X4 core, four 2.8 GHz Cortex-A720 cores, and three 2.0 GHz Cortex-A520 cores. The graphics accelerator is Adreno 735. The smartphone has 12 or 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256 or 512 GB of internal storage with UFS 4.0. There is a function to expand the RAM.
In synthetic benchmarks, the smartphone is inferior to models with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but still demonstrates very good results. And in general, the realme GT 6 has no performance problems: all applications launch very quickly, heavy games run perfectly. So in everyday life, the difference between the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and the older model will be hard to notice.
Modern games run mostly with high graphics settings and a frame rate close to 60 FPS. At the same time, Diablo Immortal doesn't experience any problems or significant heating even after 10-15 minutes of play. The only game we tested that didn't work perfectly was Kingdom The Blood: it sometimes had microfreezes and small frame rate drops. The optimization of Unreal Engine games is still not very good.
The realme GT 6 is cooled by a clever system consisting of 9 layers of heat-conducting materials and a dual Iceberg Vapor Cooling System evaporation chamber with a total area of 10,014 mm². It performs its function really well. Under prolonged loads, performance can drop by up to 87%:
realme GT 6 is equipped with dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.4 with support for AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, LDAC and LHDC codecs, NFC and an infrared transmitter. It supports global positioning systems GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, and QZSS. In addition, reame claims that the smartphone uses an optimized antenna system design, which should theoretically improve reception by 20%.
To work with the infrared transmitter, a proprietary application is provided. It has quite familiar functionality, like other smartphones with infrared. A large number of types of devices are supported, from air conditioners and TVs to robotic vacuum cleaners. Perhaps there will be difficulties with some exotic devices. But with air conditioners and TVs of relatively well-known brands, there are no problems, everything works perfectly.
In addition, in the settings section of realme Labs, there is a function to measure heart rate using a fingerprint scanner. It works and is relatively accurate. The error is no more than a couple of percent.
The realme GT 6 runs on Android 14 with the proprietary realme UI 5.0 shell. In addition to external differences from pure Android, the shell has some additional features that may be useful to someone. At a basic level, the shell is quite user-friendly and understandable, and the company hasn't made any changes to the basic logic. So we have familiar desktops, a separate menu with all applications, and a traditional curtain with notifications and switches.
Additionally, realme offers a variety of gestures to enhance your smartphone experience. These include gestures with your hand in the air, for example, to scroll through videos. There is also a sidebar with the most frequently used apps and tools. Split screen, windowed mode. There is a kind of clipboard called the "File Pad", where you can add text, pictures, files for easy movement between applications.
realme has also started using some AI tools in its smartphones. In the settings of realme GT 6, there is a corresponding AI Assistant section that offers options for recognizing and translating content on the screen, although it is not very relevant for Ukraine at the moment: so far, it supports only English and Chinese. Another feature that can be useful is AI Smart Loop. A picture, file, or text can be moved to the side of the screen, where a corresponding circular menu with apps that the system thinks are most suitable for this type of content will be displayed.
And, of course, there are tools for editing photos. For example, you can remove or paint over an unwanted object from a photo. It doesn't work perfectly yet, but it can be useful in some cases.
Usually, Chinese manufacturers like to install additional, not very useful software on their smartphones from the factory. In the case of the realme GT 6, this is minimal, and almost everything can be completely removed. Except for the third-party App Market app store.
Sound
realme GT 6 reproduces stereo sound through the main and earpiece speakers. The latter, as we remember, also has an additional hole on the top edge for this purpose. The speakers are very well balanced with each other. The sound is loud and there are even hints of low frequencies. There is almost no distortion at maximum volume. There are ready-made OReality sound presets in the settings for the appropriate scenarios. Additionally, there is a spatial sound mode and an interesting Holo Audio feature. The point is that sounds from different sources (call, alarm, notification, video) will sound from different imaginary points in space.
The company also promises the excellent and realistic tactile response of O-Haptics thanks to the Tactile Engine Pro vibration motor. The vibration response is really quite powerful and pleasant. It feels especially good not during calls, but when interacting with the system.
Cameras
realme GT 6 has three rear cameras. The main camera uses a 50 megapixel Sony LYT-808 OIS sensor. It has f/1.69 aperture optics and optical stabilization. The size of the sensor is 1/1.4 in: 1.12μm, there is phase detection autofocus. The maximum video resolution is 4K 60 FPS. The telephoto camera also has a resolution of 50 megapixels, using a Samsung S5KJN5 sensor. Aperture: f/2.0, sensor size 1/2.8 inch, pixel size: 0.64μm. Unfortunately, the camera offers only 2x zoom, while most competitors have 3x telephoto cameras.
The ultra-wide-angle camera of the realme GT 6 is an 8-megapixel Sony IMX355 with f/2.2 aperture. Sensor size 1/4 inch, pixel size: 1.12μm, viewing angle 112°. The maximum video resolution is FullHD 30 FPS. A 32-megapixel Sony IMX615, f/2.45 camera is used for selfies. Sensor size: 1/2.74.
The camera app has a quite familiar and understandable logic: a carousel of basic shooting modes, a separate menu with additional ones. Including professional mode, long shutter speed, Tilt-Shift, etc. The main screen has a basic set of settings (zoom, flash, resolution, Google Lens). The rest is in the drop-down menu.
The main camera takes excellent quality photos in good light. Quite natural colors, good detail and wide dynamic range. The night mode generally doesn't lose much detail and hardly ever takes overexposed photos, but the processing algorithms add yellow and orange tints. This is also true for other smartphone cameras.
Photos taken with an ultra-wide-angle camera are generally slightly darker, less detailed, and have a narrower dynamic range. In low light, the photo starts to blur a bit, especially around the perimeter of the frame. All this is typical for the vast majority of ultra-wide-angle cameras in modern smartphones.
The telephoto camera takes high-quality photos in the vast majority of cases, and the detail in low light does not drop dramatically.
The 4x digital zoom works well in good light. In the evening, some photos are not very clear
realme GT 6 shoots 4K video very well at 60 FPS. The jelly effect is minimal, the detail is good:
The so-called "Ultra High Stabilization" is only available in FullHD 60 FPS. Indeed, there is practically no shaking, but the detail is slightly worse:
The ultra-wide-angle camera can only shoot FullHD 30 FPS, and the picture is quite noisy:
Video with 2x zoom:
Battery life
realme GT 6 has a rather large battery with a capacity of 5500 mAh. This is more than we are used to seeing in the vast majority of modern mid-range smartphones, let alone flagships. There is support for 120W SuperVOOC fast charging. It takes about 30 minutes to fully charge, and in the first 10 minutes, the charge is replenished by 50%. realme claims that after 1600 charging cycles, the battery retains more than 80% of its capacity. The smartphone does not support wireless charging. Given the speed of wired charging, this is not a problem.
Unfortunately, the PCMark battery test was interrupted twice before completing the cycle, and we did not get clear figures for battery life. But in everyday life, the smartphone proved to be hardy. Yes, if you play heavy games all the time, you will need to charge it in the evening. But with more typical use (an hour and a half of Bluetooth music, about 20 minutes of talk time, a lot of communication in messengers, browser, mail, social networks, camera), realme GT 6 lasts a day or so.