Realme XT Review: All You Need To Know About The New Budget Smartphone

What is the Realme XT?

The Realme XT shares quite a few similarities with the Realme 5 Pro. The biggest and probably the most important is the presence of the same octa-core SoC powering the Realme 5 Pro – a Snapdragon 636. The Realme 5 Pro and the Realme 5 have been two of the most popular budget smartphones on the planet, since they feature near-stock Android and a not-overly-powerful processor. The Realme XT, in comparison, runs Android 8.1 Oreo with ColorOS 6.0 skinned over the top. The phone is powered by a large 6.3-inch display, where the bezels are slightly slimmer than those of the Realme 5 Pro. The Realme 5 Pro has a similar screen as well, but the XT sports a smaller notch The Realme XT has the same display size and resolution as the Realme 5 Pro, but with a much smaller notch.

Who are the competitors of the Realme XT?

The first price that strikes your mind while playing with the Realme 5 Pro is Rs 15,999, and to a lesser extent, it’s true that it is one of the top options in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment. But the Realme 5 Pro’s frugality doesn’t really extend to its underlying specification, which is the Realme 5 Pro’s Achilles’ heel. If we want to buy a phone like this, we need to know that we are getting a phone with a processor that can easily run games like PUBG, PUBG Mobile, in addition to a bigger battery, capable of lasting more than a day on a single charge. Realme also doesn’t offer a headphone jack or expandable storage. So if you want an exciting phone that can handle PUBG without a problem but doesn’t come with more, the Realme 5 Pro isn’t for you.

What are the specifications of the phone?

The Realme XT has a metal body and a glass back, both of which look good, especially the front panel, which features a tall display with 19:9 aspect ratio. The phone is 7.7mm thick and has a glass back, which means it’s splash-resistant. The Realme has a metallic shell on the back as well. There’s a fingerprint sensor embedded into the physical Home button. The Realme is a 6.3-inch device and has a screen resolution of 1080×2340 pixels, giving it a pixel density of 342ppi. It has a waterdrop notch on the top which houses the camera. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC and there’s 6GB of RAM onboard. It has a dual rear camera, which is also the highlight of the phone, with a 13-megapixel primary sensor and a 2-megapixel secondary sensor. It has an f/2.2 aperture and supports EIS.

What do you get in the box when you buy a Realme XT?

The Realme XT will come in three variants. There’s a 3GB RAM/32GB storage model priced at CNY 999 (roughly Rs. 10,000), a 4GB RAM/64GB storage model priced at CNY 1,199 (roughly Rs. 12,500), and a 6GB RAM/64GB storage model priced at CNY 1,399 (roughly Rs. 14,500). All three variants will also come with a microSD card slot, a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a dual-SIM tray. The Realme XT is a dual-SIM phone, which means that you’ll get a slot for a second SIM, but you’ll be unable to use two SIM cards at the same time. Realme has also launched the Realme 2 Pro in China with the same 6GB RAM and 64GB storage configuration. The phone is available in three colour options – Nirma Blue, Ambitious Black, and Fiery Gold. The Realme 2 Pro has a 6.

Is it worth your money?

When it comes to value for money, the Realme XT does not look like an obviously cheap phone. For starters, the price is Rs. 8,990 and, like the Realme 5 Pro, the Realme XT is available in both single SIM and dual SIM variants. The phone comes in two colour options – Lunar Red and Clear Blue. While the Realme 5 Pro is available in Midnight Black, Blue and Red, the Realme XT is available only in Lunar Red. Having said that, the Realme 5 Pro retails for around Rs. 16,000, while the Realme 5 costs Rs. 11,990, making the Realme XT quite the steal. However, we would like to point out that while the Realme 5 Pro is undeniably beautiful, it does lack in several departments. It lacks a fingerprint scanner and does not come with NFC support.

Conclusion

The Realme XT is designed to be a slightly higher-spec device that will take the fight to the sub Rs. 10,000 range. The use of MediaTek’s Helio P70 SoC makes the Realme XT the first Indian smartphone to run this chipset, and while the smartphone will be just as good as the Realme 5 Pro at day-to-day tasks, there’s still room for improvement in power efficiency. There’s no major difference between the Realme 5 Pro and the Realme 5, and I suspect that they will appeal to different demographics. As mentioned earlier, the 64-megapixel sensor on the Realme X is a first for an Indian smartphone, so the Realme XT tries to differentiate itself from its siblings by offering a number of additional perks, including a Face Unlock feature that is said to be one of the fastest in the segment.