When it comes to innovative smartphones, Realme is a strong contender among many well-known brands. The last Realme phone I had the pleasure of reviewing was the Naruto edition of Realme GT Neo 3, which came in unforgettably unique packaging: solidifying a solid first impression. This time, we have our hands on the brand's latest flagship, Realme GT5, the 240W version, which to us, ticked a lot of the right boxes. Let's take a look at how this phone - deemed one of the fastest charging phones in the market right now - feels to try out.

A sleek design

First thing first - this phone looks and feels great. At a size of 163.1 mm and a size of 205 grams, it is easy to hold on to, even when pulling out of the pocket at a moment's notice. It is adorned with a liquid metal texture on the back, complete with a transparent glass panel on the camera island portion. This panel, arguably, is the most appealing part of the phone's exterior design. 

While the island looks similar to that of Realme GT3 - with the same upper-left vertical positioning of the cameras - the concept is improved with a better-looking LED light that utilises the recently popular 'Pulse Light' system. If you're on a call or receive a notification on your phone, this transparent panel will light up in different colours, adding a bit of flair to the overall design of the phone. You can freely adjust the range and variety of colours, including when it should light up, on the phone's settings. 

The 6.74-inch AMOLED display offers 1240x2722 pixels of resolution, which is enough to enjoy the full-size screen of most games or videos you will be viewing on the phone, especially when paired with 144 Hz refresh rate and 1400 nits of peak brightness. The gaming part is important, because, as you might expect from a modern flagship, this phone is built with gaming in mind.

Power to boot

Realme fans might be delighted to know that the GT5 runs on 4 nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the same processor as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. The model we tested came with a whopping 1 TB of storage with 24 GB of RAM, which is enough to run power-hungry video games such as Genshin Impact and League of Legends quite effectively. Keeping multiple app tabs open while shuffling through various features proved to be a lag-free experience as well. 

However, what's truly impressive about this phone is its phenomenal charging speed. In our testing, we were able to charge the phone from 0% to 100% in about 11 minutes using the wired charger that came with the packaging. This is thanks to Realme's signature 240W SuperVOOC charging system, which the brand introduced through their previously released Realme GT3. That is an insane charging speed, even for a 4600 mAh battery. 

A decent photography partner

Realme GT5 240W features a triple setup for its main camera, with 50 MP wide, 8 MP ultrawide, and 2 MP macro, and features such as dual-LED dual-tone flash, panorama, and HDR (high dynamic ranges). What all this equals to is certainly not the best flagship camera out there, but is decent nonetheless in taking quick shots or timely portraits. In our testing, it performed well under daylight, churning out good-looking environmental shots in its 'street' photo mode. In indoor lighting, the 50 MP mode felt better, offering more noticeable detail than in other modes. 

As for selfies, it has a 16 MP front camera - which, again, is good enough considering the other goodies this phone offers. In our testing, in lower lights, the selfie flash needed to be manually adjusted a few times. The lack of instant AI-based object identification when taking photographs was also a feature quite missed. Still, no notable complaints.

Final thoughts

Realme GT5 240W is undoubtedly a powerful phone. Not only does it offer optimum high-level gaming performance without the worries of device lags, but it can also charge in near-record times - making it a reliable phone for heavy-duty users as well as regular rough usage. While the camera feels weaker than other flagships in the market, it is still workable and certainly doesn't weigh down the stronger points this phone brings to the table. While the product is not officially released in Bangladesh yet, testing it gave us the impression that dedicated fans will get a kick out of it - whether through its impressively fast charging or all-around powerhouse-level performance.
 

Photos: Zarif Faiaz