Introduction
The Realme XT is coming hot on the heels of the Realme 5 series and it's going down in history as the first smartphone to be released with a 64MP camera. Being a sequel to the Realme X, the XT is packing an AMOLED screen on top of an attractive glass design, but it also inherits the quad-camera setup from the Realme 5.
We have given up on trying to figure out how Realme is spinning so many plates, but it's a fact that the maker is announcing phones at an unprecedented rate, while still managing to put enough novelties on each new one to make it a worthy upgrade.
The Realme XT, while named as a successor to the X, is more of a mixture between it and the Realme 5 Pro. The XT keeps the Super AMOLED screen and cool glass design but goes with a waterdrop notch for the selfie camera rather than a pop-up module.
Then, the XT has the same Snapdragon 712 chip as the Realme 5 Pro, and a very similar four-camera setup - a high-res primary, an 8MP ultrawide, a 2MP macro, and a 2MP portrait snappers. But here comes the headliner - the main camera employs the new 64MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 Quad-Bayer sensor and that's among the largest to ever make it to a smartphone, much less in this price range.
The selfie camera has gotten an updgrade too. It's the same 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor as on the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro. We hope it will make up for cutting a piece of that large OLED screen.
Before we go on let's take a closer look at the Realme XT's specs sheet.
Realme XT specs
- Body: Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, plastic frame
- Screen: 6.4-inch AMOLED, 19.5:9, 1080p+, 402ppi
- Rear camera: Primary 64MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 Quad Bayer 1/1.72" sensor, 0.8µm, f/1.8 lens; 119° ultra wide-angle 8MP camera; 2MP macro camera; 2MP depth sensor; LED flash; 2160p@30fps video recording, EIS
- Front camera: 16MP 1/3" sensor, 1.0µm, f/2.0 lens; 1080p video, EIS
- Chipset: Snapdragon 712: octa-core CPU (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 360 Gold & 6x1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver), Adreno 616 GPU
- Memory: 4/6/8GB RAM, 64/128GB UFS 2.1 storage; dedicated microSD slot for up to 256GB expansion
- OS: Android 9.0; Color OS 6.0 Realme Edition on top
- Battery: 4,000mAh, 20W VOOC 3.0 charging
- Connectivity: Dual SIM (4G), Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, USB-C
- Colors: Pearl White, Pearl Blue
- Misc: Under-display optical fingerprint reader
Now, without any further ado, let's unbox the Realme XT.
Unboxing the Realme XT
The Realme XT has the largely the same retail package as the Realme 5 Pro - meaning you are in for a treat. The XT model comes packed with a 20W VOOC charger and the enhanced USB-C cable needed for the VOOC charging to work properly.
The XT retail box also contains a soft transparent case if you want to keep the back scratch-free for as long as possible.
Oh, the Realme XT also comes with a factory-applied (vert thin) screen protector even though it is rocking a Gorilla Glass 5 on top of its OLED. We wish more manufacturers do this instead of putting some marketing stickers.
Design
The Realme XT is arguably the best looking smartphone the maker has done to date. The XT has a sleek design with no complications, sturdy build, and with minor highlights where it maters the most.
The Realme XT is the first dual-glass Realme - the maker has used two pieces of Gorilla Glass 5 by Corning. The front one is completely flat, while the rear is bent towards the longer edges. Few mid-rangers get Gorilla glass panels for protection, let alone two of them.
The only potential weak point is the frame that's made of plastic. Realme has made the sides look metal, painting them in aluminum-like gray and adding a frosted finish, but they are still plastic and as such might scratch fairly easily if left unexposed.
The Realme XT has a 6.4" Super AMOLED screen at the front with quite thin bezels. This is a departure from the 6.53" AMOLED panel on the Realme X for two reasons - it's a bit smaller and has a waterdrop-like cutout. Those used to the uninterrupted viewing experience as on the Realme X might be disappointed, but those still unconvinced by the durability of pop-up modules might be happy with the trade-off.
The AMOLED screen looks bright and punchy, and while its flatness might take away some of the premium looks compared to flagships it actually offers better grip.
As we said, the display is covered by a Gorilla Glass 5 piece, but Realme also puts a screen protector during manufacturing, so the XT is double shielded out of the box.
The Realme XT has an optical under-display fingerprint sensor that is speedy and nicely accurate. The sensor lights up upon picking the phone or when you take it out of your pocket or purse, and it unlocks in a flash upon successful recognition. Without the screen protector the reader couldn't be slowed down even when the glass was all smudgy, but a smudged protector does take away from its reliability, so you should consider peeling it off if you find the performance inadequate.
The selfie camera got a nice upgrade, so we may forgive Realme for that notch after all. The company has opted for the 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor - that's the same camera behind the OnePlus 7 series front snappers. We've already seen it does great, so we have high expectations for the XT, too.
Now, let's turn the Realme XT over - the curved Gorilla Glass 5 on our Pearl While model looks really impressively. It has a predominantly white hue, but thanks to some additional layers the whole thing reflects light and changes colors in a very cool way, rainbow-like is probably the closest way we can describe it.
The quad-camera sits on a giant hump in the upper left corner. The vertically aligned setup contains the 8MP snapper with ultrawide lens, the 64MP primary shooter, the 2MP depth sensor (a.k.a. portrait camera), and the 2MP macro cam - in that order.
Once again, just like on the Realme 5, the maker put these cool yellow rings accompanied with the 64MP inscription on the wrong camera. It does look better on the top, sure, but it still doesn't make sense.
Next to the camera mountain, there is the AI camera logo, next to the LED flash, with four aperture icons. While this was totally unnecessary, some might appreciate the Half-Life vibe it provides.
The Realme XT wobbles a lot when left on a flat surface, but this is inevitable with such a big hump. On the upside the bundled case goes a long way to alleviating the issue.
Finally, let's talk about the plastic frame. It's quite busy - the left side has the triple card slot and the volume keys, the bottom is where the USB-C port and audio jack are, while the right side has the power key with a nice yellow accent to match those on the back. We really appreciate the dedicated microSD slot and not giving up on the audio port.
And thanks to this plastic and very grippy frame, the Realme XT is actually not a nightmare to hold. On the contrary, the phone and its frame provide more than enough grip to compensate for the glass design and we felt it safe when handling in naked no matter what we did.
The Realme XT measures 158.7 x 75.2 x 8.6 mm - just 1mm taller and wider than the Realme 5 Pro, but 2mm shorter than the Realme X. The phone weighs 183g - about the same as 5 Pro and 8g lighter than the X model.
Well, the notch might make its looks second to the original X, but the Realme XT indeed feels like the most premium Realme we've had so far. The dual Gorilla Glass build is an excellent choice and works fantastic with the grippy plastic frame, while the chameleon paint does make for some stunning view at the back. Overall, an excellent body and handling experience we had with this Realme XT.
Display
The Realme XT packs a 6.4" Super AMOLED screen with extended 1080p resolution. It's not the same panel as on the Realme X - this one has a waterdrop notch and is a bit smaller - 6.4" vs. 6.53".
The notch is not a new thing for Realme, but it may be a bit disappointing for those looking to get the Realme X full display matched to the best camera the company has put on a smartphone. Apparently, you can't have both just yet.
The screen uses a familiar Diamond PenTile matrix and has a resolution of 2,340 x 1,080 pixels. That adds up to a 19.5:9 aspect and the excellent for the class 402ppi density.
Realme promises a maximum brightness of 430 nits but the screen exceeded the maker's specs as we measured 447 nits at the far-right end of the brightest scrubber.
There is no Auto brightness boost under direct sunlight, but the screen does well even in the brightest of days thanks to the good brightness and low reflectivity.
We also measured the minimum brightness - it's just 2.2 nits, so you'll have no trouble using the phone in complete darkness.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0 | 447 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 448 | ∞ | |
| 0.273 | 512 | 1875 | |
| 0.285 | 508 | 1782 | |
| 0.358 | 479 | 1338 | |
| 0 | 437 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 641 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 449 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 646 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 444 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 637 | ∞ | |
| 0.39 | 480 | 1231 | |
| 0.413 | 501 | 1213 | |
| 0.315 | 493 | 1565 | |
The color reproduction is decent out of the box with lively though not super accurate colors. We measured an average deltaE of 4.9 against DCI-P3 color space and a maximum deviation of 8.8 at point White. Indeed, the white and gray hues visibly shifted towards blue in the default display setting.
There is a Color Temperature Adjustment slider in Display Settings that is set to the 'Default' middle position with 'Cooler' and 'Warmer' at the extremes. Setting this slider to the warmest option yields slightly better results - average deltaE of 4.1 and a reduced but still present bluish tint.
Battery life
The Realme XT has a beefy 4,000mAh battery - pretty much the same capacity as the Realme 5 Pro's and slightly larger than Realme X's. The XT supports VOOC 3.0 fast charging and its box contains both the 20W charger and the proprietary USB-C cable needed for VOOC to work. This pair refills about 50% of the Realme XT's depleted battery in 30 mins, while a full charge takes 80 to 90 mins.
The Realme XT aced our battery lite test - it clocked north of 16 hours of video playback and 13 hours of browsing the web over Wi-Fi. We also measured more than a day of 3G voice calls. And adding the efficient standby performance we got an excellent overall Endurance rating of 100 hours.
When compared to the Realme X, the XT did a tiny bit better in both screen-on tests though it showed a major improvement in standby performance.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Realme XT for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Speaker
The Realme XT has a single bottom-firing speaker. It scored an Excellent mark in our loudness test, though unpleasant high-pitched tones are common and probably responsible for the really loud Ringing Phone tone and hence the Excellent mark. In fact, when playing music from YouTube, the speaker sounds (subjectively) quieter than suggested by the score.
Indeed, Realme has always tuned its speakers for mid-tones and the XT seems no different - when playing music you'll hear the vocals crystal clear, but the music itself will be a little bit on the quieter side.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 65.9 | 66.6 | 68.4 | Below Average | |
| 65.6 | 66.2 | 70.4 | Average | |
| 67.9 | 73.5 | 80.4 | Very Good | |
| 66.3 | 72.9 | 85.8 | Very Good | |
| 70.6 | 74.8 | 81.2 | Very Good | |
| 71.5 | 73.8 | 83.1 | Excellent | |
| 67.5 | 73.8 | 90.5 | Excellent | |
| 69.8 | 71.5 | 90.5 | Excellent | |
| 68.9 | 74.3 | 89.8 | Excellent | |
| 86.2 | 79.0 | 87.0 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The Realme XT’s performance with an external amplifier was exemplary, delivering perfect scores top to bottom and at very high loudness too.
Headphones took their toll on stereo separation and added some intermodulation distortion, plus they dropped the volume to only average. The performance is more or less in line with the Realme 5 Pro and decent for the price range, but hardly spectacular overall.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.08, -0.08 | -92.2 | 92.1 | 0.0012 | 0.0081 | -91.4 | |
| +0.50, -0.16 | -92.1 | 91.9 | 0.007 | 0.363 | -48.9 | |
| +0.03, -0.05 | -93.3 | 93.0 | 0.0019 | 0.0073 | -92.0 | |
| +0.16, -0.39 | -92.0 | 91.9 | 0.009 | 0.344 | -50.6 | |
| +0.06, -0.07 | -92.9 | 92.8 | 0.0010 | 0.0075 | -93.3 | |
| +0.38, -0.28 | -90.7 | 90.3 | 0.0077 | 0.391 | -50.7 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -93.7 | 90.7 | 0.0015 | 0.0098 | -93.0 | |
| +0.53, -0.22 | -90.6 | 88.8 | 0.0048 | 0.302 | -50.8 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -90.5 | 90.4 | 0.0050 | 0.015 | -91.7 | |
| +0.17, -0.25 | -90.8 | 91.0 | 0.087 | 0.256 | -58.9 | |
| +0.07, -0.01 | -90.0 | 90.1 | 0.0019 | 0.015 | -92.9 | |
| +0.16, -0.10 | -92.3 | 92.5 | 0.0069 | 0.164 | -64.8 |
Realme XT frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Color OS 6 and Android 9, Realme edition
The Realme XT runs Oppo's latest Color OS 6 over Android 9.0 - a combo we've already seen on the Realme X as well as the 3 and 5 families. Realme likes to point this is Color OS 6 Realme edition, but at this point there's little to differentiate it from what Oppo uses on its phones.
Color OS 6 generally revolves around a light color scheme with the settings menu using a white backdrop with light color accents and gradients.
Registering a fingerprint takes a while, but that's a reasonable price to pay for its great performance after. Once activated it lights up the moment you pick up the device of pull it out of your pocket and is as fast and accurate as the conventional scanners.
You can also set up face unlock in addition to or instead of fingerprint security. Yet since it only uses a regular camera it's far inferior to the fingerprints in terms of security. There's an option that you can set to require your eyes to be open for the phone to unlock to add some extra security, but it can still be tricked.
Biometric security
Always-on screen is available on the Realme XT - it's called Off-Screen clock and you can automate it so it only works during part of the day. It displays the clock and date, as the name suggest with a power-saving dark-gray hue. It will impact your battery life though and the phone will automatically turn it off if the battery drops below 10%.
The user interface of the Realme XT hasn't changed much compared to its predecessors. There are the usual homescreens, Smart Assistant optional pane that is more like a widget page and an app drawer.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • Widget pane • App drawer • App drawer
The drop-down shade features notifications, quick toggles, and a brightness scrubber and has been redesigned for Color OS 6. The task switcher is reminiscent of Apple's, though it has an End All button. Split-screen multitasking is available for all compatible apps, and you can resize the windows and swap the two apps.
Notifications • Toggles • Task Switcher • Split screen
There are all sorts of navigation options on the Realme XT. There's the old-school nav bar on the bottom, swipe up gestures that replace it, but don't really change the dynamic much, and then there's the 'Swipe Gestures from Both Sides' option (the default one).
This last one is our favorite - it mimics partially the iOS way of doing things (you swipe from the sides for Back) which we've seen one way or the other on EMUI and MIUI, but that's not why we like it. It adds a welcome twist - swipe in from the side and hold to switch between the two latest apps - very convenient for multi-taskers.
Navigation settings
Of course, the usual set of tools comes pre-installed. There is a Phone Manager for handling memory cleaner functions, app permissions and encryption, and virus scanning, among other things.
Then there's Game Space which allows you to handpick which notifications to pass through when you are playing games and you don't want to be interrupted. There are also different performance modes and an option to lock the brightness only for certain games.
Game Space
Realme also provides basic multimedia apps - a gallery called Photos, and a Music player. A file manager is also part of the package as well as FM radio app.
Phone Manager • Gallery • Music • Files • Compass • FM radio
Performance and benchmarks
The Realme XT runs on the Snapdragon 712 chipset - essentially the Realme X's Snapdragon 710 with minor tweaks such as 0.1GHz higher potential clock speed on the high-performance cores. Those would be two Cortex-A75-based Kryo 360 cores, ticking at up to 2.3GHz. The other six cores are Cortex-A55 derivatives, clocked at up to 1.7GHz. There's been no upgrade to the GPU for the 710-to-712 transition, and it's still the Adreno 616.
Realme promises the Snapdragon 712 chipset 10% boost over the S710-powered Realme 3 Pro and X. The company is keen to point out that this chipset has the same ISP as the Snapdragon 845 and the AI engine is twice as fast as the one on the 710.
The Realme 5 XT is available in three memory configurations - 4/64GB, 6/64GB and 8/128GB. It is the company's third phone to use UFS 2.1 storage. That's much faster than eMMC and speeds up the load times for apps and games, plus it helps if you are moving large files around. If you need more storage, the dedicated microSD slot can add up to 256GB more.
We should mention that Realme XT limits a bit the CPU performance when not running on High Performance Mode. You must opt for this mode from the Battery Settings if you want to unlock the full potential of the chipset, otherwise you will lose about 10% of the overall performance. Naturally, we ran the CPU and AnTuTu benchmarks in Performance mode.
First, we ran GeekBench and indeed it showed the promised minor jump from the Realme 3 Pro and X numbers, while the XT scored on par with the Mi 9 SE - a phone with the same Snapdragon 712 chip.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 9T
6863 - Realme 5 Pro
6106 - Realme XT
6102 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
6017 - Realme X
5915 - Realme 3 Pro
5881 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
5549 - Realme 5
5493 - Samsung Galaxy A50
5396 - Motorola Moto G7
4755 - Samsung Galaxy M30
4188
In the single-core test the Realme XT did excellent and is beaten only by the more expensive Mi 9T model and its more powerful Snapdragon 730 chip.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 9T
2537 - Realme 5 Pro
1913 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
1905 - Realme XT
1899 - Samsung Galaxy A50
1715 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
1576 - Realme 5
1529 - Realme X
1475 - Realme 3 Pro
1471 - Samsung Galaxy M30
1311 - Motorola Moto G7
1255
The Snapdragon 712's Adreno 616 GPU is the same as the one that's part of the 710, but the Adreno 618 in the Snapdragon 730 isn't any more powerful, at least not in the Xiaomi Mi 9T's implementation and the 9T post virtually identical scores. And for its price tag, the Realme XT is just acing these graphic benchmarks.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme 5 Pro
27 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
27 - Realme XT
26 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
26 - Realme 3 Pro
23 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
14 - Samsung Galaxy A50
14 - Realme 5
13 - Samsung Galaxy M30
8.1 - Motorola Moto G7
6.9
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 9T
16 - Realme 5 Pro
15 - Realme XT
15 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
15 - Realme 3 Pro
13 - Samsung Galaxy A50
9.2 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
7.7 - Realme 5
7.2 - Samsung Galaxy M30
5.2 - Motorola Moto G7
3.8
3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 9T
2329 - Realme XT
2284 - Realme 5 Pro
2253 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
2218 - Samsung Galaxy A50
1353 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
988 - Samsung Galaxy M30
645 - Motorola Moto G7
569
In the compound AnTuTu test, the Realme XT is showing a nice improvement over the Realme 3 Pro and even beats the Mi 9 SE. In fact, it beats all other phones but the Mi 9T, though the Xiaomi is more expensive than the XT and while their GPU prowess is equal the Mi 9T has a better CPU and thus a better score.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 9T
211915 - Realme XT
185193 - Realme 5 Pro
182765 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
180057 - Realme 3 Pro
155647 - Samsung Galaxy A50
144574 - Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
141600 - Realme 5
139516 - Motorola Moto G7
106292 - Samsung Galaxy M30
101651
The Realme XT scored as expected and often topped all other phones from its class. It offers a lot more bang that its buck suggests and that's what we've grown to love in every Realme. It has a really potent GPU, while its CPU power is more than enough for hassle-free experience on whatever app or game you run.
Better yet, the Realme XT doesn't get hot and we didn't observe any throttling even when we subjected it to prolonged stress.
The first 64MP snappers in Realme's second quad-camera
The Realme XT has the same rear camera arrangement as the Realme 5 Pro and Realme 5 - top to bottom they go ultrawide snapper, then the primary one, the depth camera follows, and last one is the macro shooter.
The main camera uses the first ever 64MP Quad Bayer sensor by Samsung - ISOCELL Bright GW1. It's a very large 1/1.72" sensor with 0.8µm pixels and Quad Bayer filter, and it sits behind f/1.8 26mm lens. It's meant to shoot in binned 16MP mode, but it also supports the so-called demosaic algorithm that allows it to add a bit of extra detail if you opt for the 64MP native resolution.
The 119-degree ultrawide-angle camera is relatively new for Realme too even if not a first. It has an 8MP sensor (1.12µm pixels) with an f/2.2 aperture. There is automatic distortion correction applied when necessary.
Realme calls the 2MP unit the "Portrait camera", rather than just a depth sensor. It certainly helps with the bokeh rendering, but allegedly, it's also used to enhance the contrast of the final photo.
Then there's the 2MP macro camera (the pixels on the sensor are quite large, 1.75µm). Its lens can focus from as close as 4cm away, so you can get really close to your subjects. Note that the macro and the ultrawide cameras can't record video.
The camera app offers AI scene recognition - you'll see a small icon when a scene is successfully recognized, and the software will tweak all settings accordingly. Food, snow, pets, sunsets, grass, among other scenes, are detected mostly correctly.
The app has three major modes - Photo, Portrait and Video - and you can swipe between those. The Chroma Boost toggle is on the opposite end of the viewfinder, accompanied by the ultrawide switch, HDR and flash settings. Chroma Boost is an advanced HDR mode, which stacks a couple of images and offers even further improvements in the dynamic range and occasionally - better color saturation.
There is also a hamburger menu with a few more shooting modes - 64MP Ultra Picture, Nightscape, Ultra macro, Expert (manual settings), Pano, Time-lapse, and Slow-mo. There is also a zoom toggle switching between 1X, 2X, and 5X, but it does only digital zooming - there is no telephoto lens on the Realme XT.
Oddly, 2X is also available on the ultrawide camera, too, but if you expected it would switch to the regular snapper - you'd be wrong. It just crops and upscales from the ultrawide shot, which is rather pointless.
In the Expert mode you get to tweak exposure (ISO in the 100-6400 range and shutter speed in the 1/8000s-16s range), white balance (by light temperature, but no presets), manual focus (in arbitrary 0 to 1 units with 0 being close focus and 1 being infinity) and exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/6EV increments).
Camera app
Image quality
The 64MP camera saves 16MP images by default and the ones we shot in this cloudy weather turned out quite good. There is plenty of detail, true to life colors, the noise is low though still present in areas of uniform colors, and the dynamic range is wide, and we never used the HDR option. We observed some corner softness, but it's rather minor.
The foliage rendering and the grass needs some work as the noise-suppression algorithm often mistakes it for noise and smears the fine detail. Moire fringes can be noticed in some busy scenes, too. But none of these shortcomings is too major and the overall impression is more than great.
Realme XT 16MP photos
There is the so-called Ultra 64MP mode if you want to shoot in 64MP. The Samsung GW1 sensor can take full-resolution photos although you stand to gain very little extra detail due to the Quad Bayer nature of the sensor. For cases when resolution is crucial (and light is great) you can resort to that, but the 20MB typical file size means you'll only be wasting space if you use it for your average photo.
Realme XT 64MP photos
Here is a side by side comparison to see how much extra detail you can get in an ideal scenario. In most cases the difference will be even smaller. Also note that it comes at the price of extra noise even when the 64MP sample is downscaled to 16MP.
Moving on to the Chroma boost mode that enhances saturation slightly and makes for livelier shots. If you want your colors to pop but not over the top - you may want to try it. It works by stacking images of different exposure so it also increases dynamic range and you may get some clipped highlights restored.
Realme XT 16MP photos with Chroma Boost
There is another benefit of having such a big sensor and higher resolution - you get more resolution for cropping or digital zooming - so even though there isn't a telephoto camera, you can still shoot 2x photos of more decent quality.
Realme XT 16MP 2X zoomed photos
That's the theory anyway, in practice we found that the XT produces inferior results compared to what you can get if you just crop the center from the 64MP image without any further enhancements involved. This gets you a more detailed image and lower noise levels as shown below.
But, wait. Let's think for a minute. If you downscale the 16MP default 2X images to 8MP then you will get a very good and sharp enough photo that will match most of the 8MP telephoto snappers available on non-flagship smartphones these days. Or you can shoot in 64MP and then manually crop the center and have one very detailed zoomed photo at the price of some hassle.
Nobody has asked for this, but Realme also offers a 5x zoom toggle. It's all digital of course and it doesn't produce a great quality photo but it will at least adjust the exposure well for your intended framing so it's better than merely cropping an existing 1x image.
Realme XT 16MP 5X zoomed photos
Moving on to the 119-degree ultrawide camera, which lets you either fit significantly more of the scene into the frame or get real close and create a dramatic perspective. It applies distortion correction automatically, so you don't have the option to get the full frame.
The resolved detail is uninpressive, and the dynamic range is limited even when the Auto HDR was triggered. On a positive note - the distortion correction did work as advertised and the noise is kept low.
Realme XT 8MP ultrawide photos
We took a couple of macro samples from the dedicated 2MP macro camera. You can get in really close to the subject, but the detail isn't that great. Once again we aren't far from the results you can achieve if you crop the center portion of the main camera.
Realme XT 2MP macro photos
Now, let's see what happens when the light is low, and we start again with the primary camera. Its 16MP default photos turned out good with decent detail left even after the noise reduction, while the colors are a nicely rendered.
Realme XT 16MP low-light photos
The Chroma boost mode at night won't give you much more detail, but it add a bit more to the color saturation. By the way, you can use the Chroma boost mode in combination with most of the other modes available on the Realme XT, save for Nightscape.
Realme XT 16MP low-light photos with Chroma Boost
You can use the Ultra 64MP mode in low-light, too, but it makes little sense. You get no extra detail and you just end up with a larger image.
And here are some full-res images.
Realme XT 64MP low-light images
The zoom toggles are available in low-light, of course. We won't even bother to discuss the 5X images, but the 2x ones deserve a mention. The software crops from the center of the original 64MP image from the main camera and some frame stacking might be involved, as well, since photos are surprisingly usable.
Realme XT 16MP 2x zoomed low-light photos
Nightscape is present on the XT and is improved over the previous generations. It is the same pseudo long exposure night mode you'd find on many other smartphones and takes about 2-3 seconds to take a picture. There's a boost in the shadows and the dark skies, and the saved photo is much more evenly exposed than the regular one.
The detail is impressive, more than we expected, so cheers to that. It's worth noting that the Nightscape mode crops a bit and that's why the samples below are 12MP instead of 16MP.
Realme XT 12MP Nightscape photos
Shooting with the 8MP ultrawide camera at night should only be done in extreme cases - you get underexposed shots with plenty of noise and little detail.
Realme XT 8MP ultrawide low-light photos
Nightscape can be used to help the ultrawide snapper a bit but results are still rather mediocre.
Realme XT 8MP ultrawide Nightscape photos
Portraits
The Realme XT shoots portraits with its main 64MP snapper and with the help of the 2MP so-called portrait camera. Realme says this tiny camera is not just a depth sensor but is also used to enhance the contrast of the said portraits.
Well, we can't be certain what's going on behind the scenes but the Realme XT takes excellent portraits with competent subject detection and convincing background blur. A messy haircut was a big challange and caused a few issues, but overall the shots are still great.
Realme XT 16MP portraits
Selfies
The Realme XT has the same 16MP f/2.0 selfie camera as the OnePlus 7 and the focus stays fixed. On the software side, there are all sorts of beatification enhancement options like skin smoothing and eye enlargement and face thinning, and whatnot.
When light is in abundance and the lowest ISO is used you'll get super detailed and sharp selfies. The last selfie was shot in HDR.
Realme XT 16MP selfies
You can use portrait mode for selfies, too. Those are saved in 8MP instead of 16MP, but being based entirely on computational photography only turned good for very specific subjects.
Realme XT 8MP portrait selfies
It's worth mentioning that anything less than ideal light, or shot in HDR, will result in a drop in sharpness.
Video recording
The Realme XT captures videos only with its main 64MP camera. It can go up to 4K at 30fps but there's also 1080p and 720p at both 30fps and 60fps. Slow-mo options max out at 720p@960fps. You get to choose between the h.264 and h.265 codecs.
There's no mention of video stabilization in the menus or the viewfinder but Realme mentions EIS within the phone specs. We found that the electronic stabilization works only on 1080p at 30fps setting.
Just like on its previous phones, Realme is generous with the bit rates it uses to encode videos. 4K footage gets 50Mbps while 1080p/30fps is allocated a similarly above-average 20Mbps when using the h.264 codec. Same goes for audio - its bitrate is 320kbps, and it's a stereo stream.
The 4K picture is rich in detail, the colors are spot on, the noise is low, and the dynamic range is impressive. The trees and grass are smeared on occassion just like on the photos but it's not as pronounced. Certainly, those are among the better 4K videos we've seen, especially from a phone that cheap, though because of the high video bitrate the storage footprint is rather big - 35s video is about 200MB.
Moving on to 1080p videos. The 30fps clips are simply excellent with great amount of detail, lively colors and excellent contrast. The dynamic range is as impressive as on the 4K ones.
But since the 60fps clips have the same bitrate as the 30fps ones, their detail suffers and you can notice smeared detail right away.
Finally, we shot some 2X videos at both 4K and 1080p resolution. When inspecting the 4K ones, you can see those were digitally zoomed, but it's a great digital zoom nevertheless and will do just fine for when you need to shoot closer.
The 1080p clips are just as good as the non-zoomed footage - one of the benefits of having such a big 64MP sensor.
You can even shoot in 5X zoom but the clips don't even deserve to be published.
Finally, the front 16MP snapper can shoot up to 1080p videos at 30fps and there is an always on electronic stabilization. The quality is very good and the EIS is working as intended.
Wrap-up
The Realme XT is yet another feature-rich premium-looking smartphone that comes at a hard to believe price. The maker successfully climbs up from the entry level to the mid-range while retaining its amazing value-for money proposition.
While named as a successor to the X, the Realme XT is a actually somewhat of a combination between that and the 5 Pro. It has the OLED and the UD fingeprint scnner of the X, while the battery and chipset come from the 5 Pro. And then it adds the 64MP camera and it becomes a truly potent combo.
Realme 5 Pro, Realme XT, Realme X
And despite releasing so many phones Realme is doing a good job with their support so far - in fact the XT is already promised to receive Android 10 down the road, along with 7 of its siblings.
The best bit is that Realme XT's impressive resume stands to the test of real-life usage. The phone excelled in battery life, performance, its camera produces amazing shots and it also handles impressively.
Realme 5 Pro, Realme XT, Realme X
But here's the thing. Realme operates in just a few markets, and while they do cover close to three billion people between them, the rest of the world has a hard time taking advantage of great offers such as the XT.
Alternatives
Because of the supper aggressive pricing, it's hard to find direct rivals for the Realme XT. After all in the mid-range the name of the game is value for money and right now there's nothing to quite match its feature set at this price point.
Still, if you like the overall ColorOS user experience, but feel like the XT isn't your exact match, you can consider some of its stablemates. For a notch-less AMOLED experience at the expense of a less-versatile camera - there is the Realme X for you. Or if you can't quite stretch your budget this far - look no further than the Realme 5 Pro and Realme 5. Or even the Realme 3 Pro, which is still as relevant.
Realme X • Realme 5 Pro • Huawei nova 5T • Realme 3 Pro
Xiaomi and Realme had a bit of a race for who'd launch the first smartphone with a 64MP camera. And Redmi beat Realme to the Chinese market, while Realme won the battle for India. When they finally meet, they'll give each other the first form of meaningful competition.
Those two are share the 64MP cameras and offer chipsets of similar power. The Note 8 does pack a larger 4,500 mAh battery, while the Realme XT shines with an OLED panel.
Or, you may want to take a look at the Redmi Note 8. It's even cheaper than the XT and Note 8 Pro as Xiaomi opted for a 48MP snapper on the back instead of a 64MP, trimmed the battery capacity down to 4,000 mAh (same as Realme XT), and the selfie snapper isn't that impressive. It still lacks an OLED screen, of course.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 • Realme XT
The verdict
The Realme XT gets one of the easiest recommendations we've given - if you don't mind the notch and it fits within your budget you just can't go wrong with it. You'd be getting your money's worth and then some.
Now if only it was available in more markets...
Pros
- Dual Gorilla Glass 5 design, great looks and handling
- Excellent and large Super AMOLED
- Snappy and dependable performance
- Superb battery life and fast charging
- The 64MP snaps high-quality 16MP images day and night
- The portrait shots are impressive
- Great video quality on all resolutions
- Excellent selfies and stabilized selfie videos
- A dedicated microSD slot, 3.5mm jack, FM radio
Cons
- Limited regional availability
- The macro and ultrawide cameras are uninspiring
- EIS is only available at 1080@30fps
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