Review of the Realme GT 7: Under Rs 40,000, with a powerful performance and a long-lasting battery, is it worth buying?

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One of the few phones that performs as promised is the Realme GT 7. After using it for a while, I can state with certainty that it functions as a flagship killer, as Realme claims. As if there were any question. The specifications are excellent. But it is always worth mentioning when smartphone brands walk the talk. Everything about the GT 7 feels flagship. Unlike other premium phones, this one doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket. The GT 7 has an understated look. It is super-durable with an IP69 rating. The display is high-quality, and the processor is fast as well as fairly efficient. The battery is a massive 7,000mAh unit and one can quickly top it up with the But it is always worth mentioning when smartphone brands walk the talk. Everything about the GT 7 feels flagship. Unlike other premium phones, this one doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket. The GT 7 has an understated look.

Elegant and high-end appearances

The design of the Realme GT 7 is reminiscent of that of the Realme GT 7 Pro. It’s fortunate that this new “affordable” model takes inspiration from the more expensive model. However, various adjustments are made to reduce the cost. The GT 7 has a fibreglass back and an outer frame made of plastic. The GT 7 Pro is made of metal and glass. The back of the GT 7 has a smooth matte finish. It doesn’t get smudged easily. The red accents on the power button and camera assembly give it just enough personality without being too flashy – this assembly is also less pronounced and so, it wobbles less on a surface than the GT 7 Pro.

The GT 7 has a 7,000mAh battery, but it feels surprisingly light. For a big-battery phone in its class, its 8.3mm and 206g weight are reasonable. Its boxy sides give it a contemporary appearance, while the back’s delicate curves—where it joins the frame—improve handling and grip. The screen has very few bezels and is entirely flat.

This phone has an IP69 rating. For those who don’t know, the ‘9’ ensures survival against high-pressure water jets and even steam cleaning, while the ‘6’ denotes complete dust resistance. Realme has even included an underwater photography mode to further emphasize this point, though we don’t advise submerging your phone in water for a quick poolside photo. The GT 7 software informs you right away that water damage is not covered under warranty, so if something goes wrong, you are essentially on your own.

Rich, colorful presentation with a few small eccentricities

It looks like the Realme GT 7 and its predecessor, the Realme GT 6, have the same display. It is a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED with a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz and a resolution of 1.5K. The brightness of this display is where it truly shines. You know about the highest brightness of 6,000 nits? That only applies to small portions of the screen when HDR is playing. The 1,600 nits high brightness mode is crucial for practical use; it’s bright enough for me to view my screen clearly even when I’m sitting in direct sunshine. The 10-bit color and Dolby Vision compatibility make HDR entertainment on JioHotstar or Netflix appear very good. Bright features like explosions or sunlight truly pop out, and dark situations have the correct amount of depth.

Although the default color palette is a tad warmer (this may be adjusted from the settings), the screen provides good visual quality. However, because I noticed some jitter when playing fast-paced videos like King Kong, Realme should have done a little better at optimizing the phone’s refresh rate. Additionally, it was a little erratic when performing daily things like using the calculator. Fortunately, there were no outward indications of the phone slowing down or experiencing erratic frame rates while playing games.

It is important to note that Realme has included a number of quality-of-life features to the GT 7, which further enhances the usefulness and practicality of the display. One of them is that it works with gloves, so presumably, the GT 7’s screen will remain usable during harsh winters. It also has rainwater smart touch, meaning that it can hold its own against ghost touches during rain and drizzle. Finally, the flat panel design makes it less susceptible to cracking and general wear and tear compared to a curved screen. Realme is using Corning’s Gorilla Glass 7i for protection.

Excellent performance with respectable heat control

MediaTek’s recently released Dimensity 9400e CPU makes its debut in India with the Realme GT 7. Although it may appear to be a more powerful version of the Dimension 9400, it is actually a hybrid of the 9400 and 9300+. It can be considered MediaTek’s response to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 from Qualcomm. The 9400e shares the same CPU layout (4x Cortex-X4 + 4x Cortex-A720 cores) and 4nm process as last year’s Dimensity 9300+ but misses out on the 9400’s faster clock speeds, newer Cortex-X925 cores, and superior GPU.

Benchmarks provide a fascinating narrative. The GT 7 outperformed most of its competitors with a multi-core score of 7,183 on Geekbench. Even more unexpected were Antutu’s 2.1 million results, which matched far more expensive Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones. Limitations were discovered by the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme test, though, as performance stability decreased to 34.9% after just two minutes, indicating significant throttling under prolonged load. However, one should not completely rely on benchmarks as real-world experience matters more.

Additionally, our test findings are excellent. Apps launch immediately, multitasking is seamless, and social media scrolling is slick. Gaming performance is particularly impressive for the price. You can run demanding games like Genshin Impact at high settings without many noticeable compromises. By default, it runs at High graphics settings with 30fps, which is a rarity for phones priced under Rs 40,000. Dropping to Medium setting with low shadow quality at 45fps made combat noticeably smoother, with no stutters during intense fights. While 60fps is achievable on low settings, the visual downgrade might not be worth it for most players. Additionally, the haptic feedback is not that strong, something which I noticed while playing BGMI but it doesn’t ruin the overall experience and the Gaming performance is particularly impressive for the price.

Thermal management is good, in my opinion. The phone’s temperature reached 46 degrees Celsius during benchmarking. While playing games for one to two hours and taking several pictures in the glaring sun, it became very heated. The bright side is that it cools off rapidly as well.

Regarding the software experience, the gadget comes pre-installed with Android 15 OS. There are numerous third-party programs pre-installed on the Realme GT 7, which is known as bloatware. Even if the most of them are uninstallable, a cleaner interface right out of the box improves the experience.

Long battery life and quick charging

The 7,000mAh battery of the Realme GT 7 is built to last. With casual use that included surfing, texting, Instagram scrolling, some binge-watching, and a few quick photo shoots, it easily lasted over two days. The battery drains a bit more quickly after two to three hours of play. However, the majority of users will be able to use this phone for one and a half days. It supports 120W charging, taking just about 15 minutes to go from 2 to 50 percent with a compliant charger that Realme bundles in the box at no extra charge. This is quite impressive for times when you need quick charges just before heading out of home.

Although they are good, cameras may be improved.

With a primary 50-megapixel sensor, the Realme GT 7’s camera performance is competitive with competitors in its price range. Photographs are crisp and detailed in the daylight. The colors are often vivid and natural, and the dynamic range is respectable. The white balance is erratic, though. At times, the images lean towards a warmer tone. This might lead to a cinematic effect but conversely, some might think the colours are washed out.

There are more restrictions with the 8-megapixel ultrawide camera. This was largely to be expected given its low resolution. Sharpness decreases and details appear mushy, with a small distortion discernible. The colors are fine, however occasionally the exposure seems strange. On a positive note, there’s no noticeable colour banding or purple fringing.

For portrait shooting, the 50-megapixel 2x telephoto camera works really well. Under normal lighting circumstances, it manages skin tones naturally and captures realistic textures and acceptable background blur. Additionally impressive is edge detection, particularly in the vicinity of the hair. However, the outcomes aren’t always reliable. Although Realme offers manual control for blur adjustment, it isn’t always reliable. It’s kind of a mixed bag when it comes to close-up photography. Colours are usually good, but the camera struggles with very close focusing.

The GT 7 performs admirably in low light conditions. Ordinary images are notably faint and noisy. There is a limit to the dynamic range. Night mode does help brighten the image and bring out more detail, but noise remains visible. Overall, the Realme GT 7 offers a capable camera setup for its price, but with some room for improvement — especially in low light, ultra-wide shots, and close-up focusing.

Review of the Realme GT 7: Is it a good purchase?

A well-rounded phone with good value for less than Rs 40,000 is the Realme GT 7. With robust daily performance, a sizable and vivid display, an extended battery life, and surprisingly fast charging speeds, it hits the mark. With this phone, Realme has also taken some daring measures, such as an IP69 rating and a huge 7,000mAh battery, without making the gadget unsightly or heavy. While the camera setup is more than capable in daylight, it still has some inconsistencies especially in ultra-wide and low-light shots.

If you are looking for a dependable daily driver with a flagship-like experience in most areas — especially battery, performance, and display — the GT 7 is a solid pick. At this price, it does a lot of things well, but it won’t be able to match real flagships in every way.