At the beginning of this year, the realme GT2 came out as a high-end flagship image, and its back cover was made of bio-based materials, which was quite innovative. Half a year later, the GT2 Explorer Master Edition comes with a brand-new design, the texture of the back cover is further upgraded, and more upgrades are brought on top of retaining the straight-screen design. For example, a narrower frame, higher appearance, and a hidden shoulder button design and X7 independent graphics chip in the game scene. These are all upgrades that really improve the user experience. This time, you can trust the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition.
realme GT2 Master Edition specs and features:
- 6.7-inch Screen, 2412×1080, 120Hz
- Snapdragon 8+ Processor
- LPDDR5X+X7 Independent Graphics Chip
- 5000mAh Battery, 100W Fast Charge
- Hidden Shoulder Button Design
- 50MP+50MP+2MP AI Triple Cameras
- $553 – Check latest price on AliExpress (Official Store)
Appearance Design & Screen
Although the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition is a GT2 series, its exterior design is very different from the GT2. When I first got the phone, I was surprised that the phone chose a right-angle metal frame design. But then I was attracted by the white back cover, which brought a slightly cool and very delicate feel after multiple complicated processes. Yes, the back cover is made of glass, you can rest assured. And this back cover will not be stained with visible fingerprints at all, which is very worry-free.
The lens is a triangular symmetrical design, which I personally think is not bad, at least not a strange design. The next thing that surprised me was the moment when the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition screen lit up.
The realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition uses a 6.7-inch screen with a resolution of 2412×1080, a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, a touch sampling rate of 360Hz, and an instantaneous sampling rate of 1000Hz. The front is covered with Corning Gorilla 5th generation protective glass. This screen is from BOE and is a screen produced in China. The actual look and feel is not bad, and the non-curved screen design will surely attract many users.
The screen ratio of the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition is very high, with an upper frame of 1.84mm, a lower frame of 2.37mm, and a left and right frame of 1.48mm, which is not inferior even to the iPhone. The front earpiece is also a hidden design. In terms of the positive appearance alone, I believe that the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition should be the best-performing Chinese phone this year.
The overall weight of the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition is controlled at around 199g, and the body thickness is only 8.17mm. Although it is a right-angle frame design, the grip is better than expected, and there is no obvious cutting feel. For me, the plus point of the exterior design is the restrained and cool white back cover, which is very comfortable to look at or touch. By the way, this phone also packs a 5000mAh large battery in a relatively thin and light body and supports 100W fast charging, which can be regarded as the industry’s first 100-watt large battery solution.
It is worth mentioning that in the developer options, the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition also provides the DC dimming function. For friends who are more sensitive to screen flicker, remember to turn on the DC dimming after getting the phone.
Performance and Gaming Experience
The realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition uses the Snapdragon 8+ processor, although from the name and processor core frequency, the Snapdragon 8+ is only a small upgrade of the Snapdragon 8. However, the process adopts TSMC 4nm, and the Snapdragon 8+ has also been greatly improved in the actual experience. In addition to the Snapdragon 8+, the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition also uses LPDDR5X memory for the first time, which reduces power consumption by 20% compared to the previous generation, and also has UFS3.1 flash memory.
AnTuTu scored more than 1.07 million points, GeekBench test single-core 1302 points, multi-core total score 3883 points. The 3DMark Wilde Life test directly reached the limit, so we changed it to the 3DMark Wide Life Extreme test, and the measured score was 2790 points. In the 3D Mark Wilde Life stress test, the best score of realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition was 10482, the lowest was 9628, and the stability reached 91.9%. The performance output under the stress test is relatively stable.
In order to enhance the experience and performance in the game scene, the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition first uses the X7 independent graphics chip, and also brings the design of a hidden shoulder button. What does the X7 independent graphics chip bring? The most important thing is the power consumption reduction function of frame insertion. The improvement of X7 is also that the delay is reduced during frame insertion, and it supports up to 4 times frame insertion technology. For example, in the “One Piece Hot Blood Route” game, it supports 30fps to 120fps, but I also expect 4x frame insertion to be applied in more games.
The design of the hidden shoulder button is very good, and it can basically come in handy in horizontal screen games. And with the linear motor of the X axis, it feels very cool to vibrate. “Honor of King”, which I personally like to play, is very suitable for mapping some functions to the shoulder button. Such as map zooming in on the map, quickly open a store, and more. And the hidden shoulder button will not destroy the overall design aesthetic of the phone in daily use, which is very important.
In the actual gaming experience, what surprised me the most was the temperature control of the game on the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition. In the “Honor of King” test, the highest resolution frame insertion was selected to 120fps, and the two rounds of more than 30 minutes were very smooth. In a room with a room temperature of about 25 °C, the highest temperature of the mobile phone can be seen on the metal middle frame through the thermal imager, which is 37.4 °C.
In the “Genshin Impact” test, when the optimized power consumption in the frame insertion function is turned on, the average frame rate is also maintained at around 54 frames. And the maximum temperature of the mobile phone that can be seen through the thermal imager is only 42.4 ℃. Compared with the frame rate and thermal performance of some previous Snapdragon 8 mobile phones, it is really much stronger.
It is worth mentioning that the X7 also has a game super-resolution function, that is, the low-resolution content is expanded to a high-resolution through an algorithm. The realme GT2 Master Explorer Edition also debuted “Genshin Impact” and “Game For Peace” in full HD through this feature. Therefore, the “Genshin Impact” on the realme GT2 Master Explorer Edition does not castrate the resolution, but will have a higher definition.
Photography Experience
Although the design of the rear camera of the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition has changed, the photography configuration has not changed. The main camera is still the well-received 50MP Sony IMX766 and supports OIS optical image stabilization. In addition, there is a 50MP ultra-wide angle that can shoot fisheye, and a very distinctive macro lens.
Needless to say, IMX766 can take good photos easily. And with the polishing again and again, the photo effect of the IMX766 is getting better and better. The resolution and camera speed in night scene mode have also been improved.
This time the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition also brings a 2x ultra-clear zoom function. When shooting at 2x, the phone quickly captures 8 photos and then performs 8-in-1 processing to improve the clarity of the photos. After all, the main camera IMX766 has a good foundation, so cropped to double the image, you can see that the image quality performance is indeed relatively good.
The ultra-wide-angle fisheye lens can bring more novel ways to play, but this time I am more interested in microscope lens. Especially the function of detecting skin quality, it is quite practical to refer to the skin quality. However, this function requires someone else to help use it. After all, for macro shooting with face stickers, the availability rate of photos taken from selfies is really a bit low.
Charging & Battery Life
In terms of charging, the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition supports 100W fast charging, and introduces gallium nitride material on the mobile phone for the first time, which effectively reduces the heating of the mobile phone during charging. Moreover, the mobile phone also has a built-in battery health engine, which can still have more than 80% of the capacity after the battery can achieve 1,600 complete cycles under fast charging. According to our tests, the phone can be charged from 2% to 45% in 10 minutes, 80% in 20 minutes, and 100% in 30 minutes.
In terms of battery life, the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition has a large 5000mAh battery after all. Thanks to the upgrade of Snapdragon 8+, there will be no embarrassing situations such as severe fever in daily use, so the battery life is still good, and there is no problem in moderate use for a day.
Check the realme GT2 Explorer Master Edition price:
- Check latest price on AliExpress (Official Store)
