The realme GT 7 was launched in Malaysia about a month ago as the company’s “Flagship Killer”, promising premium features without hurting your wallet. For something that has been given such a punchy title, the smartphone seems pretty inconspicuous at first glance. But once you look beyond the unassuming appearance, there is a lot the GT 7 has to offer.

For an asking price of RM2,599, you’re getting a high-performing chipset (as far as MediaTek SoCs go), a massive battery, and a mostly highly capable set of cameras, among other things. The realme GT 7 does have a few drawbacks, but they are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.

Specifications

Looks and Functionality

I’ve already shared some of my initial thoughts on the device, so I won’t repeat myself here, but the long and short of it is that the realme GT 7 is a low-key pretty phone with a bright screen. For the most part, the phone left a pretty good first impression on me, and after taking it for a spin these few weeks it’s safe to say my thoughts remain positive.

That said, though, there are some design choices I do find questionable. The camera island occupies a lot of space, so it’s easy to end up touching the cameras by accident when holding the phone. On the flip side, it does make the device somewhat stable when it’s laid on a flat surface, so the wide camera bump is not all bad.

It is also worth mentioning that the back panel is pretty slippery, so if you want to avoid any gravity-related incidents, a case is highly recommended. In fact, one is already included in the box, just in case. As for the heat-dissipating graphene, I must admit that the phone does feel a touch cooler when left alone for a while, but that is the only time there is a discernible difference in temperature.

The phone ships with realme UI 6.0, which is based on Android 15. Overall, you get a pretty smooth user experience with a side of bloatware occupying space on your device. Of course, no modern phone is complete without some AI-powered features, and the GT 7 is no exception. Aside from the usual Circle to Search, the phone offers accessibility tools in the form of AI Planner and AI Smart Loop. Basically, the AI Planner will analyse what’s on your screen and add any events to your calendar for you. To use the feature, you first need to enable it in the settings manually.

Once enabled, you only need to tap the back of the phone twice, and all the particulars of the events displayed on your screen will be added to the calendar. The AI Planner definitely saves you the time and effort of manually filling in all the details, especially since it can add multiple events at once. All in all, it’s a pretty practical tool to have on hand, so I have no complaints.

Meanwhile, AI Smart Loop is a predictive feature that offers suggestions based on the content you have selected. Basically, you can drag images or text to a carousel of apps to quickly share them. It’s a pretty convenient tool, but it does feel somewhat superfluous, as a lot of AI features tend to be.

Performance and Battery

The phone runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 9400e, which as the name suggests, is part of the Dimensity 9400 lineup. While this series is designed for flagship-tier devices, the Dimensity 9400e is not quite on par with its older siblings in terms of raw performance. Even so, it’s an extremely capable chip, and the benchmark results are nothing to laugh at.

As far as I can tell, it handles pretty much everything like a champ, from the usual day-to-day stuff to multitasking and extended gaming sessions. Speaking of which, you can easily game for hours on the GT 7. In one session, I sank about five hours into Wuthering Waves with the settings turned all the way up at 60fps, and the game ran smooth as silk with pretty consistent frame rates and quick loading times.

The only limiting factor is the fact that the phone does get uncomfortably warm with prolonged use. For what it’s worth, though, it also cools down pretty quickly if you leave it alone, so you can get back into the game after a short break if you are so inclined.

The battery is arguably a highlight of the realme GT 7. The phone packs a massive 7,000mAh unit, which realme claims will last you about two days with moderate use. It’s safe to say that this checks out, as the smartphone has consistently lasted that long on a single charge. It’s definitely possible to squeeze another day of use if you forgo the doomscrolling too. As for the video marathon, the phone lasted a little over 18 hours.

Charging the phone also pretty quick. According to realme, it takes about 40 minutes to get the phone back to full battery from zero, and 14 minutes to fill it halfway. Based on my experience using the charger that comes in the box, it takes a little under an hour to fully charge the battery.

Camera

The GT 7 sports a triple camera setup consisting of a 50MP main sensor, a 50MP 2x telephoto lens, and an 8MP wide-angle camera. Overall, the main and telephoto cameras deliver strong results, capturing pictures with a lot of detail and clarity, with striking colours that are pretty accurate to real life.

It is worth noting that the camera comes with two colour modes, Crisp and Vibrant. The Crisp mode produces sharp and clear images with a neutral colour profile. Essentially, pictures taken with this mode look realistic, although in low-light conditions the colours may look a little muddy.

As for the Vibrant mode, it does exactly what it says on the tin, which is brightening the colours in the image for a more vivid look. It mostly brings out yellows, reds, and oranges, which makes for pictures with a sunny vibe. Personally, I’m not a fan of the Vibrant mode as it can make the colours look overly saturated, which can make the image feel cartoonish. That said, there are definitely some contexts where this mode can be useful, and it does make pictures taken in settings with poor lighting look, well, vibrant.

On the other hand, photos taken with the wide-angle camera aren’t particularly great, which is to be expected with an 8MP sensor. It doesn’t capture a ton of detail, and you get soft, blurred edges that resembles a watercolour painting. It’s accidentally artistic if you squint hard enough, but that’s hardly what one would typically want in a camera.

Sample Images

Competition

HONOR 400 Pro

Marketed as part of a “budget iPhone” lineup, the HONOR 400 Pro sports a 6.7-inch quad-curved 1.5K (2,800 x 1,280) AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, it runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The device is powered by a 6,000mAh battery with support for 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. For imaging, it comes equipped with a 200MP main + 50MP telephoto + 12MP wide-angle camera combo on the rear, and a 50MP selfie shooter. The entire package will set you back RM2,699.

iQOO Neo 10

On the cheaper end is the iQOO Neo 10, which is priced at either RM1,999 or RM2,199 depending on your chosen storage configuration of either 12GB + 256GB or 15GB + 512GB. The phone gets a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. As for internals, it runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 and is powered by a 7,000mAh with support for 120W charging and bypass charging. On the optics side, it gets a dual setup comprising a a 50MP main camera and a 8MP wide-angle lens, in addition to a 32MP front-facing camera.

Conclusion

Regardless of whether “Flagship Killer” is a fitting title, the realme GT 7 is a smartphone that can do it all, be it gaming or photography or simply just going back and forth between a million social media apps. There are a few minor drawbacks, like the lackluster wide-angle camera and a subdued design, but these aren’t necessarily dealbreakers.

All in all, the phone is a powerhouse that doesn’t disappoint, and it’s definitely the one to buy if you’re looking for a premium phone but don’t have the resources to sink into a proper flagship. At RM2,599, the device is a pretty worthwhile purchase, if you ask me.

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