realme GT 8 Pro Review – Sleek Flagship with first ever Ricoh GR camera system tested

When it comes to phones, realme is mostly associated with their affordable line-up of budget devices and slates but they’re steadily carving out a name for themselves when it comes to flagship phones. Their newly released flagship, the realme GT 8 Pro, is among the first phones in Malaysia with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and is a credible shot across the bow of established competitors, especially with its Ricoh GR–enhanced imaging system.

Ahead of their launch, we got our hands on a retail sample for field testing. After taking it for a spin, here’s our realme GT 8 Pro review where we share if it’s worth your money!

realme GT 8 Pro review – Build and Design

The realme GT 8 Pro is the successor to last year’s GT 7 Pro and is the first phone from their foundries to feature technology and imaging algorithms from their collaboration with Ricoh GR in their rear triple camera. 

Compared to its predecessor the GT 7 Pro, the realme GT 8 Pro has been upgraded in almost every way. Not only is it slightly lighter at 218g, it’s also slightly thinner too while packing a slightly larger and brighter AMOLED display, the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, a slightly larger battery and a massively upgunned 200MP Ultra Clarity telephoto camera that also benefits from Ricoh’s imaging knowhow. The Urban Blue variant is slightly lighter on account of its different paint job.

Upgrades aside, the realme GT 8 Pro has a unique aspect to its design that no other flagship phone has – swappable camera bumps. Users can simply unscrew the two torx screws holding the housing down and swap it out for another. By default, the phone comes with a rounded camera bump though an optional pack includes a square-shaped bump and a corresponding TPU casing with a square-shaped cutout. 

Other bump variants seen come in different colourways including a rather fetching translucent-orange square-shaped design but are primarily either round or square-shaped on account of the dimensions of the case and the placement of the screws. 

On pure novelty alone, the provision of swappable camera bumps makes for a very innovative feature especially for a flagship smartphone and it’s something that hasn’t been done yet by any of the competition. Unfortunately, there aren’t many options available to choose from at launch though this will likely change later on as the design and concept become more widespread and third party options become available.

Beyond the camera bump swapping mechanics, our realme GT 8 Pro review sample retains the usual hallmarks of contemporary smartphone design. You get a flat AMOLED display up front, rounded corners with flat edges and an otherwise flat backplate that’s done up in a matte white paint job that realme has dubbed as Diary White.

In Malaysia, it can also be acquired in the aforementioned shade of Urban Blue. A more limited edition Dream Edition variant has also been spotted that has the signature Lime Essence green livery of the Aston Martin Aramco F1 racing team with the logo on the back.

Even after a week plus of use as a daily driver, the finish on our realme GT 8 Pro review sample in Diary White remained in relatively pristine condition with its matte white finish resisting smudges and fingerprints quite well.

Beyond the matte white-finish of the backplate the phone has its sides done up in silver which adds a pleasant contrast to the design. In keeping with its status as realme’s latest premier flagship phone, the realme GT 8 Pro also supports wireless charging with the charging coil located on the rear backplate; its predecessor the GT 7 Pro lacked wireless charging support.

The base of our realme GT 8 Pro review unit comes with a SIM card tray, a USB-C port and a grille for one of the two speakers. While the left side is otherwise unremarkable save for a pair of antenna bands, the right has the customary power button and volume rocker with the top hosting an IR blaster to remotely control other appliances like air conditioners, lights and the like.

Up front, the phone has an impressively appointed 6.79-inch 2K AMOLED HyperGlow display with slim bezels on all sides, QHD+ (3,136 x 1,440 pixels) resolution, up to a 144Hz refresh rate, up to 7,000 nits peak brightness and a quoted 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut.

You also get an ultrasonic fingerprint reader in the lower quadrant of the phone as well as a punch hole for the single 32MP selfie camera. Just above the display in a tiny slit is the second speaker along with an earpiece for taking calls.

Overall build quality for the realme GT 8 Pro is flagship-grade with an even heft, premium feel and superior ergonomics that make it comfortable for one-handed use. Of note is that the phone has a robust IP66, IP68 and IP69 rated dust and water resistance rating which allows it to shrug off the odd dip or two in up to 1.5 metres of fresh water for up to 30 minutes while being able to resist incoming jets of water.

realme has also included Corning Gorilla Glass to protect the screen from nicks and scratches though it isn’t exactly clear what category of glass they’ve used as it’s omitted from the official literature.

@hitechcentury The new realme GT 8 Pro is an innovative design that has swappable camera housings! We unbox the realme GT 8 Pro and swap out the camera cover. That’s not all, it came with a special gift too! #realmegt8pro #hitechcentury #malaysia #techtok #unboxing ♬ The possibilities are endless in a Swedish house(1625521) – Jille.

Just to sweeten the pot, realme has also tossed in a full array of extra free gear with the phone including a fast 120W SuperVOOC charger, a protective case matched to the default rounded camera bump that is preinstalled on the phone, a preinstalled screen protector, a USB-C cable and a screwdriver to swap out the camera bumps.

realme GT 8 Pro review – Performance and Benchmarks

The realme GT 8 Pro is armed for bear with an impressive array of hardware. The phone is powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor.

You also get realme’s own Hyper Vision+ AI Chip that works with the main CPU for parallel rendering for gaming. On paper, it allows for up to a 144Hz refresh rate with 2.4x increased smoothness by offering higher frame rates via the Hyper Frame Rate setting and Hyper HDR for sharper graphics, all activated via realme’s GT Mode game manager. To further enhance its capabilities to tackle intensive tasks, it has a 7,000mm² vapour chamber that shunts heat away from critical areas.

Of note with realme UI 7.0 is the inclusion of a new AI Notify Brief that attempts to cull critical notifications into one page for easy reading.

@hitechcentury Check out the UI improvements in the new realme GT 8 Pro and discover its camera capabilities with our test results after taking it for a whirl around town! Designed in collaboration with Ricoh, the realme GT 8 Pro’s RICOH GR imaging system offers an impressive showing straight out of the starting gate! @realme.my #ricohgr #realmegt8procamera #hitechcentury #malaysia ♬ Children (Edit Mix) – Tinlicker & Robert Miles

Another feature is AI Framing Master that is able to help improve photo compositions by suggesting the best way to frame a shot. You’re also able to dynamically assign up to 12GB of virtual RAM off the provided 512GB of storage. 

That quibble aside, the phone has access to all the recent AI-enhanced features prevalent in Android phones of recent vintage including Google Gemini AI assistant and a Circle to Search mode by holding down the home button which also lets you gain access to screen translate and to find out the name of a music track being played.

Another unique addition is their new AI Notify Brief that combines your notifications, upcoming calendar events and combines them into a schedule for easier reading.

Realme’s other tools include its generative edit features like AI Eraser and their AI Edit Genie that lets you edit photos with either typed or voice commands.

Here’s how our realme GT 8 Pro review sample for the Malaysia market stacks up on paper:

 

Price	RM4,299 (standard) RM4,699 (Aston Martin variant)
Display	6.79-inch HyperGlow AMOLED, 3,136 x1,440 pixels, 144Hz refresh rate, 7,000 nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3, 360Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+, Dolby Vision
Processor	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
OS	Android 16 w/ realme UI 7.0
Memory	16GB LPDDR5X RAM / 512GB UFS 4.1 storage
Camera	50MP f/1.8 main camera w/ Sony IMX906 sensor + OIS and EIS, 200MP f/2.6 telephoto camera w/ Samsung HP5 sensor + OIS and EIS, 50MP f/2.0 ultra wide angle camera [rear] | 32MP f/2.4 [front]
Battery	7,000mAh Titan battery w/ 120W Ultra Charge + 50W wireless charge
Size/Weight	161.8 x 78.87 x 8.2mm /218g (Diary White variant)

While variants exist with 12GB RAM and lesser amounts of storage in other regions, Malaysia only gets the 16GB RAM/ 512GB variant in multiple different colourways. With the maximum amount of 12GB virtual RAM, our realme GT 8 Pro review sample got the following synthetic benchmarks:

3D Mark Steel Nomad Light	2,897
3D Mark Steel Nomad Light Ultd	2,906
3D Mark Solar Bay Extreme	1,087
3D Mark Solar Bay Extreme Ultd	1,243
3D Mark Solar Bay	13,542
3D Mark Solar Bay Unlimited	13,764
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	7,306
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Ultd	7,165
Geekbench 6 CPU	3,564
Geekbench 6 GPU	10,429
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	24,906
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	27,873
PCMark Work 3.0	301,85
PC Mark Work 3.0 Battery Life	24 hours 31 min

In terms of synthetic benchmarks, our realme GT 8 Pro review sample with its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 outpaced its predecessor the GT 7 Pro with its Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset in almost every way with excellent single, multicore and graphics performance. 

Where it falters though is heat management. Even with the enhanced size of the vapour chamber, our realme GT 8 Pro review unit gets uncomfortably hot such that it wasn’t able to complete the Steel Nomad Light Stress test.

To be fair, the stress tests in 3D Mark typically simulate scenarios that users usually wouldn’t encounter in day to day use. While it does get warm to the touch in extended use especially when gaming, the phone is still comfortable enough to wield with the provided casing acting as an insulator of sorts.

Under more practical usage scenarios, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 was easily able to tackle gaming such as Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact on High settings and handle editing on CapCut without issue.

Out of the box, the AMOLED display on our realme GT 8 Pro review unit was preset to 2,352 x 1080 pixels resolution for better endurance though it can be pushed to its maximum 3,136 x 1,440 resolution at the expense of lower battery life. Alternatively, you can let it select screen resolution as well as refresh rate with your choice of either 60Hz or 144Hz depending on what content is being displayed onscreen.

On default settings, the display offered good colour rendition and detail with sufficient brightness for viewing outdoors under direct sunlight.

The 144Hz refresh rate doesn’t appear in all games or applications and is highly dependent on if the app supports it but by and large, the phone defaults to about 60Hz in static scenarios like reading a page and bumps up to 120hz when navigating the menus and sticks to 60Hz in most games and apps. Currently, only a few apps support 144Hz, among them Call of Duty Mobile.

As mentioned, the realme GT 8 Pro has a stereo speaker setup and it acquits itself well with good volume and decent detail especially for gaming duties and running through the odd Spotify playlist or two.

With default 2,352 x 1080 pixels resolution, a 60Hz refresh rate and normal usage with web browsing, a few minutes worth of phone calls, light gaming and social media, our realme GT 8 Pro review sample was comfortably able to last close to two days, needing a top up come late evening on day two.

In PC Mark’s battery life test, it yielded an impressive 24 hours and 31 minutes of battery life. Charging the large 7,000mAh battery also proved to be surprisingly fast with the bundled charger, getting a full charge from dead zero in about 45 minutes or so.

All in, the cutting edge hardware and the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor ensures that the realme GT 8 Pro offers superior performance though the foibles of realme UI , in particular its plethora of bloatware, make it a bit of a sore point though it isn’t a deal breaker by any means.

realme GT 8 Pro review – Cameras

realme is placing even greater emphasis on photography this time around and the rear triple camera setup, dubbed the Ricoh GR Camera System has a distinct emphasis on being the ‘ultimate snap shooter’ to differentiate it from the competition with a special Ricoh GR mode.

Separate from the customary portrait mode, Ricoh GR mode is a unique setting that has 28mm, 35mm, 40mm and 50mm focal lengths to choose from with Ricoh GR’s colour science for easy point-and-shoot performance in street photography scenarios.

You also get five classic Ricoh GR film tones to choose from that mimic traditional film – a heavily saturated Positive Film setting, a softer retro Negative Film setting, the default Standard setting, a Hi-Contrast B&W for a mono shot and a monotone setting for less intense contrast.

It’s not just hardware alone, realme has also heavily upgunned the cameras of the GT 8 Pro to let it stand toe to toe with other flagship phones on paper.

Taking the lead is a 200MP Periscope Telephoto camera with a 1/1.56-inch Samsung HP5 sensor with an f/2.6 aperture and optical image stabilisation that is capable of 3x optical zoom and up to 12x lossless zoom. Alongside the telephoto camera is the main 50MP f/1.8 camera which also has OIS and a 50MP f/2.0 ultrawide angle camera. 

Combined this setup allows for up to 8K@30fps video capture and up to 4K@120fps video capture along with up to 120x digital zoom for photos and up to 10x digital zoom if you’re filming in 8K and up to 30x digital zoom if you’re filming in 4K. The cameras can also record in Log if you aim to edit footage in post.

For selfies and video calls, the single front facing 32MP f/2.4 camera is a fixed focus design capable of up to 4K@60fps video.

In daylight conditions, the rear triple cameras offer good detail and well saturated colours out to about 6x zoom with a noticeable sharpening on textures in some shots such as this image which sees the skies and foliage in the shot at 1x zoom enjoying a HDR-style effect.

Beyond that, there’s some smearing with repeated textures like foliage at higher zoom levels beyond 6x but it’s otherwise viewable if you’re not pixel peeping.

At 120x, you’ll need extremely steady hands, with the computational photography algorithms and cameras doing their best work with scenery and architecture. Ricoh GR’s tuning has also ensured good portraiture with lifelike skin tones and good detail with the rear cameras on auto settings.

 

In low light conditions, the cameras on our realme GT 8 Pro review unit were able to offer good levels of detail even with challenging lighting conditions while retaining pleasant colour rendition when you keep shots below 6x zoom. 

When it comes to videos, the rear cameras work best at 4K resolution retaining an effective balance of detail, colour rendition, smoothness and file size; while 8K video capture is possible, it’s still impractical to edit though it is a nice back-up option to have.

What makes the realme GT 8 Pro unique is its new Ricoh GR camera mode for the rear cameras. For the uninitiated, the new Ricoh GR camera mode has a set of unique colour tweaks to lend shots a distinct Ricoh look with your choice of 28mm and 40mm focal lengths and your choice of a high-contrast and more modest mono filter mode and a smattering of colour presets to choose from as well as a distinct capsule-shaped shutter release button.

Shots, particularly in high contrast mode look beautifully moody, helping to lend normal looking shots a sense of depth and mystery. It’s a fun way to add some extra creative zing to shots.

In contrast, mugshots and videos from the 32MP selfie front camera were decent for a flagship though more specialised designs with greater emphasis on selfies still outperform it.

 

Should you buy the realme GT 8 Pro?

The realme GT 8 Pro offers excellent performance for work and gaming duties thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, good endurance thanks to its massive 7,000mAh battery that offers fast wired and wireless charging and a powerful rear Ricoh GR camera system that delivers good image quality and videos. 

The phone also has the innovative ability to swap different camera bumps to taste and lets you truly personalise the look of your phone. While it is a welcome addition, it’s a bit of a one trick pony as you’re not likely to do this more than once. 

That quibble aside, the realme GT 8 Pro is a surprising dark horse of a flagship phone, offering top-shelf performance, cameras and battery life and at a competitive price point compared to other devices with a similar chipset, more so for the fact that they bundle in a charger and a case too with the phone. 

realme GT 8 Pro review sample courtesy of realme Malaysia. For more details and to purchase please visit https://www.realme.com/my/