Today Realme is bringing its latest technological breakthrough to the European market and in particular to the UK in the form of the:

• GT Neo 3 with onboard charging speeds of 150W/80W (model dependant)via wired charge
• GT Neo3T with Snapdragon 87
• GT NEO 3T Dragon Ball Z Edition

These devices bring some great new tech to the entry and mid-tier price points

Here is the press release from Realme’s launch event

Some pretty cool stuff there I am sure you would agree and it gets better as I have been lucky enough to get a device to use over the last few days which I will be sharing a full review with you shortly, but for the moment here are some shots of the Realme GT Neo 3 150W in all its glory for you to behold.

The post Realme announce the GT Neo 3 series is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

On Thursday I was able to attend our great capital of London to attend a launch event being hosted in the Tate Modern to launch Honor’s latest flagship in the UK the Honor Magic 4 Pro.

A few other ancillary devices also accompanied the phone’s launch in the form of the new Honor Watch GS 3 and the Honor Buds Pro. These other devices were mentioned in passing, but the event’s main focus was all on the Honor Magic Pro 4.

This is a true Flagship contender from the reawakened brand of Honor and it has some pretty big claims that from an initial first look it will be able to stand up to.

I got a very brief hands-on whilst I was at the event, but I will be conducting a full review of the device in due course. Before I dive into the details of the device I will cover the important news about what this will cost for you to buy outright.

The Phone will be launched in two different colours with both being available with a Storage of 256GB and 8GB of RAM with a launch price of £949.99. it will go on general sales on the 27th of May however if you are looking to grab a great deal then the pre-orders will open tomorrow for the same price with some added goodies in the form of the Watch GS 3 Ocean Blue & SuperCharge Wireless Charger Stand & Magic 4 Pro PU Case. This deal is available from 13/05 to 26/05, and is a gift package worth ￡324 which is nothing to be sneezed at!! See more at this link Honor Store

In terms of the event, it went through quite a lot about what makes this device a great new device for Honor to bring to the market i am going to go through some of the highlights now. I will try and give you a bit of a feel for the device from my limited hand on time that i was able to get and the presentation that we witnessed.

The display of the phone is one of its key features as it should be given that this is where you will interact with the phone. It is comprised of a 6.81″ Flex OLED panel which is of LPTO construction. The Screen also sports an eye pleasing Pulse Width Modulation rate of 1920Hz so it should be kind to your eyes. In addition to this, it will allow for an adaptable refresh rate all way down to 1 Hz and up to 120hz. This is called Honor motion Sync and is new to the Honor Magic 4 Pro.

The screen resolution comes in at 1312 x 2848 giving a PPI of 4060 whilst also being able to display 1 billion colours. We also have 100%DCI-P3 colour gamut support and HDR 10+. All of this display wizardry is actually made possible by the phone having its very own display Chipset which allows the active conversion of low frame rate videos to a higher frame rate resulting in silky smooth video, which in itself will have also be uprate to HDR by the Always on HDR technology

Moving onto the next big feature of the phone, the camera. When you look at the phone from the back you are greeted with the camera module which Honor is referring to as “The Eye of Muse”!

Whilst this may be some very fancy marketing speak there is indeed a lot going on around the back of the phone. So within this module are 3 camera sensors, comprising a 50Mp Main Camera, a 50MP Ultrawide and finally a 64MP Periscope Telephoto unit. In addition to all of the main sensors, we also have an 8×8 dTOF multipoint laser focus sensor to ensure that the camera is as focused as possible in the quickest amount of time. Lastly here is a Flicker sensor to reduce that flicker effect when taking photos.

Here are more detailed specs for all the camera sensors.

I think it fair to say that this camera sounds mighty impressive however these sensors are not any good unless there is a great computation behind them. This is where Honor’s Ultra-Fusion Computational Photography comes in. This enables the device to produce high-definition images in stunning clarity, even when shot from afar.

In essence, the idea behind this is that the camera sensors will all work together to produce the best focused, sharpest and cleanest image they can. The computational side will stitch all these images together and apply the colour engine to create the final image all of this in mere seconds. This is all being powered by the heart of the phone the mighty Snapdragon 8 Gen1 Chipset which is included Snapdragon Sight which is the ISP for the camera.

Now before I move entirely away from the camera I also want to circle back around to something I mentioned earlier, which was IMAX Enhanced. This is a term we are used to seeing in Cinemas these days so why am I mentioning it on a phone with a relatively small display (when compared to the behemoth of IMAX cinemas) Well that is down to something Honor is calling Magic Log.

For those in the know, this is the ability to capture videos in a glorious 10bit 4K 60fps thanks to Log recording. What is Log Recording and why should I care will here is an explanation in as simple terms as I can put it or understand it! Essentially when recording using a log (logarithmic)profile you are able to preserve the dynamic range and tonality of what you are recording better The end result is that when you playback the finished article you will get much truer to life representation of the footage. Having more dynamic range to play with will also allow for more flexibility when it comes to editing the masterpiece you just captured. So this will be beneficial to any budding Stephen Spielbergs out there and also to those who just want to up their ticktock game alike!

So that cover of the two biggys Display and Camera next up is power and as I have already mentioned this comes with the very latest from Qualcomm in the form of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 5G Mobile Platform. This is supported by the latest Qualcomm 7th Gen AI Engine and Cortex-X2 CPU Architecture Allowing the phone to deliver amazing speed and processing for everyday use and intensive tasks such as video editing and high-end gaming. Pair this up with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM and you have a great platform for all but the most demanding of tasks.

However, with great power comes the concern of poor battery life well Honor hopes to alleviate this by the inclusion of a 4600mah battery that can be recharged either wired or wirelessly at 100w when using the 100W Wired Honor SuperCharge plug or the 100W Wireless Honor Super Charge stand. This will allow up to 100% charge in 30 minutes. This is something I am very keen to test when I get a chance as i currently charge my Pixel 6 Pro on a 10W wireless charger!

A couple of other very cool feature that the new Honor Magic 4 Pro possess are the following;

Privacy Calling, this s supported by AI and provided by Directional Sound technology via the simultaneous transmission of sound from the screen and the receiver to adjust the volume of the incoming audio so it can only be heard by and not your neighbour in the seat next to you. The two parts will work together to adjust the volume to suit different environments resulting in the caller’s voice being all but inaudible to a person nearby.

Qualcomm Sonic Sensor Gen 2 fingerprint reader which is 77% larger and should result in up to 40% increase in recognition of your fingerprint to allow for enhanced security. This is something that will be tested upon receipt of a device for certain!

Also to cap the whole thing off the Honor Magic 4 Pro is IP68 rated meaning you don’t need to worry about the occasional spillage or using it in the delightfully British weather!

I mentioned that Honor also released some new headphones and their latest watch and i have included some brief details of these below as not much time was spent discussing these items

Honor Watch GS3

This is the latest incarnation of the Honor Watch series and is a non-Google Wear smartwatch that provides a great array of sensors for all your fitness needs whilst maintaining some style and longevity that you would expect from a smart watch

Honor Earbuds 3 Pro

Honor’s latest headphone’s release feature the world’s 1st Coaxial Dual-Driver design and High resolution piezoelectric ceramic tweeter to deliver both rich and delicate sound details and booming bass. They also  support AI Active Noise Cancellation for an enhanced audio experience.

These accessories are available to buy right now from Honor starting at £189.99 for the Honor Watch GS3 and £169.99 for the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro

So as i mentioned at the very top of this post all of this can be ordered now from the Honor website. if you are quick and you order before the 26/05/2022 then you will get the bundle shown below plus a SuperCharge Wireless Charger Stand & Magic4 Pro PU Case for free.

The phone will be released for general sale without the above offer on 27/05/2022 and will be available from Honor, Currys, Argos and Amazon. It will also be available on competitive pay monthly tariffs from Three and Carphone Warehouse. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is not also being offered by some of the other networks in the UK but we have not had confirmation of that yet.

I am very excited to see the Honor Magic4 Pro in my hands and I hope that I will be able to bring you the full unboxing and review of the phone very soon.

The post Honor Magic Pro 4 – Launched in the UK!! is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Google has announced pricing for the Pixel 6a outside the United States.

The “a” line of Pixel devices seems to be more of a hit than the actual Pixel flagships, so following on from its announcement last week, at Google IO pricing for the eagerly awaited Pixel 6a outside the US has been revealed. Costing the rough equivalent of $449 in most countries.

Pixel 6a Specs include :-

Price: $449

OS: Android 12

Display: 6.1-inch OLED 

Refresh rate: 60Hz

CPU: Google Tensor

RAM: 6GB

Storage / Expandable: 128GB / No

Rear cameras: 12.2MP main, 12MP ultrawide

Front camera: 8MP 

Battery: 4,410mAh

Charging: 18W wired

Size: 6.0 x 2.8 x 0.35 depth inches/152.2  x 71.8 x 8.9 mm

Weight: 6.3 oz/178 g

Colors: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal

While pre-orders and open sales are not yet available, Google Store listings are live for the Pixel 6a in the following countries and regions with pre-order prices and currently visible colour variants noted:

• Australia – AU$749
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• Canada – CA$599
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• France – €459
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• Germany – €459
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• Italy – €459
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• Japan – ￥53,900
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• Republic of Ireland – €459
○ Colours: Charcoal
• Singapore – SGD 749
○ Colours: Charcoal
• Spain – €459
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• Taiwan – NTD$13,990
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• United Kingdom £399
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal
• United States – $449
○ Colours: Sage, Chalk, Charcoal

Google has priced the Pixel 6a fairly competitively in all countries in which it will be sold. Fingers crossed we manage to get one in for a full review.

The post Pixel 6a None US Prices Revealed. is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I have been using the Realme GT 2 5G  for a few weeks now and now is my time to pass judgement on this mid to high-end contender. It is a device that presents a very compelling argument as to the question of do you need an expensive high-end flagship? After having used the device for a few weeks I would say that for the most part the answer would be no. I have a lot of reasons for this which I will go into further during the process of the review.

You can buy the phone now from Realme direct for £399 of the 128GB Storage and 8Gb RAM variant with the 256GB Storage and 12GB RAM version being £100 more. This on special early bird offer until the 21st of March when the prices will go up to £499 and £549 respectively

However, before we get into that, let’s take a tour of the device.

First up is the unboxing video that was posted a few weeks back.

Design

If we start from the top we have got very little on the top end of the phone but we do have a pinhole microphone. and the edge of the phone is slightly inset making it feel quite comfortable in the hand.

Moving down to the right-hand side we find the power key which has some nice texture on it making it a bit easier to find by feel.

On the base of the phone which shares the same slight inset as can be found at the top. There is a lot going on here and it is quite busy. Down here we also find the bottom-firing speaker which does produce pretty good sound. Next, we have got a USB Type C port which allows very fast charging via the Superdart Charger technology more on this later though. Next up is another Pichole microphone for voice pickup which works well. Lastly, we have got the dual nano sim cardholder which does have a waterproof gasket around it for some waterproofing.

The left-hand side has the individually mounted volume buttons which have a nice positive clicking action and fall nicely below the thumb when being used in the right hand, it might be a bit more awkward to use if you are left-handed but I like the separation of the buttons as it avoids you mistaking the volume for the power button.

Around the front at the top, we have got the front earpiece/speaker which is clear and gives the effect of stereo separation the volume of this speaker is a bit lower than the one found on the base but this is normal for this sort of setup as my Oneplus Nord 2 5G uses the exact same setup. The speaker is hidden behind a very small and skinny grill and it is situated between the top of the phone and the top of the screen.

We also have the front-facing camera which is a 16 MP, f/2.5, 26mm (wide), 1/3″, 1.0µm unit so works well for selfies whilst also not obliterating the background due to it being a wideish angle. It can also work at 1080p at 30fps for video recording so would be fine for using for video calls on Zoom etc.

Moving down from the speaker and camera we have the display which is a 6.62 inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2400  and a PPI of 398. The aspect ratio is 20:9 which is a nice size not being too skinny but still having enough width to display content. Lastly, this screen can have a refresh rate that will dynamically switch between 60HZ and 120HZ. you can leave this to be adaptive which is what I did or you can manually set it at either mode depending on your requirements. I found the refresh rate to be satisfactory in normal use and it was plenty fast enough for my liking. The last thing of note is the brightness for the screen will purportedly reach 1300 nits, whilst I have not been able to confirm this as I don’t have the correct equipment to test, I can confirm that the screen does get really bright, I had no issues reading the screen under direct sunlight!

Around the back, we have got two main points of interest for the phone. The first is the way the back has been made and then the second is the camera module that has been used. I want to quickly discuss the back panel which makes it somewhat unique in the current phone market. Realme have been on a major push when it comes to sustainability this year which has meant that instead of using just a normal plastic rear panel it developed a new material called a”biopolymer”. This allows the phone to have a solid back from renewable resources such as paper pulp, this allows a carbon reduction of 35.5% when manufacturing the back panel. It also gives the panel a “paper-like” feel, which actually works well and feels nice under the fingers. I have also been able to use the phone without a case which is nice as I haven’t been too worried about it getting scratched up which has been nice as most phones I use always need to have a case slapped on it straight out of the box. I was also lucky enough to get the Paper Green colour which really pops. As an aside if Green isn’t your thing then you can get this in Paper White. You can also get the Steel Black edition employs a new AG glass chemical etching technique, creating a more frosted look, and a more tactile feel.

The next bit for the back panel is the other big selling point that you can see the Camera modules. On the back panel, we have got a module made up of three lenses that have the following sensors:  50MP main, 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro. I will cover these cameras in a bit more detail further down in the review.

Hardware

So with the external design all taken care of now to look a little below the skin and there are a few areas i wish to cover here; the Battery, the processor and memory and the antennae. These are really the key hardware points for the phone as far as I am concerned. Let’s have a look at the battery first.

Inside the phone, we have got a great battery which is actually composed of two separate packs each measuring in at 2500mah to give a total of 5000mah. This is now becoming more and more commonplace for phones as it has the benefit of allowing the battery to be charged faster if you instigate the correct charging technology. Being that Realme exists under a parent company that shares technology with OnePlus and Oppo it is hardly a surprise to see that this phone is capable of very fast charging. In this case, the phone is capable of charging at 65W  which will allow the phone to be charged from 0 to full within 33 minutes when paired with the included SuperDart 65W charger. It also works fine with the Oneplus WarpCharge 65 Charger that comes with the OnePlus Nord 2 (they are essentially the same).

As for battery life, I could regularly get through a day and a half with light to moderate use and if used more intensively then the pack would last me for a day. This is in line with what I experienced on other rival devices from this price point.

It is a shame that there is no wireless charging to be found here but at this price point it is hardly a surprise either. With the ability to charge so fast via the cable it was not really something I missed either. The nice thing about the way that the charging has been implemented is that the heat from charging the battery is not transferred to the pack. The downside is that the charger will not work on other devices as it is proprietary. I tried to charge my Chromebook which uses Power delivery via USB Type C and it didn’t want to work as it was identified as a low powered charger. The same was true with my Pixel 6 Pro.

Next up is the processor which is the brilliant Snapdragon 888 5G processor. This is a great processor and has been proven in multiple other devices including a lot of recent flagships. It is great to see this is a low priced device especially as it brings integrated 5g into a very efficient and powerful chip. I have not seen any slowdowns in the UI and games load quickly and are responsive with good framerates. I am not the heaviest of gamers but I have found that my staples of World of Warships and Alto’s Oddessy ran smoothly without any perceivable glitching. The AI elements used in the camera work quickly and as expected.

Of course, the processor is very ably supported by the speedy 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM which again is great to see at this price point. Memory usage never really reached the full 12GB’s in my usage so there is plenty of breathing room. Having multiple apps working at the same time did not present any issues and when things do get a bit too busy it is really easy to close the apps from the multitasking menus which rather handily it will show how much memory has been freed up by doing so. The phone also packs 256Gb of UFS 3.1 storage which is very speedy and efficient. I found that when transferring content to the phone from my computer it was speedy with very good transfer rates. I also found that when moving files in the internal memory it was very quick.

Next up are the antennas and this is something that Realme are very proud of and rightly so as this is an area that I feel more focus may need to be applied by some of the bigger players (I’m looking at you Google). The design allows for several specifically place antennas to allow the phone to maximise signal strength regardless of what orientation you are holding it in. For example, if you are in a particularly intense gaming session whilst on the bus to work/college the last thing you need is for your network to drop when n you are trying to make that critical kill shot or overtake that annoying competitor to get into the pole position. It is for this reason that Realme has positioned antennas on all the sides of the phones as pictured here.

As you can see from the images above this means that whichever way you hold the phone you will always get a good signal be it on one of the 4 $G and %G antennas or one of the two Wifi Antennas. This is of course made a lot easier as the side rails of the phone are made of plastic instead of the higher-end metal which would be expected to be found on a full flagship. Does it work though? Well if using the phone and comparing it against my current daily whip is anything to go by then yes as I was able to perceive at least one bar more signal when compare against each other. in terms of Wifi Signal I was getting a marginally better signal from the Realme GT 2 5G over the Pixel 6 Pro.

If you look at the Plusnet network then you will see that on the Realme we have got a 7dbm improvement on the signal strength (When testing signal strength the lower the dbm number the better). The difference isn’t has marked on the Ext network which is my extended network but there is still a significant difference. As I don’t currently have two sims on the same network I could not do a side by side mobile data test but there is an appreciable difference on the mobile network side as well. I found this out when i was speaking to my father one evening and he kept losing my call when i was on the Pixel* so I chucked the sim into the Realme and i was able to carry on the call.

It is things like this that make the hardware a little bit nicer than a normal mid-tier offering and that also makes it a bit harder to go back to the full flagships i am fortunate enough to have at my disposal. Even going back to the OnePlus Nord 2 5G which is a great competitor to this phone was a bit weird as they are so similar but just subtle different enough o make you appreciate it.

With the rest of the phone being your normal sort of mid to high-end range fare we will move on. But not before I cover a late entry into the category which plays a big part in the next section. I am of course talking about performance and this is where need to blur the lines between hardware and software a bit, hence why I wanted to mention it now. The Realme GT 5G can pack a good size punch here in terms of performance. As I mentioned the phone will not have any issue handling games as well as multitasking like a beast. This is all down to the excellent memory management that is core to Android 12 and is enhanced by Realme’s development and tweaking that can be seen all the way through the software. Howver software alone cannot make for a great performing phone you have to keep it cool and this is another area where Realme wanted to make a bold statement. They have done this by implementing what they call the “Stainless Steel Vapor Cooling System Plus”. This is essentially a very long-winded way of saying that this has a big vapour chamber on board. just check the images below to try and get an appreciation of the size of this thing.

With a vapour chamber that big it is no surprise that apart from a slight bit of heat building after charging I was never found to have a phone that got too hot. This great news for gamers and media users.

Next, we need to address the software.

Software

This I perhaps the easiest section to complete as for once we have a mid to high-end phone from a Chinese manufacturer that is not absolutely riddled with bloatwarey crap. It is not a hidden fact that I was not a massive fan of the previous iteration of Realme UI. The good news is that things have made a nice change in the newest version of the UI, Realme UI 3.0. The boffins at Realme have addressed the main thing that got on my nerves and made the last phone practically unusable for me, we can now use the same widget tool more than once. For me, this was a big limitation on the previous generation but now that it is resolved I could actually use this software. If I am honest it was one of the only things I disliked from the Realme 8 Pro in terms of the software. The rest of the software feels very Oxygen OS like which is hardly surprising as the similarities across software between Oneplus Realme and Oppo are not that much. Now Oxygen OS is one of my favourite UI’s over even the svelt cleanness of Google Pixel UI which is great.

I have however found a few peaves that could be addressed if the developer wished to.  The first is the way that notifications react on the lock screen. Dont get me wrong they look good but to actually interact with them is via a tap and then this will select the notification so that you interact with it. This is different enough from other Ui’s that I had to actually think about. Another one was the way that some of the apps require additional permission prompts to appear when using for the first time which was annoying but quickly overcome.

Other than those two relatively minor issues i was generally pretty happy with the phone’s UI and the way it worked Realme’s Magic UI 3.0 is now completely usable as a day to day phone and I could see myself using it for the long run if i had the review unit for longer. Given where things were even six months ago with regard to the way the software was presented and for me at least the inherent limitation presented by the widget issue I am impressed. Credit is due to the developers here as although the changes are subtle they do make a difference.

I only hope that they can improve on the software updates for the device as in the whole time i have been using the Realme 8 Pro ( it is now being used by my wife) it has only been updated as far as Android 11 which is not bad for that side of things and is normal at the price but the security version is still the 5 Decmber 2021 version which isn’t greatgiven that we are now in March 2022. It has in fact only ever received one update to the software which was that security update nothing else was changed. I do not expect that it will ever get Android 12.

Next up is perhaps one of the headline-grabbing features, the camera.

Camera

This is a big aspect of the phone and is a really difficult one to call. On the most part, it is a step down from the Realme’s of previous generations however it is also a very competent sensor that has been used as the main component. I am of course talking about the much-lauded Sony IMX766. This sensor has been used on many of the best mid to high-end devices over the course of the year. In some devices it has been great however in some it has been merely average. In the Realme GT 2 it sits in the middle ground between the two it is not bad by any means and it will serve most users well. However, it is not one for camera phone fans as there are better options out there. When you consider the price of the phones then you can get a better camera for not a massive amount more, especially if you look at the Pixel lineup from Google.

The main sensor is not too bad and produces pretty good quality images from the 50mp Sensor with vibrant colours and good levels of contrast. The night mode works well and does create some good photos in tricky conditions.

Things take a slight turn for the worse when you start using the 8mp ultrawide camera as things start to get a bit noisy with some strange distortion around the edges of the subjects. I can only surmise that this is down to the software being used as the aperture has been increased up to f/2.3 but it doesn’t make a massive difference to things.

The zoom works exactly as expected as can be seen below.

The 2mp macro is really not that worth mentioning and I wish they had used this space for a time of flight sensor to add to the overall performance of the camera. Instead, we get a 2mp macro shooter which takes photos that are just a bit meh.

Now if you stick with the main camera which let’s be honest most people will then you will be happy with the results and it is nice to see that the software has been tweaked to dial down the AI in some of the features which is great news as I did find it a bit intrusive in certain scenarios.

As for the video, I can’t really find much to fault it as it ticks all the boxes, I really don’t tend to dive into the video aspects of most phone’s that I use these days as I am not attending many tradeshows anymore (thanks COVID) it is fine for recording silly impromptu shots when the moment strikes which is again what most people will use this for.

In essence, as long as you don’t try to push the camera too hard then you should be happy with its performance but once you start pushing the envelope then you start to see it unfold. Please see the below galleries for some sample images taken on the phone so you can form your own opinions.

Conclusion

This is a great phone and it punches above weight its weight. However, it is a bit late to the party as this segment of the market is becoming more and more crowded in the last six months. There are some great devices now on the market including the Onplus in the form of the Oneplus Nord 2 5G. If you are able to pick this phone up before the 21st of March then it is a compelling offer for the spec at the cheap price of £499 for the top version or a bargain for the 128GB model as you do get a phone with great features and for well below what you could be expected to pay for a more well-known brand. Just be aware that it may not be supported as well in terms of Software support as the bigger names,

You can buy the phone now from Realme direct for £399 of the 128GB Storage and 8Gb RAM variant with the 256GB Storage and 12GB RAM version being £100 more. This on special early bird offer until the 21st of March when the prices will go up to £499 and £549 respectively.

The post Relame GT 2 5G – Review is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

That time of year has come around again when we get some new phones to unbox and review. First, one up this year is going to be the brand new Realme GT 2 5G which is hot of the press as it has only just been announced in Barcelona at MWC 2022.

This is a continuation of the Realme GT Brand from last year and it is focused on providing great specs and value for a fair and reasonable price. Now the eagle eye of you will be reading this and will be saying that this phone is old news and you are not entirely incorrect in that observation as the phone was previously announced at the beginning of the year but in its China only guise. Today it was now announced for the European market. 

So let’s take a look at the unboxing video below to see what we have got.

Next up here are the specs for the phone:

I have got the 12 GB RAM and 256GB version of the phone in for review and in the few days I have been using it the phone has felt fluid and snappy. The only time I got any hangups was using Android Auto wirelessly but that has been known to cause even the most powerful phones to falter. 

I have found the camera to be quite nice to use and I was able to get some pretty good pictures on a day trip to the Zoo as shown below.

I also gave the camera a bit of a nighttime test just after dusk and it wasn’t too bad.

On the phone’s user interface, I am very happy to report that one of the biggest bugbears I have had with any Realme device I have used has been resolved. I can now add multiple of the same instances of widgets, Hazzuh!!

So that is me just scraping the surface of the Realme GT 2 5G I think this is gonna be a fun phone and I am looking forward to getting to know it a bit more over the next few days and weeks while I finalize my review.

If you wish to preorder the Realme GT 2 5G or its bigger brother the Realme GT2 Pro 5G then you can do by heading over to this link on the 8th of March. The preorder price is £399 for GT2, with the GT2 Pro coming in for an extra £200 They will be both be available on the 15th of March

The post Realme GT2 5G – Unboxing is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

UK Network provider Three have just announced that they are removing all charges asociated with contacting people in or from the Ukraine.   Full details have not been published as yet, but the original tweet can be viewed here

The post Three removes roaming charges for Ukraine is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Say hello to the latest value offering from realme, the 8i

Before I start, let us get the elephant out of the room – This phone is not a flagship killer, bleeding edge, top of the line or revolutionary, nor is it meant to be. What it does pack in for the price, I will come on to price later, could make even the biggest specs snob or apple fan question their recent life choices of a daily driver.

First off let’s look at what you are getting, for those of you that do like to talk figures:

• MediaTek G97 8 Core 12nm CPU
• 6GB Ram/128GB Storage or 4GB Ram /64GB Storage
• 120Hz 6.6” Display at 600 nits
• 5000mAh battery
• 18W fast charge
• Triple Camera Rear Setup
  • 50MP f/1.8
  • 2MP B&W f/2.4
  • 2MP Macro
• 16MP Hole Punch Front Camera
• Side Fingerprint Sensor / Power Button
• Dual SIM
• A Dedicated Micro SD slot giving you the choice to add up to 256GB additional storage
• All running on realme’s own Android 11 OS called realme UI 2.0

As you can see its packing a few features even the latest iPhone owner has only just recently started bragging about, however the 8i comes in at only £168/€199!

Yes, you heard right, only £168/€199 for all of that, so how is this possible?

Obviously, some compromises are being made here, but for realme’s target audience of this device, it is in no way a deal breaker.

Its sitting somewhere in the middle of the existing realme 8 line, that we covered previously.  The 8i has more user apreciable features than some of its more higher specced brothers and sisters, while at the same time having less than them.

This is where realme do tend to confuse reviewers and customers alike, by offering such a wide range of devices in one particular line, each having pros and cons over each other.

Who are realme aiming the 8i to, well to be honest anybody who needs a no-nonsense daily driver, that will handle pretty much everything your normal user wants to do, without being too ashamed to pull out in public.  I haven’t gone into the looks and build yet, but in summary you would be hard pushed, not to think this was a premium device at first glance.

Let’s look a little deeper into what you are getting and where some of the compromises are being made, to keep the price so low.

CPU

It’s running on a MediaTek Helio G96, MediaTek is a well-known and much cheaper alternative to the chips produced and used by other big names.

MediaTek chips perform almost as well as the more expensive rivals in most use cases.  During my time with the phone, even under heavy load and testing with intensive apps like PUBG and COD Mobile.  I couldn’t perceivably notice any significant drops in performance no more so compared to my own daily driver, that features a more mainstream 8 Core QUALCOMM 865.

Now the geeks among you, that know your chipsets might have clocked already that the Helio G96 although packing some pretty decent hardware specifications such as 12nm manufacturing and a Mali G57 GPU, is designed as a 4G chipset only, this is where you make another slight compromise.

No 5G connectivity, yep this is a 4G only phone in 2021, again not entirely a deal breaker if 5G is not available to you, signal or contract wise and Wi-Fi is your primary data connection.

Camera

Boasting 4 in total (3 on the rear, 1 on the front) its Megapixel count is looking good already, especially considering the primary camera boasts a whopping 50MP, the front punch hole camera can take a selfie at a very respectable 16MP.  We won’t mention the 2MP Macro or 2MP B&W units as they appear to be just adding to the cosmetic quad camera look, that’s all the rage.

I’m no David Bailly, so I rely very heavily on the camera and onboard software to make up for my artistic shortcomings, so it’s probably better for you to decide for yourself from the shots I have taken, and judge whether you think it’s any good or not.

The built in camera app in the realme ui 2.0 OS is simple to use and has the look and feel of most android camera apps.  It has all those nifty little features you will probably never use in real life, but they are included, should you feel the need to make your nose smaller and chin narrower or even make your face look unnaturally plastic, with aid of the AI Beauty features.

Screen

There is no doubt this is the star of the whole package, no compromises have been made here. Boasting specs normally only found on some of the current high end devices.

You get 6.6 inches of 120Hz goodness with a nit range from 1 to 600 allowing you to use outside or comfortably in the dark.

Browsing the web or twitter is buttery smooth, Amazon and YouTube just pop out from the screen with amazing vivid colours, separation and tones.

Sound

Featuring a single bottom firing speaker, although not brilliant, does give a nice clear mono sound with ringtones loud enough to be heard in most environments.

A 3.5mm headphone jack can also be found at the bottom of the device, should you need it.

Build

Yes, it’s plastic, but it’s a very nice plastic.  At first glance, you would be hard pushed to tell it apart from one of its glass backed, aluminum framed counterparts.

My review unit is a misty grey black, that realme call Space Black it mimics the 2 tone reflectiveness of a glass back and catches the light nicely, the sides feature a grey aluminum appearance, again making the device appear more premium.

Another version called Stellar Purple will also be available at launch.

I’m not too sure how it would hold up with daily life, scratches and chips are inevitable due to the nature of the material.

However, realme do include a clear tpu case in the box, to give you some added protection and smooth off the protruding camera lenses.

Talking of the included case, a nice touch is the little dust flaps that protect the exposed ports on the bottom of the device.

The power button on the right-hand side incorporates the fingerprint sensor, which makes turning on the screen and getting past the security lock, a simple one press operation with a high degree of accuracy.

The inbuilt 5000mAh ‘mega’ battery gives the device a nice weighty feel, that makes it feel like a more solid unit, this capacity combined with some added software power saving features, should easily last you a whole day under real world conditions, realme are claiming that you could watch 18 movies or  listen to 1200 songs on a single charge.

Charging isn’t going to be an issue, as the phone is 18w USB-C fast charging capable, with promises of a 50% charge in around 30 mins should you need a boost.  Again not incorporating some of the faster charging tech seen in other models, it’s still plenty quick enough and may even preserve the lifetime of the battery, that other rapid fast charging devices tend to suffer from.

In conclusion, a decent premium ‘looking’ budget device with a few compromises here and there, it’s been built to keep below a specific price point, but still focus on what a user will appreciate and need the most.

A screen that makes consuming internet content highly enjoyable, a camera that I personally think takes nice crisp pictures, a battery to see you through an entire day and possibly longer, and a CPU that can cope with demanding games, it’s everything a daily driver needs to be at a very reasonable price.

If this phone sounds right for you, it’s available as of today (14^th October) direct from realme or very soon on amazon for €199 / £168 – but do keep your eyes open for some special launch, flash deals that realme often run.

The post New realme 8i – with bang for buck features is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

I have arrived home to find a Black box on my desk emblazoned with Realme branding!!

Inside something is exciting lurking and it is the Realme GT 5G. I have been eagerly waiting for this device since I tested the Realme 8 Pro and had a brief hand-on with the rest of the Realme 8 lineup (reviews coming soon). I was suitably impressed with the 8 Pro which was running a much older chip in the form of the Snapdragon 720G. The newest launch from Realme, the GT 5G is rocking the top-end Snapdragon 888 but at an affordable price.

I know when people see “affordable” in tech blogs they normally expect to see a figure starting with a 6 or a 7. Well, the great news here is that the GT 5G starts with an entry-level price of under £450 for 12Gb of RAM and 256 GB of Storage. This is what Oneplus were doing a few years ago with the “Flagship Killer”. In case you are not already aware Realme is also part of the same family as OnePlus and Oppo under the BBK Electronics parent company. It is not exactly that much of a surprise that the entry-level brand is now pushing the understanding of a flagship killer.

Anyway, enough jibber-jabber from me let’s open this box up for a peek inside.

As you can see from the video above this phone is really packing some serious punch. It is comparable in terms of price with the Pixel 4a 5G (which I have now bought incidentally), However, with this phone offering a true flagship-level processor and also a 120hz refresh rate, it is something a bit special for the price.

In terms of the design, I do like what they have done here on initial 1st impression’s it looks like a more prestigious version of the Realme 8 Pro which is not a bad thing by any means as i really liked this phone. The other thing you notice while handling the phone is the lightness of it. This is especially true having come from a Note 10 + which in comparison weighs a tonne! You can really feel the lack of weight in the hand and also in the pocket.

I have taken a few shots with the camera but nothing to really feel its performance yet. The quality is good but not the best and i think from my initial tests that the 8 Pro is actually going to give a better camera performance in this instance. I have included these images below for you to have a look at.

I am really looking forward to getting into the testing of this phone and will be using it as my daily driver for the next week to give it a true run for its money and to see if it one that i can recommend for you. In the meantime, if you are wanting to get one for yourself then you can check it out on Ali Express.  It should also be coming soon to the UK market and I will share a link when it has arrived here.

The post Realme GT 5G in the building is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

Just a quicky for you as today.

Realme announced that their latest Flagship Killer is being announced to the UK market on the 15th of June.

There has been a lot of excitement about this phone as it is looking to be very heavy in terms of spec and punch but low in terms of cost. If the evidence we have seen from Realme so far is anything to go by then this should ring true. I am also very intrigued by this phone as it may well be one of the cheapest ways to run the new Android Public beta which makes it even more exciting for geeks like me.

I am going to do my very best to get one of these in for review as soon as I can, as I think this may be something a bit special but only a review will tell me if I am right.

The post Another phone from Realme the Realme GT coming soon is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.

We have the full Realme 8 family in the house here at Coolsmartphone towers. We have had the Realme 8 Pro for a while and it was a great mid-ranger as you see from its review. It is now time to have a look at the Realme 8 and the Realme 8 5G.

Here is a joint unboxing video of both phones. Enjoy!

So we are going to start with the Realme 8 as it is the most similar to the Realme 8 Pro that I have already reviewed. 

Time for the around the device tour

On the right-hand side, you will find the volume rocker and the power key

On the left, you have the triple slot for two sims and an SD card which is a bonus as you dont have to choose between an extra sim and extra memory.

Here is the sim tray

On the base of the phone, we find another nice surprise in the form of a 3,5mm headphone jack next to the USB type C port which will pull charging duties. Next to this is a speaker grill for a very loud-sounding speaker which I was pretty surprised at!

The top has a tiny pinhole mic but other than that is barren of anything else.

The front of the phone has a stunning display again very nice to see here. We have got a 6.4″ AMOLED display with a 90.4% Screen to body ratio and a maximum brightness of 1000 nits. The resolution is Full Hd + with 2400×1080 as the resolution.

Set into this screen si the front facing camera which is a 16MP camera with  an Aperture of F2.45 and it uses a Sony IMX471 Sensor

And lastly, the rear of the phone which contains the camera module with its 4 lenses. The primary camera has been downgraded to a 64Mp unit this time around The back panel is made of plastic and given a multilayer fabrication to make it look like it is glass.

The similarity of the phone to the 8 or is uncanny and if it weren’t for the difference in materials used on the rear panel it would be very difficult to distinguish the two from a casual glance. It is not until you look a little bit closer that you can see the differences. if I am honest I would have preferred the plastic back panel that is being used on the 8 Pro as I found that added grip and strangely actually made the phone feel a bit more special.

As with 8p Pro in the box, you will also get a clear TPU case which you will want to use pretty much instantly, if you choose not them be prepared for a smudgy mess of a back panel. You also have the USB Type A to USB Type C charging cable and a 30W fast charger power supply.

What I do really like is the slightly different implementation of the logo. As it has a rainbow effect when lit up in a certain way whereas the rest of the back doesn’t. It makes for a pretty looking phone which is nice to see as long as you can keep it clean for more than 30 seconds!

Next up is the Realme 8 5G

Starting on the right-hand side we have got a power key plus fingerprint reader. I really do like to see that the under screens are sometimes not as effective as the direct contact ones found on the more premium smartphones or tablets. The side-mounted ones just seem to be a bit better at picking fingerprints.

On the left-hand side, we have got the sim tray and memory card slot and like the rest of the family, this is capable of housing two nano sims and a micro SD card slot. Below that, you have now also got the volume rocker. which some people will prefer as it gives some operation between the volume and power buttons.

Next up is the base which houses the main speaker and the 3.5 mm headphone jack making it 3 for 3 in the Realme 8 Range for including this often missed feature. Nestled in between these you will find a pinhole microphone and the USB Type C port that is capable of 18W fast charging as opposed to the Realme 8 which can handle 30w fast charging.

Up the top of the phone, you have a blank panel with the notable absence of the pinhole mic found on the other two phones suggesting that there is no noise cancellation on this phone which is understandable given the respective prices of the phone.

Coming around to the front of the phone is the 6.5″ FHD+ display with a resolution of 2400×1080. This time it is not an AMOLED as the phone sports an LCD display again this is an indication of the price shaving that has been done on this phone. The phone will give out a brightness level of 600 nits which is not too bad for this display type. again the screen to body ratio is high at 90.5%.

Set into this screen is the front-facing camera which is a 16MP camera with a FOV of 79.3° and an Aperture of F2.1

Around the back, we have got another plastic back panel but this time around there is no “Dare to Leap” branding emblazoned across the back it also looks like there may not be any NFC on this device and the outer plastic packaging did not indicate it unlike the Realme 8 and the Realme 8 Pro where it was to be found next to the camera module.

The camera module itself houses 3 cameras this time with the primary sensor being capable of 48MP. This is the lowest MP count for the group and again is another indication of this being the lesser phone of the family.

That sums up the tour of the two devices exteriors. there are some distinct difference on the inside which I briefly wish to cover off as this is really what will separate the two phones.

Both the phones use a Mediatek processor with the Realme 8 opting for the Helio G95 and the Realme 8 5G opting for the Dimensity 700 5G Processor. This is a key difference in the phones as it means that the Realme 8 and 8 Pro are only 4G devices and as the name suggests the Realme 8 5G is the only 5g device in the group.

It can also lay claim to being the current cheapest 5g device on the market as it is available for £199 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB Storage version. (£179 for early bird pricing). if you want more memory and storage then you can get the  6GB RAM with 128GBstorage version for £249(£229 for early bird pricing.

The phones are being released at different times as below

Realme 8 4GB RAM with 64GB storage is priced at £199, and Realme 8 6GBRAM and 128GB storage is priced at £219, on-sale in the UK now

Realme 8 5G is on sale in the UK from May 20th, with the early-bird special offer running from May 20th to May 23rd.

The phones are available from either the Realme store or Amazon with the Realme 8 available now and the Realme 8 5G coming on the 23rd of May although you can preorder at the Early bird price from the 20th of May.

The post We have the Realme 8 family let’s unbox them is original content from Coolsmartphone. If you see it on another news website, please let us know.