Content
- Equipment and design
- Software
- cameras
- Performance and Benchmarks
- findings
The best mobile chipset of 2021 is arguably the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870, offering a high level of performance and good stability. In addition, it was only a small development of the Snapdragon 865, so it was cheaper for companies to develop smartphones on it. However, very few Snapdragon 870-based devices reached Russia, and the most notable releases were POCO F3 and Realme GT Neo 2. The Xiaomi model is much cheaper, which means the question arises: does it make sense to overpay for Realme? Let’s figure it out.
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Specifications |
|
|---|---|---|
| Realme GT Neo 2 | POCO F3 | |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G | |
| Firmware | Android 11 Realme UI 2.0 | Android 11, MIUI 12.5 |
| Screen | 6.62″ , 2400×1080 pixels, 20:9, 398 ppi, 120 Hz, up to 1300 nits, AMOLED, Gorilla Glass 5 | 6.67″ , 2400×1080 pixels, 20:9, 398 ppi, 120 Hz, up to 1300 nits, AMOLED, Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 , 7 nm CPU: 1 x A77 x 3.2 GHz + 3 x A77 x 2.4 GHz + 4 x A55 x 1.8 GHz GPU: Adreno 650 |
|
| RAM | 8 GB 12 GB |
6 GB 8 GB |
| ROM | 128 GB 256 GB |
|
| SIM and memory card | Two nano-SIM slots, no memory card | |
| Camera | Triple, with flash Primary: 64 MP , 1/1.73″, f/1.8, autofocus, video recording 2160p@60fps Wide: 8MP , 1/4″, f/2.3, 1080p@30fps video recording Macro: 2MP , f/2.4 |
Triple, with flash Primary: 48 MP , 1/2″, f/1.8, autofocus, video recording 2160p@30fps Wide Angle: 8 MP , f/2.2, 1080p@30fps video recording Macro: 5 MP , 1/5″, f/2.4, autofocus, 1080p@30fps video recording |
| Selfie | Punch-left, 16MP , 1/3.09″, f/2.5 | Center hole, 20MP , 1/3.4″, f/2.5 |
| Battery | 5000 mAh | 4520 mAh |
| Charger | USB Type-C, 65W | USB Type-C, 33W |
| Wireless interfaces | WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.1 A-GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS, NaviC NFC |
|
| IR port | Not | There is |
| Biometrics | Fingerprint scanner (under the screen) | Fingerprint scanner (side) |
| Sound | stereo speakers | |
| Waterproof | Not declared | IP53 |
| Dimensions and weight | 162.9 x 75.8 x 9mm 199.8 g |
163.7 x 76.4 x 7.8mm 196 g |
Equipment and design
The set of two smartphones is almost the same: charging, cable, papers, silicone case, needle. POCO also put stickers in the box, but who needs them? However, the cases are different: POCO’s transparent “smoker’s case” and Realme’s matte silicone case. In appearance, Realme definitely wins, but POCO protects better: it sits tighter, plus there is a plug for USB Type-C.
The design of the devices is also almost the same, and even the glasses in the case of our colors are matte. Both manufacturers tried to come up with unusual back design options and they succeeded.
In terms of dimensions, the phones are almost identical (and the screen diagonal differs by a slight 0.05 “, which is a little more than a millimeter), but they differ noticeably in thickness: 7.8 mm for POCO F3 and 9 mm for Realme GT Neo 2. And this difference I can’t say that the Realme is any less comfortable to use due to its thickness, it’s just thicker and that’s it, the weight is almost the same on paper (196g vs 199.8g), but the Realme feels significantly heavier in the hand. Such a spread.
Both smartphones do not support memory cards and offer only two slots for SIM-cards. But only POCO F3 has an infrared port on board – it is located on the outer end and externally “rhymed” with additional holes for the top speaker. In theory, they enhance the stereo effect, but in practice, no matter how much I listened, I did not feel the difference.
The screens of POCO F3 and Realme GT Neo 2 are very similar in characteristics, the difference of 0.05 “does not count. Aspect ratio, brightness, resolution, frequency – all these parameters are the same. And with the eyes” Realme has high saturation, POCO display is set to a quieter setting, I even thought that Realme had some kind of bright color mode turned on, but no, both worked at default settings (by the way, Realme’s alternative modes look really good, but POCO’s is ” very blue mode” and “very yellow mode”).
But there is a more important difference: POCO F3 does not have DC Dimming. Of course, even without it, the SWM is weaker than the Realme GT Neo 2, but I would like to be able to turn off the flicker. Realme has it, however, it is implemented poorly: at low brightness, colors are distorted, don’t worry; You can’t use it with dark theme. So I even turned off DC Dimming, despite the strong flickering of the display. And one more difference: the Realme GT Neo 2 has a fingerprint scanner built into the display, while the POCO F3 has it on the end. Realme’s solution is expectedly inferior in speed, but not in quality – they both unlock the smartphone in ten cases out of ten.
Software
MIUI 12.5 with branded chips in one, Realme UI 2.0 in the second. I don’t think it’s necessary to say who has what. At the time of writing, both have Android 11 hiding under the shell; no doubt both devices will update to Android 12 and probably even Android 13. I don’t want to get into an argument about which skin is better, I’ll just show screenshots so you can compare the interface and functionality of the two phones. But first, I’ll show you one couple of screenshots so you can see how different the default font size is on phones. I like the POCO approach more, do you? Tell in the comments 🙂
POCO F3 Realme GT Neo 2
Well, now screenshots of the interface:
POCO F3
Realme GT Neo 2
cameras
Both smartphones are equipped with triple cameras, and even the set of modules is approximately the same: the base (48 MP for POCO F3 and 64 MP for Realme GT Neo 2), 8 MP wide and macro. It is the macro module that differs most of all: Realme has a 2-megapixel plug, and POCO has a cool 5-megapixel module with autofocus and 2x optical zoom (the so-called telemacro camera). Let’s compare how the cameras shoot:
Realme GT Neo 2
POCO F3
To be honest, I’m a little surprised by what I see. Extensive experience writing reviews of various Realme and Redmi smartphones has taught me that at a similar price and hardware, Realme shoots better. But not at this time. GT Neo 2 is much more likely to make mistakes in color reproduction, bluish; F3 is also not sinless and likes to add yellowness, but to a lesser extent. In addition, Realme photos have more noise, chromatic aberrations and artificial sharpening in the photos. The only thing he wins in is detail: after all, you can’t argue against the extra 16 megapixels. In night photos, the situation is similar, but this is beneficial for Realme: photos from the POCO F3 seem soapy compared to it. On the other hand, the Pocophone shoots more naturally, without turning night into day (and Realme has a theater with night mode).
Realme GT Neo 2
POCO F3
The wide-angle cameras are nothing special in both smartphones, but the photos on the POCO F3 are noticeably better. This is if you shoot during the day. At night, Realme’s algorithms take the lead, but this comparison is between “bad” (Realme) and “very bad” (POCO).
Realme GT Neo 2
POCO F3
The POCO telemacro camera shoots better, as expected, but not in all conditions. She needs bright lighting, preferably direct sunlight. Realme’s 2-megapixel plug is not so capricious, and in the shade it gives better results than the competitor. However, in such conditions, both macro cameras turn into plugs that shoot macro worse than the main cameras.
The video part in both smartphones is implemented so-so. There is no OIS, there is no switching between cameras, the shirik writes only 1080p@30fps. But the Realme GT Neo 2 can at least write 2160p@60fps – though without stabilization. But if you shoot at the same resolution and at the same frame rate, then in terms of detail and color reproduction, it seems to me that POCO wins. On the width – with a large margin, on the main camera – with a slight advantage.
Realme GT Neo 2
POCO F3
The front cameras are another difference: 20 MP for POCO and 16 MP for Realme. Despite the lower resolution, Realme has a larger sensor, which, coupled with good algorithms, gives a wider dynamic range and generally high-quality work with light. But detailing is on the side of POCO – extra megapixels do their job.
Performance and Benchmarks
As I wrote at the very beginning, both smartphones are based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870, but this does not mean that they are parity in terms of performance. Look at the statistics from the benchmarks: Realme GT Neo 2 shows a much higher level of performance during the first 13 minutes of the CPU test and slows down much later in the GPU test. POCO F3 not only throttles earlier, but also resets the brightness, which Realme does not. But GT Neo 2 pays the price for this more heat, without it nowhere.
Realme GT Neo 2
POCO F3
And what about the games? It seemed pointless to me to check devices with almost flagship power in a bunch of mediocre games and I decided to limit myself to three titles that potentially reveal the capabilities of such a chipset: Shadowgun Legends, Genshin Impact and TauCeti Technology Benchmark (playable benchmark). In the first game, POCO performed noticeably better; not that Realme would lag, but it lacked smoothness. But in the remaining games, the situation is the opposite – GT Neo 2 showed a noticeably higher frame rate. However, I can’t say that playing the same Genshin Impact on POCO F3 is unpleasant – especially if you lower the settings from maximum to high, it becomes good. Let me remind you that both smartphones have stereo, and 120 Hz support is not available in all games.
Realme GT Neo 2
POCO F3
In terms of battery, it seems that Realme should have a big advantage: there is an advantage in capacity, 5000 mAh versus 4520 mAh, and twice as fast charging, 65 W versus 33 W. But I didn’t notice any of this. In tests of autonomy, smartphones showed an identical result: a discharge of 9% in two hours of video playback and 15% in an hour of playing a game. Downloading and running two throttling tests discharged POCO F3 by 23%, Realme GT Neo 2 by 26%. The only scenario where POCO drains faster is when it’s lying on a table. Here F3 loses charge almost twice as fast, but we must understand that we are still talking about a few percent per night. Not something to worry about.
Realme’s fast charging is really fast, but the difference is far from double: 50 minutes for a full charge of POCO F3 and 35 minutes for a full charge of GT Neo 2. In the first 15 minutes – 38% and 55%, respectively. If we consider the average current strength (battery capacity / charging time), we get 8.6A for Realme and 5.4A for POCO. As you can see, Realme’s superiority is far from double, which means Xiaomi makes better use of the potential of the charger.
findings
Well, this text turned out not at all what I expected. On paper, POCO F3 and Realme GT Neo 2 are twin brothers, but in fact they differ literally in every detail. Realme’s advantages include higher performance (with the same chipset, that’s the number!), fast charging and 2160p@60fps. And POCO has ergonomics, a photo and video camera, especially a wide one, and a lower PWM level. But who cares? The owner of Realme will never be sad that he has a bad camera and it would be better if he bought POCO. And the owner of POCO will never be sad that his smartphone is slow and it would be better if he bought Realme. Not that big of a difference.
The key factors, in my opinion, are which shell you are more familiar with. Ergonomics are a plus: the F3 is really light and thin compared to the GT Neo 2. And, of course, the price – the Realme smartphone is more expensive than its competitor in many stores. Therefore, if you are not ready to pay as much for GT Neo 2 as it costs, and have nothing against MIUI, feel free to buy POCO F3.
© Oleg Lazarev. mobile phone
