realme has a new phone — the realme GT Master Edition — and we’re gonna take it out of the box. We’ll also tell you what we initially think because these are the only things we’re allowed to do. For now.

The company is using all their favorite buzzwords again to generate… well… buzz for the phone. Words like disruptive, game changer, flagship experience — the works. It gets too hypey, but that’s what you gotta do to standout in an industry dominated by the likes of Apple and Samsung. I digress.

Take a look at the realme GT Master Edition specs before we proceed with the unboxing:

• Display — 6.43″ AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate
• Processor — Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G
• RAM — 8GB + up to 5GB DRE (Dynamic RAM Extension)
• Storage — 128GB and 256GB
• Battery — 4,300mAh, Dual-cell design, 65W SuperDart charging
• Rear Cameras — 64MP f/1.8 main camera, 8MP f/2.3 119° ultra-wide lens, 2MP f/2.4 macro lens
• Selfie Camera — 32MP
• OS — Android 11, realme UI 2.0
• Color Options — Voyager Grey, Daybreak Blue

It came in this cool tiny travel suitcase. It’ll be a recurring theme.

Opening it reveals two boxes safely tucked in between foams for shock absorption.

The left box, as you can see, is just black with the trademark yellow realme logo. On the right side is the box of the actual phone itself.

The left box is filled with different realme items.

Some stickers, keychains, and more.

It also has printed pictures of shots taken using the realme GT Master Edition.

Now, onto the main event — the box of the phone itself.

Opening the box, you’ll see this warm welcoming message.

Inside this, you’ll find the usual documentation — warranty, manual, all that good stuff.

Lift that and you’ll be greeted by the realme GT Master Edition.

Wrapped in plastic with an indicator of where the in-display fingerprint sensor is located.

Lift that layer where the phones and you’ll find the plasticky case.

It looks exactly like the back of the phone except it’s a shade lighter and doesn’t feel quite as good.

Underneath it is the USB Type-C cable.

And as you may have gleaned from the photo above, the SIM tray ejector tool lies under it.

When you life the case, you’ll see the 65W SuperDart power brick.

That’s it for everything inside the box. Now let’s look at the phone.

Here’s a good look at the back of the realme GT Master Edition.

As mentioned earlier, the whole suitcase and travel thing is the main theme of this phone’s design. The horizontal grids were meant to replicate the look of a suitcase to trigger the thought of travel. It’s kind of cruel given the general travel restrictions still imposed on us because of the pandemic. But maybe that’s just me.

Signed by Naoto Fukasawa.

Responsible for the design is Naoto Fukasawa. He even signed the thing on the back. It’s a puzzling move to say the least. I’m fairly certain 90 percent of the people who will end up purchasing this phone will have zero idea who Fukasawa is. But congrats, you have his autograph now!

Fukasawa is a Japanese industrial designer. He is most known for his works with retail company MUJI. Now, I’m sure a lot of you will be familiar with MUJI. Even then, I don’t think the idea of a renowned designer’s signature being on your phone’s back is something you’ll find thrilling or enticing.

realme continues to make these wild choices for back designs. It’s brave and bold which is in keeping with their whole approach. Personally, these aren’t things I find appealing. Then again, an oldie like me is likely not their target market. I just wanted to get that off my chest.

Looks aside, that back feels great

realme says it’s called the concave vegan leather — the first of its kind in the smartphone industry. I’m not gonna pretend to understand the whole process so here’s an excerpt from realme’s infosheet explaining the thing:

“realme has adopted a more challenging way – the polymer material is turned into an initial three-dimensional shape through the injection molding process, and then use the hot pressing process to synthesize the vegan leather with the substrate, and finally achieve the integrated concave vegan leather shape.”

Did you get that? Basically, all of that was needed to achieve the uneven finish with the feel of leather. It’s a lot to take in but all you need to know is that it feels great to touch and isn’t slippery at all.

Bottom: Speaker grille, USB-C port, and suprise — 3.5mm headphone jack.

Button placements are your usual. Power button on the right side and the volume buttons as well as the SIM card tray on the left side.

Here’s the realme GT Master Edition with the case on.

It mimics the look of concave vegan leather but feels nowhere near it. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend using this case if you want to preserve that leather feeling. Really wish realme came up with vegan leather case too.

The phone’s wallpaper looks like a pavement.

Points for consistency, I guess? It’s running Android 11 with a coat of realme UI 2.0. If you’re an OPPO user, this UI going to feel familiar. It’s almost like ColorOS which isn’t a bad thing. The whole UI feels clean and easy to navigate.

What’s surprising are the overwhelming number of apps pre-installed. Sure, you have ones that you’ll likely install like Facebook, Messenger, and Netflix. But for every one of those useful apps, there’s a couple more that’s just flat out bloatware. There are also incessant notifications about apps you can download from their App Market. I know “disrupting” is their thing but maybe not like this?

Cameras to die for?

realme made a big deal about the back design and just as much as they did, they also said the cameras on this thing are fantastic. Hence, the inclusion of printed photos taken with it in this special unboxing package. We have no samples to show you just yet. We’ll take a step outside, observing health and safety protocols of course, to see if we can come up with stunning images ourselves.

The realme GT Master Edition (that’s a mouthful) is a decently-sized smartphone with concave vegan leather for its back that feels absolutely fantastic. It has an overall clean UI that’s bogged down a little bit by bloatware. We’ll explore its performance and camera prowess in the review. By that time, we’ll also know how its price so watch out for it.

Midrange smartphones have gotten so much attention from a lot of brands lately. And why not? This is the middle ground for people who’d want the premium of a higher end smartphone but don’t want to break the bank. Here, it’s Huawei’s turn to give the midrange line some love with their newest addition to the Nova series — the Huawei Nova 8.

The Nova 8 in a classic Huawei white box

Upon opening, we’re immediately greeted by the phone.

Inside the accessories box, we get the standard SIM card ejector tool.

Also a clear jelly case for protection while still showcasing the beautiful back cover.

We also get the 66W Huawei Supercharge.

The charger is surprisingly smaller than the 65W charger that came with the MateBook D15 I previously reviewed. I wonder if this can charge the MateBook D15?

Of course a 6A USB-C cable.

A closer look of the phone

We have the 64MP main shooter, 8MP Ultra-wide, 2MP Macro and 2MP depth camera.

And a 32MP front facing camera.

A nice touch for a midranger, we get a sleek looking curved edge display

The top and bottom frame has a matte texture with glossy edges

On the bottom is the speaker grille and USB-C port

First Impressions

Holding the Nova 8, you can tell right away that the feel is quite similar to what you get on higher end models. With the curved edge and firm build quality, there’s definitely a discernible distinction with its lower end sibling, the Nova 8i. I also noticed immediately that the touch sampling rate of the display is of higher rating as it felt snappy to my touch and swipes.

Loaded with a Kirin 820E chipset, 8GB of RAM and running EMUI 12, the experience is quite pleasant for a midrange phone but also nothing to be too hyped about.

What got me curious though, is the 66W charging. According to Huawei, the Nova 8 can be fully charged in just 35 minutes. We went on and tried it out so we plugged it right in after we unboxed it. I must say, Huawei’s estimate might just be realistic. You can literally stare at your phone and watch the battery indicator rise up.

So far, my initial impression on the Nova 8 has been pretty solid. It manages to keep up on its performance and also gets you that sophistication that you’d mostly feel with the higher ends. So if that’s what you’re really looking for, the Huawei Nova 8 is now available for pre-order.

The Huawei Nova 8 comes in Bluish Gold and retails for PhP 19,999.

Another year, another new tablet. The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 is a refresh of 2020’s MatePad Pro. But instead of being Android based, this one’s running Harmony OS 2. One of the first devices to be shipped outside of China to do so.

We suspect there aren’t plenty of differences. However, before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s unbox it!

The box and plain and simple.

You’ll see the MatePad Pro 12.6 right after lifting the box’s lid.

Set the tablet aside and you’ll see two boxes. One of which has the SIM tray ejector when you flip it.

Inside the boxes, you’ll find the power brick as well as the USB-C cable.

That’s actually it. However, Huawei sent over two more accessories that go with the MatePad Pro.

We have the M-Pencil 2…

… And the Smart Magnetic Keyboard

The M-Pencil 2 has replacement tips and some documentation.

The Smart Magnetic Keyboard has its own corresponding documentation and some instructions.

Here’s a closer look at the M-Pencil’s tip and the surface of the Smart Magnetic Keyboard.

The two accessories connect seamlessly to the tablet.

And the sides of the device is magnetic. You can safely stow the M-Pencil like so.

As far as buttons go, the power button is on the left side when propped-up in this laptop-ish form.

The volume buttons are right on top left side.

The speakers on the MatePad Pro are tuned by Harman Kardon.

It’s also home to three cameras. Something ‘unique’ for a tablet.

That’s a 13MP f/1.8 main camera, 8MP f/2.4 wide angle camera, and a 3D Depth Sensing camera.

First Impressions

On the outside, it doesn’t look too different from last year’s model. But the differences lie in the raw computing power and all the other hardware improvements. Using the device for only a couple of days, it certainly able to handle most tasks thanks to the Kirin 9000E powering this slate. It also has a 10,500mAh battery for extended use and 8GB of RAM along with 256GB of internal storage.

We haven’t used the M-Pencil 2 extensively so we can’t speak to much to it at the moment. Meanwhile, the Smart Magnetic Keyboard works about just as well as you can expect from keyboards like this. It’s certainly feels like it’s a higher-end accessories compared to others like it, but if you have trouble with these kinds of keyboards, you’ll likely have trouble with this as well.

The keys are tiny and those with stubby fingers like yours truly will suffer from typos more than usual. That said, the travel feels okay, and the whole unit is sturdy.

We’re curious about the decision to continuously come out with tablets. At this point, it feels more like a luxury than a need for most people. That said, if you are looking to buy, the sales information are below.

Pricing and availability

The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 retails for PhP 55,999 in the Philippines. It will be initially exclusive via the HUAWEI official online store and its flagship stores on Lazada and Shopee from June 25 to 27.

Early bird purchasers get to enjoy freebies worth PhP 17,387 for just an additional PhP 1. The freebies include a Huawei MatePad M-Pencil worth PhP 5,999, a Huawei Smart Keyboard worth Php 7,999, a Bluetooth Speaker worth PhP 1499, and a Huawei Band 4 worth PhP 1,890.