Features

Gaming Test: 7 games on the realme GT 7

Dimensity 9400e + Graphene cooling

Published

May 29, 2025

The realme GT Series has always been about delivering peak gaming experience. Naturally, that comes with peak overall performance. Can the realme GT 7 live up to the Series’ lofty expectations? That’s what we set out to find out in this gaming test.

But first here’s a quick rundown of the device’s specs:

Display: 6.78”, LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision
SoC: MediaTek Dimensity 9400e
Memory: 12GB RAM
Storage: 512GB
Battery & Charging: 7000mAh, 120W wired, 14 min to 50%, 40 min to 100%, 7.5W reverse wired, Bypass charging
Cameras:
- 50 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/1.56, 1.0µm, PDAF
- 50 MP, f/2.0, (telephoto), 1/2.76″, 0.64µm, PDAF, 2x optical zoom
- 8 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 112˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm
- 32 MP, f/2.4, 21mm (selfie wide), 1/2.74″, 0.8µm

The standout spec in relation to performance and overall functionality is the MediaTek Dimensity 9400e SoC equipped on the realme GT 7.

Unlike most other flagship-grade devices in 2025, this one doesn’t come with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC which is more or less a tried and tested chip.

So, how did the Dimensity 9400e fair for gaming? Not bad. Not bad at all. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Watch this quick unboxing first before we proceed.

Unboxing

@gadgetmatchUnboxing the realme GT 7!♬ original sound – GadgetMatch

The unit we have comes in Blue. It’s a great color which is why it’s such a head scratcher that the case it came with is black. It’s a nice feeling case but it completely negates the look of the phone.

This has long been my gripe with realme. Except for that one ‘cement-looking’ phone they launched a few years ago, the cases have mostly been after thoughts. Hopefully this is something they address in the future especially since other brands in a similar price segment offer more thoughtful cases for their products.

The case could have also been blue.

I also wouldn’t harp on this as much if the phone felt fine without the case. However, as it is, the graphene coating is pretty slippery. The case remedies this as it has a better grip to it complementing the shape of the smartphone.

The shape and how it felt holding it was a standout in the realme GT 6 and it remains mostly true for the GT 7. Best way I can describe it is “flat edge.” It sits nicely on your hand no matter how you hold it. It’s quite a joy to use especially when you’re doom scrolling. I digress.

7 Games

Why 7? We’re just trying to be cute and match the number of games tested to the generation of the smartphone. It’s not that serious.

The games we played are: Honkai Star Rail, Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, Katana ZERO, DC Dark Legion, Zenless Zone Zero, Street Fighter IV CE.

One important title here is PUBG Mobile. It’s one of two games that supports the AI coach feature. Let’s just dive right in.

Some quick disclaimers:

Photos are for illustration purposes only. They weren’t taken during the actual testing period.
Zenless Zone Zero is the only game we played with a mobile controller.
We played for roughly around 30-40 minutes during the main testing period.
We mostly played without the included protective case except for Zenless Zone Zero and the two Netflix games.

PUBG Mobile

PUBG Mobile has been around for a while so the decision for this to be the game with AI Coaching was a little puzzling. That said, the AI Coach function played out like any early game tutorial. If you’re someone experienced in gaming, it feels like quick prompts as you play. I can imagine it being helpful for first time players. Otherwise, it’s just a nice-to-have. Hopefully the feature also makes its way to other games.

As for the gameplay experience itself, the game was running at high graphics settings. In our initial play, there was no noticeable lag or stuttering. In fact, it felt incredibly smooth– something you’d expect from a flagship-grade device focused on performance.

Honkai Star Rail

I’ve noted this several times, but this is the game we most enjoy playing on mobile owing to it being turn-based. That said, it can still get pretty demanding graphically. Lesser SoCs have buckled from delivering an enjoyable play experience but not the Dimensity 9400e.

Honkai Star Rail played incredibly well on the realme GT 7. You enjoy the visuals of the game with High Graphics settings turned on. Gameplay was smooth whether during exploration or combat situations. Touch inputs were on point. Overall, the realme GT 7 played this with zero issues. Which bodes well as this is already one of the more demanding games on our list.

Call of Duty Mobile

From a Space Opera game, we go back down to earth on this first-person shooter favorite. In the interest of time, we quickly hopped on a match without having downloaded all the HD resources yet. We’ve never done this previously and do not recommend it. Gameplay was a little janky in this setup. But this may be more a function of a huge download happening in the background rather than the capabilities of the phone itself.

We hopped into more matches after finally downloading all the HD resources and the game ran perfectly fine. Playing primarily as a sniper, hitting moviing targets felt a lot easier with the smooth controls provided by the realme GT 7’s screen.

DC Dark Legion

Admittedly, this is our first time playing this title. While the graphics seem like it’s asking a lot from your device, that’s actually not the case. The game is fully optimized for mobile. Despite the game having plenty of visual elements as you go deeper into a playthrough, the realme GT 7 didn’t struggle with this at all.

Zenless Zone Zero

This is another one of our favorites from HoyoVerse and one that’s certainly best played with a mobile controller in tow. We used it with the recently released GameSir X5 Lite.

Like most Hoyo games, there’s a section that’s just exploration outside of combat. But for this game, you also have plenty going on in the screen and the combat is high-octane action. Despite that, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the game once again ran incredibly smoothly.

I’ve had my reservations about the Dimensity 9400e but it’s proving to be plenty capable.

One thing to note, though, is that we played this game with the included protective case on and it might have contributed to the heating a little bit. This was the only time that the phone accumulated heating during gameplay.

The only other time some heating happened is when we were shooting quick clips. After taking some 30-60 second clips, some heat also built up. Notably, we were also using the protective case while shooting.

Katana ZERO

Our first of two games from Netflix Games, Katana ZERO is a classic side-scrolling action game and isn’t too graphically demanding. But accurate, fast inputs are key in getting through the game.

We’re happy to report that this is again a game that the realme GT 7 played with no trouble whatsoever.

Street Fighter IV CE

This was not a very fun game to play, especially without a controller. Fighting games, I feel, just aren’t meant to be played without one. We downloaded this game thinking it would have controller support but there was none.

That said, running the game was no problem again for the realme GT 7. Any input issues we had can be chalked up more probably to how the game was ported instead of the device being used.

Overall thoughts on mobile gaming

We were honestly skeptical but were ultimately proven wrong by not only the Dimensity 9400e SoC but the whole realme GT 7 package. Like the GT series phones that came before it, the GT 7 proved to be a standout performer.

Each of the seven games we played ran as you would expect from a flagship-grade smartphone. Anyone looking to purchase this for that purpose alone would find that they are getting their money’s worth.

And we haven’t even touched on the astounding 7,000mAh battery. Let’s do that next.

Battery too much or just right?

One of the realme GT 7’s headline features is its 7,000mAh battery. This part is always tricky because usage will most certainly vary. For now, let’s stick to how it performed during our gaming test period.

The entire gaming test session lasted for roughly around five to six hours – that’s including the time to download the HD resources for each game. The reality is, no one should be playing that many and that much mobile games in that period. It was an unusual situation in which the realme GT 7 still powered through.

By the time we hit game number four to five, it had already been close to four hours. And at that point, the battery was down to 30% from a full charge.

Knowing the phone has bypass charging, we decided to plug it in all the way through until the end of the entire gaming test session.

We have a more realistic battery usage test in our realme GT 7 Gadgetsnaps article. But to give a brief overview – on day when we were out and about from 10am until about 5pm, the phone still had about 35% left. That’s with heavy use taking photos, videos, browsing, chatting, replying to emails, and more.

General usage

It has already been mentioned above but the realme GT 7 really does feel nice to hold, especially with the included case in the package. For day-to-day use, this is our recommended setup as the graphene back can be very slippery.

We’re also fans of some subtle design details on the phone. In particular, the different colored power button is a nice touch.

If you also take time to see how the light hits the phone, you’ll see more subtle hints of red-orange that perfectly contrasts with the Ice Blue color of the phone.

The display is fantastic for video consumption and browsing social media in general. The speakers were also great for just listening to music and podcasts.

We played TWICE’s comeback teaser several times.

Liked this teaser post by ARTMS featuring Heejin.

Checked out Daily Fantasy.

And pretty much did everything else you would normally do on your smartphone.

Decent cameras

The realme GT 7 isn’t geared towards photography enthusiasts. However, it doesn’t mean it can’t take really nice photos.

Below is a quick selection of snaps we took in Taiwan. More coming in a separate article.

The realme GT 7 is a true GT device

The realme GT 7 is every bit the performance beast it is marketed to be. It’s a mighty fine addition to the GT line that continues to offer some of the most noteworthy performance and battery life features in its price segment.

The company certainly has the tools to aim higher so we’re hoping for an even better offering in the future. For now, you can also check out this realme GT 7 Dream Edition Unboxing.

@gadgetmatchUnboxing the realme GT 7 Dream Edition 🏎️💨♬ original sound – officialmooli

Features

Can the REDMI Note 15 Pro+ 5G Survive?

REDMI Titan Durability Challenge!

Published

January 17, 2026

GadgetMatch and Michael Josh Villanueva

As someone who travels and is outdoors a lot, THE Michael Josh will be the first to admit that he is NOT gentle with his phones.

They live in his pockets, bags, hands. They get dropped, they get wet, and they get dusty.

So when REDMI asked him to test something they call “REDMI Titan Durability,” he figured the only fair way to do it was to put the REDMI Note 15 Pro+ 5G to the ultimate durability test.

Reviews

POCO M8 Pro review: Goin’ loco over this POCO

POCO starts 2026 with some bang

Published

January 15, 2026

Vincenz

Looking back at my first few months with GadgetMatch back in 2018 nostalgically evoked my Pocophone F1 core memory. It was touted as THE “flagship killer for less.”

Pre-pandemic, that “Pocophone” simply became “POCO” and became an “independent” kiddo who moved out of its parent’s house.

Almost eight years after that very first iteration, I’ve finally had my first (and long overdue) POCO-perience with the latest POCO M8 Pro.

Design: Repurposed with a purpose

While I have not held a POCO phone until very recently, I am still aware of the brand’s offerings over the years.

Seeing the POCO M8 Pro for the first time instantly reminded me of last year’s Redmi Note 14 Pro series. That’s not me saying POCO blatantly ripped the aesthetics as the POCO X7 also had the same design language.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Like a full circle moment, the aforementioned phones were launched back a year ago.

In all honesty, it still confuses me which direction Xiaomi is heading, especially with the non-stop rebadging of existing POCO and REDMI phones — just with scrambled internals and CMF (color, materials, finish).

Having said that, I still consider the M8 Pro a level up from the last M7 Pro. The former’s design felt like it was not given much importance.

The centered camera island with a squircle cutout seemed like a signature design element of Xiaomi’s newer midrange line moving forward.

I also love how the phone felt in my hands. Even with that plastic back, it felt grippy enough when held.

You have to be wary of fingerprint smudges though — especially if you rock the black colorway. Luckily, the green shade I have still looks clean despite those unwanted smears.

And, if you’re brave enough to clean it in running water, the POCO M8 Pro boasts not just one, not two, but quadruple IP ratings: IP66, IP68, IP69, and even IP69K. These used to be exclusive only among 2025 flagships.

Now Playing: IDOL I

Much like my fanaticism to anything tech, the same can be said with Korean Pop Stars. More known as “K-Pop Idols”, I have been a huge geek of K-Pop for 16 long years (and still counting).

Interestingly, after finishing a series that just ended in Netflix, IDOL I swiftly came by. Even if I am the type of viewer who values the drama’s synopsis more than the cast involved, this K-Drama instantly hit two birds in one.

For one, its starred by a true iconic idol herself: Choi Sooyoung — or one of the nine members of SNSD / Girls’ Generation a.k.a the ultimate 2nd generation K-Pop girl group I’ve been stanning since my youth.

Although Maeng Se-na here is a heartless and “selfish” lawyer, she is the opposite for being a huge (yet silent) fan of “Gold Boys” with Do Ra-ik as his “Ult” (or Ultimate Bias).

In a wild turn of events, the idol became a “murderer” overnight — blaming him for the sudden death of his co-member after waking up from their drinking session.

But, no matter how the general public looks at him as the prime suspect, finding faults against Ra-ik is difficult. That’s pointing out the fact that he was just sleeping in his bed while his former bandmate slash loyal friend got stabbed without clear answers.

I can pretty much say the same thing with the 6.83-inch screen of the POCO M8 Pro: I cannot see any fault at all.

For one, it’s an AMOLED display that made me enjoy binging the first four episodes non-stop. But, being able to display 68.7 billion Colors and 12-bit color depth aside from the usual HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support? That’s likely unusual for a phone in such price point.

And, with a 1.5K display resolution plus a pixel density of 447 ppi, it’s as crisp as it could get. Watching it outdoors is neither a problem with its mighty 3200 nits peak brightness.

While my eyes aren’t very sensitive to light and flicker, its 3840Hz PWM dimming and TÜV Rheinland Flicker-Free and Low Blue Light certifications are still worth mentioning — especially if you stay up all night binge-watching hours worth of titles like yours truly.

On Queue: Apink’s RE:LOVE + Chuu’s XO, My Cyberlove

Pumping up the volume by 60%, it’s expected that the POCO M8 Pro possesses a louder than ever sound output. However, my audio assessment doesn’t end just there.

Just like POCO starting the year with a bang, the K-Pop scene in January 2026 has already exploded with real hit bangers.

First and foremost, Apink finally gathered again to released their 11th Mini Album (their previous Mini Album dates back to 2020). As per usual, I used Apple Music to take full advantage of that Lossless format.

Their title track “Love Me More” not only brought a lot of the group’s nostalgic intro and dance break instrumental during their early days in the industry, it also reminded me of the pre-millennium K-Pop era back in the early 90s.

Pair that with b-sides such as “Sunshine” that sounded pure and soulful, this latest mini album will truly make Pink Pandas’ hearts flutter.

In addition, Chuu (LOONA) finally releases her 1st Full Album titled “XO, My Cyberlove.” It is a complete opposite of her first ever solo song “Heart Attack” almost a decade ago which highlighted her cutesy, innocent charms.

The comeback track of the same title is as quirky and whimsical as it gets. Not only does it highlight Chuu’s light yet ethereal vocals, but it shows her newer, more mature side.

Furthermore, lyrics that evoke unexpected budding love in this digital era where everyone enjoys making connections through the cyber world.

With POCO M8 Pro’s speakers, I fully enjoyed playing the entirety of her freshly-baked album while I was writing this piece. Teeny Tiny Heart and Love Potion are currently my fave b-sides from this release.

Such music fulfillment was possible with the Dolby Atmos stereo speaker setup and Hi-Res Audio support of the M8 Pro. Not only its proudly loud, the audio produced is full and immaculate with clear line between its highs, mids, and lows.

Performance: Adequate for most

On paper, the POCO M8 Pro runs Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 SoC based on a 4nm process. As confusing as it seems, this is different from the more powerful Snapdragon 7 Gen 4.

That being told, game settings will vary depending on how demanding one is.

For instance, CoDM (Call of Duty: Mobile) runs in Very High and Max settings upon first set-up.

Meanwhile, Racing Master (based on NVIDIA’s PhysX engine) can run Ultra settings at 60fps.

However, it throttles during the first two ranked races.

Fortunately, the game detects if it gets sluggish — suggesting lowering down the settings altogether.

Lastly, playing Zenless Zone Zero is doable but, at the lowest graphics by default.

You wouldn’t dare to go past it as Combat Mode will literally feel like combatting the phone itself due to how heavy the game is.

The only “remedy” for these hardware limitations? It’s none other than the Game Turbo mode that boosts graphics performance and input through Xiaomi’s software advancements. And it sort of helped make the gameplay smoother, but not fully.

For the rest of apps that are not graphics-intensive, the M8 Pro can breeze through various apps without hiccups, do split-screens, or multitasking along floating windows with ease.

I can truthfully say that the only thing dragging the POCO M8 Pro down is the software as a whole.

After experiencing the beauty of vivo’s OriginOS 6 and HONOR’s MagicOS 10, Xiaomi’s HyperOS still feels like an after-thought. While it can keep up with the modern-day Android features, its stability and optimizations simply don’t make the cut.

Besides, its built-in AI tools, device ecosystem, as well as cross-compatibility functionality aren’t as polished as what you get on other Chinese brands. Let alone, a rip-off from everyone’s fruit rival without much feature improvements.

Seriously, Xiaomi?

Worst thing? Maybe the ad slash bloatware infestation found not just on the lock screen. Even transferring personal files through Xiaomi’s native File Manager app plays an unskippable ad.

Battery: Eat it up! Eat it, eat it up! 🍝🎶

At 8.31mm, the POCO M8 Pro is as slender as it can get. How they were able to fit a 6500mAh battery inside its chassis is a true feat of engineering.

For the record, this is the first POCO M-series smartphone to have such a ginormous battery. It joins the same league as the POCO F8 Ultra, F7, and the X7 Pro (in India).

For added context, the M7 Pro, as well as the X7 with a similar form factor, only had a 5110mAh battery. But, numbers are just part of the story.

In day-to-day scenarios with light to moderate usage, the POCO M8 Pro can last you a full day — even more when you hit the bed with around 30% to spare.

As one would expect though, the biggest hogging can be felt when playing games.

During my gameplay stress test, downloading resources in Racing Master for about 30 minutes already consumed 5% charge (92% down to 87%). An hour of racing ate up 11 percent — from 87% down to 76%.

Letting it rest on my desk for 18 hours, the phone depleted to 51%.

At around 9 in the evening, I then started playing HoYoverse’s Zenless Zone Zero for exactly an hour. Battery charge went down further to 36%. Then, a 1.5-hour game in CoDM resulted to a 28% battery percentage. And, as of writing, the POCO M8 Pro still had a 3 percent charge left in its massive tank.

That said, the POCO M8 Pro comes with Xiaomi’s 100W wired HyperCharge speeds — adapter still bundled in the box.

By default, the battery charging speed is set in regular with the prompt / option to enable boosting.

In my GadgetMatch Charge Test results, it can be seen that the difference isn’t too far off.

	*Boosted HyperCharge*	*Regular HyperCharge*	*PPS Charging* (UGREEN 100W Nexode)
*START TIME* *From 0%*	1:11AM	3:10PM	4:06PM
3 minutes	10%	8%	1%
5 minutes	17%	11%	4%
*10 minutes*	25%	18%	13%
15 minutes	40%	23%	21%
20 minutes	46%	32%	28%
*30 minutes*	70%	50%	46%
45 minutes	88%	71%	67%
*1 hour*	99%	91%	84%
1 hour 15 minutes	–	99%	96%
*END TIME* *100%*	2:14AM 1 hour 3 minutes	4:27PM 1 hour 17 minutes	5:30PM 1 hour 24 minutes

PPS Charging is also possible. Although the device only showed “Quick Charge” while being filled up, it’s safe to say that it performs as fast as Xiaomi’s regular HyperCharge with a super close margin of only seven minutes.

Cameras: Surprisingly Satisfying

Prospective buyers of the M8 Pro wouldn’t have a hard time dealing with its conventional camera configuration: a 50MP f/1.6 main (wide) camera based on Light Fusion 800’s 1/1.55-inch sensor. That’s paired with a less outstanding 8MP f/2.2 UWA (ultra-wide angle) camera.

For the most part, the main camera does its job very well considering this type of device.

With the satisfactory 1x image sensor, 2x zoom is also possible, thanks to in-sensor cropping.

I honestly used the 2x mode more than I thought — especially when capturing my cats and food I devour.

You can go beyond the bounds. But, with obvious hardware limitations, the camera processing can only do so much.

Once that natural light disappears, it will be tricky to take low-light shots as this has NO dedicated Night Mode feature. No luck if you are using them indoors with artificial light around.

Instead, regular Photo Mode automatically detects a low-light subject and toggles Night Mode processing by itself.

While most results are satisfying, it’s also a testament that its cameras are far from being flawless.

Good thing, the flash exists for a funkier look in subjects that suit it — food specifically.

Portraits weren’t missed. Although it only relies on some software-based processing, it still gets the job done of separating the subject away from the background — humans and pets alike.

Personally, the aperture function was a bit of a nuisance.

For context, these shots were set to a low “f/1.8 aperture.” But, the M8 Pro rendered DoF (Depth of Field) that isn’t as shallow as what it’s supposed to show.

My frustration continues as the setting defaults back to f/4.5 after quitting and re-opening the camera app. That’s not even the standard lens opening when taking portrait photos.

And while we’re already here, selfies taken with its front-facing shooter.

Is the POCO M8 Pro your GadgetMatch?

While this isn’t the “flagship killer” most expect from a POCO phone, it’s hard not to go loco over how well-rounded yet wallet-friendly this POCO phone is — especially in the year 2026 where inflation is still unstoppable alongside the almost instantaneous and ridiculous RAM price hike.

ICYMI, the POCO M8 Pro has a starting price of GBP 299 / SG$ 389 / RM 1199 / PhP 16,999 (around US$ 279) for the 8+256GB configuration.

Meanwhile, the 12+512GB variant that I handle is priced at GBP 349 / SG$ 449 / RM 1499 / PhP 19,999 (approx. US$ 359).

Its closest rival is none other than the HONOR X9d. Coincidental or not, it was launched just a day after the unveiling of the M8 Pro.

Frankly, the only thing you’ll let go from HONOR’s sweet treat are its monstrous 8300mAh battery and more polished OS. This POCO-ffering blows it out of the water with a greater chipset, faster wired charging, bigger and better display, capable cameras, durability never forgotten.

Although it wasn’t totally highlighted, the POCO M8 Pro is undoubtedly a rebadged REDMI Note 15 Pro+ — Xiaomi’s midranger that heavily markets its “Titan Durability” capabilities.

The POCO M8 Pro has them all: from its sturdy aluminum frame, four IP ratings, even the fully-shielded front glass care of Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The biggest disparity? REDMI has a 200MP main camera over POCO’s 50MP shooter.

Despite some inconsistencies, the POCO M8 Pro is still an all-around midranger that will satisfy most users who want to purchase a shiny new smartphone without burning holes in your pockets.

It is a Swipe Right, Super Swipe, and a worthy recipient of the GadgetMatch Seal of Approval.