realme 15T 5G Review - Durable battery, durable build

After a month of daily usage, we share our thoughts on the realme 15T 5G, including the company's controversial decision to remove an ultra-wide camera and the surprisingly higher-than-expected pricing.

realme 15T box inclusions

To recap, the realme 15T 5G features a 6.57-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen, a MediaTek Dimensity 6400 Max octa-core processor, 8GB/12GB of RAM, 256GB/512GB of storage, and a 7,000mAh battery with 60W fast charging.

The cameras at the back are a 50MP main camera and a 2MP secondary camera with an LED flash. While in front is the 50MP selfie camera.

In the Philippines, the price starts at only PHP 16,999 for the 8GB/256GB model.

In our unboxing, we were surprised by the omission of an ultra-wide camera.

For our review part 1: realme 15T 5G Unboxing, First Impressions, and Camera Samples

Multimedia Experience

realme 15T 5G's display

In front is the 6.57-inch AMOLED with a 2,372 x 1,080 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It is AGC DT-Star D+ protected.

The panel is super bright, at 4,000 nits peak brightness. This means it's more than readable under direct sunlight. The colours pop, while the text and fine details are crisp, too.

It supports 10 multi-touch points, making it good for multitasking or games that support multiple simultaneous touch inputs. It responds quickly and accurately to our taps and gestures.

The bezels around the panel area are thin and symmetrical. On the top bezel is the super slim earpiece, while below it is the punch hole that houses the selfie camera.

Delightfully thin and symmetrical bezels

While it understandably skips LTPO, the OLED keeps the profile sleek without major compromises.

realme 15T 5G's top and bottom speakers

The phone is equipped with stereo speakers (top and bottom firing) for audio. Around the phone are microphones used for noise cancellation in calls and audio recording.

The sound from the speakers is surprisingly not as loud as we expected. Even when pushed to 300 percent, the maximum volume may be lacking in louder environments. The distortion is noticeable above 90 percent as well.

The microphones do a good job of picking up sounds from a meter away, while the noise-cancellation for calls is good too.

Cameras

realme 15T 5G's rear camera module

The back features a 50MP f/1.8 main camera with a 1/2.88-inch sensor and a 2MP secondary camera with an LED flash.

The stock camera app includes Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Panorama, Cinematic, Slo-Mo, Dual-View Video, Time-lapse, Hi-Res, Underwater, Pro Mode, Tilt-Shift, Movie Mode, Street Mode, and Text Scanner.

The Pro  Mode controls include EV (+-3), ISO (100-6400), Shutter speed (1/8,000-30 secs), Focus, and White Balance.

Added features include Google Lens, Crisp or Vibrant, Flash, Aspect Ratio, Timer, HDR, and Live Photo.

The Portrait Mode allows for bokeh strength control (f/1.4-16) and Retouching (1-100). There is also a Soft Light Filter mode with selections from Deja vu, Retro, Misty, Glowy, or Dreamy.

Rear Camera Samples

realme 15T 5G's rear main camera 1x

realme 15T 5G's rear main camera 2x

The images from the main camera and 2x crop are detailed, vibrant, contrasty, and the white balance tends to go warm. 

realme 15T 5G's Close-up

realme 15T 5G's main camera close-up

The close-up images' areas that are in focus are sharp, while the out-of-focus areas have a nice fall-off. The color and contrast are great, too. White balance leans towards warmer tones.

realme 15T 5G's rear camera indoors 1x

realme 15T 5G's rear camera indoors 2x

Indoors, the images from the main camera and 2x crop are contrasty and detailed with vibrant color. There is a small buildup of grain that has lowered the sharpness to an extent.

realme 15T 5G rear camera low light 1x

realme 15T 5G rear camera low light 2x

For low light, the camera app automatically runs Night Mode-like shots. 

Although the color, contrast, detail, and sharpness are at acceptable levels, the main camera and 2x crop shots show a noticeable buildup of noise in different scenarios, particularly indoors and in low light.

Overall, the rear camera produced consistent images. BUT, it could have been better.

Hopefully, there will be an update to address the noise issue.

realme 15T 5G's front-facing camera

The 50MP f/2.4 selfie camera with a 1/2.88-inch sensor is on the punch hole on the display.

Camera modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Portrait, Panorama, Dual-View Video, Time-Lapse, and Underwater.

Selfie Camera Samples

realme 15T 5G Selfie daylight

Daylight selfies from the realme 15T 5G are a mixed bag. The sharpness, detail, and contrast are great, but the skin tones (the skin and lips) are off. 

realme 15T 5G Selfie Portrait

Similar to the portrait mode bokeh of the rear cameras, the edge detection is excellent. But the bokeh looks a little artificial. Otherwise, the image is sharp and contrasty. The subject is kept tack sharp, too. However, the skin tones could be tweaked.

realme 15T 5G indoor selfie

Indoor selfies are the same as daylight selfies. It never disappoints. The skin tones and lips are closer to true to life than the daylight shots.

realme 15T 5G low light selfie

In low light, the selfie looks good even though some grain was introduced. The image remained sharp and contrasty. But the skin tones and lips remain off.

Overall, the front cameras produced sharp and detailed selfies, but the white balance and skin tones need improvement.

The rear and front cameras can record up to 1080p at 60fps. The footage is sharp and vibrant in color, but shaky. The noise is noticeable in some areas. There is no software-based stabilization.

Performance

realme 15T' 5Gs AnTuTu and GeekBench score results

Inside the realme 15T 5G is the 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6400 Max octa-core processor, Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, 8GB/12GB RAM, and 256GB/512GB storage. The RAM can be expanded via software, Dynamic RAM.

During the AnTuTu test, the phone's temperature increased by 7.6 degrees while the battery lost 2 percent power.

In GeekBench, the realme 15T 5G scored 811 in the single-core test and scored 2,074 in the multi-core test.

realme 15T 5G's 3DMark and CPDT results

In 3DMark, the realme 15T 5G scored 1,377 overall score with an average fps of 8.25. The 512GB internal storage got 401.14 MB/s in sequential read speeds and 208.41 MB/s in sequential write speeds.

realme 15T 5G benchmarks:

1. AnTuTu - 605,158
2. Geekbench 6 - 811 (single-core), 2,074 (multi-core)
3. 3DMark - 1,377 overall score, 8.25 average fps
4. CPDT - 401.14 MB/s sequential read speeds and 208.41 MB/s sequential write speeds

The realme 15T 5G scores in AnTuTu, Geekbench, and GeekBench AI offer scores that are within the range of what is expected in its price range, albeit near the edge. However, there are several phones priced similarly that may perform better than the benchmarks.

We also noticed that the 512GB internal storage's read and write speeds aren't as fast as we would like.

realme 15T' 5Gs Genshin Impact Experience

Our takeaway is that when playing demanding games on the realme 15T 5G, such as Genshin Impact, the game is playable even at the lowest graphic settings, but it will experience frame rate drops when multiple animations flood the screen.

In our experience, the phone can handle the majority of tasks like navigating through the OS, opening apps, web surfing, and social media without struggling.

The phone has an optical In-Display fingerprint sensor and face unlock for security. The initial setup and subsequent uses are quick, and it detects our biometrics instantaneously. It works even if your finger is a little sweaty.

The face unlock only struggles when the camera is dirty. The screen brightens up when used in the dark. It detects the face and unlocks the phone super fast, too.

Regarding connectivity, we have the following: WiFi 6, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, OTG, GPS, GLONASS, and Dual Hybrid SIM support.

Connections are usually stable for WiFi, and we get 4 to 5 bars of mobile data signal most of the time.

realme 15T 5G's PCMark Battery benchmark result and battery usage

Inside the phone is a massive 7,000 mAh battery. In our usual PCMark Battery Benchmark, it lasted for a whopping 26 hours and 11 minutes. What is even more impressive is that we were consistently getting 2 to 3 days of battery life on a single charge with our daily usage. This includes being connected to WiFi and 5G networks constantly. 

Extra-long battery performance

We even used it as a hotspot for 8 consecutive hours, and it managed to still have 50+ percent battery left. It has a remarkable battery life that can compete with larger battery capacity phones of recent memory.

There were days when we never turned off GT Mode, and we would still end with 10 percent battery after the second day.

The battery charges via USB-C with the included 80W wall charger, which charges the phone 100 percent in under 60 minutes.

realme UI 6.0

It is running on realme UI 6.0 based on Android 15, which further leans into visual tweaks and performance improvements while adding new AI features.

The new AI features are not new, and we have seen them in other recent realme models. This includes AI Photo imaging tools, AI Eraser 2.0, AI Recording Summary, AI Documents, AI Remove Reflections, AI Sketch to Image, and AI Smart Loop.

My favorite is AI Edit Genie, as it lets AI take over the task of editing photos. Right now, it is hit or miss. Eventually, it will get better. 

It also supports quick and seamless file transfers between realme devices and with iOS devices with O+ Connect (the same app OPPO uses for its version of the feature).

Pros - Eye-catching design, IP69 rating, lightweight polycarbonate build, aluminum camera housing, 7,000mAh battery, 120Hz 4,000 nit FHD+ AMOLED screen, stereo speakers,  

Cons - Underwhelming internal storage speed, grain in main camera shots, inconsistent selfie camera

realme 15T 5G Specs

Display: 6.57-inch AMOLED screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, FHD+ 2372 x 1080 resolution at 401 ppi
CPU: 2.4GHz 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 6400 Max octa-core processor
GPU: Mali-G57 MC2
RAM: 8GB/12GB
ROM: 256GB
Back Camera: 50MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF + 2MP f/2.4 depth + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 50MP f/2.4
Battery: 7,000mAh w/ 60W SUPERVOOC
OS: Android 15 w/ realme UI 6.0
Connectivity: WiFi 6 (2.4GHz/5GHz), 5G SA/NSA, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.4, OTG, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS, NavIC, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, IP68/69 dust and water splash resistance, Super Linear Dual Speakers, Hi-Res Audio, Dolby Atmos, Dual-mic Noise Cancellation, Vapor Chamber Cooling System, USB-C, Colors: Silk Blue, Suit Titanium, Flowing Silver
Dimensions: 158.4 x 75.2 x 7.8 mm
Weight: 181 g
Price: PHP 16,999 (8GB/256GB), PHP 19,999 (12GB/512GB)

Verdict

realme 15T' 5Gs web surfing

The realme 15T 5G impresses with its lightweight yet durable design with DT-Star front glass panel protectio and an IP69 rating, dazzling 4,000‑nit 120Hz AMOLED display with slim symmetrical bezels, and a massive 7,000mAh battery that can legitimately stretch to three days of use.

This phone also has quirky yet surprisingly useful features, like the ability to take photos and videos underwater, as well as a stereo speaker setup that can be pushed to 300 percent

However, to get to its price point, it had to compromise on other features. The most glaring is the omission of the rear ultra-wide camera. They could also further improve their camera software and tuning.

Overall, we recommend the realme 15T 5G for people who want an IP69-rated smartphone with one of the brightest 120Hz FHD+ screens and a long-lasting 3-day battery life, but do not mind the lack of an ultra-wide camera.

What do you guys think?

Build/Design - 4

Multimedia Experience - 4

Cameras - 3.75

Performance - 3.75

Average - 3.875/5