| Image: realme |
Realme has announced the GT8 Pro, a smartphone that the company says was created in collaboration with Ricoh GR, aiming to bring some of the compact camera’s street photography capabilities to mobile photography. The phone also has an interchangeable camera housing, allowing for greater customization.
one in blog post Announcing the brands’ “strategic partnership”, Realme says the goal is to bring “GR heritage into the pockets of young people”, largely focused on the idea of taking snapshots with the phone rather than fully composed images.
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The phone’s camera app also has a Ricoh GR mode that resembles the physical camera’s control scheme. |
It’s not just about “vibes,” as Realme vice president Chase Xu calls them made a video With Kazunobu Saiki of Riko. The GT8 Pro will include five color mode presets that mimic the standard, positive film, negative film, black and white, and high-contrast black and white color modes from the GR-series cameras. It also adopts shooting modes that simulate 28mm and 40mm equiv. Lenses and their “x” variants on GR cameras.
However, these are ‘faux-al’ lengthDigital crops taken with a 22mm lens, paired with a type 1/1.56 (47.6mm²) sensor. The GT8 Pro has three standard smartphone cameras: a 50MP main camera, a 200MP periscope telephoto and a 50MP ultrawide. Realme says the telephoto camera supports 3x optical, up to 12x “lossless zoom” (again, from the center crop of the sensor), and dual-axis OIS stabilization. In terms of video, the phone is capable of up to 4K120 or 8K30 with support for Dolby Vision.
| main camera | telephoto camera | ultrawide camera | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 50MP | 200MP | 50MP |
| sensor | Type 1/1.56 (47.6mm²) | Type 1/1.56 (47.6mm²) | Type 1/2.88 (18.9mm²) |
| hole | F1.8 | F2.6 | F2.0 |
| Equiv. focal length | 22mm | 65 mm | 16mm |
Ricoh is the latest company we’ve seen lending its branding to a smartphone maker. leica has Famously worked with Xiaomi in recent yearsWhile Oppo (parent company of Realme) has signed with HasselbladIt’s easy to see why this tactic has become increasingly popular; Phone makers get to borrow some prestige (and, potentially, expertise) from heritage camera brands, and camera makers get their names in front of budding photographers who might one day be looking to buy a dedicated camera.
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| Images: realme |
Apart from the Ricoh branding, the GT8 Pro is the first phone from Realme to feature an interchangeable camera bump frame. The camera module uses two screws on the side to hold the replaceable component securely in place. This does not change the specifications or functionality of the camera (it doesn’t). Concept phone with interchangeable lens mount The company unveiled in March), but it allows users to customize the look of the phone.
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| Image: realme |
Realme says it will offer various designs including square, round and “robot style”. The phone comes with a round module, but reportedly, the first model to be shipped to China will also include a square option. The company also shared the 3D model file and invited users to create their own take. It is even holding a competition with Makerworld for the most creative designs.
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| Image: realme |
The GT8 Pro uses the flagship Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 Extreme Edition chipset along with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage. It also has Realme’s custom R1 graphics chip. The display also gets flagship features, using AMOLED with QHD+ resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. It promises 2000 nits of brightness under normal conditions, but in extreme areas this can go up to 4000 nits. It has 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. The phone also gets IP66, IP68 and IP69 ratings.
The Realme GT 8 Pro is currently only available in China and comes in white, green, and blue colors. Pre-orders begin today at a base price of CNY 3999 ($562).
