Last week, Chinese smartphone-maker iQOO (which translates to I Quest On and On) formally made its debut in India with the release of the flagship iQoo 3 on March 4.
On paper, iQoo 3 is formidable enough to give tier-1 brands, a run for their money in India. But, does it really live up to the hype? Here’re my thoughts on the new premium mobile.
Display and build quality
The iQoo 3 comes with a standard chocolate bar form factor, which we see in most of the smartphones. But, the material used for the mobile is premium. It has sturdy metallic chassis around the edges and the company has used Schott Xensation, a lithium alumino-silicate cover glass cover on the front panel.
On the back, Tornado Black review unit sports a glossy shell with Corning Gorilla Glass 6 shield. When looked from a certain angle, the device reflects a shade of purple.
The dual-colourway is really visually appealing, but unfortunately, it is a fingerprint magnet.
There is a curved rectangular module with a matte finish in the top left corner. It houses four sensors along with an LED flash. The camera setup protrudes a bit and when kept on a table with the back facing it, the device wobbles.
On the bright side, the company is offering translucent shell cover, which not only evens out the protrusion but also saves you the time for constantly wiping the dirt off the back panel.
The interesting thing is that it comes with an extra physical button on the left side, which the user can use it to trigger Google Assistant. Also, there are two pressure-sensitive touch sensors, ergonomically placed on the shoulders of the right side chassis, which come handy while playing games.
The iQoo flaunts a 6.44-inch full HD+ (2400x1080p) Polar View display design with a pixel density of 409 ppi (pixels per inch) and can offer peak brightness up to 1200 nits. It has a small spec in the top right corner, which houses 16MP front camera.
Though there is no provision for 120Hz or 90Hz display refresh rate options, the E3 super AMOLED screen of the device plays HD videos with near accurate colours. And, with less obstruction in the front-panel, I had a really good time watching TV shows/movies on the big screen.
I have to mention that iQoo 3, has one of the best in-screen fingerprint sensors in the market. Thanks to dedicated GX chipset, the biometric sensor is super quick to recognise my thumb impression and most importantly, the False Rejection Ratio (FRR) is really low.
Performance
Our iQoo 3 review unit comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 octa-core processor backed by 12GB RAM (LPDDR5) and 256GB storage UFS 2.1. The device runs Android 10-based iQoo UI, but I couldn’t help but notice that there too many pre-loaded apps, which average consumers don’t intend to use. And also, during the setting up the phone, there is another list of apps the phone requests the owner to install, but thankfully, we can reject them.
As far as the performance is concerned, the device works smoothly without any fuss. It responds swiftly in terms of app loading, switching multiple apps, playing videos, opening the camera and long photo sessions. Also, there are Multi Turbo and Ultra Game modes, which enhance gaming in terms of blocking annoying notifications and also boost CPU to offer buttery smooth performance.
Furthermore, there is 4D vibration, a haptic feedback feature, which can simulate the recoil when shooting during games such as Call of Duty, PUBG Mobile and the vibration of the steering wheel, which offers realistic experience while playing Asphalt 9: Legends car racing game.
During the testing, it did not exhibit any lag-ness and there was no excessive heating of the back panel as such.
The credit also goes to the Carbon fibre-based VC liquid cooling technology in the device.
On the AnTuTu performance testing app, it got massive 5,84,653 points. And on Geekbench, it scored an impressive 930 and 3,275 points on single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.
With 4,400mAh cell inside, iQoo 3 was able to deliver more than a day’s battery life. It consistently delivered full-day (active hours- 6:45 am to 10:30 pm) with more than 30-to-40-percent juice still left before I could retire to the bed.
Also with 55W charger, the iQoo phone was able to charge the device from zero to 100% under one hour.
Camera
The iQoo 3 ships with a feature-rich quad-camera module-- 48MP main camera (with Sony IMX582 sensor, f/1.79) backed by 13MP Telephoto (f/2.46) up to 10x Zoom, a 13MP super wide-angle lens (f/2.2) with 120-degree field of view & macro shot capability and a dedicated 2MP sensor (f/2.4) for Bokeh effect.
The device takes a really sharp and clear picture with HDR (High Dynamic Range) modes, particularly in the bright sunny environment. Also, the portrait modes, wide-angle shots, Zoom features are impressive too.
As far as the night mode is concerned, the picture quality is decent and is on par with any of the phones under Rs 50,000 price range.
Unlike some rival mobiles, the device does a good job of keeping the attributes of the night and doesn't blow up the background with artificial lighting effects.
On the front, iQoo 3 houses 16MP (Samsung S5K3P9SP04-FGX9 sensor) with f/2.45 aperture. It takes really good selfies and also is an array of beautifying filters and editing options to enhance the visual appeal of the subject’s face.
It supports 5G, but...
The new iQoo 3 supports 5G bands-- N41/77/78, but the Indian device owners will have to wait at least one year if not more to experience the super-fast internet, as there is no proper infrastructure in place in the country.
But, considering the hardware both internal and exterior of the phone, it can last for two years if not more, provided there is no physical damage. And, whenever the 5G connectivity becomes a reality in India, iQoo 3 owners will surely be among the first to experience it.
If you happen to travel to America, Europe or any developed regions with 5G infrastructure, you will be able to enjoy high-speed internet anywhere between 5Gbps to 10 Gbps. This means 4K resolution multimedia contents with sizes 8GB or more can be downloaded in just a few seconds. Also, iQoo 3 owners can stream HDR video content on multimedia apps without any buffering.
Final thoughts
iQoo 3 is a new potential flagship-killer in the town. It has a whole lot more to offer than just the 5G cellular capability.
The device offers super-smooth performance, takes decent pictures, the battery lasts more than a day under normal usage and a dedicated pressure-sensitive touch-sensors on the chassis that enhances the gaming experience.
If you are looking for a cost-effective premium phone with the latest features under Rs 40,000, you won’t find a better option than iQoo 3.
The new phone is being is being offered in three variants--8GB RAM+128GB (4G), 8GB RAM+256GB (4G) and 12GB RAM+256GB (5G)--for Rs 36,990, Rs 39,990 and Rs 44,990, respectively.
Pros:
Really good build quality
Decent camera hardware for its price
Long-lasting battery
Dedicate pressure-sensitive touch sensors on the right side of the chassis to enhance the gaming experience
Superfast fingerprint sensor
Cons:
For now, there is no use-case for 5G support, as there is no infrastructure in India yet
No 90Hz/120Hz refresh rate, but it is not a big deal as most of the apps on Google Play don't support them
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