It’s been some time since we have been using the iQoo 7, which is ready to take on its competitors under the Rs 35,000 price segment. Vivo has introduced its flagship series, which includes a Legend edition. Today we will be reviewing iQoo 7, which brings a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC that directly puts in front of the Mi 11X that has the same processor. In addition to this, there is a 120Hz display and more cool features. So let’s find out how well the smartphone performed in our iQoo 7 review.
iQoo 7 review: Design and Display
Let’s first start with the built quality and the design of the iQoo 7. This phone carries a simplistic design. The Solid Ice Blue colour, which we have, comes with a gradient finish and changes its hues when light hits it at different angles. The back of the phone is layered with AG matte glass to give it a matte yet smooth feel. Also, it does not attract any fingerprints and smudges at all. The big-sized camera module does not wobble when placed on a table or flat surface.
The side frames are made of plastic and all the buttons are given on the right side that includes power and volume rocker keys. The power button does not double up as a fingerprint reader since the company has integrated an in-display sensor. The phone does not ship a 3.5mm headphone jack or a microSD card slot. At the bottom, you will find a SIM card slot, Type-C USB port and a speaker grille, which is primary while the earpiece is a secondary one. So, yes you do get stereo sound support.
Due to its tall build, the device cannot be used single-handedly. There is a 6.62-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display with 1,080×2,400 pixels of resolution, a 20:9 aspect ratio, a 120Hz refresh rate and a 300Hz touch sampling rate. Notably, most of the apps run on a 120Hz refresh rate, but YouTube on 60Hz only. Though it supports a higher refresh rate, the display does not feel buttery smooth while scrolling feeds on social media accounts. That could be the case of sensitivity. This we could feel as we have recently switched from Mi 11X Pro to iQoo 7, which was swift and smooth.
The display comes with a peak brightness of 1,300nits, so the readability outdoors is perfect and can achieve low brightness while using the phone in bed or in dim light conditions. The colours are also fine, but you can change them in the display setting to your preference. The display comes with Widewine L1 support, but you can only stream content in HDR format. Moreover, there is an anti-flicker mode that reduces screen flicker and minimises visual fatigue when the screen brightness is low. But this may increase screen noise slightly.
We have also realised that the company should have cut down the front camera diameter just like its competition has.
iQoo 7 review: Performance and Cameras
iQoo 7 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC, along with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. We have the 8GB RAM with a 128GB storage variant for review.
The Snapdragon 870 unlocks great gaming performance and offers top-notch performance. Under real-life usage, the device is fast while opening default apps and effortless in multitasking. There even the most demanding titles like Call of Duty don’t stutter when played at the highest of graphics settings. You can convert the standard definition game to HDR. The phone does get warm at the back, but we cannot call it a heating issue. Most importantly this does not throttle the performance and the phone’s temp cools down very quickly.
The company claims that the phone has a graphite layer cooling system, but playing graphic-intensive games like COD, PUBG and Asphalt will surely take a toll on the thermals after 15 minutes of gameplay. You will also get to feel the vibration during gaming since there is 4D Game Vibration which uses the dual linear vibration motor. This feature lets you feel the bumps and impacts that boost the overall gaming performance on iQoo 7.
So far we have covered the display, design and performance side of things now comes the camera’s performance. There is a triple rear camera setup that includes a Sony IMX 598 48-megapixel primary sensor with OIS, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide lens that also doubles up as a macro sensor and a 2-megapixel mono lens. The phone features a 16-megapixel front-facing camera for taking selfies and video calling.
The cameras manage to produce brighter, pleasing images, with good dynamic range and shadow details as well. When clicking images of flowers the cameras bring out more saturation, but we preferred it that way. The same goes with the ultra-wide images, the photos are sharp, bright and do not look dark.
The OIS kicks in while shooting nighttime images, therefore, offering brighter and sharper images. You can also turn on the night mode, but sometimes the shots delivered are unnecessarily brighter at certain instances but does an excellent job in maintaining exposure and details in extremely low light conditions by bringing in more light. When it comes to portraits, the photos look unnaturally yellowish or orangish around the subject’s face. But sharpness and dynamic range are natural and the subject’s face looks smoothened. Besides this, the camera app offers some cool image effects to play with but at times the edge detection is just not perfect when it comes to selfies.
Now coming to the videography, iQoo 7 can capture 4K videos at 60fps from its primary rear camera. However, this resolution lacks booths EIS and OIS. The ultra-wide videos remain limited to 1080p @ 30fps and it also lacks stabilisation.
The selfie videos have good details and the skin tone looks natural while the audio pickup is decent as well.
As for the battery life, iQoo 7 is fueled by a 4,400mAh battery. You end up getting more than 1 day of battery life even if you are a heavy user. The company ships a 65W charger that juices up the battery from zero to 50 percent in just 10 minutes and fully charges it in just half an hour. That’s commendable.
Verdict
So there you have it guys, the review of iQoo 7. The company has managed to deliver an overall balanced phone with this one that easily surpasses many devices at this price point. If you are on the lookout for a good gaming smartphone, this could very well be the option.
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