iQOO is churning out smartphones in the Indian market on a regular basis and its latest smartphone to join the lineup is the iQOO 11 5G. While it is an excellent performer in terms of gaming, a flagship should be an all-rounder, meaning it should be equally decent when it comes to photography. So let’s talk about the cameras on the iQOO 11 5G in our camera review of the device, where we put to test the triple camera setup on iQOO’s latest flagship.
iQOO 11 5G: Regular outdoor shots
The iQOO 11 5G has a 50MP f/1.88 OIS-assisted main camera. The device also has Vivo’s custom-made V2 chip inside which handles image processing. Coming to the quality of regular outdoor shots, you get a decent output. The photos are sharp and have a good amount of detail. Dynamic range is well handled and the colour tones are vivid.
iQOO has given a new ’Natural Colour’ option that tones down the vividness and does what it says. The warmth of the photo switches to the cooler side when this option is turned on. However, if you want a photo rich with colours, you can turn it off with a single click. I would also like to appreciate how fast the shutter speed of the device is. You would hardly ever miss a shot with this device.
iQOO 11 5G: Wide-Angle shots
The 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera on the back handles those shots where you want to get in as much content as possible inside the photo. However, I was disappointed when I first saw the sensor on-paper considering this phone is a flagship.
While it didn’t perform as bad as I expected, the wide-angle photos I got were still not on par with other flagships and were definitely not something I expect from a device costing Rs 60,000. Some of the other devices I have tested, including mid-rangers, perform better than iQOO 11 5G in this department.
The wide-angle photos from iQOO’s flagship lacked clear detailing and weren’t sharp enough. While the colour difference between regular shots and wide-angle shots was hardly noticeable, I felt the smartphone could have done much better in terms of clarity and EDGE distortion. Moreover, the edges of a wide-angle photo got blurred that certainly made the photo look average.
Read More: iQOO 11 5G Gaming Review: Redefining Gaming Phone Segment
iQOO 11 5G: Portrait shots
The portrait shots on the iQOO 11 are handled by a 13MP f/2.46 telephoto camera sensor that supports 2x optical zoom. The portrait shots from iQOO’s flagship were actually impressive. It handles human subjects very well in terms of skin tone and there’s a good amount of sharpness in the shot.
The bokeh effect is also dense with accurate edge detection. You can actually change the intensity of the bokeh while shooting and change the entire effect after you have taken the shot. Overall, I would say iQOO 11 5G clicks sublime portraits, both for human subjects and other objects as well.
iQOO 11 5G: Night shots
The iQOO 11 5G, same as most phones nowadays, has a dedicated Night mode so you can click brighter and sharper shots during night time. These shots are also handled nicely with ample amount of details and colours.
With night mode turned on, while the brightness of the photo remains similar to when it is turned off, the sharpness increases considerably. The overall photo is bright enough and if I had to describe night shots from iQOO 11 in a single word, I would say these are ‘sufficient’.
iQOO 11 5G: Selfies
There’s a 16MP front-facing camera on the iQOO 11 5G and once again, the device performance remains optimum. Selfies have decent skin tone and adequate sharpness. Even if you zoom in, you can notice the smaller details such as hair threads. The colours are also punchy and if I had to rate these photos, I would say they are a solid 8 out of 10.
iQOO 11 5G: Artificial Lighting shots
Shots in artificial lighting look detailed with adequate sharpness. Colours look slightly faded and could have been a bit more punchy but they get the job done. However, edge detection takes a hit and the software can get messy in properly detecting edges of the subject.
iQOO 11 5G: Low-light shots
In low-lighting conditions, the device struggles to keep up with the demanding situation. Details took a toll due to poor lighting with the photo looking slightly smudgy. Colours were surprisingly intact.
iQOO 11 5G: Other additional features
The iQOO 11 5G not only handles traditional types of photos well, but also has a few new tricks up its sleeve. Similar to Google’s Action Mode, the iQOO 11 5G now has Long exposure mode where it can form trails of moving traffic.
Apart from that, you get document mode, supermoon for taking clear pictures of the moon, a Pro mode so you can take manual control over features of a photo, a Panorama mode and more.
With that, our camera review of the iQOO 11 5G comes to an end. To conclude, the device performs really well in most scenarios and won’t disappoint you unless you are someone who clicks a lot of Wide-angle shots or shots in low lighting.
The camera can get the job done in these conditions as well but can often struggle considerably in a number of scenarios which one wouldn’t expect out of a flagship. Keeping these two scenarios aside, the iQOO 11 5G is a dependable and satisfactory performer when it comes to casual outdoor shots, selfies, night shots, and especially portraits.
