Chinese smartphone brand iQOO launched the iQOO 7, the company’s latest mid-range 5G smartphone, in the Indian market this year. The new flagship smartphone from iQOO packs some value-for-money specifications for its price tag. Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC and a 120Hz AMOLED Display compete against the Realme X7 Max, Xiaomi Mi 11X, etc. But is it really that good? After using the phone for around 10 days, here is our iQOO 7 review.
The iQOO 7 is being offered in three configurations– 8GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage for Rs 31,990 and Rs 33,990 and Rs 35,990, respectively.
Before we begin our review, let’s take a look at the iQOO 7 specifications:
Display: 6.62-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC support for 5G SA / NSA
RAM/ Storage: 8GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB and 12GB + 256GB
Battery: 4400 mAh with 66W superfast flash charging
Rear camera: 48MP + 13MP + 2MP
Front camera: 16MP
Operating System: Android 11-based Funtouch OS 11.1
Other features: support for up to 5G bands, In-display fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C audio, Stereo speakers, Hi-Fi audio, etc.
iQOO 7 Review: Design and Display
iQOO 7 comes in two colour options, including Solid Ice Blue and Storm Black, and we received iQOO 7 in Solid Ice Blue colour for review, which sports a clean design. The phone’s back features a plastic frame with a matte glass finish, giving a gorgeous look to the device. Due to the matte finish on the back, it is resistant to fingerprints and smudges.
There is also a triple camera module in a rectangular block at the top of the rear and an iQOO branding just below the camera module. Overall, the phone gives a really nice look in hand.
The front sports a small cutout for selfie snapper in the centre, and the bezels are also small all around. At the bottom, the phone features a USB Type-C port, dual SIM card tray, speaker grille and the primary microphone. The right side of the phone has the power and volume rocker buttons. On the left side, there are no physical keys as such. The top EDGE of the phone features a secondary microphone.
The sad thing here is that iQOO has removed the 3.5mm Audio Jack from the device. You also get a phone transparent cover, a pre-applied screen protector, and a 66W charging adapter in the box. The phone’s cover saves the device from getting damaged from accidental drops.
Now coming to display, iQOO 7 sports a 6.62-inch (2400×1080 pixels) Full HD+ AMOLED 20:9 aspect ratio screen. Of course, the phone’s highlight is its 120Hz refresh rate, which gives you a smooth experience while scrolling or playing games. The screen looks good, and the texts are quite sharp. Plus, it is HDR 10+ certified, meaning that you can enjoy all the content in high quality. But even after HDR10+ certification, we noticed that the phone does not support HDR content from Netflix and Prime Video. HDR works only with the Youtube app.
The display does not have a protective layer of Gorilla Glass and comes with a pre-applied screen protector. The outdoor brightness is impressive as well, and the texts are readable in sunlight, all thanks to its peak brightness of 1300 nits. Additionally, the screen also features an Eye Protection mode to filter out blue light.
iQOO 7 Review: Performance, Software and UI
In terms of performance, the iQOO 7 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Processor paired with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of native storage. The phone has extended RAM that uses the storage to boost the RAM by an additional 3GB to improve multitasking under heavy loads. Whether be it multi-tasking or playing high-end games, the phone refuses to give up.
With the latest generation flagship processor by Qualcomm, the phone can handle most of the daily tasks with ease, and we did not encounter any lags when switching between different apps or games. One can play games like Call of Duty Mobile, Asphalt 4 with ease without any frame drops, even with the highest settings.
Apart from this, the phone is equipped with an in-display fingerprint sensor, which is quite fast to unlock the device. The face unlock feature is also fast in recognising the face and unlocking the phone in no time. Face Unlock even works smoothly in low light as well.
The iQOO 7 runs on Android 11 based FunTouch OS 11.1 out of the box. The user interface is smooth and comes loaded with customisation options like icon styles, dark mode, themes, etc. There are different third-party apps like Amazon Shopping, Dailyhunt, Facebook, Snapchat, Netflix and more. You can delete third-party apps but no company’s owned applications.
We feel that the preloaded apps should be a minimum if they can’t be avoided. Furthermore, we noticed the company’s V-store and built-in apps sending us too many notifications with unnecessary App recommendations, which is an annoying experience.
iQOO 7 Review: Camera
The iQOO 7 sports a triple-camera setup at the back, comprising a 48-megapixel primary camera with an IMX598 sensor, f/1.79 aperture, LED flash, OIS, and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture, 2.5cm macro support and a 2-megapixel mono sensor with f/2.4 aperture.
On the front, there is a 16-megapixel selfie sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. The iQOO 7 lets you shoot up to 4K videos@60fps for the primary camera.
The camera comes with several modes like Pro Mode, Night mode, Slow-Mo mode and much more. During our review period, we found out that the camera performance of the iQOO 7 in daylight conditions is quite impressive as the camera can click images with a good amount of detail.
The triple-camera setup does an excellent job in capturing well-detailed shots in daylight conditions. OIS also ensures good levels of stability. The ultra-wide camera also doubles up as a macro camera on the iQOO 7. For the macro shots, they came out pretty well with a good amount of detail.
In portrait mode, too, it takes excellent photos with edge detection, and there are several style filters that you can play on with to keep things interesting.
In low light conditions, the picture quality is average. The performance isn’t much impressive here as the Photos clicked in low lights showed noises and lacked detail; however, switching to Night mode showed slightly better details as it brightens the frame and smoothens the textures in the picture. The front camera also does a good job in broad daylight, taking beautiful selfies with natural skin tone. However, its low light performance better than the rear camera.
iQOO 7 Review: Battery and Connectivity
The iQOO 7 sports a 4,400mAh battery, and it delivers almost one full day of battery backup. Under power usage, which includes multi-tasking, music and video streaming, checking various sites, gaming apart from regular calling, the phone easily lasts for a day. However, the major highlight is the new 66W flash charging technology.
In our charging test, the phone took 50 minutes from 0 per cent to 100 per cent, which is a good thing here. Also, a short five-minute charge can give you a 15 per cent battery which is impressive. This comes out to be quite impressive, and it gives you peace of mind that a few minutes charge will provide you with a healthy amount of battery life.
Connectivity options include 5G, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS/GLONASS and a USB Type-C port.