IQOO 7 5G Review – A Technical Powerhouse

Despite so many smartphones available in the market, the title of the “Flagship Killer” is up for grabs at the moment. Out of the blue, Vivo has thrown its hat into the ring in the form of IQOO 7, the world’s first dual-chip smartphone. It is promising a ton of features on this device along with an affordable price tag. So how is it in real life? Let’s waste no time to find out.

What’s In The Box?

Inside the box, the Vivo IQOO 7 comes with some top-spec equipment. You’ll find a 66-watt fast charger, a USB Type-C to Type-A cable, the smartphone itself and a clear plastic case.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to see it in an age where manufacturers just want excuses to remove stuff from their smartphones. Be it the headphone jack or the chargers.

Along with the above-mentioned things you get a sim ejector pin and some documentation.

Construction And Design

The IQOO 7 feels very solidly built. It features a rectangular shaped camera array which is similar to the one found on Vivo X60. It is to be expected because the IQOO 7 is made by the Vivo.

In terms of I/O you get a power button and volume rocker on the side meanwhile the other side is completely plain. On the top, you’ll get a noise-cancelling microphone and a speaker grill. Near the bottom, you’ll find another speaker grill and a USB Type-C charging port.

In terms of build quality, the phone feels very premium. It has a 6.62-inch screen in the front and a glass panel in the rear. The camera array does pop out a bit, however, the included case with the smartphone does a good job of protecting it.

In the front of this smartphone, you’ll see a punch-hole camera in the top middle portion of the screen. The bezels near the display are very thin and the screen itself has an 86.6% screen-to-body ratio, which is great.

Performance Tested

The IQOO 7 is powered by a Snapdragon 870 SoC in addition to an independent display chip. The latter provides an extra boost to the smartphone during intensive gameplay.

For instance, if you’re playing a graphically intensive game like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile, then the secondary chip will fire up to boost the FPS and the visual quality of the game.

The smartphone uses a Snapdragon 870 SoC, which is on the second spot in terms of speed just below the Snapdragon 888. However, it still manages to score fairly high Antutu benchmark scores. It scored a fairly high score even during repeated attempts, which is really great. Therefore, in terms of raw performance, the IQOO 7 will satisfy all your needs.

To further enhance the gaming experience the IQOO 7 comes with a pair of vibration motors that activate whenever you’re shooting in an FPS or hitting combos in an action game. Think of its operation as similar to a PlayStation controller.

In order to deliver additional performance, the IQOO 7 offers up to 12 GB of RAM and 256 Gb of UFS 3.1 storage, which is pretty dang fast.

In terms of display, the IQOO 7 features a 6.2-inch 1080p 120hz display. Now the phone does come with an adaptive refresh rate feature but it does not work as intended. For example, if the adaptive refresh rate is ON, the content on a webpage or inside an app will scroll in 60hz mode and the rest of the content will be displayed in 120hz mode. However, I think it’s something that can be fixed in a software update.

It’d be great because the screen of the IQOO 7 is quite amazing and watching videos on it is a joy thanks to the dual firing speakers.

Let’s talk cameras. The IQOO 7 features a 48 MP wide, a 13 MP ultrawide and 2 MP depth sensor. The cameras offer great picture quality, the images have a little pop-up colour but overall the detail of the subject is very well captured by this camera.

The camera system also features OIS and EIS but not in ultra-wide video mode when shooting in 60 FPS. Shooting in 30 FPS is fine all the way through.

I tested the battery of the IQOO 7 quite extensively and I can assure you that this phone has more than 6 hours of screen on time with a mixture of workload ranging from browsing, streaming to gaming. It comes with a 4,400 mah battery, which I think is very well optimised to handle everything you throw at it.

Verdict

The IQOO 7 is the real flagship killer in 2021 and the smartphone proves it with a powerful processor, amazing build quality and a great camera. For a starting price of Rs. 31,990, the IQOO 7 sweets the already amazing deal even further.