Friends+Design
- Good-looking smartphone with a punch-hole display and curved glass back - the Volcano Orange variant has a unique soft matte texture with a much better grip
- At the right side of the phone are touch sensitive “Monster Touch Buttons” which in certain games allow you to use index fingers to control some in-game actions - the implementation is even better than the ROG Phone, combined with optimised haptics, it makes for a rather pleasurable experience
- The in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock are both quick to unlock and consistent
- Pretty chunky and a tad heavy, at 9.2 mm thick and 215 g weight - long gaming sessions might tire your wrists
Display
- Vibrant, large 6.44-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with a tiny punch-hole camera on the top-right corner - the screen offers an expansive way to enjoy games or anything else you might throw at it
- It also supports HDR10+ which adds to the contrast and makes supported content on the screen more enjoyable
- The phone’s brightness is also great under all lighting conditions
- At this price, most phones support 90Hz or higher refresh rate and seeing only 60Hz on a gaming centric smartphone is a downer
Software
- The iQOO UI based on Android 10 OS is just the retouched Vivo FunTouch OS and a bit disappointing - the software comes across as a weak point as it is cluttered and not well optimised (though, it is very feature packed)
Performance
- Super fast performance with Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 865 chipset, combined with the latest LPDDR 5 standard RAM, and UFS 3.1 storage - the phone aces all benchmarks and every game you throw at it will run perfectly
- The phone doesn't heat up even during long hours of heavy gaming, like playing PUBG Mobile
Camera
- Decent quad-camera setup - a 48MP primary shooter + 13MP ultra-wide lens + 13MP telephoto sensor + a 2MP depth sensor
- The pictures with the primary camera outdoors in natural daylight had ample detailing and adequate sharpness, these shots retain good brightness levels with decent contrast levels and less saturation (though, images shot indoors are a tad on the softer side)
- Decent ultra-wide lens, encapsulates a lot more in the frame than the primary sensor - the ultra-wide lens also doubles up as the macro lens and can let you go as close as 2.5cm to the subject (though, the quality isn't matched with the primary camera)
- Telephoto lens is decent too with the right amount of sharpness and dynamic range and you can zoom in upto 20X (though, the 20X zoomed photos are distorted)
- The 16MP front camera takes good selfies and manages to capture true-to-life images with a good amount of detail and even lighting
- Portrait mode can be a hit or miss on the iQOO 3, as the edge-detection algorithm just doesn't do a very good job
- Low-light performance is just average as images invariably turned out soft and lacking in detail
- Video recording is average too - stabilisation is only offered till Full HD and videos are noisy
5G
- iQOO 3 5G adds 5G support and is one of the very few phones available right now with this feature - if you want to make your phone phone future proof, you now have the option since 5G support is currently not available in India
Audio
- Good audio quality from the single speaker - can deliver high volume levels, retaining the flawless output
- Included earphones in the box, a rarity among smartphones these days
Battery
- Good battery life with the 4440 mah battery - you can easily manage a day and a half of use from the phone with moderate usage
- Incredibly fast 55W fast charging with the included charger - the battery can be charged to 50 percent in just 15 minutes
Verdict
- The major advantage iQOO 3 has over it's competition are the gaming centric feature and optimisation and if the touch sensitive buttons are a must have for you, iQOO 3 is a solid choice
- However, the Realme X50 Pro brings faster charging, a more versatile array of cameras, and, most importantly, a 90Hz display - in comparison, the iQOO seems to be second in the race it hoped to inaugurate
