IQOO 3 first Impressions: This 5G smartphone has something for all

iQOO is the latest player in the Indian smartphone market, and it has started with a bang with its 5G smartphone iQoo 3 that sports a combination of powerful specifications and notable features that brings it in direct competition with OnePlus smartphones and Realme X50 Pro 5G.

We got our hands on the device and here are the first impressions:

Specifications

The 5G version of iQoo 3 comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The key highlight of the phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset. This is an octa-core SoC manufactured using a 7nm process with Kryo 585 cores backed by Adreno 650 GPU. The smartphone also supports the latest UFS3.1 storage and LPDDR5 RAM.

A simple glance at the specifications makes it clear that iQOO plans to make it big and better right from the start rather than aiming at the already cluttered mid-range segment.

 

Design and display

It has a 6.44-inch AMOLED display with a tiny hole-punch on the top right. The full-HD+ resolution has good viewing angles. The bezels are very slim that makes the viewing experience better. The iQoo 3 also comes with 90Hz refresh rate display.

Coming to the build quality iQOO 3 is solid and slightly bulky with 214gm weight, but the curved metal frame makes it easy to hold. The phone has a premium feel to it, considering the overall look and even the camera module at the rear complements the design language.

There is a 3.5mm headphone socket on the smartphone at the top, it adds to the convenience of those who still prefer wired earphones. The USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker are at the conventional bottom position but what's unusual is that the SIM tray that can accommodate two Nano-SIMs, is also at the bottom.

The power and the volume buttons are positioned on the right of the frame and they are easily within the reach of the fingers even when you use the phone single-handedly. There is a dedicated button on the left for a virtual voice assistant. The right frame also has pressure-sensitive buttons that come handy for gaming.

The rear panel has Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection to prevent scratches.

 

Battery

The phone packs a 4,440mAh battery that adds to its weight. The iQoo 3 comes with a 55W Super Flash Charge, the company claims it can charge the phone up to 50 per cent in just 15 minutes. We felt the charging is indeed quick but we'll look more into it in our final review.

Camera

The camera module at the rear is not much protruding and gives a premium feel to the phone. The camera set-up consists of a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 13-megapixel telephoto camera, 13-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. It has a 16-megapixel camera for selfies.

For the start, the pictures looked sharp and bright, but we'd talk about the camera performance more in our detailed review.

 

Software

The iQoo 3 runs iQoo UI on top of Android 10. The user interface is clean and easy to use. There is hardly any clutter despite multiple apps.

We even tried our hands on some heavy games such as Call of Duty and PUBG and it was a smooth experience overall. The pressure-sensitive buttons do come handy for gaming but we think it'd take some time for us to get used to them.

The device will come in two variants, a base model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and a top-end one with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

The 5G variant of iQ00 3 is priced at Rs. 44,990 but to spoil its party, Realme has already launched it 5G smartphone, Realme X50 Pro 5G, at a lower price of Rs. 37,999. Realme's first 5G offering also boasts the same Snapdragon 865 chipset. It remains to be seen if iQoo can make a mark, especially in the 5G smartphones space.