The iQoo Vivo sub-brand is no stranger to 5G. It has launched four Best smartphones in India so far, and all of them (including the IQoo Z3) support 5G.
Since the network is not yet operational in India, it makes a lot of sense for smartphone manufacturers to not just rely on high -speed data as a selling point. In fact, every manufacturer offering smartphones is priced between Rs. 17,000 and Rs. 22,000 managed to bring something more important.
Xiaomi offers a 108-megapixel camera on the Mi 10i , Realme’s X7 5G gives you dual 5G standby and a 120 AM Super AMOLED display, and the list goes on.
Being the first iQoo affordable smartphone for the Indian market, it has been equipped with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G processor, which will surely remain exclusive for a while. In a smartphone segment full of devices from many manufacturers, is iQoo enough to draw attention to its latest offerings?
iQoo Z3 design
I received a Cyber Blue unit from the iQoo Z3 for review. frame and back panel of the smartphone are made of plastic. The matte back panel feels smooth, and isn’t good at picking up fingerprints, but allows dust to accumulate easily.
The Cyber Blue finish has a colorful pearlescent finish like a rainbow that looks different when viewed from different angles. Those looking for something more subtle should look for the Ace Black packaging, which features gray and black gradients.
The phone looks quite slim and comfortable to hold as it has a 6.5 -inch display. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom along with a single speaker, main microphone and a USB Type-C port. A fingerprint reader is embedded in the power button, located on the right, along with a volume rocker placed on top of it. The fingerprint reader is easy to unlocks the device instantly.
iQoo Z3 specifications and software
The IQoo Z3 is the first smartphones in India to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G platform. Like many smartphone in this segment, the iQoo Z3 supports 5G bands (n77, n78), but it doesn’t offer dual 5G standby.
The Snapdragon 768G is a slightly updated version of the 765G that makes it to some long-range smartphones like the Vivo V20 Pro (Review) and OnePlus Nord (Review) in 2020. So, iQoo is offering it in sub-Rs. 20,000 smartphones are indeed exciting.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G has an octave core setup with one 2.8GHz Kryo 475 Gold core, another 2.4GHz Kryo 475 Gold core, and six 1.8GHz Kryo 475 Silver cores. Compared to the Snapdragon 750G processor used in many other smartphones at this price, the 768G offers higher CPU and GPU clock speeds and is built based on a 7nm (instead of 8nm) manufacturing process.
iQoo has launched the iQoo Z3 in three configurations in India. There is a 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant, an 8GB RAM + 128GB storage option, and an 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. They all support 1TB microSD cards for expansion using a hybrid SIM slot.
The IQoo Z3 uses the FunTouch Vivo OS. At version 11.1, this is based on Android 11, and my unit is running the May 2021 Android security update. At the time of writing this review, iQoo hasn’t announced anything about the move to the original Vivo OS, which is already available on the Chinese variant of this phone.
FunTouch OS looks like stock Android in terms of appearance, but offers some customizations that other Android skins typically don’t do. You can change animations for the unlock screen, face recognition, charging, USB insertion, and even put the phone into a standby and wake state.
On the other hand, there’s no way to customize the shape of the icons, as on Oppo’s ColorOS or Realme UI -powered smartphones. There are also several iQoo branded apps (including Notes, Video, EasyShare etc.) and iQoo has maintained its own dialer and SMS apps on the Z3. Bloatware is limited to only three apps - Snapchat, Dailyhunt and Moj - and all can be uninstalled if not needed.
Performance and battery life of the iQoo Z3
The 6.5 -inch FHD + LCD on the iQoo Z3 has a 120Hz refresh rate and a 180Hz touch pick -up rate, which is useful while playing games. It uses reinforced Panda glass, which picks up fingerprints easily, and this is also hard to remove. The display is quite bright in the sun.
The colors look a little saturated but the text and pictures look sharp. The 120Hz refresh rate makes the software feel quite smooth in everyday use. iQoo Z3 claims the display is HDR10 certified. I can stream HDR content on the Youtube app, but Netflix doesn’t support it.
Overall performance is the best without interruptions or lag. The new Snapdragon 768G SoC showed a significant improvement in scores in our benchmark tests. The IQoo Z3 managed to score 4,45,029 on AnTuTu, as well as 710 and 1,985 in single and multi -core Geekbench 5 tests.
The processor definitely performed better than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G in the OnePlus Nord CE 5G (Review), which managed to score 3,91,813 on AnTuTu along with 639 and 1830 in single and multi -core Geekbench 5 tests.
The Snapdragon 765G is a good processor for mid -level gaming, and the 768G also offers good graphics performance. The IQoo Z3 performs well while playing Call of Duty: Mobile on High graphics settings and the default high frame rate, runs smoothly and shows no signs of overheating.
The phone starts to heat up after changing the graphics and frames to Very High (with anti-aliasing active), but maintains in-game performance. Asphalt 9 Legends also performs impressively at High Quality without defeat or lag.
The single speaker at the bottom is a bit loud, but sounds small. Nice enough for games, but not so much for watching movies or listening to music. At least iQoo has provided a 3.5mm headphone jack for this phone for those who want better audio quality.
The 4,400mAh battery charges quickly, without power up to 67 percent in 30 minutes and completes charging in 60 minutes. As for battery life, the phone achieved an impressive score of 19 hours 32 minutes in our HD video loop test.
With an hour-long game, a few photos, a phone call, and constantly checking social media apps, the cell phone succeeds all day with 30-40 percent left in the battery at night, which is pretty good.
iQoo Z3 camera
The IQoo Z3 comes with three rear camera settings with a 64-megapixel f / 1.79 main camera, an 8-megapixel f / 2.2 ultra-wide camera, and a 2-megapixel f / 2.4 macro camera. The selfie camera is equipped with a 16 megapixel sensor with an aperture of f / 2.0. The camera interface is the one you find on most iQoo and Vivo smartphones. The default visible camera mode can be changed to whatever you will use most often.
While shooting during the day, the photo came out a little saturated with a lot of textural detail. The noise is controlled and the shadows have a lot of detail, but there is a clear purple in the brighter landscape areas. Ultra -wide angle cameras capture passable images but cannot capture much detail.
There are also many shades of purple when photographing in bright conditions. The 2X digital zoom mode produces surprising shots. Portrait mode photos have a bit of saturation and good edge detection.
Photos taken in low light have controlled sound, but detail in the shadows is poor, even in scenes that have some form of surrounding lighting. Night Mode successfully brightens the scene and handles highlights.
The 2 -megapixel macro camera captures odd color tones, so I prefer to crop photos taken with the main camera instead.
Selfie photos during the day look clean, but look too bright. Still, the front camera manages to reveal the subject and background well. In low light, selfie cameras do a good job as long as there is a light source around it. Night mode spoils the situation and applying some type of makeup on the face (even with the beauty turned off) makes people look textured and synthetic.
Videos recorded at 1080p at 30 and 60fps using the main camera show good detail and stabilization. Just like photos, I see a lot of purple when shooting video with an ultra wide angle camera. In low light, video recorded at 1080p 30fps looks a bit blurry and the EIS produces an unpleasant shimmering effect when running.
Videos recorded in 4K appear to have abnormal color saturation when taking pictures during the day and in low light. The same video is also unstable, so it eventually looks jerky if recorded while running and when panning.
The iQoo Z3 decision
With the Z3, iQoo now has a strong competitor in the higher budget smartphone segment. Its key hardware feature, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G processor, offers better performance than the competition, but it’s not a big leap.
There’s also a 120Hz refresh rate display and best -in -class charging with a 55W adapter in the box. Despite its plastic frame and back, this phone still looks pretty good on the Cyber Blue finish, and is also quite suitable for the future as it supports 5G. The only drawback is the average low light camera performance.
The IQoo Z3 offers exceptional value for the hardware it offers, with prices starting from Rs. 19,999.