A thin-and-lightweight phone good for gaming experience

Chinese smartphone maker iQOO on March 21 launched in India the iQOO Z7 5G. The smartphone is offered in 6GB RAM and 8GB RAM variants, both with 128GB on-board storage, at Rs 18,999 and Rs 19,999. It comes in two colours, Pacific Night and Norway Blue.

Design

The iQOO 7 5G is a slim-and-compact sized smartphone. Its 7.8 mm thick waistline and 173g weight makes it easy to hold and operate.

It has a flat body, a matte finish on the back cover, and curved edges. The matte texture makes the phone’s back cover resistant to smudges, and any dirt or debris can be easily wiped away. A metal construction alongside the rear camera module gives a premium look. In addition, the colour of the construction is also in sync with the phone’s colour (review unit).

At the bottom, the smartphone has a 3.5 mm audio jack, a USB C-type charging port, and a speaker. While there are no buttons on the left, the right side has a volume rocker button towards its top and a power button below it. The dual sim card tray on the top is hybrid – supports two sim cards or one sim card and a microSD card. Overall, the buttons’ placement makes smartphone usage easy and the experience smooth.

However, the water drop notch in the front looks outdated. Besides, the phone’s bottom bezel is thicker than the other three sides, which looks unfashionable again.

Display and audio

The smartphone has a 6.28-inch AMOLED screen of 90 Hz refresh rate for smooth user experience. Its brightness can go up to 1300 nits, facilitating visibility in low-light, no-light, or bright outdoor environments. In addition, the phone has a fast-operating in-display touch lock that makes unlocking superfast and switching between various applications smooth.

The audio quality is excellent, as the speakers deliver adequate loudness and precise details. In addition, the audio output can be listened to directly from the phone’s speakers by connecting wireless earphones by Bluetooth or injecting a wired earphone into the audio jack.

Camera

The iQOO 7 5G has two rear cameras – a 64-megapixel primary sensor paired with a 2MP depth sensor. Since the 64MP lower-rear camera comes with an image stabilisation (OIS) option, it delivers excellent photographs and videos full of details and composed of vibrant colours. The imaging and video quality delivers perfectly in natural and artificial lighting and low-light conditions. The output remains detail-oriented in low light and contains the required colour and contrast.

The phone has a 16MP front facing selfie camera. However, compared to the rear camera, its output is slightly disappointing as it softens the edges while capturing images, and the videos appear slightly grainy in high resolution. Here, capturing the images becomes slightly tricky as the phone doesn’t have a focus-lock option. However, it does have a dual-view option to click images.

The phone’s back camera can record videos with a 4k resolution at 30 frames per second (fps). Its front camera can capture videos up to 1080p for the same frame rate.

Performance

The iQOO 7 5G is a delight for mobile phone gamers. The phone keeps thermals in check even after hours of continuous, excessive gaming. It is powered by a MediaTek Dimesity 920 system-on-chip and an octa-core processor. The phone’s onboard storage is 128 GB, which can be extended with an external SD card. Its 8 GB RAM can also be dynamically extended up to 8GB more. So, whether it is the day-to-day operations, mobile phone gaming, or multitasking, the phone provides a fine blend of power efficiency and performance.

In the software domain, the phone runs Vivo Funtouch OS 13 (iQOO is Vivo’s sub-brand) based on the Android 13 version. Some unwanted bloatware applications consume the phone storage but can be uninstalled from the system.

Battery and charging

The phone has a 4,300 mAH battery and a 44W wired charger. The battery optimisation is good, especially during excessive gaming, and can facilitate daily tasks appropriately. However, if used extensively, the battery doesn’t last a day and thus needs around a 45-minute of charging if it goes under 20 percent. Moreover, the background applications of the smartphone also significantly drain its battery even if the phone itself is not in use.

Verdict

At Rs 18,999 onwards, the iQOO Z7 5G is a power-packed smartphone. Barring a few shortcomings in design and imaging, the smartphone is actually good for routine everyday use and gaming.