Since 2018, a handful of independent brands have emerged. Big smartphone companies such as Xiaomi, OPPO, Huawei have all followed this trend. Another smartphone manufacturer, Vivo, joined the club recently with its subsidiary brand called iQOO. The Vivo iQOO features flagship performance and high cost to performance ratio. In terms of positioning and design, the handset is more of a gaming phone. It offers a number of different color variants, and we got the Electro-optic Blue variant for this hands-on. The phone looks unique and definitely has a feel of a gaming handset. No surprise that it’s the official gaming phone of KPL league 2019.
Let’s check out the hands-on of Vivo iQOO.
Vivo iQOO ups the game with a screen-to-body ratio of up to 91.7%, all thanks to its water drop notch design and narrow bezels. On the narrow top bezel, there is an earpiece, which stands apart from the overall black design. But looking at the phone in general, it can be ignored as it is quite narrow. Also note that, in the pursuit of slimming down bezels, the phone lacks a LED notification light.
On the back, the Vivo iQOO is covered in glass featuring a Halo light strip which gleams — when the phone is charging, receiving a message, calling up Jovi assistant and when you win a game (it’s really a cool feature). There are three cameras which host 12MP+13MP dual rear cameras with IMX 363 sensor and a 2MP depth camera, and a flashlight set below the module. As compared to the Xiaomi Mi 9 (our hands-on here!) the rear camera module of iQOO does not protrude much. On the left bottom corner, there’s the iQOO logo. As the phone ships with an under-display fingerprint sensor, there’s no fingerprint sensor on the rear panel.
Apart from the unique Halo light strip at the back, the Vivo iQOO also comes with two monster touch buttons on the right side, which comes in really handy during gameplay. What’s more, you can call up the smart assistant Jovi by pressing the AI key set beside the SIM card slot that on the phone’s left side. I do like the fact that iQOO keeps the 3.5mm earphone jack, which is placed on the top. Like most smartphones, the handset’s speaker and the Type-C charging port is placed at the bottom.
Overall, I like the design of the Vivo iQOO. It has some unique elements to set it apart from the crowd, and it’s not just by the way of a new color. The virtual buttons on the side, the Halo LED strip at the back, are unusual features for a smartphone in this segment.
It is powered by Snapdragon 855 processor and comes with 6.4-inch AMOLED screen having the resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio and 402ppi. Besides this, Vivo iQOO is fueled by 4000mAh battery with 44W fast charging which is more than enough for daily use. The handset is equipped with NFC, under-display fingerprint reader, and facial unlock. There are triple rear cameras — a 12MP main lens with f/1.79 aperture, a 13MP wide-angle lens, and a 2MP depth camera.
[envira-gallery id=”240487″]The Vivo iQOO is priced around $549 for 6GB+128GB, $599 for 8GB+128GB, $649 for 8GB+256GB and $849 for 12GB+256GB. I think the price of the phone matches the idea of high cost to performance ratio that’s been marketed by iQOO.
What are your thoughts?
Meanwhile, check out more photos of the Vivo iQOO down below!
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