Vivo has just released its first smartphone under the new IQOO lineup. In case you are wondering, IQOO stands for I Quest On and On. With this move, the company joins the likes of its Chinese counterparts like Xiaomi and OPPO who have successfully released compelling smartphones from its sub-brands in the past few months. Interestingly, the phone is being called simply as the IQOO.

IQOO is a lineup aimed at gamers and high-performance users. The phone comes with the top of the line Snapdragon 855 processor in four memory variants, 6+128GB, 8+128GB, 8+256GB, and a monster version with 12+256GB. Much of the phone’s design is standard, featuring a waterdrop screen up front with a high screen to body ratio and triple camera setup at the back with the IQOO logo placed vertically. However, Vivo does try to differentiate it from the competition by giving it a unique back design. There are two colors available for the phone, Electro-optic Blue and Lava Orange and both the variants feature Halo light strip at the back. It automatically lights up when you finish a particular milestone during gameplay, giving a sense of achievement. Overall, with this LED light strip and performance car inspired design, the IQOO stands apart from its rivals at this price tag.

Coming back to the specs, the phone has a 6.4-inch waterdrop AMOLED display with high 91.7% screen to body ratio. The triple camera setup at the back consists of a 12MP IMX 363 primary sensor with a 13MP wide angle lens and a 2MP lens for background blur. There doesn’t seem to be OIS on board, but you do get EIS. Up front, there’s a 12MP sensor for selfies.

Apart from the powerful Snapdragon 855 processor inside and up to 12GB of RAM (in the monster version), there are a couple of other reasons why the Vivo IQOO is good for gaming. The phone has what Vivo calls as Multi-turbo. The phone comes with a number of Turbo features like AI Turbo (improves popular app speeds by around 30%), Net Turbo (seamless switch between Wi-Fi and 4G when gaming), Cooling Turbo (the phone comes with super liquid cooling inside), Center Turbo, and Game turbo (prioritizes system resources for smooth gameplay).

Another highlight of the Vivo IQOO are the two monster touch buttons on the side. These pressure sensitive buttons can come in really handy during gameplay, improving your gameplay. Further, the phone features 4D gaming 2.0+, which basically means that it has professional grade haptics and surround sound for immersive gaming. Vivo also announced that IQOO was the official smartphone of KPL (King Pro League).

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Finally, there’s a large 4000mAh battery on board to support long hours of gaming. With the provided 44W charger, topping up the battery to 100% would just take 45 minutes! Note that the standard 6+128GB variant supports a slower 22.5W charging standard, but the rest of the higher-end models come with 44W charging support. Other features include Jovi Assistant, NFC, screen fingerprint, and a new Funtouch OS 9 based on Android Pie.

Pricing for the Vivo IQOO variants are as follows:

• 2998 Yuan ($447) — 6GB RAM +128GB ROM + 22.5W Charging
• 3298 Yuan ($491) — 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM + 44W Charging
• 3598 Yuan ($536) — 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM + 44W Charging
• 4298 Yuan ($641) — 12GB RAM +256GB ROM + 44W Charging

IQOO will go up for reservations today in China, followed by its first sale on March 6 via leading retailers like JD.com, TMALL, and Suning.com.

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