iQOO launched its Z7 5G smartphone in India a couple of weeks back as the successor to last year’s Z6. This has an AMOLED display, faster SoC, better camera with OIS and faster charging. Is this the best phone in the market in the price range? Let us dive into the review to find out.
| Box Contents |
| Camera |
| Battery Life |
| Conclusion |
Box Contents
- iQOO Z7 5G 8GB + 128GB version in Norway Blue colour
- Clear Silicon case
- USB Type-C Cable
- 44W Super FlashCharge wall adapter
- SIM ejector tool
- Quick start guide and Warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
The iQOO Z7 5G sports a 6.38-inch (2400×1080 pixels) Full HD+ 20:9 aspect ratio AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate. The display is bright, thanks to, up to 1,300 nits brightness, and the sunlight legibility is good as well. This is better than the LCD screen in the Z6 5G and the Z6 Lite 5G models, but you have to manage with the notch.
You can select from standard (default), professional and bright screen colour modes. You can select smart switch that can switch between the refresh rate or force it to 60Hz or 90Hz. It has 360Hz touch sampling rate.
It also has HDR 10+ support, which works for YouTube and Netflix. The phone doesn’t have a notification LED, but this has an always-on-display that shows contextual info and notifications all day or as per schedule.
The phone has a 16MP front camera inside the notch.
There is a small chin below the screen. It has an in-display optical fingerprint scanner. The haptic feedback is decent.
Coming to the button placements and ports, the phone has a power button and volume rockers on the right. The bottom part is crammed with a primary microphone, 3.5mm audio jackj, USB Type-C port and a speaker grill. The secondary microphone and the hybrid dual SIM slot are on the top.
The back of the phone has a camera part with dual rear cameras. Even though it has a polycarbonate back, but it looks premium, and has a smooth matte finish that doesn’t attract fingerprints.
The phone is just 7.8mm thick. Since it packs a 4500mAh battery, it weighs just 173 grams. The Norway Blue colour that we have has a gradient finish that changes colours when light hits at certain angles.
Camera
- 64MP main camera with ISOCELL GW3 sensor, f/1.79 aperture
- 2MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture
- 16MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture
The camera UI is the same as other phones running Funtouch OS 13. It includes several features such as Live photo, Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Pro mode, double exposure, Dual View, 64MP mode and more. Even though the phone has a 64MP rear camera, the final output is 16MP in size after pixel binning, and the front camera output is 16MP.
Coming to the camera quality, the daylight shots are good, and it is recommended to enable HDR option which automatically switches on HDR according to the shot, so that the dynamic range is good. The camera can focus quickly. Macro shots are decent. It lacks an ultra-wide camera, similar to the predecessor. You can adjust the aperture manually in the portrait mode for the best background blur. Low-light images are decent, but it could have been better. The night mode is useful, thanks to the optimization.
The 16MP camera is good in daylight, and the front camera portrait is decent as well, but it is not the best when it comes to low-light.
Check out some camera samples below
It can record videos at 4k resolution at up to 30 fps from the rear camera and the front camera supports 1080p 30 fps recording. It has standard and ultra stabilization, but the resolution is down to 1080p in ultra option since it crops the content. OIS does a good job in stabilization.
Software, UI and Apps
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 13 with Funtouch OS 13 on top. It has Android security patch for March 2023. The phone gets two years of Android updates and three years of monthly security updates, similar to other mid-range phones from iQOO.
Funtouch OS 13 brings new personalization options, privacy and security measures, and control functions for a smoother, uninterrupted experience.
Out of 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM about 7.5GB is usable, out of which 4GB is free when the default apps are running in the background. There is additional 8GB RAM expansion feature. Out of 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage, 225GB is free out of the box. We got about, 1008MBps sequential read speed.
Apart from the usual set of utility and Google apps, it comes preloaded with a lot of apps such as Facebook, Spotify, Byjus, Amazon, Netflix, LinkedIn, Snapchat and more. These apps can be uninstalled, but they come back after reset.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone has an in-display fingerprint sensor which immediately unlocks the phone just by keeping your finger on the sensor. There are different animation styles that display when you unlock, which you can disable. The phone also has face unlock that can unlock the phone in seconds, but it is not as secure as fingerprint.
Music and Multimedia
The default Music Player also has equalizer and DeepField sound effects. It doesn’t have FM Radio support. The phone has a single bottom-ported speaker, which is defcent. Wish the company had added stereo speakers. Audio through the headphones is good.
This has Widevine L1 so that you can play HD content on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and other streaming apps. It also supports HDR content on Netflix and YouTube.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features such as 5G (SA: n1/n3/n8/n28A/n77/n78 | NSA: n77/n78). Jio and Airtel 5G work out of the box. It also has dual 4G VoLTE, 4G carrier aggregation or 4G+, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4 + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.2 and GPS + GLONASS, but doesn’t have NFC support. It also has USB OTG support.
We did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume is good, even though it is present on the top edge.
The iQOO Z7 5G’s body SAR is 0.84 W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.15/Kg which is slightly high compared to some mid-range phones, but it well under the limit in India which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
It is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 920 6nm SoC, which is just an overclocked Dimensity 900. It has 2 x A78 CPUs clocked at up to 2.5GHz, 6x A55 CPUs clocked at up to 2GHz. This has Mali-G68 MC4 and up to 8GB LPDDR4X RAM. This is a good upgrade compared to Snapdragon 695 in the Z6 5G.
The Mali-G68 MC4 offers a smooth gaming performance even in graphic intensive games, but it does get a bit hot with long hours of gaming. It reached maximum 42º C in our testing indoors in Wi-Fi, but this might vary outdoors in 4G or 5G. However, we did not face any issues or frame drops in the graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
As you can see in the benchmarks, the iQOO Z7 5G powered by the Dimensity 920 chip outperforms the Snapdragon 695, but the Dimensity 1080 and Snapdragon 778G-powered phones are slightly better.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 4500mAh (typical) battery, compared to 5000mAh in the predecessor. Still, it can can easily last for a day with casual use, thanks to the optimization, but with heavy use it might not last the whole day. I got over 4 and half hours of screen on time with over a day of use with mixed Wi-Fi and 5G use.
Since the phone has support for 44W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about 25 minutes and up to 100% in an hour.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 18,999, the iQOO Z7 5G is a power-packed phone mainly focused on gaming. The AMOLED screen with support for HDR, main camera with OIS and faster charging and good upgrades, but it still lacks an ultra-wide camera, and the battery has become slightly smaller compared to the Z6 5G.
Pricing and availability
The iQOO Z7 5G is priced at Rs. 18,999 for the 6GB + 128GB version and the 8GB + 128GB model costs Rs. 19,999. It is available from Amazon.in and iQOO.com. There is a Flat Rs.1500 Instant Discount on ICICI/HDFC cards.
Alternatives
There is still no direct competition to the iQOO Z7 5G that offers the gaming performance, AMOLED screen and a camera with OIS in the price range. For a slightly higher cost, there is POCO X5 Pro with a better screen and a bigger battery.
Pros
- 90Hz AMOLED HDR display is good
- Smooth performance and good gaming performance
- IP54 water-resistant body
- Decent battery life with 44W fast charging
Cons
- No ultra-wide camera
- No stereo speakers
- A lot of preloaded apps