Hand on iQOO 9 in for review

Advertisements

Since its inception, iQOO has built a reputation for itself as a manufacturer of high-quality smartphones at reasonable prices. This shift in strategy is similar to what OnePlus did previously when the brand began to move away from its enthusiast-focused beginnings and into the luxury market.

image credits: xda-developers.

Our study of the vanilla iQOO 9 is underway today. Note that this is the Snapdragon 888 Plus model, which was announced in India earlier this month, and not the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 model, which is only available in China..

With me is the iQOO 9, a smartphone from the iQOO 9 series that retails for a base price of Rs 42,990. Specs-wise, there seems to be quite a bit to like, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ SoC, dynamic RAM boost up to 4GB, 120Hz AMOLED display, and several software customization options for gaming, among other things. So, who is the iQOO 9’s target demographic? The iQOO9’s entire review will attempt to address these questions.

Advertisements
(Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

There is a variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, however ours has 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. FuntouchOS 12 is pre-installed on both devices, unlike the Chinese iQOO 9’s OriginOS Ocean.

6.56″ 120Hz 10Bit FullHD+ AMOLED screen, features touch sampling rate of 300Hz and 1000Hz immediate sampling rate. As a result, it is HDR10+ certified and claims a brightness of 1,200nits. The 16MP front-facing camera is housed in a punch-hole in the middle of the display. Underneath the screen, you’ll find a fingerprint sensor that worked well and was quick.

A rectangular island at the rear houses three cameras and a flash module. There is an OIS-enabled 48MP main camera, a 13MP ultrawide and an OIS-enabled telephoto camera.

Advertisements

In addition to the BMW Motorsport-inspired racetrack design, the Legend edition is also available in a black hue. The right-side frame of both devices has the volume rocker and power button. There is an orange accent on the Alpha’s power key compared to a blue paint on the Legend’s power key.

In addition to its impressive performance, the iQOO 9 has a beautiful display, a slick design, and lightning-fast charging. The device’s gaming functions, on the other hand, are a little fussy, and there’s room for development in areas like battery life and low-light camera performance.

The phone’s buttons offer a good amount of feedback, and it’s well-built. In addition to being more compact, the iQOO 9 is also easier to handle for longer periods of time than the Pro version. As an added bonus for lefties, the silver section of the camera island rests directly on the index finger of righties. This may lead to some wobbling on flat surfaces with the iQOO 9.

Advertisements
(Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

Additionally, the iQOO 9 has NFC, USB-C, dual speakers, 5G connection, an IP52 certification, and a vapour chamber liquid cooling system, in addition to an Intelligent Display Chip that promises a lag-free gaming experience. Using MEMC, it converts SDR to HDR and boosts frame rates during gaming. iQOO assured us additional titles would be supported in the future, including Call of Duty Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI).

In-Display Dual Moster Touch controls, first seen on the iQOO 7 Legend last year, are included on the iQOO 9. Pressure-sensitive sections on the left and right of the screen help gamers to react more quickly while playing games. Our experience with them on the iQOO 7 Legend was excellent, and we anticipate no less from the iQOO 9 in this regard.

There’s also an optional twin linear motor on board, which adds to the overall feel of the iQOO 9. The 4,350 mAh battery that powers the complete package can be charged from 0% to 50% in only six minutes, and from 100% to 100% in just 18 minutes when using the accompanying 120W charger. So stay tuned for the complete review to find out whether the vanilla version of iQOO 9 is worth your money or not.

Advertisements

Display and design

image credits: gsmarena

Because of its partnership with BMW, the iQOO 9 is not only well-built, but it also looks great. There is a white matte finish all over the phone, with red, black, and blue M Power racing stripes along the length of the back. At the bottom of the gadget, the iQOO logo is clearly displayed. As with other high-end smartphones, the rear corners are rounded to fit the frame, making it simpler to hold onto. In addition to the power button, the volume rocker has a textured feel and a distinguishing blue colour. There is something about the silver rails’ colour that works so nicely with their pearly white back panel’s colour.

Cameras

On the optics side of things, we have the 48MP Gimbal-mounted IMX 598 Gimbal camera, which is paired with a 13MP ultra-wide lens and a 13MP depth camera with 2X optical zoom. For low-light photography, the iQOO 9’s camera falls short of that of the OnePlus 9RT (review), which has a better camera. Overall, iQOO’s main sensor lacks dynamic range and overprocesses images a little too much for my taste. Toward the centre of the frame, the image’s sharpness fades to a softer level. The amount of colour saturation is considerable, which may be attractive to certain people. A few basic filters are also included in the camera app of iQOO, however they are rather basic.

Battery

image credits: gsmarena

Unfortunately, the iQOO 9’s battery life isn’t great. I barely made it through the day without reaching for the charger because to the device’s meagre 4,350mAh battery. BGMI shows a battery depletion of 27% in roughly an hour on the iQOO 9, which is very alarming. A few hours of Netflix or YouTube and a few minutes of Instagram browsing and the battery is almost empty by the time you get home. Fortunately, the iQOO 9 has support for 120W charging, which guarantees a charge time of 19 minutes from 0% to 100%. There is some truth to the claim that I was able to charge it from 10% to 100% in 16 minutes. iQOO has told me that it tested the phone through 1,000 charge cycles and the battery health didn’t dip below 80%. However, how much wear and tear it will cause in the future remains to be seen.

Advertisements

Software and performance

What about the iQOO 9’s performance? Over the course of the previous year, I’ve tried various Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 devices, and my opinion of the processor remains unchanged. Its tiny 5nm production technology and flagship-grade silicone make the Snapdragon 888 ideal for power-hungry smartphones. The primary Kryo 680 CPU in the iQOO 9 runs at 3.0GHz rather than 2.84GHz on the Snapdragon 888+ used by the ordinary iQOO 9. Even if you have a lot of Chrome tabs open, a lot of heavy applications running in the background, and you’re surfing the UI in general, you won’t have any troubles. Overclocked chips have been known to heat up under prolonged strain, and this is something I saw with the overclocked processor on the Galaxy S7 Edge. The iQOO 9 fared well on Antutu V9.3.1 with a score of 844,073, however its temperature rose by roughly 6.1 degrees. On a 50-thread CPU throttle test, the device throttled to 79% of its peak performance after 30 minutes, which is acceptable but not remarkable.

Leave a Comment