iQOO on Tuesday (January 10) launched the all-new iQOO 11 5G in India. This marks the phone’s global debut with India being the first region to get its hands on the device.
The smartphone comes with a solid specs sheet that’s sure to awe you, especially looking at the processor and refresh rate.
The iQOO 11 5G has many firsts. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which is the first for India and rare when looked at on a global level including the brand’s home market, China.
Additionally, it also has a high refresh rate panel of up to 144Hz, 120W fast charging, and Android 13 out of the box.
On paper, the smartphone looks good, but how’s it in reality? Well, I have been using the iQOO 11 5G for some time and have noted a few things that took my attention.
Having said that, here are my initial impressions of the iQOO 11 5G – the first phone in India with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
iQOO 11 5G first impressions
Design and Display
iQOO is amongst the few brands that are trying to bring eye-catching designs. The company has been releasing phones in partnership with BMW Motorsports for some time now and that continues with the iQOO 11 5G. The smartphone comes in two color options – Legend and Alpha.
Although I have the Alpha shade, the Legend shade with BMW Motorsports-themed back is the major color that the brand advertises. But that shade may not be for everyone. People who prefer classics or Blacks (like me) could be more interested in the Alpha color.
A matte finish with a sparkling back looks good in real life as opposed to the rendered images. The Alpha has a Glass back, while the Legend features a Silicon leather-like finish.
There’s a rectangular camera island on the back that’s slightly protruded only to make it more visible, of course. Why? That’s because that is one of the major design aspects of the phone on the rear.
On the front, things are simple. It has a 6.78-inch punch-hole AMOLED display with almost symmetrical bezels. It has a 92.90 percent screen-to-body ratio, so the bezels are pretty thin. It is a 2K resolution Samsung E6 AMOLED panel with up to 144Hz refresh rate, but there’s a catch.
Despite the chipset inside the phone supporting a full-fledged 144Hz refresh rate, the device supports 144Hz only in one game – Genshin Impact, using game frame interpolation. While scrolling throughout the UI, 120Hz is the maximum refresh rate.
Keeping that restricted refresh rate thing aside, the display has impressed me since it has everything from the latest E6 AMOLED to a crisp resolution. And by the way, it has LTPO 3.0 technology for the display, which allows the refresh rate to be variable helping you save some battery.
Cameras
Check camera samples here.
The smartphone has triple cameras on the back with no gimmicky sensors. It has a 50MP Samsung GN5 main lens, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 13MP telephoto sensor. To top it off, it has a dedicated chip called Vivo V2 for image processing.
No matter how the other lenses are, the main lens is impressive. The Daylight shots and the level of detail in the images are on point, especially when shooting in the 50MP mode. But more than the daylight, I took out the phone more often at night. That’s because the images captured by the main lens in low light were simply great.
However, there’s a shutter delay when using night mode. If you are using night mode on the phone and the scene is almost pitch dark, it will take 2-3 seconds. I took some shots in Night mode in the theatre to capture a movie’s title screen, but because of the shutter delay, I missed it.
The story of the other two lenses is quite polar. The ultra-wide lens isn’t that great but am still testing it and will keep the word for the full review. As for the telephoto lens, it’s decent but nothing extraordinary. There’s 2x optical and 20x digital zoom on the rear and the maximum video recording support is 8K 30fps. It has OIS as well, but that’s limited.
Performance and Software
When it comes to performance, the phone didn’t break a sweat so far in my testing. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset is powerful and is capable of running games on ultra settings.
Unlike its predecessors, the Gen 2 chip is way too efficient as I didn’t notice any heating issues while movie-watching for long hours and while charging.
Speaking of charging, the device has 120W fast charging support, which is more than fast. The battery has been bumped up to 5,000mAh. So the big battery + fast charging combo is something that everyone will like.
The smartphone boots on Android 13-based FuntouchOS 13 out of the box. FuntouchOS has grown to become good with the 13th version, although there is some amount of bloatware pre-installed. It also comes with Hot Apps and Hot Games folders, but thankfully, these folders can be disabled.
In my short time with the iQOO 11 5G, it’s clear that iQOO is targetting gamers and camera enthusiasts with this one. However, there’s a lot that I am keeping for the full review, including things like detailed camera and gaming tests, key software elements that may affect users, and some other interesting observations. If there’s anything that you’d like to know about the phone, drop your questions on our social platforms.
