Gaming phones are slowly gaining traction in the smartphone market. With a number of phone makers like Xiaomi (BlackShark), Razer (Razer Phone 1 and 2), Asus (ROG Phone) and more getting into this niche, it was only a matter of time before Vivo joined in with its own take on the gaming phone.
Vivo heavily teased the iQOO a few weeks ago, and it’s a “Monster Inside”.
Yes, this is the official slogan of the Vivo iQOO, which comes with beefy specs and a plethora of game enhancing features.
Here’s what this phone brings to the table.
Design and Display
It looks quite similar to the recently announced Xiaomi Mi 9, which also has a waterdrop notch and a triple cam setup on the back in the same vertical arrangement.
Vivo iQOO houses a 6.41″ OLED display with Full HD+ resolution (2340 x 1080) at a 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
There’s also an under-display fingerprint reader on this phone, which seems to be becoming a mainstream feature for 2019’s flagship phones.
Internals and Storage
Powering the “Monster” phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 with 6/8 GB RAM and 128/256 GB of internal storage. A separate variant will come with a massive 12 GB of RAM and 256GB storage.
Unfortunately, there’s no microSD slot, but then again you won’t really need one with this much storage available.
Being a gaming phone, Vivo has outfitted the iQOO with “super liquid cooling” or a vapor chamber in simple words. This will ensure that your phone runs cool in lengthy gaming sessions.
There are also multiple modes for enhancing the performance of the phone even further. You’ll get to choose from AI Turbo, Center Turbo, Net Turbo, Cooling Turbo, and Game Turbo. They will improve app startup time by 30%, improve fps in games by 70%, and will automatically switch between 4G and Wi-Fi.
Cameras
Normally gaming phones don’t have worthwhile cameras on-board, but iQOO might be an exception. It comes with a triple rear camera setup with a 13 MP wide-angle Sony IMX263 sensor, a 12 MP dual-pixel main camera and a 2 MP depth sensing shooter.
On the front, there’s a single 12 MP camera housed in the notch.
Battery and Charging
Typically, gaming phones have large batteries, and it makes sense. You can’t really play for hours on end on a small 3,000mAh battery, can you?
Vivo iQOO has a 4,000 mAh unit, with impressive 44W fast charging. It’s capable of charging the phone up to 50% in just 15 minutes, 85% in half an hour and to 100% in 45 minutes.
The cheaper 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant will come with slower 22.5W fast charging, which is still good but not as great as the 44W fast charging in the more expensive variant.
Price and Availability
Vivo has priced the phone quite aggressively, and it competes well with Xiaomi’s Mi 9 which starts at around $490 (Vivo iQOO starts at $450). Here is the link to the latest and updated Vivo Mobiles Price in Pakistan and their Specs in case you want some more info on Vivo Smartphones.
Here are the official prices:
- CNY 2998, Rs. 61,970 (6GB RAM/128GB storage)
- CNY 3298, Rs. 68,171 (8GB RAM/128GB storage)
- CNY 3598, Rs. 74,372 (8GB RAM/256GB storage)
- CNY 4,298, Rs. 88,842 (12GB RAM/256GB storage)
The first flash sale for the Vivo iQOO is scheduled at March 6 at 7 AM Pakistan time (10 AM in China). No word on an international release yet.
Vivo iQOO Specifications
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
- GPU: Adreno 640
- OS: Android 9.0 (Pie)
- Networks: 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE
- Design:
- Under-display fingerprint sensor
- “Super liquid cooling” (vapor chamber)
- Water-drop notch
- Display:
- 6.41-inch OLED with FullHD+ (2340 x 1080) resolution, 19.5:9 ratio (~402ppi)
- Memory:
- RAM: 6/8/12 GB RAM
- Internal: 128/256 GB
- Card slot: No
- Camera:
- Primary (triple):
- 12 MP, f/1.8, dual pixel PDAF
13 MP (ultrawide)
2 MP, f/2.4, depth sensor - Secondary: 12 MP, HDR
- Battery: 4,000 mAh, 44W fast charging (8GB RAM), 22.5W fast charging (6GB RAM variant)
- Colors: Optic Blue, Lava Orange
- Price: starts at $450
