Vivo’s sub-brand, iQOO, has announced its very first smartphone, following plenty of teasers that surfaced in the last couple of weeks. What’s interesting, though, is the fact that this phone doesn’t really have a name, it’s referred to as “iQOO gaming smartphone”.
iQOO’s first smartphone is actually a flagship-grade phone, which is not that unexpected, as iQOO was introduced as a premium sub-brand which will focus on manufacturing premium devices.
It Sports A Notch, But A Waterdrop One
In terms of the design, this phone definitely follows modern trends. The device comes with extremely thin bezels, and a teardrop display notch. Above its notch, you will notice an earpiece, while the phone’s bottom bezel is extremely thin. On the right, the phone includes a power / lock, volume up, and volume down buttons, while an extra customizable physical key sits on the left side of the phone.
The device also comes with a “Monster Touch” buttons for pressure sensitivity on the left and right shoulders of the display, and the phone also includes a vapor cooling system which should help to keep the phone cool while gaming. The phone is made out of metal and glass, while it features three cameras on its back. Those three cameras are vertically aligned, and are located in the top-left corner of the phone’s back side.
The phone sports an LED strip on its back, that LED strip runs partially down the middle of the device, while the phone’s display sports rounded corners. iQOO’s gaming smartphone comes with an in-display fingerprint scanner, and the phone will also vibrate based on the game scene, and iQOO says that it provides a “4D gaming experience” thanks to that.
iQOO’s Gaming Handset Is Quite Powerful
The iQOO gaming handset comes with a 6.41-inch fullHD+ (2340 x 1080) Super AMOLED display (19.5:9 display aspect ratio), while it is fueled by the Snapdragon 855 64-bit octa-core processor. The phone includes 6GB / 8GB / 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB / 256GB of internal storage.
This phone comes with two SIM card slots, while Android 9 Pie comes pre-installed, along with Vivo’s Funtouch OS 9. 12-megapixel (Sony’s IMX363, f/1.79 aperture), 13-megapixel (120-degree wide-angle lens), and 2-megapixel (f/2.4 aperture) cameras are included on the back of the device. A single 12-megapixel (f/2.0 aperture) selfie camera is also a part of the package.
A 4,000mAh battery comes with the device, and it supports 44W ultra fast charging called Vivo Super FlashCharge. The 6GB RAM variant of the phone does not include such charging, though, it still comes with fast charging, but not Vivo’s Super FlashCharge. That charging can charge up the device’s 4,000mAh battery from 0 to 50-percent in only 15 minutes, while it takes it 30 minutes to charge it from 0 to 85-percent. For a full charge, you’ll need only 45 minutes.
The device supports Dual 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5, and Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz). The phone comes in Electro Optic Blue and Lava Orange colors. The base 6GB RAM variant of the device is priced at 2,998 Yuan ($447), while the 8GB RAM model with 128GB of storage costs 3,298 Yuan ($491).
Available Only In China, At Least For Now
The 8GB RAM variant with 256GB of storage will set you back 3,598 Yuan ($536), while the top-of-the-line 12GB RAM variant with 256GB of storage costs 4,298 Yuan ($640). That last variant comes with a carbon fiber-textured back, and is black-colored. The phone is already available for pre-order in China, and it will go on sale on March 6. We still do not know when or if will the phone become available in countries outside of China, but it’s possible.
