iQoo 3 5G review: A powerhouse to sway performance-hungry smartphones' user

While everything looks good on paper, the question arises whether a '5G phone' tag is just a marketing gimmick or there is more to it; let's find how the iQoo 3 5G fares against this tag.

Chinese smartphone maker iQoo has debuted in the highly competitive India market with a 5G smartphone geared towards gamers and performance-hungry users.

It appears to be capable of taking on any rival with its features and high-end specifications. And all seems good on paper. But the question is whether the ‘5G phone’ tag is just a marketing gimmick, or there is more to it. We used the device for a few days and tried to find the answer. Here's what we observed:

Design and display

iQoo 3 5G smartphone

iQoo has kept the design language simple. Now that is an aberration, since this is a gaming smartphone. What's really catchy, however, is the rear-camera module, a glance at which is enough to give you a ‘premium phone’ feel.

The iQoo 3 5G has a simple glass back covered with Gorilla Glass 6 which leaves some fingerprints here and there. The phone is too slippery which means gamers would have to find a good cover for grip. At 214 g, the phone is heavy, but that was expected, considering it has a big battery. The edges are curved, so it is easy to hold.

The phone has a Type-C port and a loudspeaker grille at the bottom, the power and volume buttons on the right, a 3.5mm headphone jack on top, and a dedicated AI button on the left.

The positioning of these keys makes sure you don't have to stretch your fingers too much to access them. In fact, single-handed use wouldn't be a problem at all. For gamers, there are two capacitative shoulder buttons on the right side that respond well even when you use the phone with a cover.

At the front is a 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2,400 x 1,080 (409ppi pixel density). The bezels are slim, and there is a small hole-punch on top-right that doesn't distract at all. It has a 20:9 aspect ratio and a 91.4 per cent screen-to-body ratio. The display also supports HDR10+ and has a maximum brightness of 1,200 nits.