We saw an avalanche of rumors and teasers,
but now everything is official - vivo’s gaming sub-brand revealed the iQOO 3 5G
smartphone. It comes with Snapdragon 865 chipset, liquid cooling technology,
LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, a lot of software tweaks for gamers and
ultra-fast charging so you don’t have to put down the phone for a long time.
The vivo iQOO 3 5G has a 6.44” Super
AMOLED display of Full HD+ resolution. There is a fingerprint scanner
underneath, while in the top right corner nested inside a punch hole sits the
16MP selfie camera. The brand calls the screen “Polar View Display” and it can
reach up to 1200nits brightness in some scenarios and supports HDR10+ content
playback. It comes with a 180Hz touch sampling rate to minimize input lag, but
a standard 60Hz refresh rate.
There are four cameras on the back - a
48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX582 main unit is joined by a 13MP f/2.46 telephoto shooter,
a 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide angle snapper and a 2MP depth sensor. One of the key
talking points around the iQOO 3 is its 5G connectivity. The phone is marking
the debut of the subbrand in India, but with no commercially available 5G
networks there it will serve more as futureproofing.
The vivo iQOO 3 5G comes with 55W Super
FlashCharge capabilities - the company claims it can top up half of the 4,440
mAh power cell in 15 minutes. The user interface of the phone is called iQOO UI
1.0, based on Android 10, and brings along Ultra Game Mode that lets you block
notifications and calls when gaming to minimize distractions.
It also sports two shoulder keys, which
the company calls Monster Touch buttons. There is 4D game vibrations that
simulate recoil when shooting a gun while gaming. Holding the two keys can
activate Monster Mode that runs the chipset at 100% which may minimize lag on
some occasions, but will certainly be taxing on the battery.
The vivo iQOO 3 is going to come in three
versions - 8/128GB LTE that costs INR 36,990 (US$ 515/€ 475) and 8/256GB LTE going
for INR 39,990 (US$ 555/€ 512). The third option is the only one that is 5G-enabled,
comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage and will be INR 44,990 (US$ 625/€ 575). Interestingly
enough, all the iQOO 3 phones are 5G-ready in China and the memory versions are
a bit different. Here's the full price breakdown: the 6/128 GB version costs
CNY 3,598 (US$ 510/€ 475), 8/128 GB version is CNY 3,798 (US$ 540/€ 500), the 12/128 GB
goes for CNY 3,998 (US$ 568/€ 525), and the 12/256 GB option is CNY 4,398
(US$ 625/€ 575).
First sale in India is scheduled for 12 PM
on March 4, and will take place at iqoo.com and Flipkart.
