iQOO Z5 5G Review: Rejigs the value proposition

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iQOO Z5 5G Review Summary:

Expert Rating: 3.6/5

Design

Audiovisual

Connectivity

Performance

Battery

Camera

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pros

  • A large and snappy 120Hz screen
  • Dual speaker system
  • 5G and updated connectivity options
  • Pretty powerful processor
  • Fast and ample memory configuration
  • 5000mAh battery with 44W charger
  • Feature-laden software

Cons

  • No memory card expansion
  • Not AMOLED
  • Average haptics
  • Spotty edge detection in portrait photos
  • Plastic build

Smartphone making involves a form of balancing act between what all specs can be offered and what the customer requires. This, if done right, results in a phone tagged value for money. The Vivo sub-brand iQOO has come up with several such phones since its inception. The newly launched Z5 5G also arrives ‘fully loaded’ with mostly upgraded specs over the Z3 5G (review). But at the same time, in the so-called balancing act, the company has cut some corners too. We will know all about the phone and whether you should buy it or not here.

This is the Smartprix review of the iQOO Z5 5G. Starting off by unpacking and looking at the crib sheet below.

Navigate this review:


Unboxing | Specs | Design | Audiovisual | Connectivity | Performance | Battery | Camera | Verdict | Pros and Cons | FAQ


iQOO Z5 5G Unboxing

iQOO Z5 comes in a carbon-fiber textured box. It is dark grey in color with key branding texts in a golden yellow color. This packaging has a unique character. Anyways, here are the things you get inside the box:

  • Handset
  • 44W Adapter
  • Type-C cable
  • SIM Eject Tool
  • Phone Case
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Warranty Card

Also Read:

iQOO Z5 5G Indian price and specs

Dimensions and Weight: 164.7 x 76.7 x 8.5 mm; About 193 g
Screen: 6.67-inch, FHD+ (1080 x 2400 pixels), IPS LCD, 120Hz, HDR10, 650 nits, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Panda Glass
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G
GPU: Adreno 642L
RAM: 8/12GB LPDDR5 (with up to 4GB of Extended RAM)
Storage: 256GB UFS 3.1; No expansion via MicroSD
Rear cameras: 64MP main camera with PDAF+ 8MP 120˚ ultrawide+ 2MP Macro; 4K30 FPS or 1080P@60 FPS
Front camera: 16 MP; Up to 1080P@30fps
Battery: 5000mAh with 44W fast charging
OS: Android 11 with FunTouch OS 12
Misc: Dual Stereo Speakers, 2 Microphones, Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Dual-band WiFi 5, GPS, Bluetooth 5.2, 5G, USB Type-C port, 3.5mm Jack
iQOO Z5 5G India Price: 8+128GB: Rs. 23,990, 8+256GB: Rs. 24,990, 12+256GB: Rs. 26,990


Let’s get down to the meat of things now.

iQOO Z5 5G Design Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

iQOO Z5 adopts a central punch-hole display up front with rather slim bezels and an even more pronounced camera panel by the back. Besides the triple cameras plus LED setup, the rear only has a glossy iQOO branding. This logo shimmers based on the angle of light falling on it. The matte-finished back also has a subtle glimmer when you tilt it in varied angles. You can pick the device in Arctic Dawn and Mystic Space color. Mine is the former and it looks neat.

You don’t have to worry about the backside getting smudgy or smeared but the front isn’t oleophobic. But, what I would have really liked to see is a glass back considering the price. The fascia has Panda Glass though, which can be considered similar to Gorilla Glass 3 in terms of protection. We will delve more into the display in a later segment.

Moving to sides, the left is left vacant and so, you have the volume rockers and power key cum fingerprint scanner on the right. The buttons are tactile. Also thanks to the latter’s placement and promptness, unlocking is a cinch. Even facial recognition is fairly fast.

Now, a crucial feature missing here is ingress protection. Yeah, no water or dust resistance on iQOO Z5 5G.

Anyways, on to the multimedia experience —

iQOO Z5 5G Audiovisual Review

Rating: 3 out of 5.

iQOO Z5 5G continues the use of an IPS LCD panel, which is good and all in indoor usage, but AMOLED would have meant better color reproduction and contrasts. This has an FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. There is Widevine L1 certification for streaming HD content on Netflix and Prime Video. But I couldn’t play the HDR content on the Amazon platforms although the screen is HDR10 compliant.

Outdoors, the display lights up fine with Auto brightness. Within the settings, you get to tinker around various things like Dark Theme, Eye Protection (TuV Rheinland certified), Screen Colors, Screen Refresh Rate, etc.

Coming to audio, the Z5 employs both its speaker unit at the bottom and earpiece at the top for a dual stereo effect. This helps in a tad louder and rounded sound. If you don’t want to use the speakers, go with wired or wireless earphones. The jack is at the top, btw.

Moving on…

iQOO Z5 5G Connectivity Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

iQOO Z5 is a 5G phone and so you get support for bands like n77 and n78. Not an extensive list but has the prominent ones that are likely to roll out in India. Rest, up till 5G is a reality, you can use two VoLTE SIMs for calls, messages, and data. The calling experience is alright. You can also turn on VoWiFi or WiFi calling if you want. The Speedtest results from dual-band WiFi channels were on par too.

Additionally, you also get GPS and Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX HD and aptX Adaptive codec support.

On to the core performance parameters now.

iQOO Z5 5G Performance Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

iQOO has upgraded the central processing unit to a 6 nm-based Snapdragon 778G chipset. This combines the power and efficiency of ARM’s Cortex A78 and A55 cores (in a 1+3+4 layout). It can burst up to a max 2.4GHz clock speed. The silicon also houses 6th gen Hexagon 770 DSP, AI computations at 12 TOPS, and Snapdragon Elite Gaming features. The graphics are rendered by Adreno 642L GPU. The available RAM+ storage choices are up to 12GB LPDDR5 and 256GB UFS 3.1. It’s really good to see those memory standards here.

In real-world usage, the whole thing vrooms through boot, multi-tasking, app loading, and retention in the recent memory.

The benefits are reflected in synthetic tests too:

iQOO Z5 5G BenchmarkScores
Antutu 9573152
Geekbench 5 Single | Multi802 | 3007
PCMark Work 3.08882
3DMark Wild Life | Wild Life Extreme | Sling Shot Extreme2513| 699 | 5090
3DMark Wild Life Stress Test99.1%
Androbench Sequential R/W (MB/s)1481.36 | 1271.58
Androbench Random R/W (MB/s)274.06 | 278.49
CPU Throttling test (15 mins)84% of its max performance
Conversion of 2:35min 1080p 60fps MP4 video to MKV using Video Transcoder app4 Mins

These figures are what you’d expect out of phones in this range.

Even in longer durations, the sustained performance shouldn’t be a big problem, if stress and throttling tests are anything to go by. There is also a Vapor Chamber Liquid Cooling system at work.

Going with the trend, there is VRAM expansion up to 4 gigs which uses storage memory as RAM for less resource-demanding chores.

A part of this apparent speed is thanks to the 120Hz refresh and 240Hz touch sampling rate. Like always, I did turn off all unnecessary animations both within Dynamic Effects section as well as Developer options.

However, if you like some animations, you get a kitchen sink of effects within Funtouch OS 12 based on Android 11. This new UI replaces Vivo’s apps with stock Google Dialer and Messages. It is also streamlined to a great extent. Like I mentioned in my Vivo X70 Pro+ review, the software asks for plenty of privacy permissions at every turn. Anyhoo, in a way, it’s good that you are being informed.

True to its name, there is a lot of fun features in this OS’ repertoire like a screen recorder, Phone Clone, Google Discover page on right-hand swipe from homescreen, Easy touch, screenshot toolkit, split screen, etc. What’s not fun is the bloatware it comes lugging around. Most of them are gladly uninstallable. You could always try our guide to get rid of stubborn apps that don’t go away easily.

Even the Ultra Game Mode is feature-laden. Enable Monster mode for the ultimate performance out of this machine. Further, you also get nice enhancements like the ones mentioned above. And as you see, drifting across the streets of Asphalt 9 and shooting down opponents in Battlegrounds Mobile India TDM for about half an hour empties the battery by 5% and the temperature rose by just 1%. Meanwhile, BGMI was playable at HDR graphics and Extreme FPS.

Now let’s jump from processing performance to battery performance —

iQOO Z5 5G Battery Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

iQOO Z5 5G packs a big 5000mAh battery that clocked an amazing 22 Hr 11 Min runtime in PCMark Work 3.0 Battery life test. So, this should run for plenty long. Now although the bundled charger has been downgraded to 44W, it’s still a lot fast, so no worries. It is rated to fill half the tank in 23 minutes. It should be 100% in a little more than an hour.

Both charger and the cable are also built strong, which gets some points for sure.

Last but not least,

iQOO Z5 5G Camera Review

Rating: 3 out of 5.

iQOO Z5 takes the main stills and clips from the 64MP Samsung ISOCELL GW3 sensor. The output is pixel binned to 12 megapixels. Then there is an 8MP ultrawide which can shoot in a 120-degree field of view. And to make the trio listing, there’s a 2MP macro camera. Flipping to the fore, there is a 16MP selfie shooter. As for videos, you can shoot either 4k30 or 1080p60 from the back while the front goes up to 1080p30 only.

Let’s go through the results now —

In proper daylight, samples mostly look crisp and sufficiently detailed. The camera opening and shutter speeds are quick enough to just click and save some good-looking photos into your gallery. But at times the camera does focus hunt and even when you tap to focus, the shot might not come out as sharp as you’d want (refer to the last two photos in the above slide).

For a better sharpness in the evening and settings with less favorable light, using night mode helps. More on this soon.

The viewfinder presents an easy tap to switch lens option, clicking which you can shoot at 0.6x ultrawide, regular, and 2x digital zoom.

The ultrawide retains color parity with the main camera. The results appear sharper and quite pleasing. There are no major distortions around the edges either.

In the menu bar above the viewfinder lies an option to toggle the typical macro effect.

On to giant humans now.

I didn’t find the portrait mode very effective in detecting edges. The blur level also turns down automatically for some reason. And I have had to manually set it to full bokeh many times.

When it’s nighttime, the dedicated night mode does help in sharpening and controlling the exposure. As mentioned already, you can use it before sunset too for a more appealing shot.

Turning to videos, you get to record up to 4K30 fps with the main camera. The results are jittery, hunting for focus, and falter in dynamic range whence compared against a video shot simultaneously with my iPhone 11.

And at last, the judgment time.

Review Verdict: Should you buy iQOO Z5 5G?

Editor’s rating

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

With the Z5 5G, iQOO rejigs the specs composition to stay competent in the current climate. Compared to the precursor, this one lacks a microSD card expansion and the charger speed is a bit slower, but the battery size has gotten bigger, and hence a lil heftier build. Inside, the processor and memory components have also been upgraded. The display while retains the 120Hz refresh rate and gains 240Hz touch sampling smoothness, is still LCD. The punch hole cutout design looks modern but the front camera within it albeit a good clicker falters in portraits. The edge detection needs work both on the front and rear. The rest of the camera setup and features fit the bill. Likewise, the Funtouch OS 12 also feels a lot user friendly with a good many tricks up its sleeve.

So while iQOO Z5 5G has become a better performer and a fine buy thanks to its new and carried-over features, it has got stiff competition in the market, not just from its contemporaries but also phones of the upper shelf due to periodic sales and prices slashes. Needless to say, make use of the prevailing offers before you checkout.

Pros

  • A large and snappy 120Hz screen
  • Dual speaker system
  • 5G and updated connectivity options
  • Pretty powerful processor
  • Fast and ample memory configuration
  • Long battery life with high-speed charging
  • Feature-laden software

Cons

  • No memory card expansion
  • Not AMOLED
  • Average haptics
  • Spotty edge detection in portrait photos
  • Plastic build

iQOO Z5 5G FAQ

Q. Does iQOO Z5 5G has a dedicated microSD slot?

A. No, iQOO Z5 5G has no expandable micro-SD Card slot.

Q. What is the SAR value of iQOO Z5 5G?

A. iQOO Z5 5G SAR values are: 0.81 W/kg @ 1gm (Head) & 0.54 W/kg @ 1gm (Body)

Q. Does iQOO Z5 5G feature Gorilla Glass Protection?

A. No, iQOO Z5 5G doesn’t come with Gorilla Glass. Instead, it uses Panda protection.

Q. What are the 5G bands supported by iQOO Z5?

A. iQOO Z5 supports the following bands: n77, n78

Q. Does iQOO Z5 5G support dual-band WiFi?

A, Yes, iQOO Z5 5G supports dual-band WiFi 5 (2.4GHz + 5GHz).

Q. Does iQOO Z5 5G support VoWiFi or WiFi calling?

A. Yes, iQOO Z5 5G does feature VoWiFi.

Q. How many microphones are on the iQOO Z5 5G?

A. iQOO Z5 5G with two microphones.

Q. Which is the Android update on iQOO Z5 5G?

A. iQOO Z5 5G ships with Android 11 software. At the time of writing, it has the September 01 2021 security update. The Google Play System update is also dated August 01, 2021.

Q. Does iQOO Z5 5G feature 4K60 FPS?

A. The maximum video quality supported by iQOO Z5 5G is 4K30 FPS. So, you can only shoot up to 1080P at 60 frames per second here.

Q. Does iQOO Z5 5G support HD stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime?

A. iQOO Z5 5G has DRM L1 certification and I did HD streaming on Prime Video.

Q. Does iQOO Z5 5G support GCam or Camera2API?

A. iQOO Z5 5G comes with Level 3 Camera2API support for GCam.

Q. Does iQOO Z5 5G support OIS?

A. No, iQOO Z5 5G doesn’t feature OIS.

Vasan G.S.Vasan G.S.
An inquisitive mind who spends a big chunk of the day keenly tracking every emerging detail and is responsible for quickly passing on important developments to Smartprix followers. He loves to stay in his bubble scripting his destiny involving amazing technology and people with good character, passion, and brilliance.

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