It’s tough to go wrong buying a phone for 20K these days, for the user is almost-always assured of a decent camera, good performance and a bright screen. What more can a phone give me, is the question that’s often asked. iQOO has been having a good run, presenting phones that perform well and has good photo-taking capabilities, something that can be said about iQOO Z3 5G… and a little bit more.

Forget the 5G part because the technology doesn’t have a date-of-arrival in India, plus the number of 5G bands supported on the phone is low. The biggest driver is the processor, which is the Snapdragon 768G. A few things about the processor: Its runs smooth, the performance is sustained and it helps conserve battery. Throw any game at the phone, you won’t be disappointed. Good graphics rendering combined with top real-time AI performance make it a good processor to have by your side. Helping the cause is the 120Hz display refresh rate (and 180Hz touch sampling rate). Even if you play games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends for hours with graphic settings turned to max, there are no major setbacks and the phone heats up ever so slightly. You won’t experience any drop in frames. Besides the RAM variant you are buying, there is also virtual RAM to scale things up by 3GB. So on a phone with 8GB RAM, you technically end up with 11GB RAM.

The camera too is impressive for the pricing. The main 64MP Samsung GW3 primary sensor works well and there are no stutters. Pictures are crisp and there is enough HD powerplay in the photos. The colours may look slightly bumped up but it’s okay for social media. The 8MP ultra-wide camera is good but there’s nothing extraordinary to write about.

Picture captured on the IQOO Z3 5G appear crisp with some colour saturation

Let’s get the macro camera out of the way because it has fixed focus and the results are hit or miss. In fact, you should shoot with the main camera after zooming in and then crop the picture, which will give you better photographs than what’s captured on the macro snapper. Things get slightly better at night with the Night Mode turned on, which offers good photos but there is some noise. Where the phone really shines is in the selfie department… skin tones are perfect and portrait shots compete with costlier devices. Even without optical image stablisation, videos captured using the phone appear quite good, especially the autofocus. Plus, you can shoot at 4K@60fps.

This brings us to the design, which can cut both ways. If you are okay with a no-frill design, then it’s a great phone for you. But if you to flaunt something without putting on a back cover then there are options in the market.

The 6.58-inch IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution is good enough. Sure, it’s possible to get an AMOLED screen at a lower price but there’s very little to complain about when it comes to colour replication or viewing angles… it’s being unnecessarily critical. What I am complaining about is the absence of a stereo set up, which is necessary in 2021.

For the many things done well by iQOO, one area needs a closer look by the company — software. The amount of bloatware is way too high and the number of permissions one need to grant the phone is unnecessary.

That doesn’t mean it’s not a great phone. It offers excellent performance, with apps launching super quick and gaming is consistently good. Charging speed is fast — zero to full in around 55-60 minutes. A good chipset means you can hang on to the phone for a few years.

So who should buy it? In case you are unhappy with your current smartphone brand, go ahead and update. What if you want more options? Sure, check out Samsung Galaxy M31 and Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. What iQOO Z3 5G promises you is excellent gaming and day-to-day experience.

More about the phone

Picture captured on the IQOO Z3 5G appear crisp with some colour saturation

Device: iQOO Z3 5G

Price: Rs 19,990 for 6GB+128GB, Rs 20,990 for 8GB+128GB and Rs 22,990 for 8GB+256GB

High notes

l Consistent gaming performance

l Good camera set up

l Charging speed

Muffled notes

l Absence of stereo speaker

l Bloatware