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Mid-range smartphones are paradoxically both easy and difficult to market. From the consumer’s perspective, it can be easy if there’s a definite budget in mind and maybe a smartphone includes the top three features that they are looking for. However, with more and more companies dominating the mid-range market, let’s see if the new iQOO Neo7 Pro has what it takes to stand out.
Design & Display
There’s one standout feature in its design that pops out as I unbox the smartphone — the lovely blue-black shiny gradient on the rear panel. This is the Dark Strom colour variant and looks quite attractive especially under natural light. The phone looks premium and feels feathery smooth to touch.
The smartphone sports a massive 6.78-inch AMOLED display and offers up to 120 Hz refresh rates, which is ideal for gaming. Like most mid-rangers though, this is not the refresh rate by default as you use the phone. The display offers three refresh rate settings — 60Hz, 120Hz and Smart Switch. The display, anyway, is a joy to consume content on as it’s also HDR10+ certified and delivers lovely contrasts.
Camera
The primary camera setup on the iQOO Neo7 Pro includes a 50-MP lens along with an 8-MP ultra wide-angle camera and 2-MP super macro camera. I got some lovely photographs on a Sunday afternoon as we hiked down to the neighbourhood nursery. The camera thankfully doesn’t over-saturate photographs under direct sunlight, and also manages to deliver decent snaps indoors in warm light.
The optical image stabilisation also worked well when I tried to capture the Marina Beach on my way to work in a rather rickety autorickshaw. The 16MP selfie camera gives decent results in ample natural light, and mixed results indoors. It does soften skin texture a bit but retains complexion quite well. As usual, there are a variety of modes available — Bokeh Portrait Video, Pure Night View, OIS Panning Portrait, Super Night Video, Sports Mode and so on. Most of these are fun to use and deliver decent results.
Tech Specs
The iQOO Neo 7 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile platform, along with a customised “independent gaming chip” (IG Chip) for improved gaming experience.
The unit I reviewed had 8 GB RAM, 256 GB of storage and ran on Android 13. It also features Extended RAM 3.0 — which means the virtual RAM can be extended by another 8GB, so the phone doesn’t slow down. Throughout my couple of weeks of using the smartphone for casual gaming and YouTube browsing, I didn’t face major issues with heating or lags. There is a fair bit of bloatware when I begin using it though, which takes 2-3 minutes of uninstalling to get rid of.
There’s a 5,000mAh battery that keeps the phone going for easily more than a day or so with medium usage. Charging it also takes no time with the 120W charger that it ships with. With FlashCharge incorporated, a quick 10-minute plug-in was able to charge it to 50 percent.
Verdict
The iQOO Neo7 Pro is one of those smartphones that toe the line between price and performance well. It does better than the base variant — the Neo 7 — with its upgraded camera capabilities. A speedy interface, great battery life, a dedicated cooling system and specs prime for gaming, there’s very little not to like in this smartphone.
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