iQOO Neo 7 Review: Fast and Furious!

The iQOO Neo 7 is the latest addition to iQOO’s Neo series. It features the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 chipset, up to 12GB RAM, and 256GB of memory. The Neo series has always focused on performance, and the Neo 7 is no different.

We tested the 12 GB RAM variant, which comes with 256 GB of storage. The phone really surprised us in terms of daily usage. By the end of this article, you will have a clearer idea of whether the iQOO Neo 7 is worth the price and whether you should consider buying it.

Let’s get started.

iQOO Neo 7: Design and Build Quality

The iQOO Neo 7 comes with a very attractive design and offers two color variants, namely Interstellar Black and Frost Blue. We tested the Frost Blue variant, which features a frosty back that changes color when light falls on it from different angles.

Talking about the ports of the iQOO Neo 7, it has the USB Type-C port at the bottom, which is limited to USB 2.0 speeds. There is a primary speaker at the bottom along with the sim card tray (only room for two nano sims, no SD card support) and the primary microphone. On the top of the phone is the secondary microphone with noise cancelation and the infrared sensor.

On the right side are the power button and the volume rocker. Both buttons are quite slim and can be pressed well, but a bit more thickness would have been better. The iQOO Neo 7 does not have official IP protection, although the sim card slot has rubber seals. So make sure you keep it away from water.

The phone itself is made entirely of plastic, but it feels very light and sturdy, although it only weighs around 193 g. It does not feel that good in the hand, though, as it feels like cheap plastic on the back.

Apart from that, there is not much to criticize about the build quality of the device. The haptic feedback of the iQOO Neo 7 is very well-tuned and gives precise feedback when using the phone in everyday life and also when playing games. You also get a transparent TPU case in the box, which surprisingly has not shown any kind of yellowing so far.

iQOO Neo 7: Display and Audio

The iQOO Neo 7 is equipped with a 6.78-inch FullHD+ AMOLED display that has a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz and supports HDR10+ video playback. Fortunately, all OTT platforms support HDR10+ playback at full resolution HD on the phone.

The display itself is fast, vibrant, and responsive. The maximum brightness that can be achieved on the iQOO Neo 7 is 1300 nits, which is quite high and makes it easier to view the display outdoors under direct sunlight. Although the highest brightness is only activated during HDR video playback, it remains at 1000 nits the rest of the time, which is not bad either.

However, the blacks on display are not very well preserved compared to some other smartphones in the same price category. A protective film is also included in the scope of delivery.

The 120 Hz refresh rate is not variable, but you can find the AUTO option in the display settings that switches the display between 60, 90, and 120 Hz depending on the type of content on the screen. You can also change the color saturation of the screen if you do not like the vivid look that the iQOO Neo 7 comes with by default. There’s also an always-on display feature that offers a lot of customization options.

The display itself is very smooth at all times, and we did not notice any frame drops or stutters while using the phone. The iQOO Neo 7 has an in-display fingerprint sensor that works great. It is so fast and accurate that we have never had any problems unlocking the phone.

We like the display on the iQOO Neo 7: it’s big, bright, and vibrant. Any kind of content you consume on it looks very good. The touch response is also pretty fast, which makes it easier to get those kills.

On the audio side, we have a stereo speaker setup on the iQOO Neo 7, with the bottom speaker being the main speaker and the earpiece acting as the second speaker. Honestly, this is one of the best and loudest smartphone speakers we’ve heard at this price point. The sound is crisp and very clear. Even the stereo separation is very well done, giving you a very immersive experience when watching content on the device. The sound has enough oomph, and the case almost does not vibrate.

The 3.5mm headphone jack is unfortunately not present on the iQOO Neo 7, but the USB Type-C port supports Hi-Res audio with a maximum frequency of 24-bit or 192 kHz. iQOO has also provided a Type-C to 3.5mm converter in the box.

Overall, the display and audio setup of the iQOO Neo 7 make it a great device for content consumption.

iQOO Neo 7: Performance and Battery Life

The iQOO Neo 7 is equipped with the Dimensity 8200 chipset, a very powerful chip that can handle most tasks with ease. The everyday performance of the iQOO Neo 7 is very smooth and fast. All applications open and close at lightning speed, and transitions are very smooth. The Dimensity 8200 is comparable to a Snapdragon 888+ in terms of sheer performance, but it is also very efficient at power management. During our use, the iQOO Neo 7 did not break a sweat, no matter what we put it through. Together with the 120Hz display, up to 12GB DDR4X RAM, and up to 256GB UFS 3.1 storage, you have a very powerful smartphone at your disposal.

Gaming on the iQOO Neo 7 is also a smooth experience as you can play all games at the highest settings with excellent frame rates. A 90fps mode is also available in the game PUBG New State. It does not get warm even under heavy loads like video editing or high-intensity gaming. All in all, the iQOO Neo 7 is a performance champion that you can rely on for a smooth experience.

The Dimensity 8200 chipset also plays a big role in the efficient battery performance of the iQOO Neo 7. The phone easily lasts the whole day for us, no matter how we use it. Sometimes we even managed to get halfway through the second day with at least 8 hours of screen time.

The 5000 mAh battery paired with the 120W flash charge technology makes for really good battery life and blazing fast charging speed. The iQOO Neo 7 charges from 5% to 100% in about 26 minutes. The charger also supports Power Delivery, so you can use it to charge other electronic devices as well. However, the charger heats up a lot when charging the phone, although the phone’s temperatures remain normal. Good battery life is rarely something you’d expect from a device with a flagship processor. But the iQOO Neo 7 proved us wrong.

iQOO Neo 7: Software and Connectivity

The iQOO Neo 7 comes with Funtouch OS 13, which is based on Android 13. The software is smooth and has a lot of features built-in. During our use, we could not find any bugs in the software. There are options to customize almost every aspect of the UI and it even works with Android 13’s Material U design. The look is closer to vanilla Android, which makes things a bit easier to understand. However, you will have to change a lot of settings if you have not used Funtouch OS before.

There is a lot of bloatware and pre-installed apps on the iQOO Neo 7, and while most of them can be uninstalled, it can be a bit of a hassle. We also did not receive any ad notifications from the system apps. Overall, it was a clean and smooth experience. The three-finger screenshot is my favorite feature, along with the ability to customize animations throughout the UI.

WiFi speeds are good enough, and we had no issues with the network on the iQOO Neo 7. With our JIO SIM card, we got 5G in most places, and the speeds were pretty good. The phone does get a little warm when using 5G for long periods of time. The earpiece is loud and clear when answering calls, and there are no issues with the proximity sensor either.

iQOO Neo 7: Camera

While the iQOO Neo 7 is a capable device, it has a major flaw in the camera department in that it does not have multiple useful focal lengths. On the back of the iQOO Neo 7 is the primary 64MP camera with OIS, but the other two cameras on the back are 2MP macro and depth sensors that are completely useless. On the front is a 16MP sensor for your selfies.

The primary 64MP camera is good but not the best, as it does not offer good HDR processing or low-light performance. Although the sensor has OIS, the photos taken at night are not very good even with the night mode. The best thing about this camera is actually the various portrait effects that are available in the camera. Our favorite is the vintage film effect. Edge detection and background blur are decent in portrait mode. The photos we took with the iQOO Neo 7 in good lighting conditions are sharp, vibrant, and very detailed. Even the selfie camera takes decent pictures when you turn off all beauty filters.

In the video department, you can shoot video up to 4K 30FPS with the main camera and up to 1080p 30FPS with the front camera, although the sensor has enough resolution for 4K. The videos are decent, but the colors are mostly saturated, and the HDR processing is not very good.

In conclusion, we’d like to say that the iQOO Neo 7 does not have bad cameras by any means, but the lack of a secondary useful focal length is certainly felt. That being said, iQOO needs to work on color reproduction and HDR composition. Take a look at the samples we took with the iQOO Neo 7.

iQOO Neo 7 Review: Verdict

The iQOO Neo 7 is a true performance beast. It’s also a great content consumption device with an amazing display and speakers. You can play all your favorite games on it and also edit some videos whenever you need to, and the phone will not break a sweat. The only thing the phone lacks is a wide-angle camera and no official IP rating. Other than that, we think the iQOO Neo 7 is a great device.

In summary, we would recommend buying the iQOO Neo 7 if you are planning to buy a performance-oriented smartphone with great media consumption capabilities under the price of Rs. 30000. Otherwise, if you want a complete device with multiple usable cameras, IP protection and better build quality, you’d be better off with the Nothing Phone(1) or the Google Pixel 6a. Both devices have decent performance paired with good hardware and software that offer a complete smartphone experience.

Buy iQOO Neo 7