Vivo’s sub-brand, iQOO launched its first 5G smartphone in India on February 25, 2020. The game-focused Vivo iQOO 3 5G was announced at simultaneous launch events in India and China. The newly launched smartphone offers support for 5G networks, reserving a spot in the list of rare 5G compatible smartphones available in the market right now.

Vivo iQOO 3 5G Specifications

Display

Vivo iQOO 3 5G features a 6.44-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display, with 1200niits brightness, and support for HDR10+ content playback. Vivo calls the screen as Polar View Display, and it offers a 180Hz Touch Sampling rate to minimize the input lag. However, the phone has got the standard 60Hz refresh rate. It would have been much better if Vivo had made an upgrade here. There’s an in-display fingerprint scanner underneath and a punch-hole cutout on the top-right corner housing the selfie camera. The smartphone has glass on the front and back, an aluminum frame, and weighs around 214.5 grams.

Camera 

In terms of Optics, Vivo iQOO 3 5G has a quad-camera setup on its rear, housing a 48MP main sensor with PDAF, paired with a 13MP Telephoto with 20x digital zoom, a 13MP Super wide-angle, and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there’s a 16MP sensor for video calls and selfies. 

Vivo iQOO 3 5G is powered by the new Snapdragon 865 chipset that has the Qualcomm Spectra 480 IPS, which can capture high-quality professional photos at Gigapixel speeds. 

Performance

Vivo iQOO 3 5G will be shipped with Android 10 and the Vivo’s custom iQOO user-interface running on the top. The smartphone will feature an Ultra Game Mode, which will offer you the best possible gaming experience by allowing you to block notifications and calls while playing.  

The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, which has integrated support for Qualcomm’s newer 5G modem, X55. The smartphone also features two shoulder keys, called the Monster Touch Buttons, by the company. You can hold these keys to activate Monster Mode, which will run the chipset at 100%.  With the support for 4D game vibrations, you can give recoil effects to your gun while playing games like PUBG

and Fortnite. 

However, it’s worth noting that although the Monster Mode will minimize the lag to offer you the best possible experience while playing games, it will certainly make you compromise on the battery.

Vivo claims this smartphone will provide you a class-leading performance, with the latest chipset, LPDDR5 RAM, and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage.

Battery

Vivo iQOO 3 5G is packed with a big 4,440mAh battery and supports ultra-fast charging. The company claims that with 55W Super FlashCharge capabilities, the smartphone can be topped up with half of the battery in 15 minutes. I’m sure game lovers have gotten super-excited as they don’t need to put down their phones for a long time.

Price and Availability

The smartphone will be available in three variants, offering you to choose between different RAMs, networks, and storage options.

Here are the Vivo iQOO 3 5G variants:

Now, that means only the expensive variant is offering your 5G network compatibility, rather than the entire lineup. This might have been done to drive more sales as there are no commercially available 5G networks in many regions. But, the introduction of a 5G compatible variant will help serve as futureproofing. This is similar to the recently launched Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus smartphones that offer 5G network compatibility with the high-end storage variants.

Coming to the color options, the iQOO 5G will be available in Quantum Silver, Volcano Orange, and Tornado Black finishes. 

Vivo iQOO 3 5G will go on sale from March 4, 2020, at the company’s website and Flipkart.

Offers on Vivo iQOO 3 5G

As per the company’s official website, iqoo.com, ICICI bank is offering no-cost EMI for up to 12 months on the iQOO 3 5G, along with an instant discount of INR 3,000 on EMI transactions and all ICICI credit cards. Whereas, Jio is offering benefits worth INR 12,000.

Conclusion

All in all, Vivo iQOO 3 5G is a good mid-tier smartphone launched dedicatedly for gamers. And, it’s great to see more 5G smartphones hitting the market at the start of 2020 itself. We can probably see a lot more options in the coming few months. Just like Samsung sold more than 16.7 million 5G phones in 2019, we might see more companies joining this list by offering future proof specifications. 

Don’t forget to check out the list of 5G compatible smartphones available in the market.