iQOO Neo 6 Review – It is not iQOO 7

In comparison to other phones in its price range, the iQoo Neo 6 offers excellent value thanks to its near-flagship specifications and above-average performance. The design is eye-catching, the software is reliable, and the primary camera lens has a lot of potential.

Neo 6 is the first device to be released by the company as part of its all-new Neo series, which will target customers who are looking for a feature-rich handset that costs about Rs 30,000.

But, is it a solid suggestion for people who are interested in playing high-end games? We’ll try to answer this and many other questions in this iQOO Neo 6 review.

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Tecno Pova 3 starts at a price tag of Rs.11,499 in India. It comes in two different RAM and storage variants. The base variant features 4GB RAM with 64GB of internal storage while the top variant has 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

The device is available in three colour options: Electric Blue, Tech Silver and Eco Black. You can purchase the phone on Amazon.

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The all-new iQOO Neo 6 packs a bunch of items inside the box:

• Phone
• 80W Charger
• SIM Eject Tool
• Type-C USB Cable
• Earphone Jack Adapter
• TPU Case
• Warranty Card
• Quick Start Guide

Before we talk in detail about the iQOO Neo 6, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.62 inches AMOLED
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
• RAM & ROM: 8GB RAM 128GB Storage, 12GB RAM 256GB Storage
• Software: Android v12
• Rear camera: 64MP + 8MP + 2MP
• Selfie camera: 16 MP
• Battery: 4700 mAh
• Weight: 190 grams
• Dimensions: 163 x 76.1 x 8.5 mm

The iQOO Neo 6 has a premium design and a curved rear panel. The curved panel, however, provides a secure hold and is not overly slippery.

The Cyber Rage colour variant was the one that was sent to us for review, and it is without a doubt the very first thing that people will notice about the device. I think it has a great look, and it definitely stands out among the sea of black slab phones.

You can immediately tell two things about it simply by holding it in your hand: first, that it is built out of polycarbonate, and second, how light it is. The polycarbonate back may not be as premium as glass, but it still manages to look high-end thanks to its smooth matte finish and resistance to fingerprints.

The plastic back cover helps to keep the weight down to just 190 grams. The phone has three separate cameras on the back with the Neo branding. Additionally, the clear TPU case that was supplied by the manufacturer offers a better grip.

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The volume controls and power button are located on the right side of the phone, while the left side is completely empty. The bottom of the phone features a SIM tray, a USB Type-C port, a microphone, and a bottom speaker grill, while the top features a microphone and an IR blaster.

Overall, I would say that iQOO Neo 6 is an attractive and well-made mid-range smartphone, and the Cyber Rage finish on the review unit is particularly appealing.

The iQOO Neo 6 sports a triple camera setup on the back which includes a 64MP Samsung GW1P sensor, an 8MP lens for ultra-wide shots, and a 2MP sensor for macro shots. There is a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies.

The main camera can take excellent, detailed pictures both during the day and at night. It takes very little time to recognise the scene and enable HDR whenever it is necessary. High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) produce striking results (OIS). Overall, it captures a decent amount of detail with little saturated colours.

The portrait sensor is very effective at taking portrait photos and producing a bokeh effect. The subject is recognised instantly, and it maintains focus without a hitch. Both edge detection and background blur did a good job. In addition to that, the details and the clarity are both spot on.

The performance of the ultra-wide-angle lens is merely average. Even though there isn’t much of a colour change compared to the main camera and colours appear vibrant, sharpness and details suffer.

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The 2MP macro sensor is a fun way to experiment with close-up photography, but its novelty quickly wears off. As a result of the low resolution, the macro shots don’t turn out very well and are below average in terms of both the colours and the details they capture.

The 16-megapixel front-facing camera takes decent selfies in ambient daylight. The shots have good detailing and a wide dynamic range. The images captured during the night, on the other hand, have a little bit of noise in them and details are lost as well.

When it comes to the camera app, taking pictures is quick and easy, and there is no lag between pressing the shutter button and the picture being taken. You also get access to a variety of features within the app, such as object or body autofocus modes, eye autofocus mode, Super Macro mode, AI scene enhancement, and more.

The rear camera can record videos at 4k resolution at up to 60fps, while the front camera can only go up to 1080p resolution with up to 30 fps. The videos from the rear camera are quite smooth and stable, thanks to the OIS.

Talking about the battery life, the iQOO Neo 6 packs a 4700mAh battery, which might look a little less for a mid-range smartphone. But that’s not the highlight here, it’s the 80W fast charging that steals the limelight.

The phone easily lasts a full day of casual use and you can expect 5-6 hours of screen on time. My usage involved some social media scrolling, watching series on Netflix and light gaming. However, a hardcore gamer would need to charge the phone twice in a day.

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Now coming to the highlight, the 80W charger is really fast. Just 15 minutes of charging will give your hours of gaming sessions. The 80W fast charger can fully charge the device from 0 to 100 per cent in about 35 minutes.

Sadly, there is no support for wireless charging, but that’s not a deal-breaker.

The iQOO Neo 6 has a big 6.62-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. It has a touch sampling rate of 360Hz and a refresh rate of 120Hz with Full HD+ resolution. It’s responsive, vibrant, and sharp, and it punches far above its price.

The AMOLED display impresses me with the vibrant colours, deep blacks, and wide viewing angles. My eyes had trouble adjusting to the relatively thicker bezels at first. But after some time of use, I got used to it and it was no longer an issue.

Additionally, it offers a peak brightness of 1300 nits. The screen gets very bright, and I didn’t have any problems using it in bright sunlight.

In the settings, you can select either 60Hz or 120Hz, or you can use iQOO’s Smart Switch technology, which automatically toggles the refresh rates. The 360 Hz touch sampling rate is a great thing for gamers. Furthermore, if you enjoy titles like BGMI and Call of Duty, you will benefit from an instant touch sampling rate of 1200Hz.

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The panel is WideVine L1 certified, making it suitable for streaming high-definition content from OTT platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, Hotstar, and others.

iQOO has packed a powerful and efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset inside the iQOO Neo 6. It is paired with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. And if that’s not enough, you can further expand the RAM by 4GB by using internal storage to fulfil all your multitasking demands.

The processor is significantly more capable than what the majority of us do on our smartphones. It easily handles texting, web surfing, video calls and social media scrolling. It also implies that the Neo 6 is a worthy choice for a gaming phone and that it comes equipped with subtle additions under the hood, such as a vibration engine that vibrates along with gameplay.

When it comes to gaming, it can run even the most graphically intensive titles without showing any signs of lags. We tested it with a number of games like BGMI, Apex Legends, Call of Duty and a few others, and found that it was capable of running them at their highest graphics and FPS settings.

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BGMI could go up to HDR graphics and Extreme FPS settings but I lowered the settings to High graphics and Extreme FPS for smoother gameplay. Similarly, CoD Mobile can also go up to the Very High graphics and Max FPS. But that’s not all; the company is also working to add a 90FPS support for BGMI.

If you want to play Apex Legends or Genshin Impact at a steady frame rate, you’ll need to turn down the graphics settings a bit. Because of the screen’s ultra-fast touch polling rate, there are no input lags at all.

After half an hour of continuous gaming, the iQOO Neo 6 only gets mildly warm. In addition, the enhanced haptic provided by 4D gaming vibration will surely improve your gaming experience. I suggest turning on Ultra Game mode from the settings menu for a more enjoyable gaming experience.

Moreover, I appreciate the in-game menu feature, which displays information about the game’s CPU and GPU usage, battery life, and the ability to switch between a power-saving mode, a balanced mode, and a monster mode that pushes the hardware to its limits.

Overall, the Neo 6 really stands out when considering the value for money. The iQOO Neo 6 is capable of handling everything without any difficulty, including gaming as well as day-to-day tasks.

The iQOO Neo 6 comes with FunTouch OS 12, which is based on Android 12. You will have access to all of the features that come with Android 12, including the privacy dashboard, enhanced security, microphone and camera indicator lights, and more.

Again, there are a plethora of customization options for just about every type of customizable element of the software. Whether it be the animation for charging, the speed of the animation for opening the app, the animation for unlocking, and many other things.

Funtouch OS 12 adds new widgets to the home screen, such as the Nano Music Player, a grid view for multitasking, Stickers, Album highlights, and an extended RAM feature.

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There are some nice software additions, such as the Game Space app, which displays information about the games you’ve installed, how long you’ve spent playing them, and how much of your Wi-Fi or mobile data you’ve used.

On the other side, the phone is packed with bloatware. It comes preinstalled with a bunch of third-party apps such as Mx TakaTak, Moj, Byjus, Cred, Spotify, Facebook, LinkedIn, Netflix, and Sharechat. The good thing is that you can uninstall these apps.

The company has committed to providing major Android updates for a period of two years and monthly security updates for a period of three years. This is similar to OnePlus, but it falls behind the Android and security updates offered by Samsung.

In terms of sound, the Hi-Res audio certified stereo speaker setup is surprisingly impressive even at maximum volume. While gaming or watching videos online, these generally deliver good audio quality.

Even at maximum volume, there was only slight audio distortion. There is no 3.5mm audio jack on the IQOO, but the company does include a USB-C dongle in the package.

iQOO Neo 6 comes with 5G connectivity. It supports the following 5G bands: n1, n41, n77, and n78. Other connectivity features include dual 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, and GPS. The phone misses out on NFC.

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You will find an in-display fingerprint scanner which unlocks the phone quickly and has good accuracy. There is also an option for face unlock but it’s not very secure.