iQoo has launched the Neo series in India along with the Neo 6. In this tough competitive segment under Rs 30k, the company has launched the phone with full gear. It carries the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chip, offers 80W fast charging and sports a 120Hz AMOLED display. The charging speed given by the company in this price range is really commendable. It is rare in this segment. But do all these features make the iQoo Neo 6 a phone that can’t be beat? My first impressions of the phone were positive and now it’s time to find out if it’s as good as it looks or not.
iQOO Neo 6 Price in India
The iQoo Neo 6 is priced at Rs 29,999 in India, which comes with the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage model. Its top model comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, which costs Rs 33,999. The iQoo Neo 6 can be purchased in Dark Nova and Cyber Rays colors.
iku neo 6 design
The iQoo Neo 6 phone is a rebranded model of the iQoo Neo 6 SE that was launched in China earlier this year. Neo 6 is a large smartphone in terms of dimensions and weighs 190 grams. The phone has a 6.62-inch AMOLED display with a punch-hole design at the top for the selfie camera. Display bezels are thin. The frame of the phone is made of plastic and is kept flat on top and bottom.
iQoo has added an IR (infrared) emitter that sits near the secondary microphone on the top. At the bottom there is a slot for a USB Type C port, a speaker and a SIM tray. The back panel is made of plastic with curved sides. The phone is quite comfortable to hold. Its right side is narrow and carries a thin power button and volume rocker.
The dark new color of the phone looks quite elegant. It has a gradient finish that shows a mixed shade of dark blue and bright blue. If you want a flashier phone, then you can also check out its Cyber Rage variant. The phone’s camera module will grab your attention. It has a two-tiered design on which the Neo branding is placed, which is seen separately.
The company has also provided a transparent case inside the phone box. The back panel has a matte finish, so fingerprints don’t fall off so easily. You also get a USB Type C to 3.5mm audio adapter, which is a good thing.
iQoo Neo 6 Specifications and Software
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC is provided in iQoo Neo 6 which is the most powerful processor for this price range. The Mi 11X competes directly with this phone, which has a similar chip. iQoo says it has included a liquid cooling system in the phone to keep the processor cool.
The Neo 6 has a Full HD Plus E4 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It has a 360Hz touch sample rate that can go up to 1200Hz in some games. The display is also HDR10+ certified and its brightness is 800 nits. iQoo has also provided stereo speakers in the Neo 6, but the phone does not have an IP rating.
This iQoo phone supports Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band Wi-Fi, four 5G bands, dual 4G VoLTE and five satellite navigation systems. You don’t get NFC in this. iQoo Neo 6 has a 4700mAh battery and supports up to 80W fast charging. You also get a compatible charger in the box.
Talking about the software, it runs on Funtouch OS 12 which is based on Android 12. The company has promised two years of Android updates and 3 years of security updates with the phone. Its user interface is almost similar to Vivo X80 which I reviewed recently. Too bad I have the same experience with bloated software in this as well. Some applications may be uninstalled. The browser keeps sending spam notifications throughout the day which is quite annoying.
iQoo Neo 6 performance and battery life
iQoo Neo 6 has a powerful processor and there is no lag in the phone even with prolonged use. I had its 12GB variant on which I could multitask, switching between apps very comfortably. I didn’t see any apps reloading at any point. The phone has an extended RAM feature and can use up to 4GB of system memory as RAM.
I enjoyed watching videos on the phone’s AMOLED display. Stereo speakers make the experience even better. The refresh rate is high, so scrolling is smooth in apps and menus. The company has set the Smart Switch refresh rate as the default. It runs at 120Hz most of the time at this setting.
iQoo Neo 6 has an in-display fingerprint scanner which is quite reliable and never gets damaged during use. FaceUnlock also works in a similar way. The phone scored well in benchmarks. Its AnTuTu score is higher than the OnePlus Nord 2 with 729,331 points. In Geekbench 5, it scored 983 and 3074 points in single and multi-core. In the GFXBench graph, it scored 50fps in the Car Chase test. Users who want good performance, this phone will not disappoint in terms of results.
I played Call of Duty: Mobile on it, which by default was running on very high graphics and had the frame rate set to high by default. I played the game for 20 minutes in which the battery dropped by 5%. The phone didn’t heat up, which explains its liquid cooling capability.
I loved the battery performance of this phone and it lasted comfortably for one and a half days. In the HD video cycle test, the phone lasted 21 hours and 17 minutes, which is quite impressive. Its 80W fast charger charged the phone 83% in 30 minutes and the phone was fully charged within 50 minutes.
iQOO Neo 6K camera
The iQoo Neo 6 features a triple camera setup that includes a 64-megapixel primary lens with OIS, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens with a 116-degree field of view, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. For selfies, there is a 16-megapixel camera. The camera app is very easy to use and looks similar to the Vivo X80 app. The main camera takes 16-megapixel photos by default, but you can click full-resolution photos if needed.
His daylight landscape photos were accompanied by detail and subjects were easily recognizable even from a distance. Words written on distant buildings can also be read. AI optimization is available in the phone which improves the contrast in the output. The ultra-wide camera has a wider field of view and gets the same color profile as the main camera.
The phone takes close-up photos with clear and full details. This creates a natural bokeh effect between the background and the subject. Edge detection was good in portrait mode. The macro camera also captured extremely close-up shots.
The phone proved to be very fast when shooting a low-light scene, for which it held the shutter open for a long time. Thanks to this, the image was captured with a clear and detailed picture. In very dark areas, the phone itself suggested switching to night mode.
The phone’s sensor captures the selfie in full resolution. The app adds a beautification filter by default, but it can also be adjusted or disabled if needed. In daylight, the skin tone is accurate to the photo. In low light, the screen flash is activated automatically for better results. Edge detection was good in selfies taken in portrait mode and the level of background blur was also adequate.
Its primary rear camera can shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second. Its selfie camera can also shoot videos at this resolution and frame rate, which is rare. Footage was fairly stable in daylight, but motion in low light was a bit shaky. The camera app has a dual video mode so that the main and selfie cameras can record videos at the same time.
our solution
If you are looking for a 30k budget smartphone then you can keep this phone high on your list. The phone’s performance is pretty good, as you’d expect from a device with a Qualcomm chip. The promise of Android and security updates makes it future proof. In my opinion, its base 8GB variant seems better value for money.
I don’t have many complaints about it other than the pre-installed bloatware on the phone. If you pick up the phone for video recording purposes, then be aware that it doesn’t perform as well in low light.
If you want pure software, you can look at the Motorola Edge 30. If you can’t compromise on performance, go for the Mi 11X and OnePlus Nord 2, which are good alternatives in the same price range.
