IQOO 11 5G: Where Speed Reigns Supreme (But Bloatware’s a Bummer)
The iQOO 11 5G: A High-Performance Flagship Smartphone with Some Drawbacks
The iQOO 11 5G is the latest flagship smartphone from emerging brand iQOO, packing a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and a range of advanced features. While it delivers smooth performance and long battery life, its UI is marred by bloatware apps that can be both frustrating and concerning for security reasons.
Technical Specifications
The iQOO 11 5G boasts an impressive set of technical specifications, including a 6.78-inch Quad HD+ (1440 x 3200p) LTPO(v4) AMOLED display with HDR10+, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection, and support for up to 1800 nits brightness and 1440Hz PWM dimming. The device is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, paired with 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB (UFS 4.0) storage.
Other notable features include a triple-camera setup with a 50MP main wide-angle sensor, 13MP telephoto lens, and 8MP ultra-wide sensor, as well as an in-display fingerprint sensor, Dual SIM (nano + nano), 5G support, and Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax connectivity.
Design, Build Quality, and Display
The iQOO 11 5G features a blocky design with a mix of flat and curved edges, exuding a premium feel with nice non-slippery materials all around it. The device is available in two colors – white with BMW M Series branding or dark grey – and comes with Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the front.
While there’s no headphone jack, the smartphone makes up for it with stereo speakers and an in-display fingerprint sensor that works smoothly and accurately. The camera module on the back features a triple-camera setup with dual-tone LED flash, alongside a speaker grill, USB Type-C charging port, and SIM card tray at the bottom.
The first-time activation of the iQOO 11 5G reveals a stunning 6.78-inch Quad HD+ LTPO(v4) AMOLED display that appears vibrant and visually pleasing in every aspect. The colors are rich and accurate, and it offers great viewing angles when watching FHD videos on YouTube even under direct sunlight.
Performance
The iQOO 11 5G is one of the most powerful Android smartphones available today, thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. It delivers snappy performance in all tasks, including opening apps instantly and switching between multiple apps smoothly.
In synthetic benchmarks, the device posted impressive scores – over 1,200,181 points on AnTuTu and 1400 points on single-core CPU test along with 4890 points on multi-core CPU test using Geekbench 5. The phone’s performance is expected to be at par with other powerful smartphones like OnePlus 11 and Samsung Galaxy S23.
Our review unit comes with a large 16GB RAM, paired with virtual swap memory of 8GB from the 256GB UFS 4.0 storage. This configuration handled all day-to-day tasks without any issues and played games smoothly without overheating problems.
Vapor Chamber Liquid Cooling System
One notable feature of the iQOO 11 5G is its Vapor Chamber Liquid Cooling system, which efficiently dissipates heat from the processor, making it a much better performer even when running demanding tasks for an extended period. This is up to 40% more efficient compared to previous versions.
Software and Connectivity
The iQOO 11 5G runs on FunTouchOS 13 based on Android 13 OS, which feels highly optimized with no lag issues observed during our testing. However, it comes bundled with many third-party bloatware apps some of which can be uninstalled while others are non-removable.
We observed frequent notifications asking to either update these apps or purchase items from iQOO’s store within the OS, although we were able to mute them quickly – this nonetheless affected our experience and remains a concern for users looking forward to timely upgrades to keep their device secure and enjoyable in future. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS/ GLONASS, NFC, and Dual 4G VoLTE.
Battery Life
The iQOO 11 5G packs a substantial 5000mAh battery with support for fast charging at up to 120W. Our tests showed that we could easily get around 2 days of normal usage on this device.
We topped 50% of the charge in just 8 minutes using the included 120W charger while full discharge took about 26 minutes to complete – all other batteries seem less impressive with most not even going from 0 to maximum charging power below 1 minute per percentage point.
Camera Performance
For photography enthusiasts, the iQOO 11 5G packs an excellent camera module featuring a V2-processor-powered triple-camera setup. It captures very good images, even at lower light conditions, thanks to Phase detection Auto Focus (PDAF) paired with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). For low-light requirements though, Night Mode can assist you pretty well as long as proper exposure levels aren’t completely off the charts but in many places it does more harm than help due mostly low light – its high contrast scenes which aren’t very hard on it unless going through extreme situations.
Video Recording
While you’ll be quite satisfied with how this phone handles still photography overall, perhaps even taking better shots under some conditions; don’t expect video recording capabilities anywhere close to the highest quality we’ve seen. If desired resolution isn’t an issue (in fact when shooting videos at Full HD), stabilization does its job quite well although there is clearly room for improvement as far as stabilization technology goes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the iQOO 11 5G has managed to impress us with its powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC and decent battery life. With a crystal clear display and excellent build quality, this premium smartphone checks all the right boxes in terms of performance and features.
However, there are some caveats: the FunTouchOS on Android is laden with third-party apps which cannot be uninstalled – this would bother us if only notifications weren’t easily disabled; plus the camera system produces nice outputs for everyday use even low light situations sometimes however struggles when facing demanding situations such as those typically encountered while taking photos during a full moon or high contrast scenarios where it ends up looking like more ‘noise’ than what actually should be there.
The question remains: is this worthwhile given we also observe issues related primarily just mentioned drawbacks compared against alternatives? Maybe so depending who wants such premium qualities specifically but certainly others will disagree especially concerned by those limitations mentioned previously – mainly UI clutter caused solely due certain bundled extras not being easily removable themselves rather than something like over-enthusiastic advertising or overpriced components found within; all considered based upon needs specific users desire in order to answer question ourselves properly weigh pros against cons.
Final Thoughts
The iQOO 11 5G is certainly an enticing package with lots going right – particularly when taking into account exceptional hardware complemented by decent battery performance giving users what they expect: strong smartphone usage, which matches well with top-range products currently out in market space today offering same functionality without major differences really unless focused solely on budget segment preferences or other minor details we feel weren’t worth mentioning; still price remains competitive enough within range making sense overall decision either way – ultimately how much ‘value’ individual finds depends completely personal preference priorities individual seeks within category which undoubtedly offers best choice.
