iQOO 7 Legend review: An all-rounder disguised as gaming-centric smartphone
Chinese smartphone maker Vivo’s spin-off brand iQOO took a while to expand its product portfolio in India after an impressive debut with the launch of the iQOO 3 (review) in 2020. The brand’s product portfolio might still seem thin but it now has some heavy-weights in the offerings, including the recently launched Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 powered iQOO 7 Legend.
The smartphone has been available in India for quite some time now and I assume most people in the tech space and tech enthusiasts would already know about the good and bad that is on the platter here. For the uninitiated, here is how the iQOO 7 Legend fares in real life:
iQOO 7 Legend: Design and build:
First thing first, the BMW stripes on the white rear panel gives the iQOO 7 Legend a distinct look, away from the usual gradients common to see in smartphones these days. Other than the BMW stripes, the iQOO 7 Legend is a regular looking smartphone. It has a protruding rear camera module similar to the one seen on other Vivo phones.
The curved rear panel has a matte finish and it meets the aluminium frame giving a fine grip. The metal frame has a fine finish to it, giving this phone a neat look. On the right side, there is a volume rocker and a power button, which is textured and highlighted in blue. The bottom side has a SIM tray, USB-C port, and a speaker. Despite being a gaming smartphone first, the iQOO 7 Legend unfortunately lacks the 3.5mm jack for audio-out.
The phone does not have the trigger keys on the edges, but it does have pressure-sensitive sensors on the screen. At 210 g, this phone is heavy but its aesthetics make it easy to hold and use.
iQOO 7 Legend: Display
The iQOO 7 Legend sports a 6.62-inch (1080×2400) FHD+ AMOLED display of 1300nits brightness, 120Hz refresh rate and 300Hz touch sampling rate. The screen supports HDR10+ and has flat edges with slim bezels around; a curved display could have taken things to another level. That said, the display is bright and remains visible under direct sunlight. It looks sharp and has a good touch response, which is apparent especially while playing games.
iQOO 7 Legend: Performance
The iQOO 7 Legend is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G system-on-chip, paired with up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. The smartphone does not compromise on the specs sheet and the real-life experience matches with what it promises to deliver on paper. It boots Android 11-based Funtouch OS 11.1, which has seen improvements in terms of customisations, animation effects over the previous iteration, yet does not make for a good user experience.
Not just multitasking, playing graphic intensive games (Call of Duty, Asphalt 9 Legend) for hours on high graphic settings is not even a problem. Besides, you get Ultra Game Mode from where you can set 4D gaming Vibration, Eagle Eye, Esports mode, among other options. These are important additions if you play games seriously as notifications and calls sometimes spoil all the progress.
The on-screen pressure-sensitive sensors offer an immersive gaming experience but not all the time, especially when you’re playing arcade games and it gets inconsistent at times.
The speakers are average for a phone of this stature so it’s best if you use a good pair of earbuds or a speaker to watch a movie or a web series on the phone.
There is pretty much everything but some protection from water and dust would have been ideal and that is where you will have to make a compromise.
Overall, this phone did not let me down in any significant parameter despite extensive use for about two months now.
iQOO 7 Legend: Cameras
It features a triple-camera setup at the back with a 48MP primary Sony IMX598 sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide-angle lens with 120-degree FoV and a 13MP depth sensor for portrait shots. There is a 16MP camera on the front for selfies.
The camera produces sharp and detailed photos in normal light conditions. The contrast and saturation look fine in most cases, barring a few, including when you use HDR. Its performance in low light is similar as the pictures retain a good amount of details after processing. The camera did manage to surprise me in conditions where the light was too feeble.
The portrait mode, however, is not its strength as the images look artificial unless you tweak the settings, moreover, the edges don’t usually look clean. The ultra-wide lens which also doubles as a macro camera is decent enough when it comes to colours but it may miss some details here and there. I did get a few good shots in low light and in the daytime.
You get 2x optical zoom with the ‘Portrait lens’ which produces good pictures so long as you don’t zoom too much.
The 16MP selfie camera is impressive as you get good colours and details on photos and the images don’t look artificial, something we see usually with selfie shooters.
It records videos at 4K (up to 60fps) and 1080p (up to 60fps). The stabilisation can be used for all resolutions barring 4K but that’s fine as videos do come out really well.
Besides, you get several filters and additional features that can be really helpful for vloggers and content creators.
iQOO 7 Legend: Battery
Although a 4,000 mAh battery may seem insufficient for a phone with such credentials, the phone manages to run the show for about a day with regular social media use, some photography and gaming.
Talking about gaming particularly, you can go on playing Call of Duty for about 2-3 hours at a stretch easily and the phone would still have some charge left.
There is also a 66W charger in the package that juice-up the phone in about 30 minutes, which is impressive. I hardly had to care much about the battery if I excluded heavy gaming from my usual use.
iQOO 7 Legend: Verdict
The iQOO 7 Legend is an all-rounder disguised as a gaming smartphone. Priced Rs 39,990 onwards, it is an inexpensive smartphone powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888 SoC. The phone delivers comprehensive user experience and does not seem to be lacking on any front. That said, it is a capable smartphone for everyday use and for gaming.
