IQOO plays it cool with Neo 6

Affordability and gaming phones don’t always go hand in hand but that’s where IQOO Neo 6 comes in. It’s a smartphone brand that has steadily been moving in the right direction, packing in enough features to give the likes of POCO something to chew on. In case you already have the IQOO 7 you will probably skip this but if you are in the market for a quality gaming phone without breaking the bank, then the Neo 6 does the job.

There is nothing much to talk about the design of the phone, except that it’s light because of the plastic rear panel as well as the frame and the camera module looks clean while in-hand feel is excellent. The company has focussed on display and processor but hasn’t forgotten about the camera. The first thing I want to point out is bloatware, which is there but while setting up the phone I could leave out quite a few of those, proving that the company is moving in the right direction. The few bloatware apps that get installed can be given the boot with a few taps.

Power up and enjoy sustained performance

Let’s crank up the processor, which in this case is the much-loved Snapdragon 870, known to be an efficient processor and handles the battery well. Add to the equation LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. I like the fact that most games — Call of Duty Mobile or Apex Legends Mobile or Genshin Impact can be played at excellent graphics settings without the device throttling or heating up and that’s because to help all the gaming grunt there is a very big vapour chamber with enough liquid cooling power. I also like that most of the apps are kept alive in the background.

As efficient as the processor is the battery, which in this case is a 4,700mAh slab. There is an 80W charger in the box, which can fuel up the battery in around 35 minutes. What is impressive is screen-on time. Even after pushing the phone, I got around seven hours of on-screen time, so you can easily get through a day.

Coming to the software, it’s Funtouch OS 12 based on Android 12 with a promise of three years of security upgrade and two years of OS upgrade, which is sufficient at the given price point. But there is nothing outstanding when it comes to software design, which probably will get taken care of in the future iterations of Funtouch OS.

Sharp display and camera

Coming to the display, you get a 6.62-inch FHD+ E4 AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate but I am more interested in the 360Hz touch-sampling rate that brings alive the gaming aspect of the phone. Everything about the phone spells smoothness. And the screen can get quite bright when watching HDR content. Speaking of HDR content, you can enjoy the same on YouTube and Netflix. The only thing missing is a special display chip to make frame interpolation come alive but what you do get is an excellent X-axis haptic feedback motor that comes in handy while gaming.

As far as the camera goes, it’s pretty much on point even though this is a gaming device. The main camera is 64MP with Samsung GW1P sensor while you get 8MP on the ultra-wide. Pictures come out sharp but perhaps not as contrast-y as on the IQOO7 though there is good colour temperature. In low-light situations, the camera holds up while the 16MP selfie snapper has good edge detection and does a good job with skin tones. Video on the rear camera is up to 4K@60fps. One of the highlights of the device is the microphone set-up, be it while recording with the main camera or selfie; it’s far better than what we have seen on any device in the given price range.

Should you buy it?

IQOO has given enough thought to the phone. If you are into a modest degree of gaming, this is the phone to have. Sustained performance, excellent cooling system and a good display. IQOO Neo 6 plays it cool in every department.