iQOO Z11 Overview: A Capable All-Rounder for the Worth

Things can get just a little sophisticated when two sibling manufacturers launch virtually an identical smartphones beneath their respective banners. It is one factor to check telephones from competing firms with solely completely different approaches, however fairly one other when similarities prolong from a purely design perspective to virtually an identical internals. This is the state of affairs the brand new iQOO Z11 finds itself in, launched within the nation virtually a fortnight after its cousin, the Vivo S2.

The iQOO Z11 worth in India begins at Rs. 34,999. It brings a barely extra highly effective chipset to the desk, together with an ultra-wide-angle digital camera and noticeably higher battery optimisation. But are these modifications sufficient to make it the higher sibling? Here’s our assessment.

iQOO Z11 Design: A Familiar Story

• Dimensions – 164.42 x 75.25 x 7.99mm
• Weight – 199g
• Colours – Celestial Blue, Aurora Green
• Ingress ranking – IP68 + IP69

If you will have seen the Vivo S2, it will look instantly acquainted because the two telephones use nearly the identical general design. However, there’s one small distinction. While Vivo’s mid-range providing has two individually distinct lens rings on the again, iQOO Z11’s single pill-shaped piece of glass encompasses them each. It just isn’t a serious change, and you’d seemingly miss it until each telephones had been subsequent to one another. However, it offers the iQOO Z11 a barely extra upmarket attraction.

In phrases of ergonomics, the iQOO Z11 feels snug to carry. While its 7.99 mm thickness is not the slimmest on paper, the curved rear panel and tapered edges do some heavy lifting right here. Courtesy of this, it feels snug within the hand. The rear panel itself, nonetheless, leaves me with combined emotions. iQOO makes use of a plastic composite sheet right here, and whereas it appears to be like first rate, it would not really feel significantly good to the touch. I discovered it lacked the marginally extra refined texture that some competing telephones, particularly from Motorola, now provide on this section.

We have the Aurora Green model of the iQOO Z11, and I feel it’s simply the extra fascinating of the 2 color choices. At first look, it appears to be like like a reasonably refined pastel inexperienced handset. Move it round beneath a lightweight supply, nonetheless, and issues change just a little. You will see a pale blue sheen that begins to seem in locations throughout the rear panel. It can even often shift in the direction of a way more placing blue relying on the angle. I feel this can be a genuinely good colour-shifting impact.

The buttons are the place you’d count on them, on the suitable facet. At the underside, there’s the USB Type-C port, SIM tray, microphone, and speaker grille. The cellphone additionally has IP68 + IP69 rankings. I did not dunk my assessment unit in water to check its limits, however the added safety is reassuring.

iQOO Z11 Display: One of Its Better Tricks

• Size and backbone – 6.83-inch Full HD+ AMOLED, 1,260 x 2,800 pixels
• Refresh price – 144Hz
• Protection – NA

The show is among the many highlights of the iQOO Z11. This is hardly shocking, I do know, as a result of it’s one more component an identical to the Vivo S2. You get a big 6.83-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED display screen on the entrance. Binge-watching is often a satisfying expertise. Text seems sharp, colors are punchy however not excessively synthetic, and the 144Hz refresh price makes the whole lot buttery easy.

There are two sides to each coin, although. The 3D curved glass does create a extra immersive expertise as a result of the bezels across the display screen are minimised. On the opposite hand, unintended drops are a giant concern, particularly since aftermarket display screen protectors may be exhausting to search out.

We lined this in our Vivo S2 assessment, and the in-display fingerprint sensor was noticeably slower on the iQOO Z11, too. While it is not painfully sluggish, there’s a noticeable delay between putting your thumb on the display screen and the cellphone waking up.

Coming to the audio expertise, the twin audio system on the iQOO handset can get loud. But as with most cellphone audio system, there’s nearly no low-end grunt, which implies cranking the amount to one hundred pc may be sharp to hearken to for prolonged durations.

iQOO Z11 Performance and Software: The More Capable Sibling

• Processor – MediaTek Dimensity 7500 Turbo
• Memory – Up to 12GB LPDDR4x (RAM), Up to 256GB UFS 3.1 (Storage)
• Software – Android 16-based OriginOS 6
• Updates Promised – 3 Years OS + 5 Years Security Patches

The Dimensity 7500 Turbo is likely one of the few areas the place the iQOO Z11 differs from the Vivo S2. The latter will get the Dimensity 7360-Turbo as a substitute. I did not discover a lot to complain about whereas utilizing the Z11 usually. Instagram, Chrome, YouTube, WhatsApp, Spotify: the standard stuff. I stored leaping between apps and had fairly a couple of operating within the background, however nothing slowed down or froze.

You can take a look at the artificial benchmark scores of the iQOO Z11 in contrast towards the Vivo S2 under:

I spent a while enjoying Asphalt Legends and Call of Duty: Mobile. At medium settings, each had been tremendous. I did not discover body drops that affected gameplay, and the expertise was typically easy. Raising the graphics settings modified issues, although, because the cellphone labored more durable and body drops began creeping in. It additionally warmed up after about half an hour of gaming, however by no means bought scorching sufficient to be uncomfortable to carry.

The iQOO Z11 runs OriginOS 6, and the expertise is actually the identical because the one we encountered on the Vivo S2. There are easy animations and refined transitions that look and performance properly on the high-refresh-rate show.

AI Captions is one function that the model has been closely selling. However, I discovered that it’s significantly fascinating solely to a distinct segment viewers. It is powered by Google Gemini and Microsoft Azure and might present real-time transcription and translation. The function works nicely. I attempted it with a couple of pre-recorded audio recordsdata, and it was in a position to present captions for the whole lot, together with the refined pauses and tonality modifications.

It additionally performs pretty nicely when detecting different spoken languages. iQOO says the function presents limitless credit, though I’m inquisitive about how that works in apply and what limitations, if any, could ultimately apply.

Not the whole lot about OriginOS is ideal. Like different iQOO and Vivo telephones, it nonetheless comes with a couple of pre-installed apps you might wish to take away, with Block Blast among the many standard suspects. Thankfully, you may uninstall most of those pretty simply.

The software program help, in the meantime, is reassuring. iQOO has promised three main Android OS updates, together with roughly 5 years of safety patches. That ought to preserve the Z11 related for a fairly very long time.

• Rear – 50-megapixel (main) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide-angle)
• Front – 32-megapixel

Camera efficiency on the iQOO Z11 is far par for the course. The 50-megapixel main digital camera can seize decent-looking photos with out doing something significantly extraordinary. In daylight, I discovered the colors to be typically pleasing. The cellphone does a decent job managing dynamic vary, and the images look good on its immersive show.

iQOO Z11 main digital camera samples (faucet to increase)

However, a couple of points emerge on nearer inspection. I observed a barely uncommon oil-painting impact in photos, each in daylight and low gentle. In such circumstances, the finer particulars appeared softer than they need to. Low-light images can also be common. Noise begins creeping into darker scenes, and particulars grow to be more and more delicate.

The iQOO Z11 does have one benefit over the Vivo S2 — an ultra-wide-angle digital camera. It makes the Z11 a extra versatile handset on paper, and it’s, to some extent.

iQOO Z11 ultra-wide-angle and portrait digital camera samples (faucet to increase)

While it is a welcome addition, you lose a good quantity of element, significantly in dimly lit circumstances.

The selfie digital camera performs higher. Skin tones are typically correct, and the cellphone doesn’t are likely to overexpose or oversaturate faces.

iQOO Z11 selfie digital camera pattern (faucet to increase)

iQOO Z11 Battery Life: Better Than Its Sibling

• Battery Capacity – 7,050mAh
• Wired Charging – 44W
• Wireless Charging – No
• Included within the Box – Yes

Battery life is one other space the place I feel the iQOO 11 edges forward of the Vivo S2. On a mean day, the handset comfortably lasted me for a few day and a half. This interval included Instagram Reels, Google Maps navigation, a number of YouTube movies throughout lunch, YouTube Music enjoying all through the day, and occasional golden-hour photograph periods.

Light customers ought to be capable to stretch it additional to as much as two days. That’s good, contemplating the {hardware} it packs and the show dimension.

The cellphone is fairly glossy, regardless of its 7,000mAh-class battery capability

The distinction turns into extra fascinating once you take a look at our battery testing. The Vivo S2 lasted 16 hours and 58 minutes in PCMark’s Work 3.1 battery life check, whereas the iQOO Z11 managed a considerably longer 23 hours and 38 minutes. That is a considerable hole for 2 telephones which are in any other case so intently associated. iQOO has performed a greater job optimising the software-hardware mixture than its sister model.

Charging speeds, nonetheless, are nearly common. The massive battery takes round one hour and 32 minutes to go from zero to the absolutely charged notification, which is not significantly fast by present requirements.

iQOO Z11 Verdict

The iQOO Z11 is the better of the 2 sibling telephones to suggest, however solely by a small margin. It has a great show, reliable on a regular basis efficiency, first rate software program help, and battery life that’s clearly higher optimised than what we skilled on the Vivo S2. The additional ultra-wide-angle digital camera additionally provides flexibility, even when the outcomes are nothing to jot down dwelling about.

There are nonetheless a couple of tough edges. The rear panel doesn’t really feel significantly premium, digital camera efficiency is pretty strange, and charging might have been sooner, too.

If I had to decide on between the 2, I might choose the iQOO Z11. The distinction just isn’t night time and day, although. Much of the choice will come all the way down to pricing, as a result of the 2 telephones are in any other case reduce from virtually the identical material.