iQOO New Released iQOO Z9 Lite 5G In India. The device is the company’s most affordable 5G phone with a starting price of $120 including offers. Here are my first impressions of iQOO’s latest mid-range powerhouse:

one. Design and display

As you can see from the images, there’s a matte gloss finish on the back, and the flat edge of the phone sits comfortably in the hand. An IP64 dust and water rating gives you peace of mind against accidental spills or exposure to dust.

The iQOO Z9 Lite 5G has a waterdrop-shaped display with thick bezels on all four sides, which is a bit disappointing. However, the 6.56-inch IPS LCD panel with HD+ resolution supports up to 840 nits of brightness, providing good clarity in the sun. The display supports a 90Hz refresh rate, which ensures smooth operation during use. Although it doesn’t support HDR, it does support HD content on Netflix and Prime Video, as it is a Widevine L1 certified device.

2. Productivity and software

The MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset is a slightly overclocked version of the existing Dimensity 810 chipset, coupled with LPDDR4x RAM and eMMC 5.1 storage. The phone is available in 4GB and 6GB RAM options, both of which offer 128GB of storage. The device supports up to 6GB of virtual RAM and has a microSD card slot for additional storage. In terms of gaming, the device is good enough for casual gaming.

The 5,000mAh battery easily lasts a full day on normal usage. The bundled 45W charger charges the phone from 0 to 100 percent in almost 2 hours. Since it is an entry-level 5G phone, here’s how it performed in the 5G speed test on the Jio network.

The iQOO Z9 Lite runs the latest version of FunTouch OS 14 based on Android 14. It comes with some useful features like the App Holder, which is useful for quickly resuming apps from where I left off, and the ability to hide private photos, adding an extra layer of privacy. It’s good to know that Z9 Lite owners will get two years of Android updates and three years of security updates. The above shows how the device performed in various benchmarks.

Another good thing about the device’s software is that although there are a lot of pre-installed apps, most of them are from Google and iQOO, with some additional apps like PhonePe, Netflix, and Truecaller. To sum it up, there are no annoying investment apps, useless party app store apps, or short video creation apps that are often considered viruses.

3. Cameras and other features

For selfies, the iQOO Z9 Lite 5G has an 8-megapixel OmniVision OV8A010 front camera and a 50-megapixel Sony IMX852 dual macro camera + 2-megapixel rear camera. In good lighting conditions, the Z9 Lite 5G managed to take good shots.

The main camera supports 2x sensor zoom, while the same sensor takes portrait shots at 1x zoom. Other photo modes on the device include Night, Video, 50MP, Panorama, Document, Time Lapse, Time Lapse, Pro, and Live Photo. The device also supports beautification functions, filters, and aperture settings (portrait mode). As for video recording, the front and rear cameras offer 1080p video recording at up to 30fps, but since it’s a budget device, there’s no stabilization support.

For security, the device is equipped with a side fingerprint sensor. For audio, there is a speaker on the top and a 3.5mm audio jack on the bottom edge. Even the speaker of the device produces sound when playing audio or video. For additional storage, the device is equipped with a hybrid SIM slot that supports two SIM cards or one SIM card and one microSD card at the same time.

4. Final thoughts

In summary, iQOO Z9 Lite 5G It’s a worthy device if you’re looking for the latest and most affordable 5G phone. While most of the rival devices in this price segment have received at least one major Android update, it’s good to see iQOO offering longer software support for this device. Its Rs 9,999 offering makes it a good contender for a budget 5G phone. However, if you can shell out a few thousand rupees more, you’ll find some good options; one of them is the Redmi 13 5G, which was recently launched at Rs 13,999.