Vivo iQOO Neo 5 SE Review – The Chinese smartphone maker iQOO, also a subsidiary of Vivo, launched the Vivo IQOO Neo 5 SE in December 2021 with some impressive specs such as powerful SoC, an advanced display, and more. It brings all these features at a price that gives this smartphone an edge over its competitors. But specs are one thing and the user experience is whole another thing altogether.
The iQOO Neo5 SE is similar to the iQOO Neo5 S smartphone and there is a minimal difference in specs. Given the powerful octa-core processor in the iQOO Neo 5 SE smartphone is the plus point, the answer seems pretty easy but it depends a lot on the software optimizations as well. Let’s begin with a detailed review of the Vivo iQOO Neo 5 SE smartphone.
Table of Contents
Vivo iQOO Neo 5 SE Review
Highlights
- The Vivo iQOO Neo 5 SE smartphone features a 6.67 inches IPS LCD display with a 144 Hz refresh rate.
- IQOO went with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G SoC that is Goes up to a max of 3.2GHz clocking speed.
- It has Android 11 OS with Origin OS Ocean UI.
- The main rear camera sensor is 50MP, while the selfie camera is a 16MP sensor.
- The battery has a capacity of Li-Po 4500mAh, and it comes with a 55W fast charger.
Design and Display
As mentioned before the design of the iQOO Neo 5 SE heavily resembles that of the iQOO Neo 5S, after all, they both launched together. The buttons are where they should be and since the fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button, the frame near the power button area is stylized as such to emphasize that and it looks quite elegant.
The chamfered edges along with a slim profile provide for a much more comfortable grip even though the phone is on the larger side due to the 6.67 inches large display. Speaking of the display, the smartphone features 6.67 inches of Full HD+ IPS LCD display. The 144hz of refresh rate provides for a much smoother experience.
The colors are accurate and it Featured 650 nits brightness so it shouldn’t be much of an issue when you are out. The omission of an AMOLED display is sure to bother a whole lot of people but then again, at this price range, you just can’t get a 144Hz AMOLED display. The Neo 5 SE is available in three color variants- Black, White, and Aurora.
Memory and Internal
The 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G SoC in the phone can reach up to a max of 3.2GHz clocking speed and so the Snapdragon 870 5G SoC provides a performance that comes strikingly close to current-gen flagship smartphones.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G chipset is highly efficient and consumes less energy. The Adreno 650 GPU is also equally powerful and games like BGMI and COD mobile will run smoothly and Lag-free. Also, the IQOO Neo 5 SE doesn’t overheat either, and temperatures are at comfortable levels.
The phone comes in three variants. The base variant of the phone has 8GB/12GB RAM with 128GB/ 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. Besides this, you will also get The Android 11 OS with Origin OS Ocean UI and there is no news about the latest Android update from Vivo.
Camera
The triple camera system features a setup of a 50MP wide sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP macro sensor. The main50MP sensor takes some amazing pictures with a good combo of detail and vibrant colors. Even if you zoom 2x, the detail levels are quite nice, but it’s a digital zoom and not from a telephoto lens.
So, the lack of a telephoto camera means anything beyond 2x won’t be very useful. The 8MP ultra-wide camera can also take somewhat decent pictures and natural colors, but it simply fails to provide the same level of detail as the main 50MP sensor.
The night-time shots, however, were not so impressive and there was quite a lot of noise in the pictures, which is even worse with ultra-wide shots. The 16MP selfie camera fared quite better in night-time shots as well as daytime. The colors are natural, and the skin tone is captured perfectly. For video shooting, the phone manages to shoot up to 4K videos at 30FPS from the rear and 1080p@30FPS from the selfie camera.
Battery and Others
The device carries a Li-po 4500 mAh battery and IQOO is including a 55W proprietary fast charging inside the box. The battery can easily last more than a day under normal usage, and even with heavier usage, it should last a full day. When you do lose power, the 55W fast charger will ensure your phone’s battery is up in a very short period.
The phone also has dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication. The fingerprint sensor works fast and perfectly every time. The phone is already on sale, and the price starts at $470 (Rs 35,999 in India) approx.
Vivo iQOO Neo 5 SE Pros and Cons
Vivo iQOO Neo 5 SE Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Vivo iQOO Neo 5 SE smartphone.
Specifications | Vivo iQOO Neo5 SE |
Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
Announced | December 2021 |
SIM | Dual SIM |
Dimensions | 6.48 x 3.02 x 0.33 inches |
Weight | 189 grams |
Size | 6.67 inches |
Display | IPS LCD 144Hz HDR10 650 nits brightness 20:9 ratio ~395 PPI density |
Protection | No |
Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
OS | Android 11, Origin OS Ocean |
Chipset | 7nm – Qualcomm SM8250-AC Snapdragon 870 5G |
CPU | Octa-core 1×3.2 GHz Kryo 585 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 585 |
GPU | Adreno 650 |
Card slot | No |
RAM | 8GB, 12GB |
Internal | 128GB, 256GB UFS 3.1 |
Camera | 50 MP (wide), PDAF 8 MP (120Ëš ultrawide) 2 MP (macro) Dual-LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 4K@30fps |
Selfie | 16 MP (wide) HDR Max – 1080p@30fps |
Loudspeaker | Yes (stereo speakers) |
3.5mm jack | Yes 24-bit/192kHz audio |
WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive |
GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS |
NFC | Yes |
Infrared port | No |
Radio | No |
USB | USB Type-C 2.0, USB On-The-Go |
Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
Battery | Li-Po 4500 mAh Fast charging 55W |
Colors | Black, White, Aurora |
Expected Price | $470 (Rs 35,999 in India) Approx. |
Conclusion
If you want top-notch performance, lag-free user experience, and extreme gaming, then the Vivo iQOO Neo 5 SE smartphone is perfect. The processor is extremely efficient and consumes very little energy, so you can play games for much longer and the 144Hz display will provide with you the smoothest experience ever possible. Overall, the iQOO is a decent gaming smartphone in this price range. If these are the things that you want, then the phone seems quite perfect.
But the camera performance is not that impressive, especially at this price range. So, if you want a smartphone that provides a good camera with a wholesome package and not just performance, then you will have to look for an alternative. The Vivo iQOO 9 Pro can be considered the best alternative option to iQOO Neo 5 SE as it comes with an amazing camera and processor chipset. So, whether this phone is the right phone for you or not depends a lot on what you want out of a smartphone.