Vivo iQOO Neo 5S Review – Vivo launched the much-awaited Vivo IQOO Neo 5S on December 20, 2021, which is the successor of the iQOO Neo 5 smartphone that launched 6 months prior to it. The new smartphone brings a whole bunch of upgraded specs compared to its predecessor. It not only gives the IQOO Neo 5S an elemental advantage over its predecessor but to its competitors as well.
As of now, the flagship killer market is quite fierce. It supports 5G with a decent camera and battery backup. Compare to the Neo 5 there is no big difference except in chipset and design but the rest are the same as it is. To understand more let’s begin with the detailed review of the Vivo iQOO Neo 5S smartphone.
Table of Contents
Vivo iQOO Neo 5S Review
Highlights
- The Vivo IQOO Neo 5S smartphone features 6.62 inches of Full HD+ AMOLED display and a refresh rate of 120Hz.
- For IQOO Neo 5S the maker went with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G SoC that is clocked at max 2.84 GHz and manufactured on a 5nm architecture.
- It has android 11 with Origin OS Ocean UI and the company promises to provide the latest Android 12 update pretty soon.
- The main rear camera sensor is 48MP, while the selfie camera is a 16MP sensor so the camera system is basically unchanged in terms of pure hardware.
- The battery has a capacity of Li-Po 4500mAh, and it comes with a 66W fast charger support.
Design and Display
The design elements are mostly unchanged with the minor changes in the camera module. The flash was on top of the camera module in the predecessor while the Neo 5S has it on the bottom. There’s also a clear OIS branding and the orange color variant has a unique texture on the back that wasn’t found in its predecessor. As we said, the cosmetic changes to the new smartphone are pretty minor and you will have a hard time distinguishing one from the other. Another tiny detail that we just noticed is that the chin of the Neo 5S is slightly thinner than its predecessor.
The display of the IQOO Neo 5S still features the 6.62 inches of Full HD+ AMOLED that has a refresh rate of 120Hz and will inevitably help you have a better user experience. The display can also get as bright as 1300 nits, which would be perfect if you go out for walks regularly under harsh sunlight. The display panel is from Samsung which has been proven to provide amazing color accuracy, exceptional quality, and an under-display fingerprint sensor.
Memory and Internal
The Chinese smartphone maker’s decision to go with the 5nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G SoC for the Vivo IQOO Neo 5S has clearly paid off. Even though the processor is clocked at 2.84 GHz max compared to the 3.2GHz of Snapdragon 870 5G SoC, the new processor not only beats the snapdragon 870 SoC in CPU benchmarks but absolutely decimates it in the graphics department. Not to mention the camera improvements that you get are quite amazing comparatively. All in all, you get a performance that is proper flagship level. Also, the performance comes strikingly close to the current-gen flagship chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G SoC is manufactured on 5nm size and provides 25% faster CPU, 35% faster GPU, and over 3 times AI performance improvement over the Snapdragon 870 SoC. The Adreno 660 GPU is highly efficient and consumes very little energy while powering some of the most popular and powerful games such as BGMI, Genshin Impact, and COD mobile. Qualcomm promises to provide even more performance and so your favorite games will run smoothly and stutter-free.
The IQOO Neo 5S comes in three variants – 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage, and the higher-end variant has 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. Besides this, the top model has 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. The inclusion of LPDDR5 RAM should give this phone a significant boost while you will get the Android 11 with Origin OS Ocean UI. The company promises to provide the Android 12 update pretty soon.
Camera
The triple camera system features a setup of a 48MP wide sensor, 13MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP macro sensor. The main 48MP sensor is quite good and takes decent pictures with a good amount of details, along with vibrant colors. Even the dynamic range is captured decently under harsh sunlight. Even if you zoom 2x, the detail levels are quite nice and the inclusion of OIS is definitely helping here. The OIS in the main sensor allows the camera to be more stable and hence capture more light and details.
The 13MP ultra-wide is equally impressive considering the fact that most manufacturers tend to include sub-performance 8MP ultra-wide. While the images from the ultra-wide are very impressive, it still won’t beat the main 48MP sensor and we suspect the lack of OIS seems to be the case here. Also, during the night, the pictures were amazing, especially from the main 48MP sensor which has the OIS support for more stable shots. The 16MP selfie camera is equally impressive, even during the night. For video shooting, the phone manages to shoot up to a max of 4K at 30fps from the back and 1080p@30FPS from the selfie camera.
Battery and Others
The Li-Po 4500mAh battery inside the IQOO NEO 5S should last you more than a day under normal usage with social media apps. But if you play a lot of games, you will have to charge your phone at the end of the day but don’t worry, the 66W charger brings in improved efficiency and performance. The company promises to charge the phone 70% in just 18 minutes.
Apart from that, IQOO Neo 5S also has NFC Bluetooth 5.2, stereo speakers, and an under-display fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication. The phone is already on sale, and the price starts at $430 (Rs 31,999 in India)approx. for the base variant, while the top 12GB and 256GB variants will cost more.
Vivo iQOO Neo 5S Pros and Cons
Vivo iQOO Neo 5S Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Vivo iQOO Neo 5S smartphone.
| Specifications | Vivo iQOO Neo 5S |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | December 2021 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.43 x 3.01 x 0.33 inches |
| Weight | 196 grams |
| Size | 6.62 inches |
| Display | AMOLED 120Hz HDR10+ 1300 nits (peak) 20:9 ratio ~398 PPI density |
| Protection | No |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| OS | Android 11, Origin OS Ocean |
| Chipset | 5nm – Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G |
| CPU | Octa-core 1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680 |
| GPU | Adreno 660 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB |
| Internal | 128GB, 256GB UFS 3.1 |
| Camera | 48 MP (wide) PDAF, OIS 13 MP (120Ëšultrawide) 2 MP (macro) Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR, panorama Max – 4K@30fps |
| Selfie | 16 MP (wide) HDR Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers |
| 3.5mm jack | No 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 | Under-display fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Li-Po 4500 mAh Fast charging 66W |
| Colors | Orange, Blue, Black |
| Expected Price | $430 (Rs 31,999 in India) Approx. |
Conclusion
If you want an all-rounded smartphone with a good camera and top-notch performance, then the Vivo iQOO Neo 5S smartphone will not disappoint you. Everything from the display to its performance is top-notch and there’s little to no complaint, especially if you consider the price tag of this smartphone.
So, if you have been waiting for a phone of this caliber, now is the time to buy the iQOO Neo 5S smartphone. But whether this phone is the right phone for you or not depends completely on your needs and requirements. In case you are looking for an alternative option you can check the Motorola Moto G200 smartphone.
