iQOO 9 5G Legend Edition review: Value-for-money premium phone

Overall, the standard iQOO 9 5G's design language, processor configuration, super fast charging capability and camera hardware are pretty good for its price

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G left side view. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G right side view. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G bottom side view. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G top side view. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G back side view. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, iQOO forayed into the Indian smartphone market. Since then, it has released a couple of good premium phones and I loved both the iQOO 3 and its successor iQOO 7. They came with exceptional hardware and yet priced far less compared to the tier-1 brands.

Now, the company has kicked off its 2022 campaign with the iQOO 9 series. The new phone like its predecessors comes loaded with premium top-notch specifications. But, does it live up to the hype? Let's check it out.

Design, build quality and display
The new iQOO 9 5G is completely different compared to the predecessor glossy smooth iQOO 7 (review).

Our review unit is the Legend edition, which represents the collaboration between BMW Motorsport and iQOO marketing campaign.

I'd like to iterate what I said in the first impression story; the new iQOO 9 Legend edition is an instant eye-turner. It features a visually appealing shell sporting an AG glass in ivory white shade with a trademark black-red-blue colourway racing stripe on the right side. It offers a smooth touch-feel but is not shiny.

The ivory white shell has a matte finish and does an excellent job of repelling fingerprint smudges. Also, the overall design elements on the back are minimalistic. The company has engraved the brand logo at the base cutting the racing streak. No, it doesn't ruin the aesthetics of the device.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

In the top left corner, there is a curved rectangular camera module with three sensors and a dual-tone LED flash. And, the shell cascades smoothly towards the edges to meet the rail at the mid-frame.

The sturdy metallic frame around the edges come with a silver finish and blends beautifully with the tusk white colour of the back case.

At the base, you will find the SIM slot along with a single-grille loudspeaker and the Type-C port with white antenna bands on both sides. On the right, the company has incorporated a matching blue-hued power button along with volume rockers. On the opposite side, there are no buttons except for the lone antenna band. And, at the top, there is mic and two antenna bands to maintain a good cellular connection.

On the front, it sports really good 6.56-inch full HD+ (2376×1080p) AMOLED display and it supports a peak brightness of 1200 nits and display refresh rate up to 120Hz. Unlike other premium phones, it doesn't support variables between 10Hz to 120Hz, but it offers users to choose between 60Hz and 120Hz.

I prefer to use 60Hz most of the time, as it will conserve the battery and also, to be honest, there are very few games in the Google Play Store that support 120Hz refresh rate. But, with the latter switched on, the browsing experience goes several notches up and doesn't strain the eyes while doom scrolling through the news feeds on the internet or while watching high-resolution videos on OTT platforms.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

On the top of the display, the company has incorporated Panda glass and also pre-fitter another layer of a screen guard, which helps in improving the durability of the screen and offer protection against scratches from keys when kept in the pocket.

As far as the in-screen fingerprint sensor is concerned, it works fine in terms of quickly recognising the finger impression and unlocking the screen. No complaints here.

Performance
The new phone runs the reliable 5nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Plus octa-core (2.99 GHz Kryo 680 x 1 + 2.42 GHz Kryo 680 x 3 + 1.80 GHz Kryo 680 x 4) processor, which can clock peak CPU speed up to 2.99Ghz. Add to that the device supports virtual RAM expansion up to 4GB. Our review unit comes with 12GB RAM and 255GB storage. Provided there is enough space, users can expand it from 12GB to 16GB RAM. This will improve the smooth operation of the device in terms of playing games, also loading apps and operating camera efficiently.

During the review period, iQOO 9 never showed any sign of lag-ness at all. It worked fine without any fuss.

The new phone runs Android 12-based FuntousOS 12. Though there are a lot of unwanted apps on the phone, the big 256GB storage keeps us in the comfort zone and not lose sleep over running out of space any time soon. We can store thousands of songs and install big games such as Asphalt 9: Legends and even capture and stock up photos and videos for a long time.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's single-core and multi-core test results on Geekbench 5.0 performance testing app. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

The new iQOO 9 Legend edition comes with 4350 mAh and the company offers a 120W fast charging adaptor with the retail box. The phone easily lasts a day under normal usage with 60Hz display refresh rate and if you put on the 120Hz, the result will vary depending on how long you spend on the internet and playing games.

But, with 120W charger, there is less room for anxiety as it can fully charge up the device from zero to 100 per cent under 20 minutes. Even just 6 minutes of charging can get to the 50 per cent capacity mark.

As far as the 5G connectivity is concerned, iQOO 9 supports 8 bands: NSA/SA--n1/n5/n8/n3/n28A/n41/n77/n78.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

Photography
The new iQOO 9 houses a triple-camera module-- main 25mm 48MP (IMX598 sensor, f/1.79, Gimbal-based OIS: Optical Image stabilization, 1/2.0-inch lens size, 0.8µm pixel size, PDAF: Phase Detection Auto Focus) wide camera, backed by 16mm 13MP (f/2.2) 120-degree ultra-wide sensor and 50mm 13MP (f/2.5) telephoto snapper with 2x optical zoom with dual-tone LED flash on the back.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

The primary camera on the back supports several photography modes--Night Mode, Portrait Photography, Video, Panorama, Live Photo, Slo-mo, Time-Lapse, Pro Mode (Photo &Video), AR Stickers, Extreme Night Vision, Doc Correction, Pro Sports Mode, Ultra Stable Mode, record video up to 4K at 30 fps (frames per second) and 1080p HD at 30 fps.

As advertised, the iQOO 9 takes pretty good photos in natural light conditions. Most of the photos I have taken have managed to retain the near-natural colours of the subjects such as the flowers. However, when taking the shot of the red rose, the result came a bit saturated and warmer. But, can't complain, as the details have been captured quite well.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

The ultra-wide-angle photo mode manages to accommodate more areas of open farm field in the frame. The 2X Optical Zoom works good, as there is less loss of picture quality.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample with ultra-wide-angle mode on. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample with normal wide-angle mode. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample with 2X Optical Zoom. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

In the night mode, iQOO 9's camera turns the images into art. The coconut trees' leaves in the photo do retain the colours, but the windy night made the photo come off like an oil painting. The moon, which was playing hide and seek in the cloudy dark sky, got blurred. But, I can't complain as the picture quality is on par with other premium phones in the market.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample with night mode on. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample with night mode on. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

The close-up shots too came off really good. As you can see in the sample photos, the camera has managed to get all the details. Also, the edge detection and clear differentiation of the foreground and the background in the portrait mode is impressive too.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

As far as the videos are concerned, iQOO 9 5G takes very good stable videos and there is stressing issue to complain about in this aspect.

On the front, it features a 16MP wide (1/3.1-inch lens size, f/2.45, 1.0µm pixel size) camera. It also supports -- Night Mode, Portrait Photo, Video, Pano, Live Photo, AR Stickers, Dual exposure (couple with rear camera). It also supports 1080p HD video recording at 30fps.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

The camera takes pretty good selfies on par with rival brands in its class. Also, it offers superficial filters and facial editing tools to adjust jaw bone structure, eyes size, nose, cheeks, chin, skin whitening and even offer additional make-up options to make the face more vibrant and note-worthy to be shared on social media platforms.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G's camera sample. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

Final thoughts
Most of the rival brands have taken a shine to the glossy and smooth shells for their phones and also colour options too, are limited. In the end, they look similar to each other and make us the customer confused. But, with the unique BMW Motorsport-inspired racing stripe design, iQOO9 5G stands out among the competitors.

iQOO 9 Legend Edition 5G. Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit

Even the photography hardware of the iQOO 9 is also exceptionally good in its class. As far as the performance is concerned, it works fine on par with any of its peers in the sub-Rs 50,000 range.

Overall, the standard iQOO 9 5G is a really good value-for-money premium phone.

The new iQOO 9 5G comes in two configurations-- 8GB RAM + 128 storage and 12GB + 256GB storage -- for Rs 42,990 and Rs 46,990, respectively.

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