iQoo Z6 Lite 5G Review: Impressive Performance but With a Few Compromises

Mobile

5G has been officially

Shot using the standard Photo mode on the iQoo Z6 Lite 5G (tap to see full size)

Shot using the standard Photo mode on the iQoo Z6 Lite 5G(tap to see full size)

Night mode on the iQoo Z6 Lite 5G ensures that the sky looks black and grey (and not dark blue) but messes up the white balance by adding a pink cast. One major issue that I have with the phone is that it does not offer Night mode in the 4GB RAM variant. Considering there is support for up to 2GB of extended (virtual) RAM, iQoo should not have skipped this feature in the base model.

Night mode on the iQoo Z6 Lite 5G(tap to see full size)

Night mode on the iQoo Z6 Lite 5G(tap to see full size)

The front camera does a decent job with both colours and details. Portrait mode smoothens the skin way too much even when the beauty mode toggle is turned off. Selfies taken using the standard Photo mode, on the other hand, produce better skin tone and texture.

Front camera sample shot on the iQoo Z6 Lite 5G(tap to see full size)

The iQoo Z6 Lite 5G can shoot videos at up to 1080p 60fps using the rear camera. The front camera’s video recording is limited to 1080p at 30 fps. While the overall colours are decent, the dynamic range performance is not as good as some of the phones in this segment.

Verdict

The iQoo Z6 Lite 5G gets it right in most areas when it comes to a budget 5G smartphone, without compromising a lot. The 120Hz refresh rate display is one of the highest in the segment and the camera performance is also quite good for the price. I was particularly impressed with the phone’s gaming performance, which by far is the best in my experience in this segment. The battery life is also pretty solid and can last all day.

That being said, having no charger in the box is a bummer but one can take it as a trade-off for the better hardware and performance that the phone offers. What I did not like though was iQoo skipping some features such as Night mode in the base 4GB RAM variant. Lastly, while the phone does offer 5G, it only supports two bands, which will be supported across telcos in India However, it would have been nice had iQoo added support for some more bands in the Z6 Lite 5G.

We would recommend buying the 6GB RAM variant of the phone if you want basic 5G support without compromising on the overall performance. The iQoo Z6 Lite 5G also undercuts the Redmi 11 Prime 5G (Review) by Rs. 500 while offering better hardware, which makes it a good deal. It is also more affordable than the Realme 9i 5G 6GB RAM variant, which is available in India for Rs. 16,999.


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