vivo iQOO Z9x 5G Review: Budget Meets Substance

Dhaka
July 25, 2024, 11:58 AM
by Shahriar Rabab

UNB News
Dhaka
Publish- July 25, 2024, 11:58 AM
Shahriar Rabab
Update- July 25, 2024, 12:17 PM

vivo iQOO Z9x

iQOO first emerged in the smartphone industry as a sub-brand of vivo. Under vivo, the brand brought industry-leading R&D capabilities and supply chains to new customers. The Z series from iQOO stands out as a high-budget option with significant performance capabilities. The latest in the lineup, the Z9x 5G was recently launched on 29th April 2024. Here’s a detailed take on the vivo Z9x 5G.

Key Specifications of the vivo iQOO Z9x

Design and Build Quality

The Z9x is a plastic-built smartphone all around. However, the sophistication of the design elements makes everything unique about the device. The frosted textured back (“planetary orbit” according to iQOO), the sunburst camera module, and the flat frames make for a stylish design.

The dimension of the device comes in at 165.7 mm by 76 mm by 7.99 mm with 199 g weight. As a high-budget smartphone, the headphone jack and the card slot are on the Z9x. The power button doubles as the fingerprint scanner as the screen has no optical sensor.

The porthole camera and the slight chin at the bottom of the display are streamlined with previous Z series smartphones. Needless to say, the design has adjusted enough to the changing landscape.

The Z9x also boasts IP64 water and dust resistance for accidental splashes. The device is available in two colors, Mystic Black and Northern Green.

The Display

The display on the Z9x is a 6.72-inch IPS LCD panel with 120Hz high refresh rate and 1000 nits of peak brightness. The FHD+ panel has a resolution of 2408 by 1080 pixels with about 393 ppi density. The relatively smaller chin accounts for an 86.4% screen-to-body ratio.

Additionally, the panel boasts about 83% NTSC color saturation. However, it does not support the DCI-P3 color gamut.

As a sub-25 K smartphone, the lack of an AMOLED display might be a deal breaker for some. But if you can overlook that, the color accuracy, viewing angles, and overall smoothness of the display are praiseworthy.

The Camera

There’s a dual camera setup on the Z9x. The main camera is a 50 MP, f/1.8, wide-angle shooter with a 1/1.95" sensor. The secondary sensor is a 2 MP f/2.4 depth sensor. The front camera is a generic 8 MP, f/2.1 sensor.

In terms of performance, the Z9x holds up nicely for its price. The pictures taken in the daylight were well-detailed with decent exposure. One thing that stood out was the color vibrancy of the images. Regardless of the subject, the images tend to have a vibrant pop of color. At times, it might look and feel artificial, depending on the subject. Zooming on the images also shows over-sharpening issues at times, even with decent lighting.

As for nighttime images, the included night mode is the saving grace here. Pictures with the night mode came out well-exposed and detailed. However, the post-processing produces overall soft images to roll out the grains.

As for the front camera, the portrait mode worked well thanks to the dedicated depth sensor.

The maximum videography capacity on the iQOO Z9x phone’s rear and front cameras are rated at 4K and 1080P respectively. The gyro-EIS helps slightly to stabilize the footage. But you’ll probably need a dedicated gimbal for proper videography with this camera.

Processor and Performance

The processor on the Z9x is Qualcomm SM6450 Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 based on a 4 Nm architecture. The Gen series brought an overhaul in the naming convention, with more or less the same increment as before. The octa-core processor has a chip design of 4x2.2 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 with Adreno 710 GPU.

In terms of day-to-day use, the Z9x breezes past activities like browsing the web, watching videos, or scrolling social media. Games like PUBG were stable on the Smooth Extreme setup. There weren’t any frame drops unless there were deliberate high graphics usage moments in the game. Genshin Impact was also playable, but it had far more frame drops and jitters compared to PUBG. Highly optimized games like Asphalt 9 and COD ran without any issues.

The device did, however, heat up quite a bit in each gaming session. But it didn’t affect the overall performance.

Benchmark

GeekBench 6: 933 (single core); 2799 (multi-core)

Antutu 10: 580645

Software

The iQOO Z9x runs on Funtouch OS 14, based on Android 14. Funtouch OS came a long way to becoming more optimized and streamlined with the stock Android experience. However, it still has its distinct features, like the app retainer, redesigned split-screen, and media locking. iQOO promises up to 50 months of smooth usage thanks to the newly optimized OS.

Battery and Charge Time

The vivo iQOO Z9x is powered by a large battery featuring 6000 mAh. It’s one of the largest in its class and can be easily topped up using the supported 44W wired charging system. Surprisingly, the Z9x also supports reverse charging, which isn’t all that common in this price range.

Pros and Cons of the vivo iQOO Z9x

Pros:

- IPS LCD panel with 120 Hz high refresh rate
- Capable dual camera system
- 4K video recording capabilities
- Audio jack and extendable micro SDXC
- Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor
- 6000 mAh battery with 44W wired charging
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
- IP64 water and dust resistance.

Cons:

- No ultrawide or zoom lens
- No NFC support
- Outdated UFS 2.2 storage system
- No rated front glass protection.

Price of the vivo iQOO Z9x

The iQOO Z9x is available in the 8/128 GB variant in India. The price is 16,630 INR (with a discount). It roughly translates to 23,348 BDT (1 INR = 1.40 BDT).

Verdict

The vivo iQOO Z9x, with its high refresh rate display, dual camera setup, and 5G capabilities, brings a lot to be hopeful about. Especially, its Snapdragon processor performs better than the similarly powered Helio options.

On the other hand, minor shortcomings like the lack of a faster read-write speed are the only mentionable drawbacks of the device. On the whole, anyone looking for a solid daily driver with slight gaming capabilities at a budget price can easily pick up the vivo iQOO Z9x 5G.