In case you missed this review, here's a summary:
✅ PROS:
1️⃣ Solid performance from the Snapdragon 8 Gen5 chipset: except for Arknights: Endfield (which could be better optimised in the future), all other games had great gaming performance with good stability.
Also, apps fly thanks to LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage: there was not even a hint of lag or stutter within the UI over the past 4 months.
2️⃣ The build-quality has finally been improved: it is now metal & glass instead of the plastic frame and builds that we saw on Neo9 Pro and Neo 10, and the in-hand feel is impeccable thanks to the smaller 6.59-inch form factor.
3️⃣ The display is amazing: not only is it extremely bright outdoors, but it has great color reproduction (after switching to Professional color mode) and excellent PWM. The bezels are also quite slim, and I doubt this will ever be a complaint for this phone.
The fact that it is 6.59-inch is also appreciated: some of us have gotten bored of testing large 6.8-6.9 inch phones, and this is also more comfortable to hold and use.
4️⃣ While opinions on this aspect have been divisive, I love the Triumph Silver colorway: it shimmers under sunlight and has a slight blue tinge which looks good, and it does draw attention IRL (I found it to be in a good way, for the most part)
I would prefer this over the Black colorway, and yet that option is available if you need something less flashy.
5️⃣ Amazing battery life: not only has iQOO fit a 7600 mAh battery in a 6.59-inch form factor, but it is very well-optimised
Lighters users can easily get over 2.5 days of use (with 10 hrs of SoT consistently for users who are always glued to the screen).
Charging is fast for its capacity (at roughly 50 minutes with the bundled USB-C adapter)
Additionally, the thermals were also fairly well-controlled on my unit, and even while gaming, temperatures stayed below 43 degrees.
6️⃣ OriginOS has improved a lot, and the developers are listening to our feedback: slowly but surely.
Most users will actually be fine with the software on this phone, provided they haven't used flagship-grade ColorOS/OxygenOS or OneUI.
You will also get 4 6 years of updates, and the frequency has been very regular: I have received updates on a monthly basis in February, March, April and even May (yes, already)
While it still has its issues, the software experience is not a big downside of iQOO phones anymore (unlike in the FuntouchOS era).
7️⃣ Excellent value for money at ₹41,499 for 8/256 and ₹44,499 for 12/256 in the current Amazon sale. What's even better is that it is as a price cut coupon discount BOTH which EVERYONE can avail, and not a bank card offer.
However, I would avoid the 12/512 variant unless you really need the extra storage: and also, outside of the current Amazon sale, I would suggest getting vivo X200T or OnePlus 13s instead.
❌ CONS
1️⃣ The cameras are the biggest cons with this phone.
Yes, you can get good shots after tweaking a few settings in the camera app, but the default post-processing is actually not that good for the price: it can get way too oversharpened & oversaturated (especially with 35 mm and 50 mm crops)
Selfies too, are average due to the lack of AF, and the UW is just a 8 MP unit (AKA average, again)
Videography is decent for the price but nothing to ride home about.
2️⃣ A phone this expensive must have the option to disable V-Appstore and Browser natively within the software (like ColorOS does): while they DO NOT push any spam notifications on this phone at all, this move will be very appreciated.
3️⃣ OriginOS 6 still lacks the polish of ColorOS 16 and OneUI 8.5: there are a few quirks which are annoying, yet not huge dealbreakers for the current offer price.
(You can check the negatives within the software section in the thread for more info on those.)
OVERALL RATING: 7/10 at ₹47K (but 8/10 at ₹41.5K)
Great phone let down by the lackluster cameras and not-so-great non-offer prices.
iQOO 15R Long-Term Review 🧵
A phone with major improvements, yet one major caveat.
This phone is currently available in the Amazon Summer sale for ₹41,499: which is a good deal.
Here, I will detail my experience with this phone over the past 84 days.