vivo iQOO 7 Legend hands-on review

Introduction and specs

Vivo decided to launch some of its gaming-oriented iQOO phones globally this year, with the iQOO 7 Legend representing the Chinese vanilla iQOO 7 while the global iQOO 7 stands for the iQOO Neo5. The subject of this hands-on review is the Legend. And the latter gives you pretty much everything you'd want from a gaming smartphone.

An HRR OLED panel is at hand, ticking at 120Hz, and all those pixels are powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset. And for a complete multimedia experience, the phone features a set of loud stereo speakers, too. Sadly, no 3.5mm audio jack, which is somewhat still a standard for gaming devices.

vivo iQOO 7 Legend specs at a glance:

• Body: 162.2x75.8x8.7mm, 210g; Glass front and back, metal frame.
• Display: 6.62" AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits (peak), 1080x2376px resolution, 19.8:9 aspect ratio, 394ppi; Always-on display.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm): Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 680; Adreno 660.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 11, Funtouch 11.1 (International), OriginOS (China).
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 48 MP, f/1.8, 26mm, 1/2.0", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 13 MP, f/2.5, 50mm, 1/2.8", 0.8µm, PDAF, 2x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.2, 120˚, 16mm.
• Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, (wide).
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@60fps, 1080p@60fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 4000mAh; Fast charging 120W, 100% in 15 min (advertised) - China, Fast charging 66W - International.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); Pressure-sensitive areas on the display; NFC.

It seems that vivo hasn't overlooked the camera department too. The iQOO 7 Legend is one of the few gaming phones to offer a proper telephoto camera. Sure, it goes up to just 2x optical zoom, but it's better than cropping from the main camera. The ultrawide is also 13MP instead of the commonly used 8MP, while the main 48MP cam boasts OIS. It's evident even from the specs sheet that the phone's camera setup is capable and versatile, winning a couple of bonus points against the competition.

The weak link in the current setup would probably be the battery. A couple of years ago, a 4,000 mAh unit would have been just enough, but today, 5,000 mAh batteries are close to becoming standard for a gaming phone. To compensate for the lack of juice, vivo has implemented up to 120W fast charging that can top-off the battery in just 15 minutes. However, only the Chinese model ships with the said 120W charger, while the global one comes bundled with a 66W charger. Vivo says it's due to regulations and the 120W charger just isn't suitable outside of China.

The pricing of the device is one of its strongest suits. The starting price in India is INR 39,990, which is a pretty good deal considering the powerhouse that the iQOO 7 Legend is. And as of now, and one of its direct competitors on the Indian market is the OnePlus 9R, and it shapes up to be a better deal than that. Once the iQOO 7 Legend leaves the Indian market too, there are the Red Magic 6 and Black Shark 4 lurking in the corners.

Unboxing the iQOO 7 Legend

As we already mentioned, the global variant ships with a 66W-rated charger, along with a USB-A to USB-C cable for data transfer and charging, of course.

Vivo also included a fitting protective case. It's kind of glossy-looking, slippery and doesn't fit very well too. It does look kind of nice and clean, though, and would probably do until the aftermarket cases appear.