Home / Gadgets / iQOO 12 5G is the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 smartphone in Malaysia; Priced at RM3,399

iQOO 12 5G is the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 smartphone in Malaysia; Priced at RM3,399

By Timothy Teoh December 6, 2023

The iQOO 12 5G will be the first smartphone in Malaysia to don the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. For the less informed, iQOO is a brand specializing in gaming phones in both the affordable and flagship segments. The brand was launched in 2019 as a sub-brand of the more established vivo.

The iQOO 12 5G will play successor to the iQOO 11 launched about the same time last year.

As for pricing, the iQOO 12 5G will officially retail at RM3,399 in Malaysia. It is available for pre-order starting today until the 11th of December. There will be an early bird promo during this period, in which customers will get RM50 off on the device, as well as free gifts worth up to RM777 including an iQOO TWS Air2, 1 year extended warranty, and 1 year screen crack protection.

Another promotion will take place from the 12th – 18th December, where the iQOO 12 will again receive a RM50 price slash, along with up to 10% platform vouchers and free gifts worth RM408 (1 year extended warranty, and 1 year screen crack protection).

Customers who are interested can put their orders in for the iQOO 12 5G on iQOO’s official eStore, or on the iQOO official store on Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok.

iQOO 12 5G specs

The highlight of the iQOO 12 is undoubted the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 CPU, promising quicker processing speeds. Working in tandem with the Snapdragon is iQOO’s proprietary Supercomputing Chip Q1 chip, responsible for delivering high frame rates up to 144Hz and 900p resolution simultaneously.

The iQOO 12 comes with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, with the option to add-on another 16GB via extended RAM; and 512 GB of UFS4.0 storage.

The device sports a 6.78″ AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution and 144Hz refresh rates, plus 3,000nits peak brightness. It also has 100% DCI-P3 colour accuracy and HDR10+ support

It is by all means a stylish phone, with rounded edges and a pretty large rounded-square camera module. iQOO calls this the Porthole Design, and in it houses its triple rear camera system.

The main camera is its 50MP Astrophotography Camera backed by a 1/1.3″ sensor with OIS. This is flanked by a 64MP Periscope Telephoto Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and a 100x Digital Zoom helped by what iQOO coins a Neural Image Computational Engine (NICE) for noise cancellation and detail enhancement. The third camera is a 50MP ultra-wide lens with 119° field-of-view.

The iQOO 12 packs a 5,000mAh battery with a speedy 120W FlashCharge.

Other improvements from its predecessor includes a larger vapour chamber, symmetrical dual stereo speakers, larger X-Axis Linear Motor for better haptics.

The iQOO 12 comes in two design variants: Legend (White), and Alpha (Black).

The Legend design was inspired by iQOO’s collaboration with BMW M Motorsport, and as such sports the tri-colour stripes synonymous with BMW M Series cars.

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    ASUS Vivobook 15 Review: Keeping to the basics and doing it right

    By Timothy Teoh December 05, 2023

    Finding a laptop that strikes the balance between durability and performance can be a tough feat, especially within the RM3,000 range. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of options out there; but the market is just so saturated that it’s hard to zero in on one.

    To test every laptop available within that price range is simply not feasible. But we do have on our hands the ASUS Vivobook 15, which we had the privilege to take for a spin and pen our thoughts.

    The ASUS Vivobook 15 (A1504) retails with a starting price of RM2,599; but this is if you opt for the 12th Gen Intel model. We were handed the upscaled unit, which packs a 13th Gen Intel Core i5-1335U and retails at RM2,799 (though at the time of writing, it’s been slashed down to RM2,699).

    Regardless of the CPU variant, the Vivobook 15 comes with 8GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB SSD storage.

    ASUS Vivobook 15 Review

    Our first impression of the Vivobook 15 was that it is a sturdy laptop. It has a pretty solid chassis with some heft to it. Maybe it was the Cool Silver colour that we got which gave it that metallic impression, but upon picking it up, it was much lighter than expected – which is a good thing. Nevertheless, this is a thick device, despite marketing efforts telling you otherwise.

    We wouldn’t put it down as the most portable device you’ll find. It’s more lightweight than it appeared to be, but it definitely doesn’t fall under ‘ultraportable’ category like the Zenbook S13 OLED.

    The Vivobook 15 comes in two other colours, Quiet Blue and Terra Cotta (basically pink). It may be different for the other colours, but our Cool Silver did seem to attract a lot of fingerprint smudges on the lid as well as the body, which may be something you’d want to consider if aesthetics plays a factor in your decision.

    Moving on to performance, thanks to the 13th Gen Intel Core i5, the Vivobook 15 is a reliable choice for day-to-day work and personal use. It runs if your routine consists mostly of internet browsing, Microsoft software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc), YouTube, and the likes; and the 15.6″ FHD screen is decent enough for binging content.

    It must be said that volume on the Vivobook 15 is noticeably softer than other laptops I’ve used. While I’m usually within the 40-70 volume level on my own personal laptop, I found myself constantly toggling between 70 all the way to 100 on the Vivobook 15.

    Battery life was nothing remarkable. We managed to squeeze out about 5 and a half hours comfortably (battery percentage at that point was less than 30%), although it wasn’t heavy usage; mainly a 10-hour-long YouTube video playing constantly, with intermittent usage of other apps and web browsing.

    But back to the good stuff – the backlit keyboards are always going to score some marks. It’s perfect for working in dim environments where you don’t have control over lighting, say, a cafe with muted yellow lights. Typing experience was nothing to shout about, although personally, it’s not something I harp too much over anyway. The keycaps are coated in some kind of rough, sort of rugged texture which I quite liked.

    The touchpad is wide and spacious with plenty of room to maneuver. At the top right of the touchpad is the fingerprint sensor which you can set as an option to sign in. A nice feature that the Vivobook 15 has is the 180° lay-flat hinge, which allows you to tilt the screen back until it is horizontal.

    The Vivobook 15 nails port availability. It comes with 1x USB 2.0 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Type- A, 1x USB Type- C, 1x HDMI 1.4, as well as a 1.35mm audio jack.

    Overall, the ASUS Vivobook 15 is a solid laptop choice at RM2,799. A 13th Gen Intel processor, coupled with a healthy 8GB RAM and 512GB storage and additional features such as a backlit keyboard, a full HD display, and ample amount of port options makes it a good buy for those looking for a laptop below RM3,000.

    Read more of our reviews below!

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