ivoomi Z1 review: Affordable 4G smartphone with AI camera

Specifications

• 5.85-inch HD 720p display with a notch cutout
• MTK6739W Quad-core SoC with 1.3 GHz clock speed 
• 2 GB LPDDR3 RAM 
• 16 GB storage 
• 13 MP primary camera 
• 8 MP selfie camera 
• 2800 mAh Li-ion battery 
• Fingerprint sensor 
• Android 8.1 Oreo OS 
• Micro USB port 
• Dual SIM card slot with a dedicated micro SD slot

Design

The ivoomi has made an interesting choice for the design of the ivoomi Z1. ivoomi Z1 has a polycarbonate back panel, that too a user replaceable which give access to the battery (user replaceable) dual SIM card slots (micro + nano) and a dedicated SIM card slot.

The camera module on the back of the ivoomi Z1 mimics the Apple iPhone X, albeit with a single sensor and an LED flash with a rear-facing fingerprint sensor with chrome plated ivoomi logo. There are no additional brandings on the phone, which gives a clean look to the smartphone. The back panel does not attract fingerprints or smudges.

The ivoomi Z1 has a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the top portion of the smartphone with a micro UBS port. On the bottom, the device has a single speaker with the main microphone. The volume and the power buttons are located on the right side of the smartphone.

Last but not least, the ivoomi Z1 has a display with notch design, which gives a premium look to the smartphone. Overall, the ivoomi Z1 has a great design, especially considering the fact that the device is priced at Rs 7,000.

Display

The ivoomi Z1 has a 5.67-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of
1498 x 720px or an HD+ panel, protected by 2.5D curved tempered glass protection with 293 pixels per inch. The phone offers a 19:9 aspect ratio display with a noticeable amount of bezels on the top and the bottom portion of the smartphone.

As the device has an LCD panel, the phone offers almost accurate colors (best in class) with excellent viewing angles. However, the display gets a bit dull in the direct sunlight due to the limited brightness offered by the panel. If you are using this device mostly in the indoor condition, then you will face any issues what so ever.

Coming back to the highlight of the smartphone, the ivoomi Z1 has a notch cut out on the top. The device has a pretty big notch, which again resembles the Apple iPhone X. Unlike the iPhone X, there is no dedicated hardware for Face Unlock. However, the device does offer Face Unlock using the front-facing selfie camera.

Overall, the ivoomi Z1 has a good display, which should be sufficient for those who watch a lot of videos on streaming platforms like YouTube, Voot, and Hotstar.

Sound

The ivoomi Z1 has a single bottom firing speaker, which gets adequately loud, especially in a closed environment. However, the sound lacks bass, which might be a drawback for those who hear a lot of heavy bass songs. Even the audio output via the 3.5 mm headphone jack is suitable for typical day to day usage.

Camera

The ivoomi Z1 has a 13 MP primary camera and an 8 MP front-facing selfie camera with features like AI photo, HDR, Panorama, and Bokeh effect. Bokeh effect and AI photo are available on both the main camera and the selfie camera.

The primary camera takes good pictures in well lit or daylight conditions with a good amount of details and accurate colors. However, the camera struggles in low-light condition and produced images which lack details and looks grainy. The smartphone can also record 1080p video @ 30fps. However, as the smartphone lack image stabilisation, the videos look jittery unless you have steady hands or use a gimbal to stabilise the footage.

We were surprised with the results that we obtained with the macro photography, where the images turned out to be good with a lot of details and natural bokeh effect.

Selfie camera

Just like the primary camera, the 8 MP selfie camera can also record 1080p videos, which also lack stabilisation. The phone takes social media usable selfies in natural light, especially in the Beauty mode. Though there is a bokeh mode on the selfie camera, we do not recommend to use it, as the blurring is uneven.

You can also get amazing selfies with AI mode, but the device takes more than few seconds to process the image in the AI mode.

Security

The smartphone has a rear-facing active fingerprint sensor, which works well for the most part. However, compared to other smartphones at this price range, the ivoomi Z1 takes around a second to unlock the smartphone. We noticed remarkable results with the Face Unlock on the smartphone, where the device was quick enough to see the face and unlock the smartphone (faster than the Fingerprint sensor). However, as the Face Unlock uses the front-facing selfie camera, it is not as secure as the fingerprint sensor.

If you are looking for a budget smartphone with Face Unlock, then you can go with the ivoomi Z1 without any hassle.

Performance

The ivoomi Z1 is powered by the MediaTek (MTK6739W) Quad-core chipset with a clock speed of 1.3 GHz, coupled with 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16 GB of internal storage.

The smartphone can easily handle games like Subway Surfer, Temple Run and Candy Crush Saga without any issue. However, the smartphone cannot handle graphics intensive games like asphalt or PUBG.

On Geekbench 4, the device scores 607 points in single core and 1665 points on multi-core. On AnTuTu, the device scores 41374 points with 19273 points for CPU and 2551 points for GPU.

Software

One thing that needs improvement in the ivoomi Z1 is the software experience. The smartphone runs on the custom skin (SmartMe OS 3.0) based on Android 8.1 Oreo. However, the smartphone comes with a bunch of 3rd party apps, which consumes internal storage and also slows down the smartphone for a certain extent. In fact, the smartphone comes with more than ten unnecessary third-party apps which cannot be uninstalled.

The smartphone comes with 16 GB of internal storage with up to 10 GB of free space available in the first boot. Though there is a micro SD card slot for storage expansion, installing games/apps on the micro SD card will further slow-down the device.

In terms of overall UI and UX, the smartphone feels pretty snappy. However, the device shows the signs of slow down, especially when we installed apps like Facebook and Twitter. So, use this smartphone with the lite versions of Facebook and Twitter.

Battery

The ivoomi Z1 comes with a 2800 mAh Li-ion user replaceable battery with a micro USB port for charging and data syncing. The smartphone takes two and a half hours to charge from 0 to 100% using the stock charger. We did notice that the device gets warm when it is charging.

The battery life on the ivoomi Z1 is not great, as the phone has a big display. In our testing period, we got an average screen on time of 3.5 hours to four hours depending on the type of usage. If you are an average user, then, you have to charge the smartphone at least twice a day.

Connectivity and calling

The smartphone has a dual SIM card slot with support for 4G LTE and VoLTE on both slots. However, only one SIM card can use 4G, whereas the other SIM card will be connected to 3G/2G.

The smartphone does support dual channel Wi-Fi (both 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz) with the high download and upload speeds. Streaming movies or videos on a Wi-Fi or a mobile data will not be a problem on the ivoomi Z1.

We were impressed with the download and upload speeds, the smartphone lacks dual VoLTE feature, which seems like a huge compromise, especially at times where most of the telecom providers are offering VoLTE support.

On a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network, the device offered a download speed of 23.6 Mbps and an upload speed of 30.4 Mbps. On 4G mobile network (Reliance Jio) the device recorded a download speed of 3.5 Mbps and an upload speed of 0.06 Mbps (inside the office).

What's missing?

Overall, the ivoomi Z1 seems like a good entry-level smartphone with interesting Ai features in the camera, 4G LTE VoLTE, and a notch display. However, the smartphone still lacks some of the following features.

• Support for dual VoLTE/LTE
• Bigger battery
• 32 GB internal storage
• Un-installable 3rd party apps

Verdict

The ivoomi Z1 is a great entry-level smartphone with a modern design. It offers the latest Android OS with a custom skin on top with a dedicated micro SD card slot. However, it has a lousy battery life, which is a bit disappointing.

If you are in the market looking for the smartphone with features like fingerprint sensor, dual SIM card slots with a dedicated micro SD card slot and a notch design display, then the ivoomi Z1 could the smartphone that you are looking for.

However, if you are in the market for a smartphone with impressive battery life and good cameras, then consider other smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi 6A or the Asus ZenFone Lite.