In this era where tonnes and tonnes of phones are being launched by companies every other day, it is important for us customers to know what we are buying.
Since companies are flooding the market with phones having similar specifications, noticing the subtle differences between them has become more important than ever. Tiny details now have the power to create a big difference.
Qualcomm, which has been a leader in the smartphone chip making industry, introduced quite a number of new processors a few months back, including SD695 and SD480+.
The SD695 would be our focus today, and while it might seem to you that this processor is a strictly lower mid-range chipset, preferably due to the name, this certainly isn’t the truth.
The naming conventions have gone a bit haywire and the SD695, which is a 6-series processor, is more powerful than some of the older 7-series chipsets. This processor competes with the likes of the older SD750G and the SD768G.
The SD695 is an octa-core processor that’s based on the 5nm architecture. It has 2 faster cortex A77 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and 6 smaller A55 cores that offer a maximum clock speed of 1.7GHz.
Since the processor is based on the 5nm architecture, you can expect the power efficiency to be pretty good. This processor, as expected, has made its way into a lot of smartphones, and in this article, we will be discussing the ones that offer the most well-rounded experience to the consumer.
Also Read: Powerful Dimensity 1200 phones list under 30000
1. IQOO Z6
First up, the IQOO Z6 is simply the cheapest phone that comes with the SD695 chipset. This phone is specifically targeted towards people who want performance but are not willing to pay for anything more than that.
The IQOO Z6, even after being competitively priced, gets all its fundamentals right, and that is the sole reason why this phone was able to present itself on this list. The Iqoo Z6 comes with a 6.58″ FHD+ IPS LCD display.
The LCD panel offers punchy colours and good viewing angles. The display also carries a faster 120Hz refresh rate, making the phone feel more snappy. The maximum brightness for this display is around 460 nits, making it adequate for even outdoor scenarios.
The phone packs a 5000mAh battery, which is enough to last a full day of usage. The Z6 gets a triple camera setup at the back and a single shooter at the front.
The main camera at the back is a 50MP lens that does its job pretty well. The photos are decent and the colours are punchy. It can also record videos up to 1080p at 60fps. The other 2 cameras are completely useless 2MP depth and macro shooters, which nobody cares about.
The front 16MP shooter also does its job pretty well, clicking decent photos and is good enough for occasional use. The Iqoo Z6 runs on Funtouch OS 12, which is based on Android 12.
The phone also has widevine L1 support, so Netflix at full HD won’t be an issue. This phone offers only 2 5G bands, so it might not be as future-proof as you might want it to be.
This phone is offered in 3 variants: the 4/128GB is priced at Rs 15,500, the 6/128GB comes at Rs 17,000, while the 8/128GB will cost you Rs 18,000. The 8GB RAM variant simply seems like overkill for this phone.
Also Read: How to take wide angle photo in IQOO Z3 5G phone?
2. The Realme 9 Pro
The 9 Pro is a proper mid-range offering from Realme that carries the Snapdragon 695 5G chipset. The Realme 9 Pro has a 5000mAh battery that can power the phone for an entire day, and Realme includes a 33W fast charger in the box, which can quickly charge your phone. This is a true 5G phone, as it has 13 5G bands.
The Realme 9 Pro comes in 2 variants: the 6/128GB costs around Rs 18,000 and the 8/128GB comes for Rs 21,000. The additional amount of Rs 3,000 just for 2GB of RAM is on the higher side, especially considering the fact that the storage remains the same at 128GB.
3. Moto G71 (Motorola)
The latest offering from Motorola that sports the Snapdragon 695 happens to be the Moto G71. The g71 comes with Android 11 out of the box, and this has the cleanest UI among all the listed phones. It is fuss-free and has no bloatware.
The G71 comes with a 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED display that offers great colour accuracy and great viewing angles as well. The brightness levels are great, so you won’t face any problems with screen visibility. This phone gets single speakers and a back-mounted fingerprint scanner.
At the back, there is the camera setup, which consists of a 50MP primary shooter and an 8MP ultrawide lens. There is a 2MP macro as well, that simply adds to the numbers only. The primary and secondary cameras on this phone have been optimised really well; the photos are pretty sharp, the dynamic range is good, and the colours are just about accurate.
Overall, the video is good overall. The front-facing 16MP camera does its job decently well and clicks well-balanced photos that are neither over saturated nor over exposed. The g71 comes with a 30W turbocharger right in the box that can top up the 5000mAh battery quickly and efficiently.
The only downside to this phone is the fact that it has a normal 60Hz display (although AMOLED) instead of the normal 120Hz IPS LCD display found in competitor phones. In my opinion, a 60Hz AMOLED display is better than a far less colour-accurate 120Hz IPS LCD display. The g71 comes with 13 bands of 5G, so 5G connectivity won’t be an issue even in the future.
The g71 comes in only one variant, i.e., 6/128GB, and is priced at Rs 19,000.
4. Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+
The Redmi Note series of phones has been immensely popular in the past, and they rightly deserved the popularity because of the kind of value that they brought to the table within a certain price band. This time around we have the Note 11 Pro+, which is the top of the line and runs on the SD695 SoC.
It has a 6.67-inch FHD+ super AMOLED display that boasts great colour accuracy and nice viewing angles. The display has a 120Hz refresh rate, which allows it to feel more snappy and quick. The fingerprint reader is mounted on the right side and is quick to respond. Talking about the cameras, there is a 108MP primary camera that clicks good photos.
The dynamic range is good with the right levels of contrast, although the shadows and highlights could have been a bit better. The portraits are good, with faces well exposed and the background well blurred with good depth effect.
The 8MP ultrawide also does a decent job. The colours and contrast on offer are acceptable, but since it is just an 8MP one, the details do get washed away. There is no distortion though. The thing that comes up as the biggest bummer is the phone’s video recording capability.
Although the colours and sharpness levels are good, the phone can only record videos up to 1080p@30fps. This is a downgrade from the previous year’s phone and it is something hard to swallow, especially since it costs even more than the previous outgoing model. The 16MP shooter at the front clicks good photos, although it is not the best.
The Note 11 Pro+ comes with a 5000 mAh battery that’s paired with a 67W charger for fast charging. The Note 11 pro+ runs on MIUI 13, which is based on Android 12. It also offers 5G connectivity and has 7 5G bands for the same.
The Note 11 Pro+ is priced at Rs 21,000 for the regular 6/128GB variant and Rs 23,000 for the 8/128GB variant.