Vivo V5 First Impression: Joins The Selfie Brigade

Currently, Chinese smartphone manufacturers in India are making huge bets on selfies, particularly the offline wing. Surely this is something they can easily market in a nation obsessed with self-portraits, and this is precisely where the Vivo V5 tries to make its mark.

We went hands on with the new V5 that has a beefed up 20MP front camera sensor and got to see what all the fuss is about.

Did it impress? Let’s find out!

Vivo V5 Specs and Feature:

The Vivo V5 inherits design elements from its predecessor, the Vivo V3 Max. It flaunts a metal unibody which frankly speaking has become a standard in 2016. On the front, a 2.5D curved glass adds to the overall appeal of the phone while the curved edge, matte finish back with engraved Vivo logo adds a premium feel. The ambient light sensor and earpiece are placed above the display. The fingerprint embedded Home key is not clickable and the adjoining navigation buttons are backlit.

Also read: OnePlus 3T With Snapdragon 821 and 16MP Selfie Camera Goes Official

The 5.5-inch display comes layered with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The display offers good viewing angles and felt quite vibrant. The tempered glass that comes affixed out of the box is a smudge magnet. So, you will be wiping it frequently. Still, we are glad that the handset comes bundled with a good quality silicone back cover and a tempered glass screen protector.

When you look closely you will realize that the display is not as sharp as other options available in this range. Vivo has packed an HD display which is a misfit considering the price. In practice, if you are not habituated to sharper panels, you might not notice much of a difference.

The Vivo has maintained a subdued tone at launch presentation while speaking about phone’s specification and they had their reasons for it. The Vivo V5 doesn’t claim to be the most powerful option in its class. In fact, if you are looking for the latest and greatest possible specs, you could straight away skip this one and browse through online exclusives. Vivo’s new offering is more about the ‘experience’ and for consumers who prefer buying from offline stores.

It houses a 1.5GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6750 chipset with Mali 860 GPU. Vivo has paired this mid-level chipset with ample 4GB of RAM (LPDDR3) and 32GB of internal storage. On paper, the chipset clearly lacks the prowess that phones like V3 Max (Snapdragon 652) offer, but Vivo has tried to compensate that with additional RAM. This might not be apt for heavy users and gamer, but this could very well meet the needs of basic and moderate users, who are in majority. The V5 comes with a custom built AK4376 Hi-Fi audio chip on which Vivo is relying to offer unmatched audio experience in the mid-range segment.

On the software front, it is more or less the same as the Vivo V3 and V3 Max we reviewed a couple of months back. The phone comes with company’s own custom Funtouch OS 2.6 running on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Like most Chinese ROM’s there is no app drawer. The notification can be drawn from the top while quick setting can be accessed from the bottom. WhatsApp, Facebook and WPS Office comes pre-installed on the phone. Well, the UI seems smooth and lag free at least that was the case during our hands-on time.

As far as Vivo is concerned, the main attraction of the phone is its 20-megapixel front camera with flash or as they say ‘Moonlight flash’.Vivo has sourced Sony’s IMX376 sensor with f/2.0 aperture. The camera app is simple and also support gestures and voice command for selfie camera.

Of course, the 20MP part is more of a marketing thing. You don’t need that many pixels for your selfie portraits, especially in a compact size sensor. At the launch venue, I clicked a couple of selfies which turned out well even in poor lighting conditions. I am not a fan of beautify mode but it is nevertheless present if it’s your thing.  The Moonlight flash is basically a fill light which lets you adjust its intensity for better results.

On the flip side, there is a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash. We didn’t get many opportunities to explore rear camera to its full potential at the launch event. Having said that, I manage to capture a couple of indoor clicks with artificial light which made a positive impression on me. A handy pro mode is also present.

Also read: Xiaomi Mi5S FAQ With Benchmark Scores and Photo Gallery

The focus here is to offer better cameras and entertainment features with reliable performance. In whatever little time we got to spend with the phone it held its ground well. However, we will have to wait and watch for the practical usage experience before we give our final verdict. This offline phone will compete with the likes of Oppo F1s, Gionee S6s, and with Lenovo Z2 Plus, MI Max, Samsung On Nxt in online retail space.  Let us know your initial views about the Vivo V5 and its ‘Moonlight Camera’ in the comments below.