With this price, Vivo V5 Plus smartphone is definitely challenging OnePlus 3T. Both these smartphones fall in different categories. It is difficult for the user to choose which device is better in terms of value. Vivo V5 Plus There’s the ‘ultimate’ selfie smartphone but does it have what it takes to be a flagship-level phone? Find out in our V5 Plus review.
Vivo V5 Plus design and build quality
Vivo V5 Plus Design by Us Review were done Vivo V5 The design is not too different from the 2018 model. The phone has a fingerprint sensor integrated into the home button below the screen and there is a sensor, notification LED and a fill light at the top. It is no secret that Vivo and Oppo like to copy Apple’s hardware and software design and Vivo has continued this in its latest variant as well. The antenna bands on the Vivo V5 Plus look exactly like the new iPhone 7. The full metal rear is quite durable and we liked the soft gold finish on the phone. The finish of the chassis and buttons feels premium and we have no complaints with the company here.
The phone has a SIM tray on the left side that can hold two Nano-SIM cards. However, it is not a hybrid SIM card and there is no separate slot for a microSD card. There is a micro-USB port, headphone jack and speaker at the bottom. The Vivo V5 Plus has a good grip and feels light at 158 grams.
The 5.5-inch IPS display on the Vivo V5 Plus is bright and the touch response is also good. Sharpness is also good due to the full HD resolution. There is no color correction option in the Settings app but you will get an eye-protection mode. Color saturation is good and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 has been provided to protect the display.
In the box, you will find an 18W/10W adapter, data cable, headset, case, screen guard and SIM ejector tool. Overall, the Vivo V5 Plus scores well in terms of design and build quality just like the previous smartphones in this series. However, the phone has adequate inbuilt storage and the lack of expandable storage may disappoint some users.
Vivo V5 Plus Specifications
Vivo V5 Plus has Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. However, we cannot call it attractive because Xiaomi has not made any price in India yet. redmi note 4 ,Review) has been launched with the same specifications at half the price.
Apart from this, Vivo V5 Plus has Bluetooth 4.0, dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS and USB-OTG. The phone has an AK4376 audio deck for better sound quality. The phone does not have NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11ac or FM radio. The phone also does not have the new Type-C USB connector. Talking about sensors, the phone has all the other sensors along with a gyroscope. Vivo V5 Plus supports VoLTE along with 4G on both SIM cards.
The Vivo V5 Plus runs Funtouch OS 3.0 based on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1. There is a hint of iOS in the stock icons and panels like the Control Center – which pops up from the bottom. The phone has preinstalled apps from Google, including Duo. Apart from this, WhatsApp, UC Browser and WPS Office are also included. Vivo has also provided some of its own apps like themes, Vivo Cloud and a manager app for permissions, app locking etc. You can read our Vivo V5 review. Review You can know about all the gesture based features of the new Vivo V5 Plus.
If you are using this phone on stock Android then it will take some time for you to get used to the new software. We were expecting the Vivo V5 Plus to come with the new Android Nougat as Marshmallow is a bit old now.
Vivo V5 Plus performance
Powered by Snapdragon 625 processor, Vivo V5 Plus runs smoothly despite Vivo’s heavy Android skin. Multitasking is easy and we had no issues playing animated games. The fingerprint sensor is very fast in recognizing the fingerprint and you can use this sensor to unlock the phone as well as lock apps. Talking about benchmarks, Vivo V5 Plus scored well. The phone does not heat up even when doing heavy tasks like recording 4K videos and playing games. The top part gets a little warm but it is not too much.
The processor is capable of playing 4K videos and other media files run smoothly on the phone. The phone has a ‘Smart Split’ mode that lets you watch messages from Facebook, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger without having to exit the video player. This mode also works with MX Player, YouTube and Google Play Movies. The mono speaker on the Vivo V5 Plus is not bad for media and is quite loud but it is not as good as stereo speakers. If you have wired earphones connected, you can toggle the inbuilt DAC on or off using the Hi-Fi icon in the music and video player apps. If you look at the headset that comes with the Vivo V5 Plus, the Apple influence is clearly visible as it looks exactly like an Apple headset. However, the audio quality is not at all good.
The front camera is the most important part of this phone and we will talk about it now. Vivo V5 Plus has a 20-megapixel sensor with aperture f / 2.0 and an additional 8-megapixel sensor for depth. The latter sensor is used to generate the bokeh effect in the camera app by separating you from the background. You can adjust the aperture according to the depth-of-field effect. The effect is quite good and the 20-megapixel camera brings good detailing to selfies even in low light. Apart from this, you also get other modes like Auto HDR and Face Beauty and Fill Light helps when it is dark.
The rear camera of the V5 was quite weak but the company has fixed this problem in the Vivo V5 Plus. The 16-megapixel sensor brings macro and landscape shots with a lot of detail. However, we did have some issues with the white balance but the app mostly corrects it. The performance was not too bad even in low light and the detailing is a little less and objects look a bit scattered when zoomed in. But overall the performance has definitely improved from the previous variant.
4K video recording is good. The V5 also has Night, PPT, Pro, and Ultra HD modes like other previous Vivo phones.
The Vivo V5 Plus packs a 3055mAh non-removable battery that easily lasts a full day on a single charge. In our HD video loop test, we were able to easily run the phone for 10 hours and 53 minutes, which is not bad. Fast charging support is also provided with Vivo’s ‘Dual-Charging Engine’ technology that has two microchips for more current. With this, we were able to charge the device up to 43 percent in just half an hour.
Our verdict
Chinese smartphone makers have set the trend of offering products with strong specifications at extremely affordable prices. And that’s what Vivo is doing now. The V5 Plus is a great smartphone because it dares to break the norm. However, we don’t think the phone justifies the premium price tag, especially when you can get similar features at a much lower price.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is perhaps not the best example as Xiaomi sells it online and thus eliminates distributors, sub-distributors, retailers etc. which brings down the price. But even with all this, we don’t know why the Vivo V5 Plus is priced so high. Despite being premium, the V5 Plus misses out on features like USB Type-C, NFC, Wi-Fi AC, expandable storage and FM radio. FM radio is still a popular choice in India. Also, a better chip like the OnePlus 3T would have made the phone even better.
Apart from this, there are some shortcomings in the software as well. At the price that Vivo and similar brands are offering this phone, its upgraded variant with Android Nougat can be launched soon. If software updates are important for you, then OnePlus 3T is a better option for a little more money. It may not have a fancy dual-camera setup like the Vivo V5 Plus, but it can take good selfies and it performs better than the V5 Plus in many cases.
The Vivo V5 Plus could have been a solid phone in the V-series if it was priced around Rs 20,000. However, at Rs 27,980, it is an expensive phone as it offers the OnePlus 3T and the OnePlus 3S at this price. Honor 8 ,Review) such phones are available. But if you are fond of taking good selfies only then Oppo F1s ,Review) Or Vivo V5 ,Review) perform better at a lower cost.