For the very beginning of its journey, Vivo has been aiming at the mid-range and premium segment and as per the latest smartphone market report, Vivo has managed to pip long-time leader Xiaomi to the third spot in the first quarter of 2023.
Vivo and Oppo have the same 18 per cent market share, but the former lost out, as it managed to ship 5.4 million units compared to the 5.5 million units shipped by the latter.
While it has some catching up to do with current board-leader Samsung (6.3 million units shipments), Vivo has the potential to top the chart, provided it offers value-for-money premium phones in the Rs 25,000-Rs 45,000 price range, which is seeing higher sales in the sub-continent.
The latest V27 5G comes with a dazzling design and also a good set of hardware to deliver a smooth performance and photography experience. Here are my thoughts on the Vivo's premium mid-range phone.
Design, build quality and display
As said in my first impression (here), Vivo has done an excellent job with the design language of the V27. Particularly, with the magic blue. It is the most gorgeous-looking phone on the market right now.
It has a slim profile with a curved display, which cascades a bit up to the central rail on the left and right sides of the phone. The USP of the device is the back panel, which sports a shiny matte finish coating. The magic blue model is capable of changing its colour from light sky blue to dark navy blue, when out in the sun. The colour transition is very impressive.
Add to that, the back panel does a fantastic job of repelling fingerprint smudges. And, the company offers a transparent silicone-based rear-side cover that ensures the device is protected against accidental falls. If even the device falls with the display facing down, the cover features four protruding edges at the corners and these protect the screen from cracking, provided the surface is flat.
Also, Vivo pre-fits an additional layer of plastic cover on the display, which protects it from scratches.
It features USB Type-C audio, dual SIM slots and a single-grille speaker, which does a decent job of delivering good audio with less distortion and fills up any regular room of the house.
Vivo sports a fantastic 6.78-inch full HD (2400 × 1080p) AMOLED display and supports 120Hz refresh rate, which comes in handy while browsing news on the internet or while scrolling through social media platforms and playing graphics-rich games.
With a pixel density of 388 ppi (pixels per inch), the display of Vivo V27 offers brightness enough to read content on the screen outdoors. I didn't face issues or had to squint my eyes to read emails or search and read news on the browser app.
As far as the in-screen fingerprint sensor is concerned, it works fine. But, for any phone with such tech, you have to keep your fingers clean and dry to ensure a smooth response. Or else, you have to try multiple times to open the screen look.
Performance
Vivo V27 is powered by 4nm class 2.8GHz MediaTek Dimensity 7200 octa-core with Mali-G610 MC4 GPU. The company offers two options-- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage.
Our review unit is 8GB RAM + 128GB storage. During the entire review period, the device did not exhibit any glaring issues as such. It just works smoothly in all day-to-day tasks and even while playing games like Asphalt 9: Legends, the phone never gets too warm at all.
The device runs on Android 13-based Funtouch OS 13. It has several pre-loaded apps, but with the 128GB storage, users get enough space to install hundreds of their favourite apps and even add several photos and videos.
The Funtouch OS 13 also supports Google's 'material you', which offers owners to customise their user interface and app icons to match their wallpapers.
With a 4,600mAh cell capacity, Vivo V27 was able to consistently deliver a full day's battery life. But, as with any phone in the market, the battery will drain faster when live streaming content be it from OTT or IPL match on JioCinema when on cellular data.
And, with a 66W charger, it can fully charge the phone from zero to 100 per cent in less than an hour.
The device boasts dual-band Wi-Fi (2.5GHz/5GHz) and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity tech. Also, it is a 5G-ready phone (supported bands: n1/n3/n5/n8/n28A/n78), and does not need any update to enable it. It supports 5G services offered by both Airtel and Reliance Jio in India.
Photography
It comes with a triple camera module--50MP camera (with IMX766V sensor, f/1.88, OIS) + 8MP ultra-wide sensor (with f/2.2) + 2MP macro camera (f/2.4) with LED flash with Aura light effect on the back.
It takes pretty good photos in the daylight. The colours of the subject are bright and warm, way better than how they look in nature with mundane colours. But, I am not complaining, as you can see the sample photos are so good.
However, night mode is kind of average, but on par with any rival brands in its price category. The only exception is the Pixel 6a series, which has Google's magical computational photography tech. Having said that, the latter is not perfect, as it has some hits and misses in other aspects.
In the ultra-wide angle mode, the Vivo V27 manages to take fine photos and there is no bending effect, as we see in some phones, which try to include more structures in the frames, but end up showing them slanting inwards and making it look unnatural.
With macro mode, the phone manages to get a decent amount of details of the subject. Even the Portrait mode works fine in terms of edge detection around the subject and delivering bokeh effect in the background.
On the front, it houses a 50MP autofocus front camera ( f/2.45). It takes really good selfies in almost light conditions. With in-app editing tools and superficial filters, there are several ways to make the face photogenic.
Besides the regular night and portrait modes, Vivo V27's both front and rear camera also supports several value-added features such as micro movie mode, sports mode, double Exposure, dual view and live photo to make gifs.
Final thoughts:
The Vivo V27 5G is not just a pretty-looking handset but also a really good performer.
The phone with its premium glass back with a shiny matte finish instantly gets the attention of the public around. Add to that, the colour-changing capability and finger smudge-resistant back panel add immense value to the device.
Most importantly, the V27 works smoothly and as far as the battery life is concerned, it can last a full day under normal usage. And, the camera hardware is praiseworthy too.
Vivo V27 5G is available in two variants-- 8GB RAM + 128GB model and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage-- for Rs 32,999 and Rs 36,999, respectively.
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