Selfie trend has made the smartphone market to focus on devices that can snap a perfect self-portrait. Vivo V5 plus has entered the race of selfie cam with dual 20-megapixel and 8-megapixel front camera along with moonlight flash. It was launched in January 2017 and is positioned as an ultimate selfie phone.
Vivo V5 plus has a gorgeous display with attractive metallic chassis. It is a well-rounded phone with smooth operation. The phone is priced at around Rs.22,980. To recognize if it is worth buying or is capable of providing you an all-rounder Android experience read the detailed review beneath.
Construction and design
The design of Vivo V5 plus when viewed from the back seems to be inspired by and taken clues from Apple iPhone 7. Its face is white with metal unibody, curved sides. The build quality is impressive, apparent and makes the phone look premium. The edges of the phone is chamfered making it easy to grip. The full HD resolution display on the front is 5.5 inches and is mounted with 2.5D Gorilla Glass. The selfie camera, notification light, LED flashlight, sensors, and receivers are present above the display. The capacitive/physical singular home button is present below.
On the left and is the sim tray capable of accommodating 2 Nano SIM cards, but it is not hybrid type. Also, the slot for a MicroSD card missing. The volume keys and power/lock are present on the right side. You will find no buttons or ports on the top. The micro USB port, loudspeaker, main microphone, headset jack is present at the rear end. On the metallic back that renders gold finish to the phone, you will find a 16MP rear shooter and LED flash along with Vivo branding. Along the margins at the top and the underside is the slickest looking antenna lines mimicking the one of iPhone 7.
Vivo V5 Plus has narrow bezels with a 7.26mm profile to makes the smartphone get slim, ergonomic and comfortable to hold and carry. Vivo V5 plus weight only 160 grams. Being light, it feels great in hand. One more appreciating feature is fingerprint scanner that is integrated along with the home button below the display on the figurehead. You will get no complaints regarding the fit and the finish of buttons and chassis as they are top-notch.
Display
VivoV5 plus equips 5.5-inches full HD resolution display that delivers a pixel density of 401ppi. It is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protected. The phone has wide viewing angles. It is curved and big enough to watch videos and view photographs. The brightness is sufficient to be used outdoors, but yes, to some extent it is reflective. The quality of the screen is evident along with saturated and vibrant colours. The touch screen sensitivity is excellent. There is an eye-protection mode that will bend the screen amber. However, the colour correction option in the setting.
Camera
The principle feature of Vivo V5 plus is the front camera. It uses 20-megapixel sensor, f/2.0 aperture, and an 8-megapixel sensor for profoundness that is used to produce a bokeh effect by blurring and separating anything the background except the focused subject automatically. Simply, make sure that you possess a safe distance of 3 to 4 feet between the background and you for best essence.
The Moonlight Glow flashlights the face in low light, allowing you to take impressive selfies even in dim-light. The depth of field is quite impressive too. On how shallow you want to maintain the depth of the field -effect you can set the aperture. Even in the little light detailed selfie can be performed with the help of a 20-megapixel camera. The mode, Fill light is useful in the night time. Other modes you get are Face Beauty and Auto HDR. The rear camera of Vivo V5 plus with a 16-megapixel sensor is capable of capturing detailed landscapes shot and macros. You will find low light performance better. Distant object does appear fuzzy on the zooming.
Both front and rear camera can record the videos of 4k resolution at 30fps maximum. The camera features in includes Vivo V5 plus are Slow Motion, Anti-Shake, Time Lapse, Ultra HD, Night, Professional, Beautify, Panorama and filters.
Performance
Vivo V5 plus includes Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC clocked at 2.0GHz along with Adreno 506 GPU and RAM of 4GB. This combination is not impressive enough, but we can bid it honourable. Other features include Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, Wi-Fi b/g/n, USB-OTG. For better quality of sound, there is AK4376 audio DAC. FM radio, NFC, Newer Type-C USB and Wi-Fi 802 is missing.
The software of Vivo V5 plus runs with Fun touch OS 3.0 that is based on Android Marshmallow. The icons are simple and attractive. The app drawer is missing, and you can access the apps by swiping to the neighbouring home screen. When you swipe from the top notifications are revealed, and swiping up reveals shortcuts. When the recent app buttons at the lower left end is tapped current apps are shown. The phone has included Google’s apps, UCB browser, and WPS office. If you want, you can uninstall a few apps. Even if a few apps are open in the background, you won’t find multi-tabbed browsing. The MicroSD card slot is missing, and you cannot expand the storage by MicroSD card. Also, hybrid setup is missing. Those who love playing games will be satisfied with the smooth gaming performance.
AK4376 audio chip is one of the nifty additions you will find in Vivo V5 plus. The Hi-Fi music option works with your headphone once enables to offers high-quality sound. FM radio feature is missing on this phone.
Battery life
Vivo V5 plus is packed with non-removable 3055mAh battery. The charging feature is fast. The Snapdragon 625 processor makes it power-efficient. Once charged the battery lasts whole day for most of the users. There is nothing extraordinary about the battery life of the phone, but yes you will find no complaint regarding this.
Below is the list of the pros and cons of Vivo V5 Plus in the hope it will help you with your final decision of buying or not buying this smart phone.
Pros
- Metallic unibody
- 5D Glass on the screen
- Dual 20-megapixel and 8-megapixel front camera
- Moonlight flash
- Supported OTG Cable
- Dual Charging Engine
- Screen is protected by is Corning Gorilla Glass 5
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC clocked at 2.0GHz along with Adreno506 GPU and RAM of 4GB.
Cons
- Non-removable battery
- Expensive in comparison to devices of similar specifications.
- Quality of primary camera is not up to expectations.
- Lacks microSD support card.
Conclusion
Vivo V5 plus offers the most value. It has a great intent design, good dual front camera, big storage space and RAM and the battery life is above average. The specification sheet of Vivo V5 plus shows it is quite good. This phone is good for selfie lovers, but the battery and the processor is not up to the standard of its pricing.