There has been a lot of talk about Vivo V9 being similar to the iPhone X and yeah we agree it looks similar but the device has many features that make it stand out from the rest of the competition. The main outstanding feature is its photography strength, and more prominently in the selfies arena.
Talking about the specifications on paper the Vivo V9 comes with a dual rear camera setup, comprising of a 16-megapixel camera and a secondary 5-megapixel sensor placed in a vertical setup. And at front, the V9 features a 24-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture. With a week spent with Vivo V9 and taking it down the streets of New Delhi and Mumbai, I can surely say that the dual camera setup on the V9 is no joke.
Honestly, the rear camera is pretty good, and Vivo has done a good job combining a great camera sensor, accompanied by A.I features and Vivo’s own algorithm to post-process the image. The pictures captured from the dual rear camera module of Vivo V9 have great detail with images turn out to be crisp and sharp.
The rear cameras on the V9 are surprisingly quick and focusing takes no time. Vivo V9 in outdoors or in bright natural sunlight clicks accurate shots and has pleasant exposures in well-lit conditions.
Vivo has also added Live photo feature which much like Apple records the video of the user just seconds ahead of tapping the click button. Apple’s Live Photo records what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take a picture and Vivo uses almost a similar approach for the feature. The Live Focus feature works as advertised and records moments seconds before you actually, click a photo.
You get HDR mode, Portrait mode (Bokeh), Live photo mode, and a foursquare icon tapping on which pops up further options – Ultra HD, Doc, Slo-Mo, and Time Lapse. Additionally, there are Panorama, Face Beauty, Professional, and AR stickers modes. The Vivo V9 clicked some impressive shots with decent sharpness, color accuracy, and details intact. The HDR mode does wonders and enhances the overall sharpness and dynamic range of the shots captured in daylight and when used in low light it reduces the noise and makes the images look good.
Bokeh mode, which is essentially a much-touted feature on all the smartphones these days that come with dual cameras setup. And having a dual camera module at the rear is much of a The Bokeh mode is one of the better we have seen and is clearly the highlight of the rear camera. Vivo V9 does a decent job at defining the edges of the subject in focus and the best part is you can adjust the aperture even after the photos are captured. Thanks to the dual camera feature post-processing on the images allow you to choose which area (the subject or the background) you need to keep in focus and which you need to be blurred out.
From past couple of years, Vivo has been focussing primarily on improving the selfie experience and they have tried to up the selfie game for so long now that they seem to have mastered this domain. The Vivo V9 sports a 24-megapixel selfie camera with an AI-assisted beautify mode that comes handy for removing blemishes or just improving the skin tone. The beauty mode surely enhances the shots automatically but sometimes it can add too much of goodness that it spoils the shot, but you can also have the option to manually set the level of beautification. In addition to the beauty mode, the device stock camera app comes equipped with AR stickers which turn out to be a worthy pastime for many. You’ll have a fun time playing around with the AR Stickers feature on V9. There’s also Portrait bokeh mode at the front camera which basically blurs the background using the software.
The selfies clicked with the Vivo V9 came out sharp and extremely accurate – especially outdoors in bright daylight. One can see the color accuracy and sharpness vividly. The front camera on the Vivo V9 is near perfect and Vivo has managed to check all the boxes to make a great selfie camera.
Like we said earlier the camera on the Vivo V9 is no joke and is pretty impressive and that’s what Vivo markets itself with giving its tagline ‘Camera & Music’ the very definition. WIth a brief period of 10 days spent with the Vivo V9, I can say that colors are accurate, dynamic range is spot on, and the camera focuses relatively fast. Vivo has tried to check all the boxes to make a perfect smartphone that has decent specs, great display, an even better pair of cameras, humongous battery and of course iPhone X look alike. Vivo has managed to pull off the competition with the Vivo V9 and seems like this flagship from Vivo would not leave you disappointed.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.