Reviews

Review: Vivo V5 Plus redefining selfie captures yet again

Vivo with the launch of V5 Plus tries to bring a new experience for selfie lovers. The USP of the device being its dual front facing camera module. So is this dual camera setup an asset for selfie lovers or a gimmick? Do give a read to our review to find out.

Look and Feel

The Vivo V5 plus from the front side looks exactly like the Vivo V5, the only difference being a dual camera setup on the V5 plus. And from the back the Vivo V5 plus looks exactly like Apple iPhone 7, same antenna lines and similar camera hump. Looks like Vivo V5 plus is the best visual alternative for iPhone 7 aspirants. The V5 plus features a unibody design in a sleek and slim form factor. The edges are tapered and the corners have been rounded off which makes the device sit comfortably in the hand. The hardware buttons (Volume Rocker and power) are placed at the traditional location on the right. The sim tray is located on the left, and make a note that this is not a hybrid SIM tray so it can only house 2 SIM cards and there is no possibility to expand the internal storage. At the bottom there is a micro-USB charging port, single speaker grill, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Specs Recall

Performance

The Vivo V5 Plus is powered by an Octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor, backed by 4GB of RAM. Although the processor is a mid-range processor, but still it’s capable enough to handle basic tasks well. One should understand that having a high-end flagship processor doesn’t always guarantee a great performance.

Let’s take an example here, the Vivo V5 Plus being powered by a mid-range processor, performs well. And while reviewing the device for more than 15 days I never encountered any stutter in the UI or any delays in opening the apps. Even we tried to play some graphics intensive games like Need for Speed: No Limits, Asphalt 8 and N.O.V.A 3, and the performance was good.

Software

Unlike every other Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Vivo too built its homegrown user interface overlay on Android which they call it as FunTouch OS. The V5 Plus runs on FunTouch OS 3.0 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The UI looks more like iOS as there is no app drawer, though this gives a new experience to the users from the conventional app launcher grid but some of the old school Android users might miss a launcher. The FunTOuch OS 3.0 packs a lot of tricks under it’s sleeves such as:

Control Center: Swipe up from the bottom pulls out control center which houses all shortcuts which can also be customized depending on one’s need.
Smart Split: This shows app notifications as floating icons for supported apps.
Smart Click: Allows to enable Double tap the home button functionality. Such as opening camera app on double pressing the home button.
Smart Motion: This allows various gestures to control the device, such as shake to turn on the flashlight, tilt to zoom pictures, double tap to turn off display etc.

Array of Cameras

The Vivo V5 Plus features a 16-megapixel rear camera and a dual front facing camera (20MP + 8MP) setup. The dual front camera setup is nothing new and we have earlier seen similar kind of setup in the Lenovo Vibe S1 but that was back in 2015. Vivo by launching the Vivo V5 plus has made an attempt to revolutionize the selfie game by providing a dual front camera setup accompanied by a moonlight flash.

Dual Front Camera

The USP of Vivo V5 Plus is its dual front camera, where one of them is a 20MP Sony IMX376 sensor, f/2.0 aperture along with an 8MP camera to provide depth of field (DOF), especially for bokeh shots. On selecting the “BOKEH” mode which is nothing but a wide aperture mode that lets you adjust the aperture from f/16 to as down as f/0.95 for a very stylistic selfie bokeh effect. Interestingly the phone stores the image’s original data that can be used later to change the aperture and points of focus even after capturing the shot. The dual-lens setup manages to capture a lot of detailing in good light and the added bokeh effect further enhances the selfies you capture.

Rear Camera

The Vivo V5 Plus along with having the best in class front facing camera, it features a 16MP rear camera. The rear camera is definitely an upgrade over its predecessor Vivo V5. The overall camera experience has been very impressive and every time the Vivo V5 Plus manages to capture crisp pictures with good amount of sharpness and excellent dynamic range. The focus is fast and the images are pleasant surprisingly.

What’s Good?

The dual front-facing camera is capable of catching some truly amazing shots.
The build and design of V5 plus is sheer premium and the device feels great to hold.
Fingerprint Sensor is fast and accurate, the fingerprint sensor is similar to one we have already seen on Vivo V5 and it’s accuracy and response time is similar to that.
It’s available offline and usually, we don’t see much smartphones that are available offline.
The FunTouch OS 3.0 is fast and responsive, the memory is well managed and support for themes adds to the beauty.
The Dual Engine quick charge can charge the device in a jiffy.

What’s BAD?

No Hybrid SIM slot.
The device still uses Micro USB SIM slot, its high time Vivo should switch to USB Type-C connectors.
No Nougat yet. But Vivo promises to get it over OTA soon.

Verdict: Is Vivo V5 Plus the best selfie smartphone?

With Vivo V5 Plus, the manufacturer Vivo has tried to yet again revolutionise the selfie game by making a device that is the first in the industry to feature a 20MP dual- front facing camera module. And to further enhance the selfie experience there is a moonlight selfie flash that can allow capturing bright selfies in low light conditions. With Snapdragon 625 powering the device, one might think it might not be sufficient enough. But that’s not the case here, the performance is comparable to any mid-range smartphone. And one must consider that having flagship specs is not the USP of the device. At a price of INR 27980 you might think considering the specifications of the device, isn’t the price too high? But with premium build quality, one of the best selfie camera’s, decent performance and offline availability are the few points that justify the price. With the increasing trend to click selfies in India, we bet the Vivo V5 Plus will sell well just for its dual 20MP+8MP front-facing camera.