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Vivo V5 With 20 Megapixel Selfie Camera: First Impressions

Vivo V5 With 20-Megapixel Selfie Camera: First Impressions

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 16 November 2016 08:47 IST

Highlights

Vivo V5 global launch event was in Mumbai on Tuesday
The big highlight of the Vivo V5 is its 20-megapixel front camera
Vivo V5 price in India is Rs. 17,980

Vivo launched its new selfie-focused Vivo V5 in India on Tuesday. The smartphone is priced at Rs. 17,980 and it will be available from retail stores across the country starting November 26. The Vivo V5 is successor to the Vivo V3, and it comes with decent upgrades, mainly in the camera department.

The Vivo V5 has been launched in two colour options - Space Grey and Crown Gold. Vivo claims that the V5 is the world's first smartphone to sport a 20-megapixel front camera sensor paired with a selfie flash. Also, the Vivo V5 is the first smartphone from the Chinese company to makes it global debut in India.

At the Vivo V5 smartphone launch event in Mumbai on Tuesday, the Vivo's Chief Marketing Officer Vivek Zhang confirmed that another model, called the Vivo V5 Plus, will be launched in the country soon. The only thing we know about the Plus variant so far is that it will have dual front cameras. In any case, we had some time to play with the Vivo V5, and here are our first impressions.

The Vivo V5 is being advertised heavily as the "perfect selfie" smartphone thank to its a 20-megapixel front camera and 'Moonlight Glow' flash. The Face Beauty 6.0 Mode in the camera app enhances selfies, reduces blemishes, and can make faces look much slimmer.

At first glance, the Vivo V5 looks chic with rounded edges, a metal unibody, and antenna bands at the back. The volume and power buttons are on the left, while the hybrid SIM slot is situated on the right. The bottom has the 3.5mm audio jack, microphone, Micro-USB port, and speaker grille. The logo at the back is embedded into the metal giving the Vivo V5 an overall premium feel. The home button on the front cannot be physically pressed, but a fingerprint sensor is integrated for added security. Vivo claims that the sensor is extremely fast and accurate, and can unlock the V5 in just 0.2 seconds. There are backlit capacitive navigation buttons on either side of the Home button.

The Vivo V5 felt right at home in the palm of our hands, though it is a little slippery. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch HD display with 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass. The phone offers an eye protection mode that filters outblue light to reduce strain. The Vivo V5 is powered by the 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core MediaTek 6750 processor paired with 4GB of RAM. There is 32GB of internal storage available, and Vivo offers a hybrid slot for expansion by up to 128GB instead of a second SIM.

The Vivo V5's spotlight feature - its 20-megapixel selfie camera - is complemented by an intriguing Moonlight Glow flash that claims to result in a natural glow on faces, instead of the harsh white tone that a regular flash can create. Furthermore, the Moonlight Glow flash should not be too much for the subject's eyes in any lightning condition. As mentioned, there is a Face Beauty Mode for selfies, in which you can choose between automatic and custom options. The automatic option corrects photos on its own, while custom allows you to manually adjust the slimming and buffing levels.

The photos we took with the front camera of the Vivo V5 were decent in indoor lightning, and we did feel that the Moonlight Glow flash put less strain on our eyes. However, in our limited time with the device, we weren't able to test it in a low light area to gauge its real potential, and therefore we will reserve our full opinion for when we review the device. There's a 13-megapixel camera with single LED flash at the back of the Vivo V5 as well. The camera app has options for the timer, video size, photo size, gender detection, plus toggling one-touch capture and the shutter sound.

The Vivo V5 has a 3000mAh battery to keep everything running, and uses the latest version of Vivo's FunTouch OS 2.6 which is based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. There is no app drawer and the interface is quite simple to understand and navigate. Preloaded apps on the Vivo V5 include Easy Share, Facebook, WhatsApp, and the entire Google suite of apps. The Control Center comes up when you swipe upwards from the bottom of the screen, and has options to adjust the brightness and volume, take a screenshot, toggle the flashlight, and even open recently closed apps. A new feature called Smart Screen Split has also been introduced, and lets you use two apps at the same time.

In our brief time with the Vivo V5, we noticed no lags or hiccups, and our general experience was seamless. At this price point, the smartphone offers a good camera, a premium look and feel, and decent specifications. Vivo V5 is set to compete with other selfie-centric smartphones in the market such as the Gionee S6s (Review) and the Oppo F1s (Review). Both fall within the same price bracket at Rs. 17,999 and Rs. 17,990 respectively. While the Gionee S6s does have a front flash, the Oppo F1s does not. On paper, the Vivo V5 looks impressive and ready to give them both some tough competition. Pre-orders for the Vivo V5 begin on November 16 and will go on till November 25, after which the device will be available for sale.

Vivo V5

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Vivid display
Very good battery life
Decent performance
Front camera is good in daylight
Slim and light

Bad
Plastic body
Underwhelming rear camera
Hybrid SIM slot
Custom OS still feels cluttered

Read detailed Vivo V5 review

Display 5.50-inch

Processor MediaTek MT6750

Front Camera 20-megapixel

Rear Camera 13-megapixel

RAM 4GB

Storage 32GB

Battery Capacity 3000mAh

OS Android 6.0.1

Resolution 720x1280 pixels

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Further reading: Vivo V5, Vivo V5 First Impressions, Vivo V5 Features, Vivo V5 Price, Vivo V5 India Launch, Vivo V5 Specifications, Vivo V5 Launch, Mobiles, Android, India