Vivo phones have been in the market for a long time now. The company easily captured the Bangladeshi market thanks to its great camera and budget pricing. The Vivo Y15s are a testament to that. It is an entry-level phone released in November 2021. And for many casual users, this phone ticks a lot of boxes. Here is a detailed review of the phone so that the readers can decide whether to go for it or not.
Key Features of Vivo Y15s
Design and Build Quality
One thing to note before diving into the detailed review is that this is a budget phone. So, there are a lot of cut corners to accommodate the aggressive pricing. And it starts with the design and builds the quality of the phone. This is a plastic phone all around. The front of the phone is glass housed in a plastic frame and a plastic back. However, Vivo has done an excellent job of making a premium feel out of the plastic body.
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The phone is available in two colors – wave blue and mystic green. There is a beautiful reflective pattern on the back of the phone which alleviates the look and feel of the phone. The hard plastic also gives a good heft to the phone. At 179 gm, the phone is considerably lightweight.
Overall, the phone does well for itself in this price bracket. The build quality is decent with a considerably good-looking design.
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Display
Vivo went with an IPS LCD with this phone. The display is crisp and sharp at HD+ resolution. The phone has 720 x 1600 pixels with a 270 ppi pixel density. At an HD+ resolution, the 6.51-inch display gets considerably bright for its price range. outdoor visibility is fairly decent under direct sunlight.
One issue with a lower-end IPS display is color fading and visibility angles. The display looks washed out and viewing angles aren't great as well. However, Vivo has done an excellent job of retaining the true contrast. The display viewing angles are also great. It's nothing flagship level but the color appears to be accurate and there aren’t any noticeable color shifts on the display.
The wide color gamut support allows the users to tweak display preferences. Users can choose between warm and cool tones which is a very useful feature.
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Camera
For a basic entry-level smartphone, this phone has a dual-camera setup. There is a 13 MP main sensor with an additional 2 MP depth sensor. The main sensor also works as a wide-angle shooter. There is also a proprietary 8 MP front shooter on the phone.
The main sensor has autofocus which works seemingly well. The phone can take decent photos under well-lit environments and direct sunlight. The photos look crisp and sharp with no color distortion whatsoever. The wide-angle sensor catches a decent number of subjects within the frame. The video quality is also good. It can shoot 1080P at 30 fps which is a standard at this price bracket. But without OIS and EIS, the video is noticeably shaky and distorted.
They tend to struggle in dimly lit and dark environments. There are noticeable grains and fading on the picture and the camera fails to pick up comparatively darker areas.
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Processor and Performance
The phone features a Mediatek MT6765 Helio P35 processor built on the 12 nm architecture. This is a power-hungry processor which consumes a significant level of the battery. But the phone has decent capabilities which will be discussed in the next point. The processor is an Octa-core 4 2.3 GHz Cortex-A53 and 4 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 processor. The four main processors work as the main computational source of the phone whereas the other 4 are reserved for light activities within the UI.
The P35 is coupled with PowerVR GE8320 GPU. Again, this is an entry-level GPU that only ticks the basic boxes. Playing with graphic intensive games on this device won't be possible due to thermal throttling and battery drain. But it can easily work for lightweight casual games.
For normal day-to-day tasks like browsing social media or watching YouTube videos, the phone performs moderately well. But again, it struggles with anything that is graphics or processor intensive.
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The OS of this phone is Funtouch 11.1 based on Android 11. Now, it might be a good thing that it is based on Android 11 but it’s not the proprietary version. It’s based on the Go version of Android 11 which is missing certain features available on the full android. The Funtouch UI is decent to use but it's nothing stock level. There is considerable bloatware and the UI can be a hit or miss for many. For people who have used Vivo phones before, the UI should not be an issue in any way. But it might take some getting used to for people switching from other OS or stock android.
Battery and Charge Time
The phone features a 5000 mAh battery. The 5000 mAh has become a standard for most entry-level and mid-range phones due to the nature of the processor they use. This phone has a great battery life thanks to the large battery size and the lower resolution HD+ plus display. Expect around 7 to 8 hours of screen time. For heavy users, this phone should easily last a whole day of usage. The lightweight users can easily stretch the battery to one and a half to two days.
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The charging time is almost two hours due to the standard 10W charging speed. There isn’t any proprietary fast charging on this device.
Price of Vivo 15s in Bangladesh
The price of Vivo Y15s in Bangladesh is 12,990 BDT.
Verdict
To wrap things up, the Vivo Y15s is a decent entry-level phone. It checks almost all the boxes like a good display, battery life, usability, and OS. However, it does struggle with the camera and heavy usage. But that is some of the tradeoffs that come with entry-level ones. Overall, this phone is an easy sale simply considering its price.