Vivo V20 Review: What will you get apart from looks?

If you look into the current smartphone market under Rs.30,000 in India, Vivo and Oppo are on the top who are working to bring sleeker handsets with great looks. Vivo’s V20 is one of those, and it launched in the middle of October. During the Big Billion Days sale, it equally competes with the other heavyweight smartphones like Samsung Galaxy M51 and OnePlus Nord with just only its looks and sleek design.

So, we become curious to figure out what exactly the company is proving apart from the viewing. I ordered the Midnight Jazz color variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. I know you may ask why I didn’t go for the Sunset Melody. Actually, the bluish color looks more formal to me. Without wasting more time, let’s just into the main topic.

On-paper Specifications :-

• 6.44-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with HDR10 support and 90.37% screen to body ratio
• Snapdragon 720G SoC
• Adreno 618 GPU
• 8GB RAM
• 128GB/256GB internal storage, expandable for up to 1TB
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Preinstalled Android 11 with Funtouch OS 11
• 64MP + 8MP + 2MP triple rear camera setup
• 44MP front camera with Eye Autofocus
• Dual 4G connectivity
• Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi
• 3.5mm Audio jack
• 4,000mAh battery
• 33W Vivo flashcharge 2.0

In the Box :-

• Handset
• USB Cable
• Power adapter
• Protective case
• Sim ejector tool
• Earphones
• Protective film (applied)
• Paperworks

Design :-

It’s the primary thing that attracts people. The Vivo V20 weighs just around 170 grams and 7.38mm sleek. Frankly speaking, after using this handset, almost all the smartphones I hold seems very thick. On the rear end, there is a multi-color gradient design protected with Gorilla Glass 5. A matt coating is also on top of the glass, but that fails to catch fingerprints. The camera module is placed beautifully and has a minimal bump, but that will not bother you. In the bottom left, the branding is made vertically.

The front view is totally opposite of the back, the main reason is the big teardrop notch holding the 44MP camera cutout. The bezels are thin on three sides, the bottom chin is thick comparatively yet tolerable.

The power button and volume keys are placed in a perfect and reachable position. Let you know; Vivo provides a separate getup to segregate it from the volume keys. In the bottom, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, primary microphone, Type-C port, and mono speaker. The SIM tray (2 Nano SIM, 1 microSD card) and secondary microphone are placed in the top left and top.

Display :-

In the Vivo V20, you will get a 6.44-inch Full HD+ (2400×1080) AMOLED display. It also has HDR10 support, Widevine L1 certification, and a 90.37% screen to body ratio. Hope you already get the viewing outcome of this device. You can enjoy all your favorite content with its maximum resolution and great color, contrast, and brightness. In the sunlight you hardly get any trouble to catch your screen.

Coming to the cons in this section. In today’s competitive market, smartphones event around Rs.15,000 is coming with a 90Hz refresh rate. But in this case, we are getting the regular 60Hz refresh rate only that too at Rs.24,990. On top of that, Vivo skips Gorilla glass protection on the front.

Audio :-

In the audio section, the company again disappoints us with the mono speaker. However, the output is thunderous and clear. I’m not fully sure about the 3.5mm audio jack’s output as I only test with the Vivo earphone coming in the box. The audio quality was very cheap. But if you use any wireless earphones or headphones, the experience will be a great one. During the calls, you need not struggle to listen to the opposite person.

During the past 10 days testing process, I tried my Infinity Glide 510, boAt Airdopes 171, Rockerz 335, and Noise Air Buds and discovered a new issue. If your earbud allows you to adjust the volume, then the handset cant sync with the earbuds’ instruction properly. For example, if pairing the volume adjustment of both the smartphone and earbuds will at 100%, and after pairing you decrease the volume from your buds, the sound will decrease, but the media volume level in the V20 will be the same at 100%. It’s probably a software optimization issue, and expecting Vivo will fix it with the upcoming updates.

While using the Airdopes 171, I didn’t find any problem as it doesn’t allow you to increase the media volume through its multi-function buttons.

Performance :-

The new Vivo V20 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G SoC coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of internal storage. Multiple other smartphones are available out there with a better chip at the same or lower price. Despite that, it manages to handle all kinds of day-to-day talks smoothly, even gaming at higher settings. I tried Call of Duty Mobile that runs very well. An Ultra Gaming Mode is there that will help you while gaming to manage calls and other stuff.

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Both the under-display fingerprint and facial unlock works fast. It manages to read my fingerprint every time. The facial unlock is pro-active; it works even when I covered half of my face or keep my one eye close. So, it’s another issue in the list Vivo needs to fix urgently.

Software :-

Vivo is providing its Funtouch OS 11 that is based on Android 11. It’s one of a small number of smartphones that comes with pre-installed Android 11. Obviously, you will get all the latest Android version’s general features, like an always-on display, built-in screen recorder, and more. In this small duration, I got multiple updates, and I notice some improvements every time. But still, there are issues.

I already mentioned two problems in the Audio and Performance section. Rather than those two, there are a few more. Some times, the notification panel refuses to come down. I have to turn off the screen and on again to fix the problem temporarily. I faced this problem multiple times. The other one is the split-screen problem. The home screen splits into two sections, both vertically and horizontally, respectively, when I press the back button to return to the home screen. You can see the problem in the images I attached.

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Apart from these, the overall UI will provide you an ad-free experience; though you will get some pre-installed Vivo applications, no one pushes any annoying notification. It’s a big plus point of the Vivo V20, no doubt.

Camera :-

Needless to say, Oppo and Vivo, these two companies give the camera section great attention. The Vivo V20 is not an exception. Vivo introduces its Eye Auto-focus technology in this smartphone for the 44 MP selfie camera. You will get a triple camera setup with a 64MP main sensor, 8MP wide-angle cum macro lens, and a 2MP mono sensor on the rear side.

The 64MP main shooter can capture and produce some great images, keeping both HDR on and off. You can get that in the camera samples. Only the colors are getting dull a bit every time; it’s the only issue I notice. While using the Super Wide Angle mode, the image output is good and very wide. Most of the details are captured that are in the center of the image. On the edges, I noticed some problems.

The rear camera can record at 4K 30fps highest. The rest of the other combinations are 1080P 30fps and 50fps, and lastly, 720P 30fps and 60fps. You will get a stable video; as a result, each time, even while running, thanks to the EIS support. All the recording samples are given.

The 44MP selfie camera with the Eye Autofocus is also a great player. I get some great shots both in normal and portrait mode if I ignore the skin whitening issue. In the portrait mode, the background separation is maintained seamlessly. Due to the eye autofocus, it focuses on your eyes in no time. The front camera, too, is capable of recording at the highest 4K resolution. For all the three resolutions, 4K, 1080P, and 720P, the frame rate is fixed, i.e., 30fps.

All the cameras are equally able to capture shots in night and low light conditions, especially selfies. The portrait selfie mode too works very well, and the high resolution of the front camera helps capture more detailed selfies than ever.

You will get some other interesting features in the camera application such as live photo, slow-mo, super anti-shake mode, cine camera, video recording option from both the front and rear camera at a time, and so on.

You can also enhance the camera abilities with the power of Google’s image processing algorithm. The mod version of GCam is available for V20, after all.

Battery :-

Vivo packed a 4,000mAh battery and gave a 33W Flashcharge 2.0 adapter in the box. I know it may seem, this capacity is very less. I agreed, but it’s sufficient to use this phone for a day. I got around 23 hours of backup with around 9 hours of screen time. Point to note, the always-on display was enabled, and the phone was connected with Wi-Fi all the time. So, I hope, with casual usage and light gaming, you will also get mostly the same backup.

While charging, it takes around 20 minutes to reach 50% from 10%. And in total, it needs around 75 minutes.

Pros & Cons :-

Pros	Cons
Beautiful design	Un-optimized UI
Great in-hand feel	Mono speakers
Lightweight and sleek	Poor audio output from the 3.5mm jack
Decent performance	No display protection
Good camera performance with Eye autofocus
4K video recordability
Android 11 pre-installed
Ad free experience

Verdict :-

If the Funtouch UI optimization can be ignored, all the offerings are good, especially the in-hand feel, camera performance, and an ad-free experience. But unfortunately, software issues are very annoying. In the price range of Rs.25,000 to Rs.30,000, there are multiple options in the market.

I personally feel Vivo is still working to fix all the issues, as I noticed some improvements after a few continuous updates, including the last one I got on this Saturday. On top of that, Vivo is coming with its new Origin OS on this 19th November. I’m expecting all the problems will be recovered very soon, within a few months.

The 128GB variant costs Rs.24,990 and the model with 256GB internal storage is priced Rs.27,990. Vivo V20 is available on all the popular e-commerce platforms at the same price tag. A link is given below for your convenience.

Link: https://amzn.to/3no7fRm

In case you have anything to ask about Vivo V20, do let me know in the comment section.

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