With a record shipment of 5.8 million smartphones in India, Vivo bummed up its market share from 11% to 18% this year. This growing number is a testament to the fact that Vivo has become a trustworthy smartphone maker in India. Its versatile series of smartphones satisfies the needs of every buyer who hopes to get the best bang for the buck.
Company has decided to launch a new S1 smartphone which defines a new lineage of no compromise mid-range devices to rival the likes of the Realme X and Redmi K series. Can it successfully put this off? Let’s find out!
Design & Display
Being the first smartphone maker to bring about the joy element that comes with a beautifully crafted device, it was quite expected that the company would up the ante this time around. And Vivo didn’t disappoint, the design, which starts with a dual-tone gradient finish evince a sense of premiu with a flair of elegance.
It comes in two expressive colour schemes called the diamond black colour and the skyline blue colour. Underneath this reflective body which emits multifarious colours is a diamond lattice structure which adds some neat visuals to a boring old slate on the rear. Accompanying this flamboyant body is a rear camera setup with a big gold Vivo branding and a new dedicated Smart Button on the side.
Speaking about the front, it comes with a gigantic 6.38-inch Super AMOLED display with a U-shaped notch up top. This panel supports Full HD+ resolution with its 2340 x 1080 pixels density and its 19.5:9 aspect ratio. This screen setup facilitates a so-called “Always On Display” which pushes your notifications and alerts in a completely non-intrusive way.
The viewing experience forms the Halo FullView display was stunning, due to its perfect picture quality and wider viewing angles. Daylight visibility wasn’t a problem given it can shoot up the brightness level necessary to make it legible under direct sunlight.
Camera
One of the key aspects of a good smartphone comes in the form of a great camera. Vivo S1 has this covered though its triple camera setup of a primary 16-megapixel camera (f/1.8), 8-megapixel Ultra-wide angle lens and 2-megapixel depth camera.
This setup lends the required versatility rarely expected from a smartphone at this price. The images not only felt lively but the wider aperture provides the sharpest contrast ratio under any lighting conditions. Low light photography was good too as it hardly suffered though occasional noise that comes with night time shooting.
The carved notch houses the 32-megapixel selfie camera which captures some satisfactory shots. Images came out to be on a softer side and lacked the level of detail we were hoping to get. It also falls short in low light settings where we saw a considerable amount of noise and light creeping in through the background. However, it works well when the screen flash mode is turned on.
Processor and OS
The Vivo S1 comes with the latest MediaTek Helio P65 octa-core processor with two A75 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz and six A55 cores clocked at 1.7 GHz. These cores are built alongside the ARM Mali-G52 graphics processor and a 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage.
It comes with the latest Funtouch OS 9 based on Android 9 Pie with security patch updated in May. It also has Dark mode in the display settings. The operating system mimics Apple’s iOS with its widget type interface. It also employs a gesture-based navigation system that works better than Google’s unfinished tricks given in Android Q beta. Besides the Google Assistant, there is the Jovi Smart AI which helps with user recommendation and Smart Image Recognition.
The setup makes the smartphone capable enough to handle everyday tasks from social media usage to moderate gaming effortlessly. The ability to push video streaming apps like Hotstar and Netflix at such great frame rates is just phenomenal experience. Games too ran at solid frame rates which made the experience all the more enjoyable. The only time the smartphone struggled was when we tried to throw some high-end games like PUBG and Asphalt at max settings, despite the Ultra Gaming Mode. The audio output of
Battery Life & Fingerprint Sensor
The 4,500mAh battery unit grants a life cycle of over 2 days’ worth of casual use. We managed to chop off 75% battery in 6 hours of testing the device through heavy gaming, social media, video calling. What bugged us, was the fact that Vivo decided to go old school with its extant MicroUSB. Nonetheless, the 18W Dual Engine Fast Charging technology was able to charge the device from a complete 0% to 80% within a time frame of 1.5 hrs.
In terms of security the Flash In-Display Fingerprint does wonders when it comes to unlocking speed. The company has also included a bunch of cool animations which can enhance the look of unlocking the device.
Gizmo Verdict: Should you buy?
The bits that catch our attention comes in the form of a stupendous design, capable camera and wholesome battery life. The S1 is a great device which works good, however, it too comes with its fair share of caveats, like an average front-facing camera & a satisfactory processor. Vivo has done a commendable job of smoothing out the animations. Overall, the Vivo S1 is a solid smartphone which offers a range of endless opportunity for the given price point. And we do suggest users take a look if you are in the market for a capable and good-looking performer.
