vivo has a habit of creating eye-catching smartphones that provide a spec bang for the price, and comes backed up by some capable camera tech and that tradition or habit has seen the manufacturer attain 20% of the smartphone market share in China (ranked 1st)[1] and 9% of the global smartphone market share (ranked 5th)[2] in 2022. The latest device from vivo we got to review over a two-week period is the vivo V27e which keeps to that impressive tradition by delivering attractive colours such as Lavender Purple that uses what vivo calls a “nano-scale photo-etching technique” that results in a glowing pattern that really is eye-catching and comes within a flat frame phablet featuring a slim body (7.7mm thick, 185g).
Multimedia consumption fans will love its 6.62′′ 2.5D screen which provides a more immersive and engaging visual experience when viewing YouTube videos, your favourite Netflix or Disney+ series, or mobile gaming thanks to the refresh rate of 120 Hz, plus ultra-high brightness and contrast due to it being a 120 Hz AMOLED display. The audio experience however is adequate for videos or a podcast but average for music so I would recommend that you pair your favourite pair of headphones when listening to your favourite playlist or checking out a new album of an artist for instance.
More impressive though is the fact that the V27e’s 4600 mAh battery will get you through a working day’s usage or continuous YouTube video viewing for up to 21 hours, or even a mobile games session of up to 8 hours when fully charged. Coupled with this is vivo’s in-house developed 66W FlashCharge technology and the further support of an advanced cooling system, the phone can be charged to 50% in only 19 minutes while the screen is off. Those users who use their devices longer term than the standard two or three-year cycle will appreciate vivo’s claim that the battery of V27e has twice the lifespan compared to the industry standard, and supports up to 1,600 charging cycles compared to the industry standard of 800 charging cycles.
Another feature worth highlighting on the power front is the fact that the vivo V27e is energy-efficient from a processor perspective, packing MediaTek’s Helio G99 platform – a 6 nm advanced mechanism – that combines graphite sheets of ultra-high thermal conductivity with high-efficiency heat dissipation materials to create an efficient cooling system to boost performance (better and longer mobile gaming on the go). Furthermore, V27e is equipped with Extended RAM up to 8 GB, which means, for example, an 8 GB RAM phone has equivalent RAM of 16 GB, doubling the space – equally impressive.
On the camera front, you get a 32 MP selfie shooter along with a 64 MP OIS + 2 MP bokeh + 2 MP macro shooter combo at the rear. This allows for some nice-looking shots, particularly in good lighting conditions. Hitting the zoom button on that camera performance, we found that the smartphone did well even with overexposed shots as it tended to keep the colours in check with a slightly warmer tone. Moreover, when focused on items such as food or flowers, the photos tend to lean brighter with natural light – upping the visual appeal of these subjects.
Final Word
The vivo V27e has been locally available as of June at major local retailers and vivo’s telecommunications partners at the recommended retail price of R11,999, making it a midrange smartphone worth considering due to its style, battery life, specs, processor- and camera performance. For that price, alternatives come in the way of Samsung’s Galaxy S21 FE 5G, HUAWEI’s nova 10, HONOR’s X9a and iPhone 11 – making it our pick compared to all of those.
[1] Data source: Canalys, October 2022: https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/global-smartphone-market-Q3-2022
[2] Data source: IDC, October 2022: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prCHC49810322
