0
0
Where most smartphone companies with their increasingly confusing and ever-lengthening naming conventions aren’t doing humanity any favours, Vivo has a rather grounded approach to that. The company has a neatly arranged smartphone lineup, with alphabets that actually give you a clue into the phones’ specifications. The V series, for example, is all about the “ultimate selfie experience,” and browsing the company’s product catalogue I could see many of the phones sport high-res front cameras.
The Vivo V27 Pro is a part of that lineup as is obvious from its name, and therefore it’s no surprise that it features a 50MP front camera. But the phone differs from its fellow brethren in that it’s possibly the first V series phone with a flagship chip. Exactly what that translates to for the regular user is something I’ll be exploring with this review.
Design and display
The Vivo V27 Pro has a 6.78-inch display, which is slightly larger than the ‘industry standard’ 6.7-inch screen size. That may not seem like much on paper but I could immediately tell the difference coming from the 6.7-inch Oppo Reno 8T 5G I previously reviewed.
People may not always like curved displays because screen protectors that fit properly are harder to come by and because they’re prone to accidental touches. But I’m all for them. Aside from the wow factor, they’re actually useful – the Vivo V27 Pro is very manageable despite its size owing to the reduced width.
Of course, it would’ve been unforgivable had Vivo cheaped out on the display quality in order to make room (monetarily speaking) for the curves. The brand is aware of that and has shipped the device with an excellent 120Hz panel with poppy colours and great sunlight legibility. The default config should be fine as is but saturation can be turned up with the “Bright” screen colours option.
Circling back to grip… the Vivo V27 Pro has a textured, fingerprint-resistant back that’s less slippery than plain glass. The phone is also quite light at 182g, meaning no wrist pains with extended usage. The colour-changing back adds a nice, blingy touch, although it takes bright sunlight exposure to kick in.
MediaTek’s Dimensity 8200 chipset sits a notch below the flagship Dimensity 9000, but is considered a flagship nonetheless. Games like PUBG: New State and Call of Duty Mobile could be played at maximum settings and I encountered no frame drops or heating issues. Vivo’s V series isn’t about gaming, but fair to say, this phone could be billed as a gaming phone.
Day-to-day usage is a joy as well as the phone doesn’t lag or stutter at all. FuntouchOS is as well-optimised as Android skins can get and apps launch quickly and scroll perfectly well.
