Vivo V7+ Review

Vivo has launched another smartphone V7+ for selfie lovers. This handset is an upgrade of Vivo V5 Plus (Review). This time the company has not provided a dual camera setup on the front panel, but has used a single camera with higher resolution. However, the upgrade is not limited to the front camera only. The popular trend 18:9 display has also been made a part of the phone.

Rs 21,990 is an interesting price because customers have very few options available in this price range. In such a situation, this is a great opportunity for Vivo. What special things has the company given in Vivo V7+? Is it a profitable deal to buy? Let’s find out…

Vivo V7+ design and build quality

The build quality of the phone is good. It is slim as well as light. Its thickness is only 7.7 mm. It is comfortable to carry in pocket and the design is such that there is no problem in gripping it. Its back is made of plastic. But it looks like metal from a distance. The finishing is good and Vivo has given chrome accents on the top and bottom edges which enhance the beauty of the phone.
The 3.5mm headphone socket, micro-USB port and speaker grip are at the bottom. There is a SIM tray on the left side which has slots for two nano SIMs and a microSD card. You will be able to use a microSD card up to 256 GB. The facility to increase storage was missing in the previous variant. The volume and power buttons are on the right side. There is no problem in reaching them during use. It was disappointing to see only a micro-USB connector. In our opinion, the new Type-C port should have been used.

The most important difference from Vivo’s older phones is the 18:9 aspect ratio. The borders are thin at the top and bottom. And even thinner at the edges. The display has 2.5D curved edge Gorilla Glass protection which looks good. Unfortunately, Vivo did not pay attention to the resolution. For the 5.99-inch screen, the company has given HD (720×1440 pixels) resolution which is disappointing. Surprisingly, the display is not as bad as we expected. Icons and text do not look too sharp. The colors are varied and the viewing angles are also not bad. There is also a place for LED notifications above the screen.

The rear camera comes with a raised bump on the back. There were no scratches on the camera lens during the review. The fingerprint sensor is in the middle of the rear, just above the Vivo logo. The sensor will quickly identify you. You will also be able to lock apps and take selfies with the help of this sensor. In the box, you will get a silicone cover, SIM ejector tool, quick start guide, headset, data cable and 10 watt charger.

Vivo V7+ Specifications and Features

Vivo V7+ uses the top end Snapdragon 450 processor of Qualcomm’s 400 series. It comes with Qualcomm’s own Adreno 506 GPU. In terms of performance, it is better than the rest of the Snapdragon 400 series processors. There is no problem in multitasking and playing games is also easy. This Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor is not that fast. But it cannot be called weak either. The phone has 64 GB storage with 4 GB RAM, which is a good thing. Other specifications include dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-OTG and FM radio.

Vivo has upgraded its FuntouchOS. It is based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat. But the iOS inspiration is clearly visible in this custom ROM built on Android. The notifications in the new version look exactly like iOS. Vivo’s Control Center is present. You can activate it by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. Funtouch OS is a layered UI so all your apps are on the homescreen.

You will be able to enable face beauty during video calls in select apps. With the help of Smart Split 3.0, you will be able to use two apps on the screen at the same time. But it works only with selected apps. At the same time, there is no support for Nougat’s standard split screen feature. If you want, you will be able to run two accounts in some apps. For example, two WhatsApp accounts with different numbers.

The Settings app will confuse you at first glance. Many functions are not where they should be. It could use a little more polishing, such as the alignment of text and menus.

Vivo V7+ performance, camera and battery life

Despite having a weak chipset as per the ranking, the overall performance is good. We generally never had any complaints with the performance. The UI performance is good and the phone handles multitasking easily. It rarely lags. There is no problem while playing casual games. However, in games with powerful graphics, the frame rate sometimes does not remain constant during gameplay. VoLTE works well on Jio network. The dialer app is also standard. It does not have a separate video calling option, but it comes with a built-in call recorder.

The big display is made for watching videos. The phone plays files with 1080 pixel resolution easily. But it lags in videos with higher resolution. It is not able to play 4K videos at all.

Vivo’s V series handsets are known for their front cameras. This time the company has given a 24-megapixel sensor. The aperture is f/2.0. You will also get beauty modes for selfies and video calls. Despite the removal of the secondary sensor, portrait mode has been provided. With its help you can also get the so-called bokeh effect, but you cannot adjust the depth. Selfies came out well in most situations. The sensor captures details well, but skin tones are not accurate.

The front camera captures details and colours even in low light and also keeps the noise level under control. There is also a Moonlight flash on the front. It gives diffused light on your face. It can be used in low light conditions.

The 16-megapixel sensor on the rear comes with phase detection auto focus. Landscape and macro shots taken in daylight come with a lot of detail. The colors are also good. In low light or indoors without proper lighting, the quality of the photos deteriorates.

You will be able to record videos up to 1080 pixels resolution. The quality is good, but due to the lack of stabilization, shakes are clearly visible. The camera app seems to be almost a complete copy of Apple’s iPhone camera app. The Auto HDR mode proves to be a very useful feature in bright conditions. You will also get modes like Professional, Slow-Motion, Panorama and Ultra-HD.

Battery life is good. The 3225mAh battery will last more than a day with normal use. This phone does not support fast charging. But the charger provided with the handset charged the battery up to 50 percent in 1 hour. In our video loop test, the battery lasted for 12 hours and 4 minutes, which is good.

Our verdict

Vivo has started introducing some notable new features in its smartphones. The Vivo V7+ is a result of these efforts. The 18:9 aspect ratio display is a welcome step. We also like the fact that the company has moved towards Android Nougat. The front camera works well in most situations. However, it seems a bit expensive considering the plastic body, budget level processor and low resolution screen.

Today, we have better built handsets that come with great features and powerful specifications. And these are also priced at a low price. So, considering the price, there is nothing wrong in users demanding more. We were not very impressed with the rear camera. For this screen size, there should be at least full-HD resolution. Two cameras on the front or back panel have also become a popular feature now. The company should have thought about this as well.

At Rs 22,000, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) is a good option. You get a well-built device that comes with great features like Samsung Pay and waterproof. Vivo’s own V5 Plus is also a good option. For around the same price, you get a more powerful processor, but it’s still stuck on Android Marshmallow and doesn’t have expandable storage. It’s worth noting that even at Rs 15,000, there are many phones available today that will give tough competition to the expensive Vivo V7+.