While I am in the process of this review, Vivo Philippines decided to bring this one down from Php 6,990 to Php 5,990 which is now more enticing for it's potential customers. Will the Vivo Y53 will bring some charm in the budget smartphone segment? Here's what I got.
The UI was the same experience that we saw from the Vivo V5 Lite which is their custom Funtouch OS 3.0. In the help of it's 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 quad-core processor, 2 GB RAM and 16 ROM based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow plus a not so intense qHD display, the multi tasking was a-ok for me. Good thing that they still have some features present on the V5 Lite that are still present on this more affordable option like the double tap to wake and sleep options and the flashlight reminder (as this phone does not have a LED notification), once you receive an SMS, the flash under the rear cam will act as a flashlight in one-blink action for you to notice. I had one system update on the review and if there is one drawback for me (which I praised on the V5 Lite and other Vivo phones) was the not-so-effective implementation of their mobile data permission on apps. (it helps me to save some mobile data as it will prevent those ads appearing on your offline apps even if your 3G/4G connection is on) which I am hoping on their next update.
Vivo Y53 mentioned that it has a metal body which I doubt about it but the build quality is still very good to my taste despite for it's price tag plus there is almost no camera bump into it. The box does not have a protective case but from my experiences from putting it on wooden and glass tables to my pocket, no concern so far on the future damage.
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Calls, texts, mobile data, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth had no problems on my end especially that I used this one on TNVS bookings and some Pokemon Go, I was a happy guy with this handset plus the addition on true dual (nano) SIM helped me a lot not to bring another handset. Almost no heat when I am on LTE.
When I found that the said SoC was built on a 28 nm process (compared to to it's near brother Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 with 14 nm architecture), I knew what I will gonna get in terms of gaming. It experienced a bearable amount of heat on playing Modern Combat 5 and Asphalt 8 which is still a-ok to me with a very minimum amount of drop frames.
It also made a smile on my face when I saw the benchmarks, it scored at over 36,000 on Antutu (bit lower than SD 430 and comparable to Mediatek MT6753 8-core and Mediatek MT6737T quad-core counterparts as you can see a number of local and global brands with that SoC on that price range). Surprising that it has 10 point multi touch and no compromises as it has 7 out of 9 working sensors. Good job for the brand.
With the given processor, 2,500 mAh battery and 5 inch qHD display, my video battery rundown test gave me a nice 10 hours and 15 minutes of playback. On regular usage, I can manage to bring it on a 17-hour workday with mixed usage and 4 hours of screen on time a 25% brightness.
On the camera part, the 8 MP main camera and 5 MP selfie cam have f/2.0 and f/2.2 aperture respectively. On a very bright environment, it produced clear and accurate colors for an 8 MP standard and it has good image processing speed. On pro mode, it expected it to be less as you can only do up to 1 second max. on shutter and max. ISO 1600. Things will be different on low light situations as you will gonna see some missing elements. The 5 MP secondary shooter was only good for me on social media either it is on normal or the screen flash on.
Indoor shots
Night Shots
Normal vs. HDR
Indoor selfie
Low light selfie vs. low light selfie with screen flash feature enabled
Extras: I saw a glimpse of a bit of a problem that I experienced on my previous Vivo Y55 review which is not clear in some of NCR-based FM radio stations especially on transit. What is surprising for me is the above average audio output on 3.5 mm. audio jack on the number of third-party earphones that I had and a big studio-type headphones which I will reveal soon on a review
Pros: Audio, true dual SIM, good in all connectivity segments, build quality, price, choice of processor, acceptable camera output for the given megapixels
Cons: qHD display, bit of issues on UI and radio
At my given reasons plus the Php 5,990 price tag, Vivo Y53 was one of the best phones that I saw so far on it's price-specs-performance equation that it might have a good fight even on some local counterparts. I will score the Vivo Y53 at 4 out of 5
