It's over a week that I immersed and used Vivo Philippines' fourth perfect selfie-centric smartphone in the country but of course, I am looking for more of that. Is the Vivo V5s a worthy smartphone for you this 2017?
By the way, before I start my review, just a few moments after I uncover the contents of V5s, I encountered this less than 200 MB worth of update so I will start based on this version of their system update.
On physical feel, you can almost not gonna see those antenna lines in some angles which really gives some additional beauty on it. The crown gold variant is ok for me and I can still grip this phablet in one hand which the thin side bezels help. No issues in terms of their micro SD/SIM card tray.
On UI and overall navigation, the combination of Mediatek MT6750 octa-core processor and 4 GB RAM seems fine on normal operation from editing pics, social media, communication needs and some gaming.
Display, nothing to complain on the 5.5 inch HD display as I enjoyed for some hours of watching online videos as well as checking the details of my pics.
On connectivity, I had no issues on calls, texts, WiFi and mobile data. GPS locking is case to case basis (mainly coz of the processor) that it worked at best when you're outside. Inside a building might have some issues in terms of accuracy.
On audio, the AK3476 HiFi chip continues to bring in that rich sound that I loved on the V5 and V5 Plus. It still brought in some delight in my ears on my go-to music. Still like in those two devices, the HiFi feature will only works on music stored on either internal memory or micro SD.
On benchmarks, I saw this one from their Vivo V5 (with the same Soc). Like in the previous 3 phones under the V series, the V5s still has seven working sensors including gyro.
On battery life, I had a look on my own Vivo V5 review and definitely, the V5s has a slight edge. The V5s survived on me on video battery rundown test at 14 hours and 20 minutes with 1 SIM on set on 2G/3G mode, 3 on brightness and 12 on volume via earphones on MX Player (2 hours advantage over the V5). Using it as a daily driver, I got an average of 5.25 hours on screen on time on 22 hours of mixed usage. The 5V 1.8 A travel charger can fully charge this device for around 2 1/2 hours
On camera, V5s introduced the panorama selfie option as their way to create a groufie pic even with the absence of a potential 2nd selfie cam. We already saw this one in other manufacturers (which I find difficult in them) but not on Vivo as once you already reached the left part panning, the phone will vibrate and advice you to tilt your phone to the right. You must have a steady hands on it. The camera UI is the same as to the 3 V5 variants that you saw here on my reviews. The softlight flash was comfortable (as I got no complains when I had a selfie with other persons) and works fine when it detected that I am on a low light situation. The rear cam works a-ok on artificial lighting and average for low light. I noticed a slight image processing speed difference in terms on doing a selfie on normal mode versus on face beauty mode which it will took around 1.5 seconds (plus have a 0.5 sec more to be steady just to have that no-shake selfie pic)
Vivo V5s mixed rear camera samples
Vivo V5s panorama selfie camera sample
Selfie camera comparison: auto mode versus face beauty mode (whiteness set at 25%, fair side chosen at 50%)
If there's a little issue that V5s must fix was in terms of RAM management. You must feel the benefits of 4 GB RAM. Low consumption mode is not the best for gaming as there will be chances that it will do a reset mode. What's weird for me that a simple camera app and Pokemon Go app in switching for my camera shootng sessions. Those two are not that memory-eating apps for the given RAM but after some walking and some battling, the said game app will just restart after less than 30 minutes.
For sure, there will comparison for this versus the V5 but the Php 2,000 difference for double the internal memory, slightly better camera life and app clone feature (if you have two Facebook accounts). The same qualities of the V5 that I liked are still on the V5s, just a lil tweak on the RAM please. Vivo V5s for me is 4.25 out of 5
