vivo V21 5G Review By Alex Hong

Hey there, Alex here. This is the new vivo V21 5G. It has an asking price of 599 SGD, and on paper, looks like it could have a pretty killer front facing camera. So let’s take a closer look at the phone, and see whether it’s any good. Starting with how it looks, it’s nice to see vivo adapting the X60 Pro’s design into their mid range devices, because I happen to like how their camera bump looks. The matte finish on the rear glass panel looks and feels great, and even though the frame is just plastic, I do like the flatter sides.

vivo has kept the phone relatively slim and light, so it feels pretty nice in my hand too. There is still no IP rating here, but that isn’t really a surprise since we don’t even get that on the X60 Pro. The front of the phone houses a pretty good looking display. Decent enough brightness outdoors, HDR support, and a 90Hz refresh rate. I know there are other phones in this price range with 120Hz, but I don’t think the difference between 90 and 120Hz is really that big.

I would personally recommend keeping it at 90Hz instead of using the Smart Switch option because I find that apart from a few apps like Instagram, twitter, or facebook, most other apps just run at 60Hz. This even includes games that I know are able to run at a higher refresh rate. However, there are some games like COD Mobile or Temple Run that just can’t run at 90Hz no matter the settings, so your mileage may vary. Anyway, the fingerprint sensor works well here, and the single bottom firing speaker is just okay. It’s able to get really loud, but it sounds a bit thin.

Stereo speakers would have been really nice considering that we don’t even get a headphone jack this time round. Specifications wise, the V21 5G is using a Mediatek chipset this time round, but performance wise, it’s a chipset that’s comparable to most of the Snapdragon 700 series chips. It runs everything I need it to well enough, and can handle most games at lower graphics settings. The phone didn’t really warm up too much as well, there is a good amount of RAM and storage, and we still have a microSD card slot. Even though it’s not a Qualcomm chipset, it seems to support basic aptX as well, so no complaints from me here.

Because of the slimmer and lighter design, the battery is now a little smaller at just 4,000mAh. But it should still be good enough for a full day of regular use. It supports 33W fast charging with the included charger, and I was able to get the phone from 0 to 50% in just 30 minutes. The phone is running FunTouchOS 11.1 based on Android 11, and like on the X60 Pro, it’s a decent user experience. The look and feel of the UI looks more cohesive, and it feels responsive.

Even though it’s still missing a few basic customisation options like changing grid layout, or turning off Google Discover, there is still a decent amount of useful features here. I do have a few minor complaints about how it’s still a bit aggressive at killing background apps, and how it’s unable to quickly switch apps when using gesture navigation, but overall, it’s pretty decent. Moving on to camera performance, I want to start by talking about the front camera since that’s the main selling point of the phone. It has a 44 MP camera here with autofocus, optical image stabilisation, as well as dual LED flash. A better camera hardware will need more space, so that could explain why they chose to go with a notch instead of a cutout.

Anyway, the image quality here is really good. It performs well in most lighting conditions, even in harsh lighting or low light. With the dual LED flash, I can get decent looking shots even in the dark. There is a bit of skin smoothening, but it’s not too obvious when the lighting is good. The camera app also comes with a ton of beauty effects as well which some folks will appreciate.

Video stabilisation looks pretty good thanks to OIS, and it is able to capture in 4K too. The main rear camera might not be the star of the show, but it is actually pretty good too. It is able to capture nice looking shots in most lighting conditions, especially with the help of Night mode. The ultra wide angle camera looks ok in good lighting, but falls apart fairly quickly in low light. Night mode does help a bit here, but it still won’t be that great.

There is a 2MP macro camera as well, and it’s not really that useful to me. Video quality is just okay, but stabilisation is pretty decent. Overall, I think the camera performance here is actually quite impressive for a mid range device. There are a few instances where the camera can trip up a little, like randomly going for a longer exposure and over exposing shots in low light, or auto HDR mode over smoothening shots from the front camera in certain lighting conditions, but when it does work properly, it is able to capture nice looking shots. If you’re interested, there is a link in the video description below with everything I took with the phone.

All in all, while the V21 5G might be lacking a few features that are becoming more common for mid range devices these days like water resistance and stereo speakers, it does have a bunch of other features that I think makes up for it. Camera performance is pretty good, it has unique front facing camera features, it has a nice design, build quality is pretty good, performance is decent, it has a 90Hz refresh rate, and it even comes with a full set of accessories in the box. So if you’re looking for a mid range device, I think the V21 5G is worth a look, especially if you find the front facing camera features useful. Thanks for watching this video, and see you guys on the next one.

Source : Alex Hong