Disclosure: this article is sponsored by vivo Malaysia.
vivo has been in Malaysia for several years now, and its latest device, the vivo V5s, offers more than meets the eye. Aside from its 20MP selfie camera, the V5s’ other aspects are surprisingly good: it offers a plethora of genuinely useful features – some of which are unique to vivo smartphones.
First, let’s get the vivo V5s’ specifications out of the way: it features a 5.5-inch 720p display, a MediaTek MT6750 1.5GHz octa-core processor paired with a generous 4GB RAM, 64GB of internal storage – further expandable with a microSD card – as well as a 3,000mAh battery.
In the camera department, the V5s comes with a 13MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus, which proved to be a capable shooter. But it’s the V5s’ 20MP Sony IMX376 front-facing camera that’s the highlight here.
Other than a range of options to tweak the amount of beautify – from buffing, skin tone to whitening – complementing the V5s’ 20MP selfie shooter is a front-facing flash for those low light selfies. It’s not just any flash either: vivo said that this flash is able to create lighting effects akin to professional ones, which gives the effect of a soft light.
As a selfie-focused smartphone, the V5s also supports a number of other features meant to enhance your self-portrait. These include HDR support, and interestingly enough, Bokeh Mode. As its name suggests, this shooting option blurs the background to focus more on the subject; the V5s does a pretty good job at separating the background too.
Also, for times when you need to fit in more than one person in a selfie – or rather, a groupfie – the V5s has a Group Selfie Mode just for the occasion. It’s rather intuitive to use too: just press the shutter button once and pan the phone left to right to capture everyone in the frame.
The 20MP selfie camera is definitely very capable.
The 13MP rear camera is pretty good too.
And then there’s a whole suit of options to make taking selfies with the vivo V5s that much more fun. There’s an option to take a picture by simply saying “cheese,” changing the aspect ratio to a square – especially useful for Instagram posts – and even the option to insert vivo’s watermark in your selfies. The V5s is meant to appeal to those who love taking selfies, and in this regard, the device is definitely very capable and versatile.
Camera performance aside, let’s move on to the vivo V5s’ MediaTek MT6750 processor. Sure, MediaTek SoCs are not as popular as Qualcomm’s offerings, but I was pleasantly surprised with the V5s’ performance level. Of course, it is by no means as powerful as higher-end phones, but the V5s feels speedy throughout my time with the phone. It’s responsive, there’s very little stuttering, and switching between apps is rather fast too.
In the audio department, the V5s comes with an AK4376 DAC, which is said to significantly improve audio output when used with earphones. This isn’t some marketing gimmick either: once I fired up a couple of my favourite songs on the phone, there’s very noticeable difference in audio quality in comparison to other smartphones – some of which don’t even come with a dedicated DAC.
For a mid-range smartphone, the vivo V5s is a surprisingly capable smartphone, and its generous 64GB storage and 4GB RAM are very welcome bonuses. The V5s has an all-metal body too, giving it a more premium feel. We also rather like the antenna lines, which curve around the edges of the phone.
If you’re looking for a mid-range smartphone that’s capable of taking some impressive-looking selfies for your social media postings, the vivo V5s will not disappoint. The V5s’ surprisingly capable MediaTek processor, 64GB storage and 4GB RAM will ensure the device runs fast enough to not be cumbersome to use, and its dedicated AK4376 DAC outputs genuinely good audio quality too.
Photography by Terry Bass.
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