Following the launch of the V23e in Malaysia last month, Vivo has now announced the base model, the V23. We’ve gotten a moment with the phone before its local launch.
Let’s just get the obvious out of the way: there’s very obvious inspiration taken from the fruit brand in terms of design. This is especially the case for the sides of the phone, and in particular the antenna lines.
While on the subject of aesthetics, the back of the Vivo V23 deserves special mention. As is the signature feature of the series, it features the colour changing Flourite AG glass, which changes between two colours when exposed to sunlight or other sources of UV light. Or at least one colourway does.
The model that does this is officially known as Sunshine Gold, and it switches between gold and blue. And since the colour change is triggered by UV light, you’ll be predominantly be having gold indoors and blue when you’re out and about. Or, if you have a UV torchlight, you can temporarily add designs to the back of your phone, which lasts for only three or so minutes.
The back is also where, as you’d expect, you’ll find the triple camera setup. This consists of a 64MP main shooter, an 8MP wide angle camera, and the 2MP macro sensor.
Beyond that, the Vivo V23 has most of the things that you’d expect from a smartphone of today, at all the usual locations The volume rocker and power button is on the right, with the SIM tray, USB-C port and mono speaker grille at the bottom. No 3.5mm audio jack either though.
The screen in front is a 6.44-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate. These give the phone pretty vibrant colours, and high refresh rate makes for smooth scrolling. Though you’d see the occasional jitter, which may or may not be a reflection of the MediaTek Dimensity 920 chipset’s performance. On the subject of specs, it also comes with 12GB RAM an 256GB of storage space.
Incidentally, you’ll also find the fingerprint sensor underneath the screen of the Vivo V23. Pretty standard implementation though I’d personally much rather it being a combo with the power button.
At the top of the screen is a small notch to house the two front-facing cameras. The combo here consists of a 50MP and an 8MP wide angle camera. Hidden between the screen and the frame of the phone on both sides of the notch are LEDs. These do the same thing that the LED flash at the back does. As a result, you get better lighting when taking selfies.
Overall, the Vivo V23 handles pretty well. It’s a pretty light phone, so you will likely be able to keep it in your hand for extended periods of time. This may have something to do with the 4200mAh battery, which is pretty tame by today’s standards.
While it didn’t really bother me much, there’s a case to be made for the corners being a little too sharp, and therefore uncomfortable to hold. But for the most part, chances are you’ll likely be using the phone with its case, which solves this issue.
Now that the launch of the phone is behind us, we know that the price of the Vivo V23 5G, which is RM2099. It will be available starting tomorrow, 14 January 2022.
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