The Vivo V27 Might Just Be Your New Smartphone That Won't Break The Bank
Updated: Dec 19, 2023
Vivo usually isn't the first choice when it comes to purchasing a new phone, but this may actually change your mind.
Design
Currently what I have with me is the V27 emerald green model; it also comes in noble black and flowing glow with a sleek minimalist-styled box. When I first unboxed it, I was quite surprised! What really shocked me was that Vivo actually included the case along with it, which is quite unusual for me as an iPhone user.
The Vivo V27 features a screen curved at the side, I'm actually more used to the flat display of the iPhone so the V27 is definitely a breath of fresh air as the curved glass on the top makes the display seem bezel-less. Watching a regular 16:9 video would fill up the screen to the curved sides so it took a while for me to get used to the 'narrowness' of the screen.
The phone is 7.36mm thick and weighs 180g; an interesting feature about the design is when the phone is exposed to UV light, the back turns to a darker-looking gradient depending on your phone's colour. This Colour Changing Fluorite AG glass was first introduced on the V25 series so it’s good to see that they are bringing it back as a unique feature.
Speakers
To be honest, the speakers on the V27 aren’t that great; it features a single speaker at the bottom of the phone, which also means that holding it in the landscape orientation will cause it to be easily obstructed, blocking out most of what you normally be able to hear. The speakers do get pretty loud but it lacks the punch in bass or clarity in the trebles.
Comparing the phone's sound with its other features, it just isn’t on par, which is a considerable factor that affects my liking of the phone.
Display
The V27 features a 6.78-inch, 120hz AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080. The display is detailed and colours pop enough for daily use; I do enjoy watching my youtube videos and movies with it. For gaming, the 120hz refresh rate makes the phone feel responsive and smooth too; no observable latency issues here.
Performance
In the gaming performance with Asphalt 9, everything was smooth. Although, at certain points, there were some lag spikes. But for the most part, it was running fine.
Wildlife | Wildlife Extreme |
4194 | 1145 |
There's also a game boost mode that tries to optimise the system for the best gaming experience, but in my opinion as an average user, I can’t really tell the difference.
Powering the V27 is the Mediatek Dimensity 7200, performing all right in daily use. However, this chipset would not have the strength to run heavy apps; for example, games with a high fps would not run smoothly on the phone but setting it to a lower fps should do the trick. Having too many applications running on the phone at the same time would cause it to lag slightly as well so you gotta be sure to clear them.
Geekbench Single | Geekbench Multi |
1173 | 2662 |
Battery
The V27 comes with a 4,600mAh battery with 66W fast charging with the included adapter. In our 10-hour video battery test with 50% brightness and audio, Bluetooth and location off, the V27 lasted through the whole video with 49% left.
Unless you are watching a 20-hour video in one sitting, this is more than enough to last you a solid day, or at least this is more than enough for me personally; also, the fact that it takes less than an hour to charge it up fully is also really neat.
Cameras
The V27 runs a triple camera setup with a 50MP Sony IMX766V primary sensor, a 2MP macro shooter and an 8MP wide-angle.
The image on the left was taken without night mode and the one on the right was with. There is a clear difference in brightness between these two images but the good thing is that the clarity and detail remained the same.
I took an image of the scenery as well; the image with the night mode enabled is on the left and the one without is the image on the right. With a pic of the scenery, the difference between the night mode-enabled and disabled is much more noticeable and distinct. It makes the skies have a nicer shade as well.
The phone also sports a 50MP front camera for selfies and video calls. Another feature that I like about this phone is its video stabilisation. You are also able to shoot up to 4K 60FPS with it.
There is also an aura light feature that is applied when the selfie and night modes are toggled and I have to say that this feature really surprises me. The shots taken with this are crystal clear and the details are extremely distinct as well.