Vivo Y15 - GK GROUP

 Introduction

Vivo Y15 is the latest budget offering from  Vivo in 2019. Right from the beginning of 2019, Vivo has launched numerous  smartphones in the budget as well as the mid-range tier. It seems like the smartphone maker is desperate to carve out a niche for itself in the competitive budget segment.

 

Luckily enough, we got our hands on one of the devices for a week, and we tested it extensively. Is the Vivo Y15 a device you should consider? Well, let’s find out in the comprehensive review.

Prices in India, Variants, Availability

Vivo Y15 comes in a single storage variant featuring 4GB RAM and 64GB of onboard memory, and available in two different color options, namely Aqua Blue and Burgundy Red. The smartphone comes with a price tag of INR 12,990. At the time of writing this review, there are plenty of offers that buyers can make use of to purchase it from Amazon India.

Interested buyers can use the No Cost EMI option on all major debit and credit cards. Additionally, there is a 10% instant discount to up to INR 2,000 on SBI credit as well as debit cards.

Box Contents

Vivo Y15 comes packed in a white, almost clean box with a just company and device branding on the front view. The box also highlights the massive 5,000mAh battery of the device. Opening the lid, the first thing which you’ll ever come across is the section that consists of a transparent back case and some paper works.

Right underneath it, you will find the device itself covered in a protective film. Apart from that, there are a SIM ejector tool, 10W wall charger, and Micro USB cable for charging.

 

Here is a quick overview of what you’ll be getting inside the box:

 

 Vivo Y15

10W wall charger

Micro USB cable

Transparent back case

SIM ejector tool

Manuals and documentation

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Specs at a glance

Before we jump right to the review, let’s have a quick look at the key specifications first.

 

Display: 6.35-inches IPS LCD display, 720×1544 pixels, 268ppi

Processor: MediaTek Helio P22 chipset, 12nm

GPU: PowerVR GE8320

RAM & ROM: 4GB, 64GB

Software: Android 9.0 Pie, Funtouch OS 9

Rear cameras: 13MP+8MP+2MP

Selfie camera: 16MP, f/2.0

Battery: 5,000mAh capacity

Weight: 190.5g

Dimensions: 159.4×76.8×8.9mm

 

With key specs cleared out of the way, let’s talk about the very first aspect of the review.

Design and Build Quality

Just like any other budget  smartphone, Vivo Y15 comes with a polycarbonate body with a gradient finish on the back. You will see color shifting from Blue to Purple as you change the viewing angle.  Vivo has been following a similar design ideology for a reasonable amount of time now. Although the device is made up of plastic, it still feels somewhat premium in hand.

 

At the back, there is a triple camera module aligned vertically along with an LED flash. Right at the center, you will find the physical fingerprint sensor. Apart from these, there is Vivo branding on the bottom side. Even though the device looks premium, it is still made up of plastic, which is known for attracting scratches. With that in mind, you might want to strap in that bundled back cover.

 

On the other side, the front of the device is dominated by an IPS LCD panel with waterdrop notch and thin bezels on the sides. Coming to the ports and buttons, you will find nothing on the left side except the SIM card tray, while the right side contains a power key and a volume rocker. The buttons are easily reachable, do not wobble, and offer decent tactical feedback. At the bottom, you will find the 3.5-mm audio jack, Micro USB port for charging, and a speaker grille.

Overall,  Vivo Y15 does look premium thanks to the gradient back finish, but it still feels a little cheap in hand. On the other hand, the device looks like any other budget smartphone featuring a Blue gradient finish.

Display

Vivo Y15 comes with a 6.35-inch IPS LCD with a waterdrop notch and thin bezels. The chin, on the other hand, is relatively thicker, resulting in a screen-to-body-ratio of 81.4 percent. Although we have seen AMOLED panel at this price on various devices, Vivo Y15 still manages to perform pretty well. The IPS panel on the device looks pretty decent with good vibrant, and accurate color reproduction. What’s disappointing is the fact that the panel is limited to HD+ resolution, which at this price is a big deal. With competitors offering Full HD panel, Vivo Y15 is still stuck with the 720p.

With a resolution of 720×1544 pixels and 268ppi, the display lacks sharpness if you look at it closely. The brightness level is decent, meaning you should not face any problem under direct sunlight. The only thing which bothers us in the display department is the lack of Full HD panel.

Performance

Vivo Y15 gets its power from a MediaTek Helio P22 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The Helio P22 SoC is manufactured over the 12nm fabrication process and consists of eight cores. It includes Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. For graphics, the  smartphone makes use of PowerVR GE8320 GPU.

 

Coming to the performance, the Helio P22 is a pretty decent chipset that can handle everyday tasks without breaking any sweat. In terms of regular usage, we faced no issue with the device whatsoever, and in fact, the switching between app is a smooth experience. That changes a little bit when the usage increases a little bit. For a power user, the device might show some lags and stutter. This device is not designed for heavy multitasking at all.

 

To check gaming performance, we tried playing Pubg Mobile on the device, which by the way, runs at medium settings by default. At this setting, we faced no occasional lag or frame drops. Cranking the settings up a bit, you will start to see rendering issues. If you’re serious about the gaming performance, then you should look elsewhere.

With 4GB of RAM, multitasking is a breeze to some extent resulting in apps in memory for a more extended period. If 64GB of internal storage is not enough for you, then you can expand the storage by MicroSD card to up to 256GB using the dedicated slot.

Software

 Vivo Y15 runs on the latest version of Android, i.e., Android 9.0 Pie based on the Funtouch OS 9. Just like the other  Vivo devices, this one too is filled with bloatware apps, which you can remove to free up some space. It is like any other custom skin with swipe-down notification center, home screen setups, and much more. You can choose between the traditional navigation button or new gestures. Furthermore, the UI supports the app button, which is useful if you’re into that.

 

The overall software experience is decent, but in our opinion, it could have been much better. I am not a big fan of Funtouch OS 9, though.

Cameras

Vivo V15 comes with a triple camera module featuring 13MP primary sensor (f/2.2), 8MP ultrawide lens (f/2.2), and 2MP depth sensor (f/2.4). For selfies, there is a single 16MP camera sensor housed inside the waterdrop notch. The camera app user interface is pretty decent, and you should not face any significant issue understanding it. Switching between lenses is pretty straightforward.

 

Coming to the real-time performance, the primary sensor click shots with the right level of details, decent dynamic range, and a little oversaturation in the daylight conditions. The wide-angle lens, on the other hand, churns out images with a bit of less depth. Well, that’s the case with almost every other device at this price range. The depth sensor also does a decent job in daylight conditions. Things change when you move to the lowlight scenarios. You start to notice more noises and less dynamic range.

 

The selfies, by default, come out with over smoothening, so you might want to disable the beauty mode. The daylight selfies offer the right level of detail, and the images look decent. Portrait mode detects edges decently, although it could have been better. The lowlight scenario for the selfie lens is the same as that of the rear module. In low light conditions, lots of noises start to kick in along with fewer details.

 

The device supports 1080p video recording at 30fps, which is not that great. There is no kind of stabilization technique used, so if you don’t have stable hands, then prepare for the shaky videos. Above all, the video quality is pretty average with fewer details and less brightness.

Battery Life

 Vivo Y15 comes with a massive 5,000mAh battery packed inside. It is one of the key selling points of the device. On regular usage, you can quickly churn out two days of usage on a single charge. For power users, the device should last for a day easily. Our daily usage looks something like this – WiFi and Bluetooth always-on, constant text messaging, few hours of calls, music playback, and media streaming. You also get a 10W fast charger with the device.

Audio, Connectivity, Biometrics

For audio, the device comes with a bottom-firing single stereo speaker, which outputs a decent level of sound with proper depths. At max volume, we did notice a few distortions while listening to the speaker. There is a 3.5-mm headphone jack, which surprisingly delivers impressive output. In our testing, we found no issue with the earpiece microphone or overall cellular connectivity.

The device comes with single-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, FM Radio, and Micro USB for charging. In biometrics, there is a rear fingerprint sensor that works decently. It is accurate, reliable, and somewhat quick. You can also use the Face Unlock, which uses the front camera to detect your face by the 2D mapping technique. It is not that secure but relatively quick.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

Visually appealing design

Good performance

Long-lasting battery life

 

Cons:

Not meant for gaming

Lowlight camera performance is weak

Verdict

At this price tag, Vivo Y15 faces immense competition from the likes of Xiaomi and Realme. The  smartphone manages to offer premium design, decent performance, and impressive battery life. The display, on the other hand, is just HD+, which might be a deal-breaker for many. The competitors are offering much better hardware and camera performance than the Vivo Y15. On the brighter side, the UI comes without any annoying ads and spam notifications.

Lastly, we would not recommend buying this device at this price tag. There are much better options available from the likes of Xiaomi and Realme. These  smartphones manage to strike a perfect balance between hardware and design at the same price tag.