Vivo’s V1 Max is a decent phone with good blend of specs, software and hardware, decent camera quality and slim body but it is a little overpriced
By Mohd Ujaley
In recent months, there has been flurry of launches of 4G LTE enabled handsets in affordable and mid-range segments, especially led by Chinese smartphone makers. Vivo Electronics is the latest to create the buzz in the market place. So far, it has launched eight mid-range handsets in V and X series.
Vivo’s latest offering, V1 Max, is a decent mid-range device. Priced at Rs 21,980, the phone is good blend of specs, software and hardware. It offers sharp display, premium looks, good camera and a decent battery life, but the question remains: does it justify its pricing? Let us explore the device to find out the answer.
Out of the box, the look and feel of the V1 Max is stylish, slim and premium. The thin alloy ring along the edges further adds to the beauty and elegance. The front of the device is dominated by 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels and is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The display is sharp and even in the day light, you may not have to blink a lot to read or play video. The front also houses a 3.5 mm headset jack and front camera on the top, while three capacitive touch keys are placed in the bottom.
The undetachable rear panel is home to Vivo branding at the centre, along with rear camera and LED flash on the top left. The back is also home to two speaker grille. The power and volume rocker keys are placed at the right edge while the left edge has a slot for Hybrid SIM, in which a micro SIM + nano SIM or microSD could be used. The drawback of the hybrid arrangement is that you cannot use all three together. You will have to remove one SIM card to use microSD card. All in all, the device is comfortable to hold and operate.
The Vivo V1 Max runs on the latest Android 5.0.2 with FunTouch UI over it. The good thing is that it recognises even the slightest touch and key functions such as dialer, contact, messaging is easily accessible without any lag. Also, the entrails of the device are powered by a 1.4 GHz Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor couple with 2 GB RAM. The good blend of software and hardware deliver powerful and lag free performance. During the review period, it handled multitasking and graphic intensive games without any stutter. The phone comes with a 16 GB internal memory for storage; this can be further expanded to 128 GB with the help of a microSD card.
On the camera front, V1 Max, comes with a 13-megapixel auto focus with LED flash rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. The camera division have inbuilt features such as face detection, geo-tagging, HDR mode, face beauty, panorama and ‘boke’ to blur the background. Both the camera is decent and takes pictures with good quality and fine details in regular light. However, the images were little dull and less vibrant in low light condition. Camera section does not have anything distinctive to offer.
Apart from 4G LTE connectivity, the device supports Wi-Fi, 3G, 2G, and Bluetooth. It is packed with a non-replaceable 2,720 mAh battery. The overall performance of the battery has been at par with any other Android device in this range. It has decent standby time and could last between 8-10 hours with multitasking and continuous data usage.
In a nutshell, Vivo’s V1 Max is a decent phone with good blend of specs, software and hardware, decent camera quality and slim body but it is a little overpriced.
SPECIFICATIONS
* Display: 5.5-inch HD IPS LCD (1080 x 1920 pixels)
* Processor: 1.4 GHz Snapdragon 615 Octa-core
* Operating system: Android 5.0.2
* Memory & storage: 2 GB RAM + 16 GB internal storage
* Camera: 5 MP front; 13 MP rear
* SIM type: Dual SIM
* Battery: 2,720 mAh, non-replaceable
*Estimated street price: Rs 21,980