Smartphone Vivo Y81 - advantages and disadvantages

Vivo phones have appeared quite recently in the domestic market. They were met with ambiguous and skeptical reception. At the moment, the device has not yet managed to gain popularity. Today one of the models of this brand Y81 will be considered. Users say that this is a good, but overpriced model, because even at the start of sales, manufacturers overestimate the price. However, the situation changed a little after the company became a sponsor of the World Championship, which was held in 2018 in Russia.

The budget model Vivo Y81 now costs about 9,000 rubles. It features a bezel-less display and has a powerful processor. But is it really so? Now let's try to figure it out.

Characteristics

For its price, the smartphone is equipped with pretty good parameters. In terms of quality, it can be compared with Xiaomi phones of the middle price segment. It has the following key features:

In addition, the phone has additional functions: a graphics accelerator, a compass, an accelerometer, a microgyroscope, light sensors, a gravity sensor, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a rotation vector, a strong motion sensor, a pedometer, an orientation and proximity sensor.

Design and equipment of the device

The product comes in a compact white package. In addition to the phone itself, it contains the following components:

• Russian-language documentation;
• a clip for pulling out a SIM card;
• cord for connecting to a computer;
• Charger.

To protect against the effects of falls, you should immediately order a protective glass or film at the time of purchase. Protection will not affect the integrity and design of the case, but it will protect your device from unwanted damage.

The display is large and its size is as much as 6.22 inches. In the upper part there is a cutout - "monobrow". This became fashionable after the release of the iPhone 10. Thus, the display turned out to be without a frame. The plastic case causes some discomfort, since there is a possibility that the phone case will fall apart when dropped. Now, most modern phone cases are made of metal components.

Despite the fact that they saved on case materials, the device remains quite practical, since it does not “collect” fingerprints and does not slip in the hands. There are two body color options: matt black and red. Red color looks more elegant than black. If you look at the phone from the outside, it seems more expensive than its real price.

Only the plastic case speaks of a budget accessory.

The screen takes up 83% of the device. Frames of minimum dimensions run along the perimeter. At the bottom, the developers left the largest frame. However, users do not see much need for it. A small cutout for the selfie camera was left at the top of the device. If you look at the 32 GB version, then there is no event LED.

There are two slots for SIM cards and an additional one for a flash card. Also, the model does not have a fingerprint scanner. Instead, you have to unlock the gadget with your face. The selfie camera lens will help to carry out this procedure. Because of such inconveniences, it is difficult to unlock the phone in the dark.

Despite the rather small diagonal of the device, it is comfortable to use. Outwardly, it is no different from smartphones with a diagonal of 5.5 inches. But it is worth considering that it is unlikely that it will be possible to work with the phone with one hand.For this purpose, you can limit the size of the display and not reach the other side of the screen.

Display

The screen extension is only 1520/720 pixels, which is extremely small for a 6.22-inch display. On such a device, the image will be of medium quality. But, as for a budget option, it is quite enough. But on the other hand, it pleases with a good supply of brightness and excellent contrast. Also, wide viewing angles allow you to see the picture in more detail. The image is grainy, although this is almost invisible to the naked eye. The screen itself is made without an air gap, which allows you to see an almost lively picture.

There is a factory protective film on the screen. But it is better to purchase a protective glass, because the film does not always save from scratches, and even more so from falls. But it is not advised to remove this film, because the finger will start to slide on the screen and lead to dust and scratches. If you do not need it, then it is better to let specialists remove it and place the glass. “Clean”, that is, without film or glass at all, the display cannot be left due to the above reasons.

The settings additionally provide an eye protection function.

Interface

The smartphone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo, Funtouch OS 4.0 is used as a shell.

There is a feature of managing the "curtain" of the notification, it opens with a swipe from the bottom, but given the size of the screen, this is more convenient than if it were from the top.

The firmware has the necessary applications. There are several desktop, lock screen and wallpaper themes that can be updated and enhanced. Through the Play Store, you can download various free programs from the manufacturer.

Performance

This gadget copes with basic functions, but programs that require a powerful processor, it will not pull.This is a cheap processor from Mediatek. Basic applications run smoothly, although the speed is not impressive. If 32 GB of memory is not enough, then you can additionally put a flash drive up to 128 gigabytes.

Funtouch OS 4.0 serves as the screen skin. This system is similar to the iPhone. All applications are sorted on the desktop because there is no corresponding menu. This shell is not very convenient and it is almost impossible to change it. Swipe down to pop up notifications. This is terribly inconvenient when you swipe along the bottom of the screen and accidentally click on it.

There is also a special game mode, which, when enabled, will automatically turn off calls, close notifications and windows. Three virtual navigation buttons will help you manage the system. There is also a free store for installing programs from the manufacturer (the idea is copied from the iPhone).

The 3DMark program did a test and it showed the following indicators:

Description of the device

3 gigabytes of RAM is enough for productive work. And the mid-segment Mediatek Helio P22 processor will help you productively operate the gadget. The processors of this company are installed on almost all Meizu phones. The browser can open about 10 tabs at the same time without braking. Also, the menu itself and large applications work without failures.

Using the GameBench program, you can measure the degree of load on your smartphone during the game. This app collects all load statistics of any big game running offline. Perhaps Vivo saves battery life in high load mode in this way, because during charging the application load level on the phone is not displayed.

The new PowerVR GE8320 video accelerator makes it possible to play the game WoT: Blitz without braking. On the lowest settings, the app works perfectly. Problems arose with PUBG, where there were weak graphics up to 12 frames per second.

Also noted is the excellent sound quality of the main speaker. In addition, it surprises with its strong volume. The sound quality in the headphones is excellent.

Camera

The camera parameters are specified in the "Characteristics" section. The camera of this unit has the following shooting modes:

• panorama;
• portrait;
• HDR
• "Beautiful face";
• professional.

There is also a document scanning function that converts them to PDF format so that they can be printed later. The quality of mobile photography is high enough for a smartphone for 9 thousand. In the daytime, excellent pictures are obtained. On the street and indoors there are no problems when shooting. In the dark, the image does not lose quality. The readability of text documents is excellent.

An additional advantage is the Auto HDR feature, which is not often found in budget smartphones.

If we compare the camera with LG Q6 and Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) phones, the picture quality is worse.

An example photo in HDR mode:

Without HDR Mode:

The front camera of 5 megapixels is only enough to support Skype video calls. For portrait shots, the front camera is not suitable (poor photo quality).

How the front camera takes pictures:

The camera also has the function of shooting video in Full HD quality (the quality is good for a budget smartphone).

Wireless communications

The developers made 3 slots in the phone (2 for nano-SIM SIM cards, and the third for a flash drive).By the way, there is no such distribution in the already well-known and popular Xiaomi brand (there are only 2 slots designed for either two nano-SIMs or 1 nano-SIM and a flash drive). Internet speed always remains high and stable. Wi-Fi support is available only at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, which is very weak for modern gadgets.

GPS and GLONASS systems start up slowly (about 20 seconds).

Battery life

3260 milliamp hours - this is the capacity of the Vivo Y81 battery. This is enough for 4-6 hours of active use of the phone (play games and use the Internet). That is, a charged battery is enough for a whole working day. To conserve battery power, you can turn on power saving mode and lower the brightness.

For example, while playing World of Tanks Blitz, the battery drains about 20 percent per hour. It is also recorded that up to 9 hours you can watch videos without recharging.

Advantages and disadvantages of Vivo Y81

• Bluetooth 5.0;
• large amount of device memory;
• bezel-less display: bright and modern;
• good autonomy of work;
• no event display indicator;
• high power gaming processor;
• Function "Face Recognition";
• many additional features.

• no fingerprint scanner;
• no NFC;
• the display does not have an oleophobic coating;
• in the sun, the screen glares, creating a lack of visibility;
• the phone is wide, so it is not convenient to operate with one hand (for example, it is not suitable for a female hand at all);
• the camera is inferior to Samsung and LG for the same price of the phone;
• plastic case.

Vivo Y81 is a bright smartphone with good features for a small price. The lack of a fingerprint scanner and a plastic case are the biggest drawbacks of this model.But pleases quite a productive processor for this price, sufficient memory, as well as an additional slot for a flash card.