Last year, I reviewed the vivo V17 Pro that I absolutely loved. This was my first premium smartphone from vivo and was impressed with its build quality and overall performance.
The successor to the V17 Pro is the vivo V19 that the company unveiled in the country recently. The phone is available for Ksh 41,000. This is the same price the V17 Pro was retailing at and right around the same segment you can get the OPPO Reno 3 for. This phone is a direct competitor to the Reno 3 and they do have a lot of similarities between them.
I have been using the vivo V19 for a few weeks and in this review I am going to look at what it has to offer and if it is worth your money. If you are looking to buy the vivo V19, you probably have a ton of other options so knowing if it will be good for you is important.
Before getting into the review, below is a highlight of some of the key specifications of the phone.
- Display: 6.44-inch Full-HD+ Super AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 712
- RAM: 8GB RAM
- Storage: 128GB
- Rear cameras: 48MP + 8MP + 2MP+ 2MP
- Front camera: 32MP+ 8MP
- Battery: 4,500mAh
Read: The vivo V19 Specifications and price in Kenya
Premium Build
When looking at a phone within this price range, how it is built and its design is key. The vivo V19 is well built and feels premium. I got the silver variant that looks quite different from what we see on most smartphones these days.
It feels a bit slippery and the free silicone case provided in the box can help with that. I am not a fan on phone cases so I did not use mine that much.
The camera arrangement at the back of the phone is like what we have seen on most smartphones this year. Vivo has gone with four cameras at the back but I will get to those a bit later. There is a slight camera bump but that is not so bad.
The edges are slightly curved so holding the phone is comfortable. It is also light and it is easier to reach the edges of the display even when using the phone with one hand.
The power button and volume keys are on the right and within easy reach. The left side of the phone has the dual SIM and microSD card slot while the speaker grille, headphone jack and USB C ports are the base.
Flipping the phone to the display we get to see the 6.44-inch display with the dual front facing camera at the top right section. The front facing cameras are held in a punch hole notch that eat up some screen space and you will notice it when watching movies on YouTube or any other streaming platform.
The display
This is one of the things I love about the vivo V19. This is a 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels.
This display is just awesome, nothing about it has disappointed me except for the dual selfie camera that takes up some space. For media consumption especially when watching a video, the notch is visible and you can’t avoid this. I prefer the pop-up selfie camera vivo used on this phone’s predecessor, the vivo V17 Pro. With that setup, there was no visible notch so no distractions.
The notch aside, this display is really good, it has accurate colour reproduction and is very bright and vibrant. The quality of this display warrants the price tag if you ask me.
Software and Performance
The vivo V19 is powered by the Snapdragon 712 processor that the company has paired with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of internal storage space. The phone comes with Android 10 with Funtouch 10 on top.,
For performance, I was very impressed, the phone has handled everything with ease and no lag. I have managed to play some games including Asphalt 9 and PUBG without any problems. Compared with its predecessor, this is great and the price vivo is asking for is good value for money.
Also Read: Five Things I Love About the vivo V19
Cameras
As is with the case with most vivo smartphones, the V19 has very good cameras. At the back it has a quad setup made up of a 48MP main sensor, 8MP ultrawide sensor, 2MP macro lens and another 2MP depth sensor.
The quality of shots you get with the back camera will impress you. The saturation is so good in different lighting conditions and the dynamic range is not so bad. If you are looking for a reliable phone that you can use to take decent shots in different lighting conditions, this is it.
The battery
This is another impressive aspect of this phone. The phone has a 4500 mAh battery that I found to be sufficient for my needs. It easily lasts an entire day and in some cases even two even with heavy usage. I am not sure what software optimization tweaks vivo has implemented on this phone but it does not drain as fast as I expected it to.
The vivo V19 supports 33W fast charging and vivo’s Flash charge 2.0. With this, you can get it from 0 to about 55% in about 30 minutes. This is quite fast and useful if you are running late and want to charge up your phone before leaving the house or the office.
Now Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Review
