The Vivo V5 lineup came to local markets with much fanfare. Of course, this happened thanks to their grand claim of being able to provide ‘The Perfect Selfie’. Which, of course, begs the question, can the Vivo V5 Lite do it?
The Vivo V5 Lite comes fresh out of the box with:
- Vivo V5 Lite (1 pc)
- Vivo V5 Lite clear protective jelly case (1 pc)
- Pin for opening SIM card holder (1 pc)
- Earphones (1 pair)
- USB Travel Charger (1 pc)
- micro-USB charging cable (1 pc)
- User Manual (1 pc)
In my past reviews, notably that of the Cherry Mobile Flare Infinity, I disliked the white lines added to the back of the phone. Unfortunately it comes back for the Vivo V5 Lite. In all honestly, I still don’t like it.
However, I may just have to get used to this aesthetic becoming the norm for smartphones in the foreseeable future. At the very least, the lines are minimal, a horizontal one on the top, and another on the bottom. I gave greater attention to the overall metallic look and smooth feel of the V5 Lite’s body, which I liked. I also enjoyed the free protective jelly case that came with the phone. Because it was clear, it did not impede on how the phone looked, and the device feels sturdier overall. Basically, despite being the cheaper of the three V5 units from Vivo, there still remains a solid ‘premium’ feel from the device.
The front looked standard, with white bezels that weren’t too thick, and the front camera situated nicely on the top bezel. Unlike past smartphones I reviewed, however, there were physical buttons this time. This means Vivo wasted no bezel space for the Vivo V5 Lite. Meanwhile, the back portion features a Vivo logo at the center, while the main camera and its flash are on the top left. Additionally, the left side of the phone features the SIM card slot, and the right side sports the lock and volume buttons.
Another thing that stuck out for the V5 Lite was the bottom part of the phone. It crammed together the micro-USB port, the headphone jack, and the speaker grill. An interesting decision, to be sure, as they could have put the headphone jack on the top.
The Vivo V5 Lite runs on Funtouch 3.0, based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. For the first few minutes of me flipping around the interface, it felt fluid, and I really liked how there was virtually no bloatware. You get the essentials of any Android phone, and that’s it. To put it in abstract terms, there’s a certain harmony to the UI that feels really good when it’s used. By extension, you could probably assume that the same goes for the regular V5 and the V5 Plus.
By virtue of being labeled ‘Lite’, one can easily assume that the Vivo V5 Lite touts weaker specs than the other V5’s. However, the chipset for the Lite does not differ at all from the V5. V5 Lite buyers still get a 64-bit MediaTek MT6750 octa-core CPU clocked at 1.5GHz. Not only that, but the Mali-T860 GPU remains as well. The only major differences, then, would be the Lite’s RAM going down to 3GB and the lack of a fingerprint scanner. When you think about it, this isn’t much of a downgrade. The Vivo V5 Lite, then, provides comparatively good performance for a lower price.
The ‘good performance’ reflects in my playthroughs of Super Mario Run and Dead Trigger 2. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but lag was few and far in between. I would assume any other mobile game with graphics that aren’t too demanding could play well on this device. With that, here are some benchmark numbers:
- AnTuTu: 41,662
- 3DMark (SlingShot Extreme): 313
- PCMark (Work v1.0): 3,873
Now, let’s talk about what is arguably the bread and butter of the Vivo V5 series, the selfie camera. Does it really provide the ‘perfect selfie’ as promised? From my perspective, well, it sorta does!
By ‘sorta does’, I mean that the V5 Lite brings a lot of selfie-enhancing features to the table. Primarily appearing in the form of beautification features, these enhancements help produce high-quality selfies. Enhancements include adjusting skin tone, whitening, and blemish removal. But that’s not all, as a ‘Selfie Softlight’ acts as a ‘flash’ to help users take pictures in low-light situations. These result in high-quality selfies with enhancements that only serve to make the photo look better. The Vivo V5 lineup’s selfie cameras will definitely enhance the social media lifestyle of anyone who regularly likes posting photos online.
My only complaints for the beautification mode is that other brands have similar modes and there’s nothing truly outstanding to separate the V5 line. Additionally, going overboard with the beautification features may also cause your pictures to come out blurred. But these are minor issues in comparison to two competent cameras on a single phone. In fact, the rear camera produces photos with little noise, vibrant colors, and good detail, with a quality of 13-megapixel. This is actually smaller than the selfie camera, which is 16-megapixels.
Here are some sample photos taken with the Vivo V5 Lite:
Vivo V5 Lite sample selfie shot
With beautification feature turned on
Finally, in terms of battery life, the V5 Lite gets the same battery as the V5 at 3,000 mAh. Performance-wise, it should last users a little over 9 hours with mobile data on and casual use. Meanwhile, the video loop test with reduced brightness and no mobile data on lasted almost thirteen hours. In comparison to phones reviewed before, this looks promising for Vivo.
Overall, the Vivo V5 Lite proves to be a great first foray into the Vivo brand. Priced moderately at Php 9,990, buyers will get a phone that’s perfect for social media. Expect endless selfies with something like the V5 Lite, and plus points for being almost as powerful as the V5 itself.
+ Decent pricing for specs
+ Despite being ‘Lite’, specs almost at par with regular V5
+ Good selfie camera
+ Decent beautification options
+ Good battery life
+ UI looks good
-Not the biggest fan of the back design, despite feeling ‘premium’
-No fingerprint sensor, unlike V5 and V5 Plus
Vivo V5 Lite Specs
| OS | Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Funtouch OS 3.0 |
| Processor | 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750 octa-core CPU |
| Memory | 3GB RAM |
| Display | 5.5-inches |
| Storage | Expandable 32GB onboard storage, via microSD |
| Camera | 13-megapixel rear camera +16-megapixel 'Perfect Selfie' front camera |
| SIM | Dual-SIM |
| Battery | 3,000 mAh |
| Others | Softlight Camera, LTE, Smart Engine 2.0 |
| Price | PHP 10,990 |
More photos of the Vivo V5 Lite:
