Content
- Equipment and design
- Software
- cameras
- Performance and Benchmarks
- findings
Last summer, the Vivo V21 series was released in Russia, which included two models – V21 and its younger brother V21e. For the older model, we have had a separate review for a long time , and today we will talk about the V21e. I must say that we have already talked about it – the V21e is almost no different from the V20. Only the design of the rear panel has changed, and instead of a useless plug and wide with autofocus, a camera for macro and wide without autofocus has been installed. As before, there is a bet on design, ergonomics and photography capabilities, including selfies. Let’s take a closer look?
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Specifications |
|---|---|
| Vivo V21e | |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Firmware | Funtouch OS 11 based on Android 11 |
| Screen | 6.44″, 2400×1080 pixels, 20:9, AMOLED |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G , 8 nm CPU: 2 x 2.3 GHz + 6 x 1.8 GHz GPU: Adreno 618 |
| RAM | 8 GB |
| ROM | 128 GB |
| SIM and memory card | Triple tray (2 x nano-SIM + microSD) |
| Camera | Triple Main: 64 MP, autofocus, f/1.89, video recording 2160p@30fps / 1080p@60fps Wide Angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 1080p@30fps video recording Macro: 2MP, f/2.4 |
| Selfie | 44 MP, autofocus |
| Battery | 4000 mAh |
| Charger | 33W USB Type-C |
| Wireless interfaces | Wi-Fi, 2.4/5 GHz Bluetooth 5.1 FM radio |
| NFC | There is |
| Biometrics | In-screen fingerprint scanner |
| Sound | 3.5mm audio jack |
| Waterproof | Not declared |
| Dimensions and weight | 161.24 x 74.37 x 7.38mm 171 g |
Equipment and design
Vivo V21e comes in a beautiful black and blue box with a generous bundle: the smartphone itself, a silicone case, a USB cable, a 33W charger, wired headphones (3.5mm), a SIM eject needle and documentation. Cool set of accessories! I am glad that Vivo does not save on them. On the other hand, I’m not sure you really need cheap wired headphones.
Vivo V21e is available in two colors, and if the black coloring, which I saw only on renders, looks boring, then we literally can’t take our eyes off the one we got for the test. I don’t know how, but either with the help of very clever glass processing, or with the help of a combination of textures thought out to the smallest detail, Vivo managed to achieve an amazing cubist stereo effect. I understand, of course, that cubism went out of fashion about a hundred and ten years ago, but the rear panel of the V21e looks incredibly stylish and modern. Attracts the eye. Makes you look.
And this smartphone is also very thin (7.38 mm) and light (171 g), largely due to plastic as a material for the ends. But even despite not the largest dimensions (there is a 6.44″ screen), I cannot praise the V21e for its good ergonomics – the phone is too thin and slippery, and the absolutely flat back panel does not contribute to a strong grip. However, the bundled case easily fixes everything these shortcomings, with it the device becomes convenient.In addition, the case reliably protects everything you need – there are also sides around the screen / camera, and a plug for USB Type-C.
Briefly about some elements of the case. The tray for nano-SIM / microSD is on the left and it is triple: you can insert two SIM cards and a memory card at the same time. The fingerprint scanner is located on the screen, not the fastest, but it will do (try not to remove your finger too quickly: the scanner backlight may not have time to turn off, but it is very bright). There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom. The multimedia speaker is not bad, but it takes off alone: the speaker does not participate in music playback at all and is needed, pardon the pun, only for conversations.
The 6.44″ Vivo V21e display is made using AMOLED technology, the resolution is 2400 x 1080 pixels (20:9). There is no increased hertz, which is even a bit wild in the middle class of 2021, but there is DC Dimming, and it works. The panel is good in brightness , color reproduction and other parameters – in general, except for 60 Hz, there is nothing to complain about. There is no LED indicator, but Always-On Display is supported. A protective film is applied out of the box.
Software
Inside the Vivo V21e sits Android 11 wrapped in Funtouch OS 11.1. It is a nimble, highly customizable and visually pleasing shell that has taken a big step towards pure Android in the latest generation. Now it’s mostly a pleasure to use it. “Mostly” because in some places mistranslated phrases or other jambs slip through. And all the Russian software required by law is really preinstalled here, and not offered in the form of icons for download – you have to sit and delete what you don’t use. But there is good news: Likee is no longer pre-installed.
cameras
The main camera of Vivo V21e is triple. It consists of a 64-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel wide camera without autofocus, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. Unlike the older Vivo V21, there is no optical stabilization; however, for smartphones up to 30,000 rubles, this is still a rarity. Let’s see how this trio shoots.
Impressions, to be honest, mixed. On the one hand, I like almost all the pictures at first glance – nice and rather saturated colors, good detail, minimum noise. And even night shots are good, especially if you use the night mode. But if you look closely, something is wrong with almost every second frame, and the palette of problems is very diverse. Either the picture is overexposed, then the focus is blurry (I’m photographing flowers, and the phone focuses on the grass below – seriously?), Then bright colors are confused (the same flowers are actually scarlet, but not pink at all), then oversharp is cut in, then chromatic aberrations make tree branches purple. At the same time, there are no particular problems with night shots, so when shooting in low light conditions, the V21e is really strong. I really hope that over time Vivo will solve the existing problems with software updates (they do not look like hardware), as they solved the overexposure problem with the V21.
The 8-megapixel wide lens does a good job of shooting landscapes, in particular, correcting distortion well, but you should not expect anything outstanding from it. At night, be sure to turn on the night mode – it greatly improves the photo.
But the 2-megapixel macro camera surprised me. Usually I write about such modules that they are useless, but here the main camera does not take good pictures at short distances, and the macro produces surprisingly pleasant results. So this is not a gag inserted just to have more cameras, but a really useful module.
Video on the main camera can be written in 2160p@30fps or 1080p@60fps. There is excellent digital stabilization (even without the “super stabilization” mode, you can safely write video with your hands on the go). The sound is recorded well, the autofocus is fast, the picture is detailed and natural. In general, I tend to rather praise the video part. Only two points are disappointing. Firstly, the role that is given to the width in video recording – only 1080p @ 30fps and without the ability to change the camera during the shooting. Secondly, a terrible ghosting of everything and everything on night videos, but this is a sore of any electronic stabilization.
The front-facing 44-megapixel camera is equipped with autofocus, but I still didn’t always find myself in focus when shooting selfies. As with the main module, the guidance system regularly misses. Sometimes there is not enough dynamic range, but otherwise the front camera is excellent and allows you to take really cool selfies. Separately, I was pleased with the video recording – sometimes it turns out even better than on the main camera.
Performance and Benchmarks
The hardware basis of the Vivo V21e is already very familiar to us – it’s the Snapdragon 720G, so I’ll be brief. Separately, I will only note that in addition to 8 GB of RAM in this smartphone, 3 GB of “virtual RAM” is added, allocated from permanent memory and used when there is a shortage of real RAM. Windows users have long known this “innovation” – yes, yes, this is our favorite paging file. There is almost no throttling, and the “ultra gaming mode” does not affect performance in any way – it should be used for the sake of the side menu and blocking notifications, but not for the sake of increasing fps.
Game Mode
What, by the way, with fps? Yes, everything is fine, if not to play Genshin Impact. It can be played at minimum-low settings without much suffering, but don’t expect a perfect frame rate. In the rest of the games (I also tested quite demanding ones, for example, Shadowgun Legends), everything is fine. However, you have already read this more than once in other reviews of smartphones based on the Snapdragon 720G/730/730G/732G – it’s all almost the same chip. There is heating, but it is small and does not cause discomfort.
normal mode
The capacity of the built-in battery is quite modest by today’s standards – 4000 mAh. However, I did not experience any problems because of this, and the 60 Hz AMOLED screen, combined with the traditionally good power consumption optimization for Vivo, brought excellent results. As I write this text, the phone is still not completely drained (20%), but it has almost six hours of screen in two days – mostly browser and messengers, as well as a camera and a few games. In my opinion, a good result. Synthetic figures are as follows: minus 14% for two hours of video and minus 21% for an hour in the game (Shadowgun Legends). Both tests were run with maximum brightness and mute.
The included 33W fast charger is really fast. For 10-20-30-40-50-60 minutes the charge was 21-39-56-71-86-96 percent; a full charge took about 65 minutes. It’s nice that Vivo actively distributes fast charging in the middle segment. Of the little things: Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi 5, five navigation systems (all existing except NaviC). There is NFC, you can use the device for contactless payments. The amount of internal memory is only one: 128 GB.
findings
Vivo V21e, especially in the diamond mosaic colorway that we got, is one of the most beautiful smartphones on the market, not only in the mid-range segment. Last year, at the time of release, they asked for 25,990 rubles for it. And then it could be said that the market is full of competitors with high hertz and more powerful stuffing. Now, in March 2022, the alignment has changed a lot. Many competitors ran away with the price ahead (almost x2 prices have become for Realme, Xiaomi and POCO), and Vivo is still holding on – product prices have not changed yet.
So if you’re reading this before Vivo has raised prices yet, Vivo’s “prices from the past” smartphones are very competitive and worth considering. And if Vivo has already raised prices, then analyze the situation based on your own needs.
© Oleg Lazarev. mobile phone
