This is the Vivo V19. It’s a new mid-range device from Vivo that seems to be replacing the V17 Pro at the same asking price of 599 SGD. So let’s take a quick look at the phone, and see if it’s any good.
In terms of design, it’s pretty similar to what we’ve seen on a lot of phones this year. Small bezels on the front, glass on the back, and a pretty big camera bump at the top left corner.
It’s a slightly bigger bump compared to the V17 Pro, but the rest of the phone is actually a bit slimmer and noticeably lighter, so I think it’s actually easier to use one-handed, which is nice.
The frame still seems to be plastic, which I don’t really mind since the phone feels pretty solid. Overall, it might not be the most unique looking phone, but I do think it is pretty good looking.
Unlike the V17 Pro which has a pop-up mechanism, the V19 is just going with a camera cutout instead, which seems to be the direction that most manufacturers are taking this year.
Other than the silver outline around the front cameras which I find a little distracting at times, I don’t really mind the cut out most of the time in day to day use.
However, because it is a little wider, it can cover some important elements in games like Mobile Legends for example. So for those games, you have to change the display settings to ignore the top portion of the screen.
The V19 is running FuntouchOS 10 based onAndroid 10. I’m actually happy to see that they've adopted a more Android-like user experience. However, it still has quite a bit of bloatware, there are still some weird bugs here and there, it is still way too aggressive at killing apps.
Other than that, this is a pretty good looking screen. It’s a Super AMOLED display with nice color reproduction and decent outdoor visibility.
The optical fingerprint sensor under the screen is fast and reliable as well. Specifications wise, the V19 also comes with plenty of RAM and storage, and unlike the V17 Pro, it has a dedicated microSD card slot.
It is also nice to see a different chipset here even though the Snapdragon 712 is not exactly new or a huge upgrade. For a mid-range phone, I think it’s fine.
It still runs everything I need it to just fine, and I have no issues gaming on it as well. Even with extended gaming sessions, the phone only gets slightly warm.
So I guess the copper tube liquid cooling really does work. The bottom-firing speaker is just average sounding. It is able to get really loud but can sound a bit thin and shouty.
It would have been nice to have Stereo speakers, but at least it still has a headphone jack, which is always a nice bonus for me. Battery life is pretty decent as expected since it has a larger 4,500mAh battery.
A day of heavy use is easily achievable. It supports 33W fast charging as well which can recharge the phone from 0 to 50% in about 30 minutes.
The V19 is running FuntouchOS 10 based onAndroid 10. I’m actually happy to see that they've adopted a more Android-like user experience. However, it still has quite a bit of bloatware, there are still some weird bugs here and there, it is still way too aggressive at killing apps.
I wish that I could customize some aspects of the UI. But on the whole, it’s still a step in the right direction. There are a bunch of useful features builtin as well.
The night mode is not available for this camera as well. So in this situation, the V17 Pro with its front-facing LED actually has a slight advantage. As a whole, I think the camera setup on theV19 is actually pretty enjoyable to use and punches above its price point.
It’s still not my favorite Android experience, but with the use of a launcher and a bit of tweaking, I think it’s more than usable. The camera setup on the V19 seems largely similar to the V17 Pro, with a total of 6 cameras on the phone.
The main camera is able to capture good looking images in most lighting conditions. Even at night, it performs admirably for a phone in this price range. I noticed that Night mode seems to do a slightly better job at preserving details compared to the V17 Pro as well.
The wide-angle camera looks decent in good lighting but falls apart pretty quickly in low light, and Night mode is not supported on this camera. There is a depth sensor to help with portrait shots, as well as a macro camera for close-up shots.
However, the macro camera is not that useful since I can get better-looking results by zooming in with the main camera.
As expected from Vivo, the main selfie camera is actually pretty impressive. It has the tendency to slightly overexpose shots, but the overall image processing is quite good.
Even in less than ideal lighting conditions, it is able to capture decent looking shots, and Night mode works really well with it too.
The secondary ultra-wide-angle camera is not quite as impressive though. It is a little soft-looking most of the time and will struggle in challenging lighting conditions.
The night mode is not available for this camera as well. So in this situation, the V17 Pro with its front-facing LED actually has a slight advantage. As a whole, I think the camera setup on theV19 is actually pretty enjoyable to use and punches above its price point.
The extra cameras don’t really do much for me, but the main rear camera is decent, and the main front camera is pretty good.
Overall, I think the V19 seems like a nice upgrade from the V17 Pro. It has a nice design, good performance, decent battery life, a nice looking screen, and camera performance is decent.
The only thing that I’m not a fan of, is just that their software experience still doesn't feel as polished as some of their competitors. But other than that, the V19 seems like a solid mid-range device.
