Last week, vivo Malaysia flew us over to Bangkok, Thailand to get an early preview of the V50, which launched in India a week before that. It’s one added sign that the phone will be coming to the local market, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now though, here’s a quick first impressions of the phone.
To start though, considering the three colour variations of the vivo V50 that we’ve seen for ourselves, at least two of them will not be available in the local market. It was first announced to be available in Titanium Grey, Starry Night and Rose Red, but the models that we’ve seen come in simply Black, Purple and Ancora Red. That last name is a lot more specific than the other two, and it feels a lot like the company’s favourite of the three.
With that in mind, this version of the vivo V50 is the one that I’ll be focusing on. Though as a whole, if you’re familiar with the V40, then one can argue that you’re also familiar with the V50.
For those who are not, the vivo V50 comes in a 6.77-inch form factor and curved sides, which make for a pretty comfortable grip. Some may not appreciate the slightly curved screen, but if it’s of any consolation the curve only starts where the bezel is, so it should not interfere with your swiping experience. That being said, it does make any screen protector you have on a fair bit more noticeable when swiping from edge to edge.
Physical feedback aside, said swiping experience should be a smooth one thanks to the 120hz refresh rate. With its peak brightness of 4,500 nits, you can also still use the phone perfectly fine under intense sunlight as I did. And while the device uses an older Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset, it’s powerful enough to not struggle at this early stage of the user experience.
I mentioned the sides earlier, but besides being just comfortably curved, it’s also got a shiny metallic sheen to it, which is an odd choice for a couple of reasons. The first is that it ends up being a stark contrast to the textured matte back, and second is that its reflective nature also makes it quite the fingerprint magnet.
Which brings us to the back of this specific vivo V50. Despite the name of Ancora Red, burgundy is probably the more accurate description. Not that it’s a bad thing, as it is definitely a looker without being bright and loud about it. That being said, the physical elements here are pretty familiar to the prior generation, from the very specific shape of the camera island down to the ZEISS branding. The ring LED light does get more space for itself, which is an aesthetic improvement.
On that note, we get to the few sample images that I managed to snap with the vivo V50 while in Bangkok. In the light, shots are generally pretty good, and the algorithm is pretty good at making colours pop without making the entire shot feel too warm. On the flip side, there’s a pretty good amount of detail retention for the most part, but when you see bits of the algorithm reducing noise, it’s pretty hard to unsee it.
As mentioned, the vivo V50 is scheduled to arrive on our shores at some point. We’ll find out what the device costs when that happens, so stay tuned or that.
