Vivo V7 Review; A Premium Phone on a Budget

Ciara Alarcon
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INTRODUCTION:

Our team already enjoyed the Vivo V7+, and we’ve agreed that it’s the best smartphone that Vivo has to offer today. Recently, the brand has unveiled the V7+’s little brother – the V7 – which is aimed at more affordable price point.

Vivo V7 Review; A Premium Phone on a Budget
Vivo V7 Review; A Premium Phone on a Budget

Offered with a lower price tag, the V7 is packed with a combination of V7+’s features and some downgrades. But considering a thin boundary between the two, is it a good thing to skip the V7+ for the V7? Here’s our full review!


PHYSICAL:

The premium V7+ and the toned-down V7 model almost look identical, as the latter still flaunts a unibody poly-carbonate housing that disguises itself as a metal casing. It is also However, the V7 now comes with a smaller size. Is it a bad news? Well, for us, we didn’t feel like it’s a downgrade. In fact, the device became handier, and now allows one-hand usage.

Vivo V7 - Front
Front

Giving a premium-looking appearance to the V7 is the seamless 5.7-inch screen, which dominates the front of the device, while the 24-megapixel front shooter, LED flash, earpiece, and sensors are located above the display. Enabling more space for the screen, the device has no capacitive keys just like other Vivo smartphones. Thus, it sports on-screen buttons for navigation.

Vivo V7 - Bottom
Bottom

Moving on, the secondary microphone occupies the top portion of the handset, while the primary mic shares its space at the bottom with the 3.5mm audio jack port, micro USB charging port, and loudspeaker.

Meanwhile, its triple card slot – which welcomes two nano SIM cards and a microSD card – is placed on the left side of the device, while the volume rockers and power/lock button are sited on the right side.

Turn the device on its back to reveal the 16-megapixel rear camera besides its LED flash. Its fingerprint scanner is thoughtfully placed at the back, too, where the index finger could easily reach it. The back also shows the brand’s logo.

Vivo V7 - Back
Back

Going back to its display, the V7 has a smaller 5.7-inch IPS screen compared with V7+’s 5.99-inch display. Nevertheless, both smartphones boast 18:9 FullView display, which means the V7 has a denser display at 282ppi as it has 1440 x 720 resolution.

Just like on the V7+, we don’t have a problem with its display. In fact, it has good viewing angles and vibrant colors, which allow us to enjoy watching videos and even playing games. On top of that, the device has good brightness even under direct sunlight. It features night mode to protect eyes, as well.

Vivo V7 - Multi Touch Test
10-Point Touch

Apart from these, it really has smooth display. It can support casual gaming, too. The V7 scored 10 on multi-touch test.


SOFTWARE:

Vivo V7 - Software
Software

Based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat, the V7 is equipped with the latest FunTouch OS 3.2. Unsurprisingly,the device has no app drawer, thus, it offers multiple home screens to accommodate your apps. Well, it’s a Vivo thing that we're all used to.

The iOS-inspired skin offers the same feature, as well. With this, when users swipe down from the top of the screen, the notification panel will be seen. On the other hand, swiping up from the bottom of the screen will bring the Control Center to you. Of course, the latter has shortcuts for settings to save you from numbers of swiping and clicks.

Meanwhile, the device comes with pre-installed apps, including Facebook, Lazada, WPS Office, UC browser and Google apps.


PERFORMANCE:

Sharing the same hardware with its bigger brother, the V7 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core processor that is clocked at 1.8GHz. It is paired with Adreno 506 GPU, as well, and is packed with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage that is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card.

To give us a preview about its performance, we ran the V7 on various benchmark apps. Here are the results:

Vivo V7 Benchmark Scores
Benchmark Scores

  • AnTuTu – 55,455
  • Geekbench (Single Core) – 776
  • Geekbench (Multi Core) – 3,958
  • 3DMark (Ice Storm) – 12,085
  • 3DMark (Ice Storm Extreme) – 7,922
  • 3DMark (Sling Shot) – 804 
  • 3DMark (Sling Shot Extreme) – 437 
  • PCMark (Work 2.0) – 4,738

Working as our primary phone, we’re not surprised with its results. Its actual performance is really good, as the device allows us to multi-task. As a heavy smartphone user, it can manage everything, from the lighter tasks to heavier ones. It can smoothly switch from app to another app, as well. During our tests, lags and crashes didn’t bother us, except when we unconsciously left a number of apps opened and running. Performance is really smooth. It can support heavy graphics, too.

See Also: Vivo V7+ Review; Plus Means A Lot


CAMERA:

As a camera-centric brand, or shall we say a selfie-centric smartphone, everything means nothing if the V7 has a bad camera. However, that will never happen with Vivo. Supposedly a “downgrade,” the V7 is still equipped with the same camera that V7+ boasts. The V7 is geared with a 16-megapixel rear camera and 24-megapixel front shooter.

Vivo V7 Camera Interface
Camera Interface

It has same features, as well, including HDR, Portrait, Live Photo, 64MP Ultra HD, PPT, Professional, Slow, Time-Lapse,Panorama, Face Beauty 7.0, and filters.

Sample Photos (Main Camera):

Vivo V7 Back Camera Sample Images
Vivo V7 Back Camera Sample Photos
Vivo V7 Main Camera Sample Photos
Vivo V7 Main Camera Sample Images

Sample Photos (Front Camera):

Vivo V7 Front Camera Sample Images
Vivo V7 Front Camera Sample Photos

Both front and rear cameras work best in places with good lighting. Its front camera is one of the best shooters on its class. It has good color accuracy, as well. However, in lowlight, noises became visible, and images became soft and could not maintain details. This is the same thing with its rear camera.


CONNECTIVITY:

Through its triple card slot, the V7 can accommodate two nano SIM cards and a microSD card. Basic connectivity features include 4G LTE, dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. All of these performed well during our test. It also has USB OTG for a more convenient connection. Also, it sports 3.5mm audio jack for multimedia.


BATTERY:

Vivo V7 Battery Score
Battery Score

From V7+’s 3,225mAh, the V7 now has a lower 3,000mAh battery capacity. Actual usage suggests that it could last for almost a day, this includes sending SMS and email, browsing web, checking our social media accounts, and some casual watching and playing games. Meanwhile, heavy or non-stop usage will shorten its battery life to almost 11 hours.

We did a video loop test to push the battery to its limit. During the process, we put its brightness and volume at its maximum level. We left its WiFi connection opened, as well. The device lasted for almost nine hours.

Meanwhile, PCMark Battery Test result shows that it will last for almost 11 hours.




CONCLUSION:

Packed with premium-like specs, the Vivo V7 might dominate the market on its level. It offers the latest 18:9 display trend, powerful performance, good camera quality, and long battery life, which are all offered for only PhP14,990.

With a thin borderline separating it from the V7+, our team highly recommends the V7, most especially for users who are after good smartphone entertainment experience. Not minding some of its “little” downgrade, having the V7 is like having a V7+ on a budget.

Update: Vivo Drops V7 Price to PhP12,990

Vivo V7 Specs:

  • Dual Nano SIM, dual standby, supports LTE connectivity
  • 5.7-inch IPS capacitive HD+ (1440x720) touchscreen 18:9 FullView display
  • Dimensions: 149.3mm x 72.8mm x 7.9mm
  • Weight: 139 grams
  • Android 7.1 Nougat with Funtouch OS 3.2
  • 64-bit 1.8GHz octa core Cortex-A53 CPU cores, Adreno 506 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 chipset
  • 4GB of RAM
  • 32GB internal storage, expandable up to 256GB via micro SD card, uses dedicated slot
  • 16MP f/2.0 PDAF main camera with LED flash, 1080p video recording
  • 24MP f/2.0 secondary camera
  • Multimedia player
  • FM Radio
  • 3.5mm audio jack
  • GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Micro USB 2.0, OTG-support
  • Bluetooth v4.2
  • Sensors: fingerprint, accelerometer, light, proximity, gyroscope
  • Battery: 3000mAh Li-Ion, non-removable
  • Price: PhP14,990
  • Color: Gold, Black

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