Vivo Y71 Review; Your Next Budget Smartphone?

INTRODUCTION:

Aside from delivering premium-like selfie-centric smartphones, Vivo is also good at offering budget-friendly devices that still pack capable specs. Recently, the mobile manufacturer launched the Vivo Y71 – an affordable handset that comes with toned-down features.

Vivo Y71 Review; Your Next Budget Smartphone?

Compensating some of its offerings, is it still worth your attention? Here’s our take!


PHYSICAL:

If you’re familiar with the V7+, you’d agree that the Y71 shares almost the same look with the former. Although it is marked with a more affordable price tag compared to other Vivo phones, it still doesn’t look cheap. Comes with a curved unibody design with matte finish, it is dressed with a plastic construction that disguises itself as a metal. Hence, the handset appears simple yet classy. Surprisingly, our team didn’t mind the absence of a protective case, as it didn’t attract much fingerprints and smudges. However, it’d be risky for some because it has slippery body, so, solid grip is still needed.

5MP Selfie Snapper

Its front flashes a 6-inch HD+ IPS display with 18:9 screen aspect ratio. As usual, its 5-megepixel front camera, speaker, and sensors are located above the panel. The phone uses an on-screen navigation keys, so, the space below the screen is left unoccupied.

On-Screen Navigation Keys

Its right side accommodates the power/lock button and its volume rocker, while its triple card tray is sited on the left.

Power/Lock Button and Volume Rockers

The bottom part of the device houses its 3.5mm audio port, microphone, speaker grilles, and micro-USB port.

8MP Main Camera w/ LED Flash

Flip the device on its back to reveal its protruding 13-megapixel main shooter accompanied with its LED flash. It flaunts the Vivo branding, as well. Unfortunately, the device lacks a fingerprint sensor.

DISPLAY:

Multi-Touch Test Score

Going back to its display, the Y71 offers a 6-inch HD+ IPS display with 1440 x 720 pixels, which translates to 268ppi. It comes with the well-appreciated 18:9 screen aspect ratio, giving off a wide viewing experience to users. It delivers good viewing angle, decent brightness in both indoors and outdoors, and accurate colors, as well. Moreover, it is capable of playing videos and games with heavy graphics.

The device scored 5 on multi-touch test.


SOFTWARE:

Software

The Y71 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo operating system with FunTouch OS 4.0 on top of it. As you navigate the device, you’d appreciate its colorful interface. The device has no app drawer, hence, it features multiple home screens to house your applications. Anyway, you can still organize it by simply creating app folders. Just like other Vivo phones, it comes with an iOS-like navigation, as swiping down from the top will show your notifications while swiping up from the bottom will reveal the control settings.

Its pre-installed apps ate too much of our internal storage, as it left us with only 7GB to play around with. The pre-installed apps include native Google apps, Facebook, WPS Office, Lazada, and some Vivo apps.

See Also: Vivo X21 to Unlock Exceptional Innovation in PH!

PERFORMANCE:

Vivo packed the Y71 with a dated Snapdragon 425 processor paired with Adreno 308 graphics. Our team received a variant that is coupled with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Having these things on our mind, we still ran it on various benchmark apps to give us an overlook with its raw processing power.

Here are the results:

Benchmark Results

• AnTuTu – 45165
• Geekbench – 672 (Single Core)
• Geekbench – 1834 (Multi Core)
• PCMark Work 2.0 – 3253
• 3DMark – 5987 (Ice Storm Unlimited)
• 3DMark – 3623 (Ice Storm Extreme)
• 3DMark – 68 (Sling Shot)

The phone gave us a decent performance. We’re able to multitask using the Y71, however, we noticed some lags when we switched from one app to another. To get rid of this, you can simply close the running apps on the background.

During our tests, its face unlock technology works fine in well-lit settings, but it can hardly recognize us in low-light scenarios. Still, it'd be better if Vivo still arms the Y71 with a fingerprint sensor.

In terms of gaming, it could support games with heavy graphics, including Tekken. Meanwhile, heavy and long usage would cause warming up of its back. Nevertheless, it isn't a serious matter to mind.


CAMERA:

The Y71 sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and a 5-megapixel selfie snapper. Its main camera offers various modes, including HDR, Face Beauty, Professional, Panorama, and Live Photo. On the other hand, its front camera has Group Selfie, Face Beauty, and Portrait Bokeh modes.

Camera

Both of its front and rear cameras are able to deliver good photos. While it’s obvious that its quality isn’t good as other Vivo phones, it can still satisfy you with its performance.

Camera Settings

Sample Photos:

Camera Test (W/ HDR)

Outdoor

Night Shot w/ HDR

Night Shot

Night Shot

Macro

Outdoor

Outdoor 

Selfie

Selfie

Basically, its main snapper can shoot images with sharp details and accurate colors. Its autofocus is fast in both well-lit and low-lit scenarios, as well. However, noises became visible in places with bad lighting.

Its selfie camera is impressive for its class, too, as it delivers clear yet natural-looking self-photos.

Related: Vivo X21 to Unlock in PH Soon; First Sample Photos


CONNECTIVITY:

The Y71 is a dual-SIM device that supports 4G LTE connectivity. It also comes with basic connectivity features, including WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. We never had a problem working with these features, considering that we also have a good signal reception.

Other connectivity features include microUSB 2.0 with OTG function, and 3.5mm audio port.

BATTERY:

PCMark Battery Test Result

To accompany users on their mobile activities, the Y71 boasts a 3360mAh battery. Our actual usage suggests that it can last for almost 12 hours. This includes sending SMS and emails, browsing of social media accounts, and casual gaming. However, continuous usage will shorten its battery life to just six hours.

We ran it on PCMark Battery Test and it scored 7 hours and 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, charging the device always took more than two hours.


CONCLUSION:

Vivo Y71

If you’re going to ask us if the Y71 is a good phone, the answer is obviously yes. However, the phone might be considered pricey for its class, as its offerings can also be found on cheaper smartphones. The handset gave us a decent overall performance, though. It has good display, impressive cameras, and long battery life.

Available in 2GB and 3GB RAM variants, the Y71 sells for Php7,990 and Php8,990, respectively.

Vivo Y71 Specs:

• Dual(Nano+Nano) SIM, dual standby, supports 4G/LTE connectivity
• 6-inch FullView (18:9 aspect ratio) IPS HD+ (1440x720) capacitive touchscreen display
• Dimensions: 155.9mm X 75.7mm X 7.8mm
• Weight: 150 grams
• Funtouch OS 4.0 based on Android 8.1 Oreo
• 1.4GHz 64-bit quad core Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 308 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset
• 2GB/3GB of RAM
• 16GB internal storage, expandable up to 256GB via a micro SD card, dedicated slot
• 13MP f/2.0 auto focus main camera with LED flash, 1080p video recording at 30fps
• 5MP f/2.2 secondary with screen flash
• Multimedia player
• 3.5mm audio jack
• FM radio
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth v4.2
• Micro USB 2.0 with OTG function
• Sensors: accelerometer, proximity, light, gyroscope
• Battery: 3360mAh Li-Ion, non-removable
• Color: black, gold
• Price: Php7,990/Php8,990