Vivo T1 5G review: A new budget option with many plus points

Vivo T1 5G price in India:Rs 15,990 (4 GB + 128 GB), Rs 16,990 (6GB + 128 GB), and Rs 19,990 (8 GB + 128 GB)

https://images.indianexpress.com/2020/08/1x1.png

Vivo T1 5G review: What’s good?

The Vivo T1 sports a plastic body, but the overall finish at the back is quite nice and remains smudge-free largely. I have the ‘Starlight Rainbow’ colour, which is a fancy way of saying this is a ‘blue’ coloured phone. Of course, the colour hues change depending on the light. This ‘colour-changing’ blue appears to be the big trend for phones in 2022.

The phone’s full HD+ display is more than adequate for browsing and gaming needs. It worked well under bright sunlight as I saw on two outings. Vivo is giving users the option to switch between 60 Hz, 90 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates on the phone. Vivo has a ‘Smart Refresh’ option turned on by default as well. I have not seen too many phones in this price point offer these options along with the ‘Smart Refresh’, at least among those I have reviewed.

Vivo T1 5G review: A new budget option with many plus points

The Smart Refresh decides the refresh rate based on usage scenario and power consumption. This is a useful feature. Nobody needs 120 Hz for basic tasks such as scrolling on Facebook or WhatsApp messaging.

The Vivo T1 5G in theStarlight Rainbow colour version. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)

The Vivo T1 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor. I have the 8GB RAM variant for review. All variants have 128GB storage, which is great considering the starting price. The phone also lets users expand the RAM on their devices, which has become another common feature on phones. I can utilise another 4GB of storage space to give this phone 12GB RAM. This is a dual-SIM phone with a hybrid slot of the micro SD card and a second SIM. The expandable storage support is up to 1TB.

The Vivo T1 5G gets 120 Hz refresh on the display. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)

The phone’s performance was smooth and problem-free during my review period. I played Genshin Impact on this and I was impressed by the performance. I expected a lot of stutters, but for the most part, the phone handled the game without overheating or any other such issues. The graphics were not always ideal and there were times when the screen response was not as fast as I would have preferred. But considering the price segment, I would say this does deliver well. For users who rely on this phone for their daily browsing, entertainment, the device should be more than enough.

Vivo T1 5G has a triple camera at the back.(Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)

The Vivo T1’s camera setup includes a 50MP main camera supported by a 2MP secondary camera and a 2MP macro camera. The lack of an ultra-wide-angle camera might seem like a miss for some folks, but I didn’t really care. The camera performs well if you are shooting in bright outdoors or indoors with the Night mode turned on. It manages to preserve details well, and the phone delivered some good portraits t00. The selfies likewise have good details, and with the beauty mode turned off, I found them to be better suited to my tastes.

Vivo T1 5G camera sample. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express) Vivo T1 5G camera sample taken in a dimly light room with Night mode on. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express) Vivo T1 5G camera sample taken in bright outdoors. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express) Vivo T1 5G camera sample taken in bright outdoors. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)

Vivo T1 also gets a 5000 mAh battery and this will easily last a day for most users. However, the 18W charging is a bit of a damper considering some of the other phones in the segment are offering 33W fast charging and better. It does take more than an hour for the phone to full charge.

Vivo T1: What’s not so good?

While it is good to see Vivo offer Android 12 on the device, but FunTouch OS 12 can be a cluttered experience at times. For one, I noticed that the in-built browser from Vivo kept giving notification alerts for random news articles. It took me a few tries to find a way to turn these from the drop-down menu itself. Once again, some of the pre-installed apps are just not needed and there needs to be a way to get rid of ‘Hot Apps, Hot Games’.

There were colour inconsistencies in the camera’s performance, especially with pinks and reds. The lighter pink flowers in the photos are just too washed out and even with the brighter red flowers, the results are too sharp. I noticed these colour issues when taking pictures in Night mode as well. The Buddha statue in particular looks very yellow, which is not the case. Once again the macro mode remains utterly useless, no matter the lighting. It just cannot handle colours or details, no matter the subject.

Vivo T1 5G camera sample taken outside. The reds and pinks are not entirely accurate in this photo. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express) Vivo T1 5G sample where the picture has an unnecessary yellow tinge. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)

Vivo T1: Verdict

The Vivo T1 makes a strong proposition considering the starting price of Rs 15,990. Plus, the 6GB RAM version only costs Rs 1000 more than the base version, so this is very carefully priced. It will compete against the Realme 9 Pro (starting at Rs 17,990) which also has the same processor as the T1. Another competitor will be the Redmi Note 11S (starting at Rs 15,499).

The Vivo T1 has some good points in its favour. The display and performance are strong points, the camera is not too bad, and the battery size is adequate. The device can handle some of the resource-heavy games, though if you really start pushing it, you can see the phone struggle. But again, this is competing in the Rs 20,000 segment, so to expect a flawless performance here would be too much.