Vivo V27 review

The three versions of vivo V27 family, which was unveiled a few months ago, are offered at various midrange pricing ranges. It’s time to concentrate on the V27 after previously reviewing the V27 Pro, the series’ flagship.

The standard V27, which is essentially the same phone as the Pro, replaces the higher-end model’s Dimensity 8200 with a Dimensity 7200. And that’s pretty much it. The V27 costs around 15% less than the Pro for a similar RAM configuration, reflecting the slightly less powerful chipset (a few smaller CPU cores and a few fewer GPU cores overall).

This means that the 6.78-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate that comes with the V27 is still fantastic, huge, and impressive. Along with the three back cameras – a 50MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro (if that still counts as a camera), the 50MP autofocusing selfie camera is also included. Thanks to the less demanding chip, the V27 might be able to get a little bit more endurance out of the same 4,600mAh battery, and the charging speed shouldn’t suffer either.

It’s good to know that the chipset is responsible for all of the cost savings, and the V27 still has a color-changing rear panel in some of its colour options – vivo’s party trick from a while back is still a mainstay of the lineup. The V27’s display is gently curved and also incredibly thin, two characteristics that indicate a high-end phone.

Unboxing of Vivo V27

It’s good to know that the chipset is responsible for all of the cost savings, and the V27 still has a color-changing rear panel in some of its colour options – vivo’s party trick from a while back is still a mainstay of the lineup. The V27’s display is gently curved and also incredibly thin, two characteristics that indicate a high-end phone.

The V27 will be secured right out of the box as well. A clear casing is also included in the retail package, and the display already has a screen protector coating applied.

Design

The V27 follows in the footsteps of the V23, which introduced a UV-light-sensitive, color-changing rear panel at the start of 2022, at least on some of its available hues. The sleek and light body, another stalwart of the lineup, is also here to stay.

Similar to the V27 Pro, the V27 chooses a dual-curved design where the display and rear glass both have rounded edges and come together in a remarkably thin plastic frame. Everything comes together to provide a fairly nice look and feel, yet depending on how you look at it, it may be little detrimental to grip and handling. The frame, in particular, makes lifting it up from a table a bit difficult.

Instead, let’s concentrate on the positive aspects of our Emerald Green review unit’s color-changing rear panel, which begins as a gradient with a bright greenish bottom that becomes even lighter towards the top, where a smokey, marble-like look also joins in.

Of course, that is not the final version. Just a few seconds of exposure to sunshine causes the back to take on this really dark turquoise colour. You can try to intentionally paint something on it, but just holding it will always leave non-exposed patches and produce a different result.

The V27 may also be available to you depending on where you are in the world in Magic Blue, Noble Black, or Flowing Gold (or Glow, it seems they’re still undecided). We just so happened to have the Pro in Magic Blue, and this is how they contrast when not yet exposed to UV light.

All of our colorways save for Emerald Green feature a frosted anti-glare surface, with the exception of the Flowing Gold and Noble Black colorways, which do not have the UV-sensitive treatment. The Emerald one feels like standard glossy glass to the touch, and we’d contend that this makes it slightly more grippable, however it has turned out that this greatly depends on the sort of skin you have.

Despite the fact that the three-in-a-row configuration does appear attractive, the huge camera assembly is considerably larger than what we had on the previous version. The satin-finished metal plaque (it’s metal, isn’t it? ), which unifies the entire piece, complements the ring-like flash’s attractive looks. The metal portion shines out significantly when the phone is dark since it is color-matched to the glass panel’s pre-UV-exposed state.

As we turn to look at the front of the V27, we notice that it has the same 6.78-inch OLED screen as the V27 Pro. The V27 is a cut above most of its midrange competition in terms of aesthetics thanks to its thin bezels and sloping sides.

The absence of an IP rating is less than premium; although you shouldn’t anticipate it at this price point or market sector, if the Galaxies can achieve it, perhaps its absence elsewhere merits mentioning. On what kind of glass is utilised to shield the display, we have no trustworthy information.

The V27 comes with an optical under-display fingerprint reader that is just as quick and dependable as the competition. Although its rather low posture isn’t something we particularly like, it shouldn’t be a problem once familiarity sets in.

Unsurprisingly, a selfie camera leaves a hole along the top edge of the display. There is a tiny slit that acts as the earpiece outlet directly above the screen, where the glass meets the frame. Unfortunately, there is only one of those, located on the bottom of the V27, thus it cannot also serve as a speaker.

The card slot, which is also on the bottom, can accommodate two nano SIM cards placed back to back. The V25 still featured a shared slot, but the microSD card option is no longer available. You’ll see that the card tray does have a gasket to keep water and dust out of the V27’s inside, though.

The V27’s physical controls are a power button and a volume rocker, both of which are located on the right side of the device in a narrow frame that has been slightly thickened. Despite being constructed of plastic, they still click in a reassuring manner and are simple to grasp with either hand without the need for strange finger exercises.

The vivo V27 is identical in size as the Pro at 164.1×74.8×7.4mm and is bizarrely 2g lighter at 180g. It is around 5mm higher than the V25, but 0.6mm narrower and 0.4mm thinner. This slight increase in footprint seems like a fairly fair compromise for what is a significant increase in screen size.

The V27 seems significantly more compact than blocky flat-sided rectangles like the Galaxy A54 and the Nothing Phone because to its curved sides and slender profile (1). While some devices, like the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ and Realme 10 Pro+, do a better job of packing for compactness than the vivo, we still believe the vivo has an advantage.

Display

Vivo chose to use the same display for both V27s (the V27e is still different), in contrast to the previous generation where the V25 and V25 Pro models had distinct displays. The 1,080×2,400px resolution and 20:9 aspect ratio of the 6.78-inch OLED display we have here translate to a pixel density of 388ppi. 120Hz is the highest possible refresh rate, and HDR10+ is also supported.

In comparison to the Pro, we found that the maximum brightness of the V27 was a little bit greater. The V27 can produce 1055 nits under bright light when adaptive brightness is turned on, which is a class-leading result that is nearly flagship-grade. The maximum brightness that can be manually adjusted is 497 nits, which is practically a “standard” value.

Color Accuracy

The V27’s display settings include three colour modes: the default Standard, Pro, and Bright. While the Pro mode is restricted to supporting the more constrained sRGB colour space, Standard and Bright both give a wide colour range.

We observed DCI-P3 test swatches in Standard mode and found that colour fidelity was largely satisfactory. A slight movement of the stepless colour temperature slider (about 1/3 of the way towards warm) results in a practically flawless representation. The white point and the greys were somewhat changed towards blue, but not as much as on many other phones. Instead of aiming for colour fidelity, Bright mode produces output that is blatantly vibrant.

The sRGB test swatches we served the V27 in Pro mode weren’t totally accurate; the core colours were accurate, the white and greys were excellent, but several of the other swatches were far off. Even in this mode, the average dE2000 was still quite good.

Refresh rate

The maximum refresh rate for the vivo V27 screen is 120Hz. The three fixed steps—60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz—are supported by hardware scanning apps, but no matter what we did, we couldn’t get the screen to use the 90Hz option.

Similar to what we’ve seen on the majority of contemporary phones, three modes—60Hz, 120Hz, and Smart Switch—are available in the settings.

The 60Hz option is simple; the phone’s refresh rate is set to 60Hz at all times, and all apps are limited to 60 frames per second.

Similar to how the Smart Switch mode operates, the 120Hz mode switches to 60Hz for static images, video playing (but not video UI), and incompatible programmes like Google Maps and the Camera app. Both modes employ the maximum 120Hz across the user interface and some supported apps. HFR gaming is also possible in both modes if the game is compatible with it.

On the V27 Pro, the Smart Switch setting was a little bit more constrained, but it was more appropriate for this 120Hz mode. The Pro would cap at 60Hz in Smart Switch mode, but it permitted the full 120Hz in browsers like YouTube. The same 60Hz restriction that applied to Netflix on the other model applied here.

More similarities exist between professional and non-professional HDR behaviour. For example, Netflix does not detect HDR capability on the V27 despite having an HDR10+ certified display and Widevine L1 DRM compliance.

Battery life

On the V27 Pro, the Smart Switch setting was a little bit more constrained, but it was more appropriate for this 120Hz mode. The Pro would cap at 60Hz in Smart Switch mode, but it permitted the full 120Hz in browsers like YouTube. The same 60Hz restriction that applied to Netflix on the other model applied here.

More similarities exist between professional and non-professional HDR behaviour. For example, Netflix does not detect HDR capability on the V27 despite having an HDR10+ certified display and Widevine L1 DRM compliance.

Charging speed

In contrast to the V27 Pro, which we received with an 80W adapter in the package despite the identical 66W charging capacity on the phone’s part, the vivo V27’s specifications mention a maximum charging rate of 66W, and that’s exactly what the included charger is rated for.

We recorded some quite reasonable charging times for the V27 using the supplied adapter. 53 minutes were required for a full charge from flat, 2 more than the V27 Pro. However, the non-Pro was quicker in the beginning; we obtained 49% after 15 minutes (as opposed to 42% on the Pro), and 82% in 30 minutes (71% on the Pro).

In contrast, the Realme 10 Pro+ charges only somewhat quicker than the V27, while the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ significantly outcharges the vivo. While a full charge only takes slightly longer on the Galaxy A54 than it does on the vivo, it is noticeably slower in the beginning.

Speaker test

The V27 lacks stereo speakers, continuing a pattern of Vivo midranger models that we can’t say we like. The Pro and non-Pro both have a single speaker, which is to be expected, but at this price point, neither is acceptable.

The V27 was slightly louder than the V27 Pro during our testing, but both received a ‘Average’ rating for volume, which is hardly something to be proud of. These same words can be used to describe sound quality, albeit we must admit that the non-Pro sounds substantially better than its brother, especially in the treble and bass ranges. However, the speakers on both the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ and the Galaxy A54 are far superior.

Software

Similar to the V27 Pro, the standard V27 runs Android 13 on top of Funtouch 13. Although we don’t have official confirmation of the V27’s update plans, it’s at least convenient that you start out with the most recent version of Android rather than having to wait for an upgrade.

Going from Funtouch 12 to 13 doesn’t bring about many changes, and using a vivo still feels somewhat removed from’stock’ Android, but that’s not always a bad thing.

The recent apps menu contains one of the helpful proprietary features. The regular carousel layout and a horizontal tile layout, which is similar to MIUI but only scrollable horizontally, are both options. You don’t need to search the menus for the setting; it is available right there.

The notification shade is fairly well-known, and Funtouch is avoiding Google’s huge bubble-style quick toggles in favour of these straightforward circular buttons. The Android 13 AOSP colour palette interface allows you to change the accent colour in this instance, which is set to blue by default. There is still a potent theming engine available.

The most frequently used apps are listed in an expanding recommended apps category at the top of the app drawer. By using the vertical scroller on the right, you may highlight the apps that start with the letter you’ve chosen.

There are many non-stock components across the remaining UI. Vivo has gathered a number of customization choices for the home screen, lock screen, and animation effects under the Dynamic Effects sub-menu. Even the charging and facial recognition animations are varied.

Although the settings for the always-on display are in a different sub-menu, the phone still offers a tonne of customization possibilities, including a large variety of animations, clock styles, colours, and backgrounds.

There are a few unexpected discoveries in the Sound menu. Like Samsung and its OneUI, Funtouch caters to those who have hearing issues, and you can adjust the volume so that it is audible to the elderly or those with hearing loss. Additionally, separate volume sliders are provided for notifications and calls. Both calls and notifications have separate controls for vibration intensity. However, there isn’t a system-wide equaliser accessible for the loudspeaker, which might be viewed as either a drawback or a benefit depending on your perspective. The mixture also has a toggle for Audio Super Resolution.

Along with a few new improvements, the Smart motion menu includes a number of well-known screen-on and screen-off gestures.

Although the list is limited to the camera app, turning on/off the torch, starting an audio recording, opening Facebook, or opening any custom app, holding down the volume down key can be used to launch an app or perform a specific action. For obvious reasons, the so-called Quick action functionality does not function when music is playing. But why doesn’t Quick action have a double-press option?

There is a separate Ultra Game Mode that offers everything. Most of the options are designed to minimise distractions when playing games or keep some apps from showing notifications. The option to switch off the screen and play a game in the background is one of the most exciting features that has been available on vivo phones for a while. especially beneficial for games that need “farming” or “grinding” or those that take turns.

A gallery, audio and video players, and system manager are other features of the Funtouch launcher. A specific Themes app and an iManager software with numerous system utilities are also available.

Although having all of these programmable gestures, actions, and extra features available is fantastic, we can’t help but wish that Funtouch had organised them better. This is a common issue. The current state of affairs makes it difficult to locate specific options, even when you are positive they exist; as a result, learning new things is made even more difficult.

Performances

The chipset is one of the main distinctions between the V27 and the V27 Pro. The Dimensity 7200 in the vanilla model is a smaller package even though both the Dimensity 8200 in the Pro and the 7200 are created using a cutting-edge 4nm technology.

2×2.8GHz Cortex-A715 cores and 6×2.0GHz Cortex-A510 cores are arranged in two clusters on this CPU. In contrast, the Dimensity 8200’s 1+3+4 configuration uses 4xA78 and 4xA55. Both the Galaxy A54 (Exynos 1380) and the Nothing Phone (1) (Snapdragon 778G+) rely on a 4xA78 + 4xA55 configuration (technically, it’s 1+3+4 in the Snapdragon), though neither CPU’s powerful cores can go as high as the Dimensity’s 2.8GHz. Competing smartphones typically have twice as many powerful cores as the Dimensity 7200’s processor. The Dimenstion 1080, which powers the Realme 10 Pro+ and Redmi Note 10 Pro+, is the most similar to the 7200 thanks to its configuration of 6×2.0GHz Cortex-A55 and 2×2.6GHz Cortex-A78 cores.

The Dimensity 8200 GPU in the V27 Pro has two more cores than the Mali-G610 MC4 GPU here. In theory, it’s the same configuration as the Dimensity 1080 found in the Realme and Redmi phones mentioned above, with the exception that the cores are a newer variety, just like the CPU. Additionally, there must be a difference between the 4nm and 6nm production nodes.

There are three memory setups available: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, and 256GB 12GB RAM. For this review, we have the top-spec option.

After all that discussion about CPU cores, the V27 outperforms the midrange competition in single-core GeekBench. Of course, the V27 Pro continues to have an advantage, as do certain older but still excellent flagship chipsets that may be found in phones that cost less than the V27.

The V27 performs under heavy weights as well. It is possible to see a slow rampdown in CPU performance, with dips to 90–91% of peak performance at 8 minutes in and a further drop to 80% after 20 minutes, which seems to be sustained indefinitely. The V27 didn’t seem to throttle at all throughout the 20-minute stress tests in 3DMark.

Camera

Both the front and back cameras on the vivo V27 and V27 Pro are the same. A 50MP OIS primary camera, an 8MP ultrawide lens, and a 2MP macro lens are all part of the rear system. A 50MP selfie camera with AF is on the display side.

The Sony IMX 766 1/1.56″ Quad-Bayer sensor with 1.0 m pixels serves as the primary camera. The lens in front of it has an f/1.88 aperture, a 23mm equivalent focal length, and is stabilised.

An OmniVision OV08D1 sensor (1/4″, 1.12 m) and a 16mm f/2.2 lens make up the ultrawide camera. The focal point is set.

With a fixed focus at 4 cm distant, the macro camera uses an OmniVision OV02B1 sensor behind a 24mm f/2.4 lens.

The S5KJN1 (1/2.76″, 0.64 m), a Samsung sensor with a Tetrapixel filter (Samsung’s name for Quad Bayer), produces 12.5MP images by default. The camera supports PDAF and has a 24mm f/2.45 lens attached to the sensor.

The camera app is highly recognisable because it resembles the ones found on the V and X series of phones. A simple zoom selection with steps of 0.6x, 1x, and 2x is available. By selecting the flower icon adjacent to the hamburger menu, one can access the Macro mode.

By swiping or tapping on one of the displayed modes, you can switch between the primary modes, which are grouped in a carousel pattern. The remaining modes are listed under the More menu, where you can also adjust which ones are displayed in the viewfinder.

You have complete control over the focus distance, white balance, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure in the Pro mode. On both the primary and ultrawide cameras, you can accomplish this. In case you are just going into photography, there is a “i” button where you may get helpful information outlining all of the options. Another alternative is to shoot in RAW.

Daylight photos

Although the V27 and V27 Pro share the same camera hardware, the shots we received from the V27 weren’t exactly the same as those from the V27 Pro. They remain good, mind you, just not exactly in the same manner. These, for instance, have a fine grain in the skies that we didn’t see with the Pro, but it’s so undetectable and almost film-like that it doesn’t matter and, in fact, makes us enjoy the V27 more. On the other side, the V27 Pro depicts foliage more realistically than the V27, which is still a capable performer but a little more unnatural.

Of course, the amount of detail is excellent, or more accurately, comparable to other 12-megapixel cameras. We’d say the V27 has somewhat clearer photographs than the Pro, which may be another difference between the two cameras’ natural and processed images. The auto white balance is dependable, and the colours are often extremely pleasing, with just the appropriate amount of pop without being excessive. Although the V27 does love very contrasty images, you might notice some darker shadows in more extreme settings despite the good dynamic range.

The Natural mode switch does slightly reduce colour saturation, but it doesn’t seem to change much. In essence, neither mode gives you any reason to criticise the colour.

Although we did see it resolving some extra texture in our studio test charts, the 50MP full-res mode doesn’t expose much more detail in the actual world.

The 2x zoom option produces good results in the context of such zoom implementations since it is effectively a centre crop from those full-res photos.

Ultra-wide Camera

The ultrawide camera’s modest specifications do a decent job of keeping it from being overhyped, which provides a pleasing angle from which to view its images. In fact, the quality and detail of the photographs are only passable. The colours are noticeably different from the output of the primary camera, and there is a slight lack of dynamic range in contrasty outdoor settings.

Low-light photos

The V27’s standard Photo mode does seem to take a moment to capture a picture while automatically applying Night mode processing. It’s true that we’re getting great exposures with deep shadows and moderately restrained highlights. Overall, the level of detail is really high, with only a trace of the watercoloring that characterises Night settings. The colours are fantastic, preserving the pleasant saturation levels from the daylight images, and we didn’t notice any mistakes with the auto white balance.

There are some differences brought about by the actual Night mode, most notably in the way point light sources are depicted, which is now more clearly defined and has fewer burnt-out and haloed areas surrounding it. However, the improvement in the sharpness of detail rather than the brightness of the shadows is far more appreciated. Sharpening has been turned up quite a bit to enhance the paintbrush appearance. The Night mode results, however, are quite good overall.

The global parameters and the distinctions between Photo and Night mode are unchanged at a 2x zoom level. It’s just that in this case, sharpening for zoom and sharpening for low-light processing combine, and at 1:1 magnification, things can look fairly shaky. On the other hand, these images are completely acceptable at fit-to-screen levels.

Even at fit-to-screen zoom levels, the ultrawide camera’s output is on the soft side, so you’ll probably be able to see the murky shadows. Even while Night mode in this case is more of an overall brighter exposure, your highlights will probably tend to get harsher. However, the shadows do improve in Night mode, giving them a substantial brightness increase and some semblance of depth. If you look at the areas with balanced illumination, there is a general further softening and loss of fine detail in Night mode compared to Photo mode.

Close-up

The V27’s modest 2MP macro camera really produces passable close-ups. Despite the resolution’s limitations, the detail is clear and well-defined. Contrary to the rather subdued representation we saw on the V27 Pro, the dynamic range is good and the colours are extremely bright here.

Portrait

The V27’s portrait mode is available at both 1x and 2x magnifications, with the first providing the native field of view and higher pixel quality, and the latter providing a better viewpoint. In either case, subject identification is excellent, and the default blur level is effective.

Selfie Camera

Selfies taken with the V27 are excellent. Skin tones are accurate, and detail and noise levels are outstanding. Additionally, the dynamic range is strong, ensuring that your face will be well exposed even in scenarios with strong backlighting.

Video Recording

The main rear camera on the vivo V27 can capture video in up to 4K30 resolution, but if you want 60 frames per second, you’ll have to make do with 1080p. The selfie camera has the same limitations, and the ultrawide on the rear can only record in 1080p30.

All three cameras have stabilisation, although when it’s turned on, the selfie camera can only record in 1080p30. You can select between the h.265 and h.264 codecs as usual; the former saves space while the latter is better for compatibility with a wider range of hardware and playing devices.

When recording in 4K30 and utilising the h.264 codec, the bit rate is 49Mbps (25Mbps for h.265), compared to 17Mbps and 8-ish Mbps for 1080p30, respectively. In all settings, stereo audio is recorded at 256kbps.

Our Verdict

The fancy color-changing back and slender waistline of the V27 do a great job of detracting from all the goodies that’s inside. One of those strengths is having one of the brightest displays in the midrange, yet the long battery life does conflict with the tiny design. The inexpensive chipset, while not nearly as powerful as the Pro’s, is also superior to main competitors at most tasks, which contributes to the device’s durability.

A primary unit on the rear of a good camera system excels in most situations and does a good job as a short zoom. When it comes to still photos, the selfie camera is equally difficult to match.

Even with the stabilisation turned on, the video performance is a little bit shakier—quite literally so on the main camera. Before we even discuss stabilisation, you have to decide between using EIS or shooting in 4K for selfie videos, and the result of the ultrawide is very mediocre.

The speaker is a particularly irritating oversight—virtually all competitors at this price bracket have stereo systems, but the V27 only has one speaker, and it’s a really average one. Another flaw in an otherwise complete kit is the absence of ingress protection.

The vivo V27 is a premium midranger that, in our opinion, is worth the cost.

PRO’S & CON’S