vivo V11 review

The Competition

The vivo V11 is certainly one of the most interesting smartphones we've reviewed lately. In the fiercely competitive mid-range market the V11 manages to have a bunch of stand-out features, which is an achievement on its own.

There's not another phone out there for that price to offer under-display fingerprint scanner and a characteristic waterdrop notch. Add those gradient paintjobs in the mix and this is an instantly recognizable phone and mostly for the right reasons too.

Oppo R17 • Oppo F9 (F9 Pro) • Huawei Honor Play • Xiaomi Pocophone F1 • Xiaomi Mi 8 SE

In fact the closest you can get is the inhouse competition in BBK and chances are these phones won't cross paths. Oppo, for example is selling the R17, which has the same OLED screen with the cool notch and UD fingerprint reader, an even better Snapdragon 670 chip, identical camera and battery life. The R17 is a little bit more expensive, but it makes up for that with a faster chipset, native 4K video capturing and Gorilla Glass 6 body.

The diamond-patterned Oppo's F9 is a cheaper version of the R17 but also more affordable than the V11 - it swaps the OLED for an LCD panel but keeps the waterdrop notch. The chipset in the F9 is Helio P60, which is pretty much identical in performance to the Snapdragon 660. The dual-camera setup is present, as well as the 25MP selfie shooter. The Oppo F9 doesn't have a fingerprint under its screen - it's a regular sensor on the back, but the F9 is cheaper than the V11 and that's alright.

The Honor Play is a very cheap all-metal smartphone. It has a large screen with a large notch, but it's superior to the V11 when it comes to performance. It's a gaming-oriented smartphone so it's probably angled at a different crowd, though.

There is no way we miss to mention the Pocophone F1 by Xiaomi. It's way more powerful with its Snapdragon 845 and packs a bigger battery. It settles for an LCD screen, a conventional rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and a far less exciting design. The Pocophone also shines with stereo speakers and advanced internal cooling, and even FM radio, and while not advertised - the Poco F1 is also splash-protected. Sure, the Poco is not as pretty as the vivo, but is still as impressive, if not more.

Finally, the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE comes close to the vivo's price. It has a glass body with metal frame, a smaller but still AMOLED screen, and similar camera experience. The Mi 8 SE has a slightly superior Snapdragon 710 chipset and infrared face unlock and it's a worthy consideration if you are a MIUI fan.

The Verdict

The vivo V11 is a pioneer of sorts with all the advantages and drawbacks that entails. vivo is keen on using the fingerprint scanners under those OLED screens and we are more than happy with this combo in spite of the sensor's sketchy experience.

The V11 is a looker, that's for sure, as those gradient paintjobs turned out to be the next big thing in designs, as big as them notches. And about that notch - other makers may as well copy vivo on the notch design. It's not exactly vivo's idea, but still extra points for bringing it back and on an affordable smartphone at that.

The only issue you may encounter with the vivo V11 is the pricing and availability - chances are it will only hit a few markets and command a huge premium everywhere else. vivo is yet to unveil the complete details, but fingers crossed we get a wider rollout as we really need more stand-out phones and the V11 is one such.

Pros

• Superb Super AMOLED screen with a very tiny notch
• Powerful and efficient Snapdragon 660 chip with 6GB of RAM
• Excellent battery life, fast charging
• The fingerprint sensor is under the display
• Very good daylight photos, class-leading selfies

Cons

• The fingerprint reader experience is a mixed bag
• Funtouch could use some polishing and streamlining
• Plastic and slippery frame
• microUSB port. C'mon, vivo!