vivo V27 review

Funtouch 13 on top of Android 13

Just like the V27 Pro, the vanilla V27 runs Funtouch 13 on top of Android 13. We don't have official confirmation on the V27's update plans, but it's at least nice that you get the current Android version from the get-go instead of waiting for it to arrive as an update.

There's not a lot of changes going from Funtouch 12 to 13, and using a vivo remains an experience relatively detached from 'stock' Android, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • Settings menu

One of the useful proprietary features can be found in the recent apps menu. You can choose between the standard carousel formation and a horizontal tiles layout - sort of like MIUI, only scrollable horizontally. The setting is available right then and there - you don't need to look for it in the menus.

Recent apps • Recent apps • Pop-up • Spilt screen

The notification shade is pretty familiar, and Funtouch is staying away from Google's large bubble-style quick toggles - it's simple circular buttons here. The default accent color here is blue and can be controlled via the Android 13 AOSP color palette interface. A powerful theming engine is still present.

The app drawer has an expandable recommended apps category on the top (most commonly used ones), whereas using the vertical scroller on the right would highlight the apps beginning with the selected letter.

Notification shade • Quick toggles • App drawer • Scroll by letter • Widgets next to the app drawer

The rest of the UI has plenty of non-stock bits. In the Dynamic Effects sub-menu, vivo has grouped a bunch of customization options for the home screen, lock screen and animation effects. There are even various charging and facial recognition animations.

Dynamic effects

The always-on display settings are in a different sub-menu, but the phone still gives you plenty of options to tinker with - a wide selection of animations, clock styles, colors, backgrounds.

Always-on display

The Sound menu holds a few pleasant surprises. Just like Samsung and its OneUI, Funtouch takes care of people with hearing problems, and you can calibrate the sound to be heard by elderly people or those with impaired hearing. Additionally, notifications and calls get separate volume sliders. The vibration intensity can be adjusted for calls and notifications independently. No system-wide equalizer is available for the loudspeaker, though, which could be either a negative or a positive, depending on how you look at it. An Audio Super Resolution toggle is thrown into the mix.

Sound options

The Smart motion menu holds a handful of familiar screen-on and screen-off gestures along with some new additions.

Smart motion menu

Holding the volume down key can be used to launch an app or do a certain task, although the list is limited to the camera app, turning on/off the torch, start recording audio, open Facebook, or open any custom app. The so-called Quick action feature doesn't work when playing music for obvious reasons. Why isn't there a double-press option for Quick action, though?

Shortcuts and accessibility • Quick action • S-capture • Screen-split • Easy Touch

A dedicated Ultra Game Mode is available, and it has it all. Most of the features are about mitigating disturbance during gameplay or preventing certain apps from displaying notifications. One of the most intriguing features that have been around on vivo phones for a while is the ability to turn off the screen and keep the game running in the background. Especially useful for turn-based games or those requiring some sort of "farming" or "grinding".

Ultra Game mode

The Funtouch launcher also offers its own gallery, audio and video players, and system manager. There is also a dedicated Themes app and an iManager app with various system tools.

Albums • Video • Music • Manager • Manager • Themes

Having all of these customizable gestures, actions and additional features around is cool, but we can't help but wish that Funtouch would have done a better job of organizing them - and that's been a recurring complaint. As things currently stand, it is hard to find certain options, even when you know for a fact that they exist and consequently, discovering new things is even harder.

Performance and benchmarks

One of the key differences between the V27 and the V27 Pro is the chipset. While both the Dimensity 8200 in the Pro and the Dimensity 7200 in the vanilla model are made on a modern 4nm process, the 7200 is a more modest package.

The CPU here has a two-cluster configuration with 2x2.8GHz Cortex-A715 cores and 6x2.0GHz Cortex-A510 cores. Compare that to the 1+3+4 setup on the Dimensity 8200 with its 4xA78 and 4xA55. The CPUs in competing phones typically have twice the number of powerful cores that you'd find in the Dimensity 7200's processor - 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), albeit neither CPU's powerful cores can go as high as the Dimensity's 2.8GHz. The Dimensity 1080 that powers the Realme 10 Pro+ and the Redmi Note 10 Pro+ is the closest to the 7200 with its 2x2.6GHz Cortex-A78 cores and 6x2.0GHz Cortex-A55 arrangement.

The Mali-G610 MC4 GPU here is two cores short of the GPU in the V27 Pro's Dimensity 8200. It's, in principle, a similar setup to the one in the Dimensity 1080 of the Realme and Redmi above, only it's the newer type of cores, like it's the case with the CPU. Also, the 4nm vs. 6nm production node can't not make a difference.

Three memory configurations exist - 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, and 256GB 12GB RAM, and we have the top-spec variant for review.

After all that CPU core talk, sure enough, in single-core GeekBench the V27 outperforms the midrange competition. The V27 Pro still has an edge, of course, as do some older but properly flagship-grade chipsets you can find in handsets for V27 money.

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9
  1143
• Realme GT2
  1131
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  1073
• OnePlus 11R 5G
  1060
• vivo V27 Pro
  996
• Realme GT Neo3
  968
• vivo V27
  887
• vivo V25 Pro
  858
• Realme 10 Pro+
  842
• Nothing Phone (1)
  820
• Galaxy A34
  781
• Galaxy A54
  770
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  767
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  758
• vivo V25
  716

GeekBench 6 (single-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  1399
• vivo V27 Pro
  1201
• vivo V27
  1181
• Galaxy A34
  1034
• Galaxy A54
  1008
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  960
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  958

In multi-core tests, the V27 concedes a few spots in the charts, and is overtaken by the Galaxy A54 and the Nothing Phone (1). The vivo still maintains an advantage over the Realme 10 Pro+ and the Redmi 12 Pro+, though.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo3
  4079
• vivo V27 Pro
  3933
• OnePlus 11R 5G
  3608
• iQOO 9
  3503
• Realme GT2
  3487
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  3458
• Nothing Phone (1)
  3024
• Galaxy A54
  2703
• vivo V25 Pro
  2521
• vivo V27
  2400
• Realme 10 Pro+
  2371
• Galaxy A34
  2316
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  2229
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  2208
• vivo V25
  2023

GeekBench 6 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  3913
• vivo V27 Pro
  3421
• Galaxy A54
  2797
• vivo V27
  2689
• Galaxy A34
  2518
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  2372
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  2372

In Antutu, the V27 maintains a marginal advantage over the Phone (1) and is somewhat more noticeably ahead of the rest of its potential rivals. Again, if you're after better performance, older top-tier Snapdragon may be found in the ballpark of the V27's asking price.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  953897
• iQOO 9
  852898
• vivo V27 Pro
  846767
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  827929
• Realme GT Neo3
  819348
• Realme GT2
  810512
• vivo V25 Pro
  704090
• vivo V27
  613641
• Nothing Phone (1)
  592789
• Realme 10 Pro+
  522376
• Galaxy A54
  506678
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  498710
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  490526
• Galaxy A34
  472126
• vivo V25
  461428

A similar divide can be observed in graphics benchmarks too. The V27 scores higher than all of its midrange rivals and does so by meaningful margins - often up to twice as high. Conversely, proper high-end chipsets in slightly older phones do outperform the vivo.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  52
• vivo V27 Pro
  45
• iQOO 9
  43
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  43
• Realme GT Neo3
  42
• Realme GT2
  40
• vivo V25 Pro
  33
• vivo V27
  30
• Nothing Phone (1)
  23
• Galaxy A54
  19
• Galaxy A34
  17
• vivo V25
  16
• Realme 10 Pro+
  16
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  16
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  16

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  47
• vivo V27 Pro
  29
• iQOO 9
  28
• Realme GT Neo3
  27
• Realme GT2
  27
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  26
• vivo V25 Pro
  21
• vivo V27
  20
• Nothing Phone (1)
  15
• Galaxy A54
  13
• vivo V25
  11
• Galaxy A34
  11
• Realme 10 Pro+
  11
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  11
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  11

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  54
• vivo V27 Pro
  45
• iQOO 9
  44
• Realme GT Neo3
  43
• Realme GT2
  38
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  35
• vivo V27
  33
• vivo V25 Pro
  28
• Nothing Phone (1)
  23
• Galaxy A54
  19
• Galaxy A34
  16
• vivo V25
  15
• Realme 10 Pro+
  15
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  15
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  15

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  51
• iQOO 9
  31
• vivo V27 Pro
  30
• Realme GT2
  30
• Realme GT Neo3
  28
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  23
• vivo V27
  21
• vivo V25 Pro
  19
• Nothing Phone (1)
  16
• Galaxy A54
  13
• vivo V25
  10
• Galaxy A34
  10
• Realme 10 Pro+
  10
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  10
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  10

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9
  65
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  62
• OnePlus 11R 5G
  60
• vivo V27 Pro
  57
• Realme GT2
  56
• Realme GT Neo3
  53
• vivo V25 Pro
  42
• vivo V27
  34
• Nothing Phone (1)
  33
• Galaxy A54
  25
• Galaxy A34
  23
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  22
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  22
• vivo V25
  21
• Realme 10 Pro+
  21

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  104
• iQOO 9
  74
• Realme GT2
  68
• vivo V27 Pro
  63
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  63
• Realme GT Neo3
  60
• vivo V25 Pro
  48
• vivo V27
  40
• Nothing Phone (1)
  37
• Galaxy A54
  31
• Realme 10 Pro+
  27
• vivo V25
  26
• Galaxy A34
  26
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  26
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  26

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9
  110
• vivo V27 Pro
  101
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  82
• vivo V25 Pro
  67
• vivo V27
  61
• Realme GT Neo3
  60
• OnePlus 11R 5G
  60
• Realme GT2
  60
• Nothing Phone (1)
  58
• Galaxy A54
  46
• Galaxy A34
  41
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  40
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  40
• Realme 10 Pro+
  38
• vivo V25
  37

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  184
• iQOO 9
  126
• Realme GT2
  115
• Realme GT Neo3
  111
• vivo V27 Pro
  109
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  81
• vivo V25 Pro
  70
• vivo V27
  68
• Nothing Phone (1)
  65
• Galaxy A54
  52
• Realme 10 Pro+
  45
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  45
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  45
• Galaxy A34
  44
• vivo V25
  43

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• vivo V27 Pro
  6611
• Realme GT2
  5879
• iQOO 9
  5814
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  5797
• Realme GT Neo3
  5428
• vivo V25 Pro
  4497
• vivo V27
  4138
• Nothing Phone (1)
  2921
• Galaxy A54
  2818
• Galaxy A34
  2313
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  2255
• Realme 10 Pro+
  2252
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  2248
• vivo V25
  2173

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 11R 5G
  2807
• vivo V27 Pro
  1790
• vivo V27
  1156
• Galaxy A54
  808
• Galaxy A34
  636
• Redmi Note 12 Pro
  630
• Redmi Note 12 Pro+
  630
• Realme 10 Pro+
  622
• vivo V25
  612

The V27 excels under prolonged loads too. A gradual rampdown in CPU performance can be observed, with drops to 90-ish percent of peak performance some 8 minutes into it, and a further drop to 80% at the 20-minute mark, which appears to be sustainable indefinitely. The 20-minute stress tests in 3DMark didn't appear to cause any throttling on the V27 either.

CPU Throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test