vivo V5 review: The Oddball

Unboxing the vivo V5

The vivo V5 comes in a regular sized paper box, and it's jam-packed with accessories. There is a 2A/5V regular charger plug inside, a pretty standard microUSB cable, and a pair of earbuds. One of the paper compartments hides a silicone bumper case.

The beautiful SIM release pin is the final thing of interest.

The retail package • the bumper case • V5 with the case • V5 with the case

vivo V5 360-degree spin

The vivo V5 measures 153.8 x 75.5 x 7.6 mm - about right for a 5.5" smartphone and nearly identical to the vivo V5 Plus dimensions. The V5 is a bit taller and wider even though both V5s share the same screen measurements.

The V5 weighs 154g - all very much standard for a 5.5-inch device.

Design

We called the vivo V5 Plus an iPhone impersonator, and if you thought the company might have come up with some original design for the regular V5 - you'd be wrong. While it no longer takes its cues from the Cupertino's flagship, it recycles the already overused forms by Oppo and vivo.

You may recall Oppo, vivo, OnePlus, and imoo are part of the BBK corporation, and this could easily explain the blatant V5 similarities with the Oppo F1s, the Oppo A57, and the in-house vivo X7 and vivo Y67, among others.

Now that we've established the vivo V5 won't shine with any design innovations, we can move on to all the positive impressions from the phone.

Vivo V5

For starters, the V5 looks like it's made of metal, but a very close inspection and some tests involving a coin and some knocking led us to believe it's actually plastic. Vivo has put some effort into making it look and feel premium when it comes to exterior and touch, so we are giving it credit for that.

The entire front is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass with beveled 2.5D edges. vivo didn't specify the exact Gorilla Glass revision used here. There is a beautiful silver line emphasizing on the border between the screen and the rear panel. Similar silver strips cover the antenna bands at the back and win some extra points for good looks.

The V5 round corners and oval frame may not be the perfect shape for a secure grip, but if vivo was a house in Hogwarts, the points for those good looks should have already made Slytherin's faces turn green with envy.

Handling the V5 is a nice experience - the phone feels solid and well built. One-hand operations are possible, but not enough for some common tasks. There is a software feature that shrinks the interface to manageable dimensions, so vivo has thought of that and has provided a solution.

Handling the V5

Device overview

The V5's 5.5" display is occupying most of the front surface. The earpiece is centered above the screen, the 20MP selfie snapper is on the left, while the LED flash is on the right.

There is a trio of capacitive keys below the screen, but the Home key is the only one to get some special treatment. It has a fingerprint scanner embedded within its surface, and the always-on sensor is one of the fastest and most accurate we've encountered lately.

The front • the 20MP selfie camera • the Home ley

The Task and Back capacitive keys are around the Home key, and they light up when you wake the V5.

Only the SIM card slot sits on the left side of the phone. It's a hybrid one and takes either a nano and a micro SIM combo, or a microSD and a microSIM cards.

The usual suspects - a volume rocker and a power key - are placed on the right side of the V5.

The left side • the hybrid SIM slot • the right side • the power key

There is nothing at the top. The V5's bottom is crammed with cutouts for the audio jack, the primary mic, the microUSB port, and the loudspeaker (which gets six holes).

The top side • the bottom • the microUSB port

The 13MP camera and the LED flash at the back complete our device overview.

The 13MP camera is on the back