vivo V7+ review

Introduction

FullScreen, FullView, FullVision - call it whatever, but the 18:9 display with trimmed bezels has turned out the next big thing this year and vivo's V7+ is riding this wave. The maker may be a bit late for the Full-something bandwagon, but it is among the first to offer the trending feature onto a mid-ranger smartphone.

With the V7+ the maker also keeps its traditional focus on the selfie photography and offers yet another impressive shooter capable of creating a simulated defocused background. But that won't be enough to beat the V5+ bokeh king. Not even the honor of being chosen as the official smartphone for World Cup 2018 in Russia. But a trending FullView screen might just do it.

The V7+ is also the premiere of Qualcomm's latest 14nm chip - the Snapdragon 450. It has an unimpressive octa-core A53 processor, but the Adreno 506 GPU and the new dual ISPs with native bokeh support are some welcome updates. There is also a new faster LTE modem and the V7+ comes with a tri-slot for two SIMs and a microSD cards, so you can fully utilize the phone's capabilities. And the base 64GB storage is much appreciated, too.

vivo V7+ key features:

• Body: Plastic unibody; 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass 4 front
• Screen: 5.99-inch 18:9 IPS LCD of 720 x 1,4400 resolution; 269ppi;
• Chipset: Snapdragon 450 chipset; octa-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; Adreno 506 GPU;
• Memory: 4GB RAM; 64GB of built-in memory; dedicated microSD card slot;
• Camera: 16MP rear camera; f/2.0 lens; phase-detect AF; single LED flash; 1080p video
• Selfie cam: 24MP front camera; f/2.0 lens; single LED flash; bokeh effects
• OS: Android 7.1.2 Nougat, Funtouch OS 3.2 on top
• Battery: 3,225mAh battery
• Connectivity: Dual nano SIM slot; Cat. 6/13 LTE support; Wi-Fi g/b/n; Bluetooth 4.2; GPS with GALILEO; FM radio
• Misc: Fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock

Main shortcomings

• 720p resolution is a bit of a stretch on a 6" screen
• No NFC and no fast charging
• Single-band Wi-Fi
• Older Micro USB port

While the Snapdragon 450 has a modern Wi-Fi chip, vivo chose to cover just the basics and didn't utilize the dual-band feature. No NFC and no fast charging are also somewhat of a turn-off. But while the resolution might be stretching at 6", the pixel density is still pretty tolerable, and we expect no pixelization whatsoever.

We are thrilled to check this new Qualcomm chip in action and see how things will work out with the new FullView screen in some gaming sessions. And knowing vivo, we already have some high hopes for that 24MP selfie eye. Shall we begin?