vivo Philippines, now ranked among the top 5 smartphone companies in the country, released its newest entry-level device the vivo Y02s.
Priced at P6,499 it faces stiff competition from other brands with similar priced offerings, so what makes the vivo Y02s worth considering?
We’ve been using it for the past week and here’s what we think of its design, display, camera’s performance, and battery life to help you decide if it could satisfy your inner Technivore.
DEVOUR:
Premium looking finish
Good Solid Build
Long Battery Life
Surprisingly good selfie camera
USB-type C charging
DISLIKES:
Performance can get sluggish at times
No fast charging
Rear camera could have been better
UNBOXING: What’s in the box?
The vivo Y02s comes in the standard vivo white box with the branding on the bottom edge and the Y02s label on top. Lift the box cover to find the smartphone unit, warranty card, quickstart guide, a 10W charger, USB type-C cable for charging & data transfer and SIM ejector pin.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with a pair of earphones or a jelly case, so it would be wise to check which store has the most bundled freebies if you do plan on getting the Y02s to get the best deal.
BUILD AND DESIGN
If there’s one thing vivo has always been consistent with, it’s creating nice-looking phones whatever the price point. Despite being an entry-level device the vivo Y02s mimics the design trend of 2022, which is having a boxy design with flat sides that will remind you of the latest iPhone 13 series.
The rear panel of the Y02s makes it look more premium with two equally good color options: Fluorite Black and Vibrant Blue. The fluorite Black texture gives off a classy shine which injects even more depth and elegance into this timeless color. While the clear blue shade of the Vibrant Blue variant comes alive with a pattern of dancing waves, rejuvenating you with passion and vitality. Both have a glittery effect and a matte texture which reduces smudges and fingerprints.
The phone measures163.95×75.55×8.19mm and weighs 183g and though the sides are flat it still has some slight curves to make it more comfortable to hold.
For the rear camera module, the vivo Y02s has a clever design with two large circular rings that make it appear to have a dual camera setup. In reality, though, it only has a single 8MP shooter while the other ring houses the flash. This makes it look more updated to the current trends of having large circular camera lenses and a much better design decision.
Exploring further, you have the volume and power buttons on the right side. The SIM card tray is accessible at the top. On the bottom is a 3.5mm audio jack, microphone, USB type-C port, and loudspeaker grille line the bottom of the device. There is no fingerprint scanner to be found, so you’ll have to rely on Face Unlock or PIN for security.
Overall, the build is solid despite having a plastic body and the design of the vivo Y02s is one of its strong points making it stand out even when compared to other phones priced several thousand pesos higher.
DISPLAY AND AUDIO
The vivo Y02s has a 6.51-inch HD+ display with a notch that houses the selfie camera. The display is bright enough for indoor use and the 270 ppi pixel density is good enough though using it outside can be a bit of a struggle. You can adjust the color temperature, but its not as vibrant, which is expected given the price.
For audio it has a loudspeaker that does the job, with just enough volume to make it useable in a small room, other than that you might want to use the headphone jack and plug in to enjoy better quality audio.
CAMERA
The vivo Y02s is equipped with a modest 8 Megapixel rear camera with autofocus and a 5 Megapixel selfie camera. You only get a few camera modes like Beauty, Photo, Video, and Time Lapse. In our testing, I was actually happier with the photos taken by the front camera as it produced good-looking selfies with acceptable detail.
Check out our sample photos here:
The 8MP camera on the other hand, works best outdoors and in well-lit situations resulting in clear photos with enough details. Colors, however, are a bit pale for my tastes and not as punchy as I would have wanted, but is expected. There is no HDR so the dynamic range is also quite limited making shadowed areas appear too dark. To get the best photos make sure your subject are just a couple of feet away at the most and tap the screen to make sure they are in focus. Expect lesser detail and noise when taking photos of faraway objects.
Indoors and at night time the camera struggles so you might want to use a ring light or pose near the light source. You can turn on the flash as long as your subject isn’t reflective or shiny to improve shots.
Like I mentioned the 5MP selfie camera actually surprised me as it can produce story-ready ready photos with faithful skin-tone and colors—again as long as you have a good light source. There is also a selfie light you can turn on to help you improve indoor selfie game.
In terms of video quality, the vivo Y02s can record up to 1080p resolution for both the front and rear cameras so its good enough for those TikTok videos you may want to shoot.
PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY
The vivo Y02s runs on a MediaTek Helio P35 chipset with 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of expandable storage—almost the standard for budget devices.
The vivo Y02s performs quite well during basic tasks like switching between apps and browsing through your social media feeds. But there are times that it can be quite sluggish, that’s when you know you’ve already opened a lot of apps or webpages on the background. That means you might want to close the unused ones to get back to the groove.
In terms of gaming performance, we were able to run some casual games smoothly on the vivo Y02s. It can run Mobile Legends on low graphics but if you are playing those more resource-intensive ones like Genshin, this isn’t the phone for you as gameplay could get very laggy since it only has 3GB RAM.
It ships with the latest Android 12 and vivo’s proprietary FuntouchOS 12 software. Besides the pre-installed Google Apps, thankfully there’s not much bloatware except for Lazada, TikTok, Facebook, and a few more which you can uninstall to free up more storage.
FuntouchOS allows for a lot of customization options and you can easily download thousands of wallpapers, themes, fonts, etc to personalize your smartphone.
Take note that the vivo Y02s is a dual-SIM 4G LTE smartphone and does not support 5G. For phone functions like calling, voices sound clear and the loudspeaker is loud enough. There is no fingerprint scanner on this phone but the face unlock works pretty well and there’s also PIN and Pattern security
According to vivo, the vivo Y02s large 5,000mAh battery allows you to stream Youtube in HD for up to 18 hours, 20 hours of music playback on Spotify, and 7 hours of resource-intensive gaming like PUBG, or Mobile Legends on a single charge. During our tests we were able to use it for two days with light to moderate use before we had started searching for the charger. This is a good thing as recharging the battery from 0 to 100 takes about three hours.
Before we wrap it up here are the key specs of the vivo Y02s:
- Display: 6.51-inch HD+ IPS LCD Display (720 x 1600 ), 270 ppi
- Chipset: MediaTek Helio P35 Chipset
- RAM/Storage: 3GB + 32GB Expandable Up to 256 via microSD
- Camera: Rear: 8MP with LED Flash
- Front: 5 MP
- Connectivity: Dual SIM 4G LTE, 3G HSPA+, 2G EDGE & GPRS Networks Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 5.0
- Battery: 5000mAh 10W Charging Rate
- Android 12
- USB Type-C with 3.5mm Audio Jack
FINAL WORD
Can the vivo Y02s smartphone satisfy your inner Technivore?
The vivo Y02s looks great on the outside but hides some flaws underneath that stunning exterior. Take note that it has only 3GB RAM so performance can get a bit sluggish especially when there are lots of apps opened or when opening multiple windows. For gamers, you might want to add a bit more cash and consider the vivo T1x which is designed specifically for gaming.
But those who are looking for a stylish smartphone will be instantly drawn to the vivo Y02s with its shiny trendy design. It will also satisfy selfie loves who prioritize having a good front camera and you can use it to shoot those TikTok videos as long as you have proper lighting (get a ring light). The long-lasting battery, on the other hand, makes it a good option for those who are always on the go like delivery riders or those in the transportation business. Lastly, make sure to ask around first and look for the one with the most freebies to get the best deal.
The vivo Y02s is priced at Php6,499 now available online at their vivo website as well as its official e-commerce stores on Lazada, Shopee and TikTok shop. You can also purchase the phone through its offline vivo experience stores, kiosk and authorized dealers nationwide.
- vivo online website: https://www.vivo.com/ph/products/y02s
- Shopee: https://shopee.ph/vivophilippines
- Lazada: https://www.lazada.com.ph/shop/vivo/
For more information you may visit vivo’s official website, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channel.
