Vivo V15 review: Ultra FullView screen, motorized pop-up camera, good battery life are the highlights

Price: Rs 23,990
Rating: ***1/2

Specs: 6.53-inch Ultra FullView display, 2340 x 1080 pixels, octa-core Helio P70 processor, 6GB RAM, 64GB storage, dedicated microSD slot, dual SIM, triple rear camera: 24MP + 8MP + 5MP, 32MP front camera, rear fingerprint scanner, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, 4G, VoLTE, Android 9.0, 4,000mAh battery, 189 grams


Pros: Large full screen display without notch, stylish motorized pop-up front camera, great battery life, good performance, excellent camera performance

Cons: Priced too close to V15 Pro, weak vibration motor, no face unlock, glossy back panel prone to smudges, Helio P70 processor available on far cheaper phones

Vivo continues to offer innovative features in the premium mid-range segment. The Vivo NEX stole the show last year with its full screen and pop up camera. Now you can get similar features at almost half the price with the V15.

The Vivo V15 takes design cues from the V15 Pro. This means you get an Ultra Full View display up front but the back panel is glossy polycarbonate. The gradient colour looks great but within a short while, it will be covered with fingerprints and smudges. Vivo has provided a case in the box for basic protection. The placement of the volume button (on the right above power button) is not so great for all users - ideally, power and volume should be on opposite sides of the phone. An additional hardware button on the left is the Smart Button – it is set to launch Google Assistant by default but you can customise this in the settings (custom functions are very limited at the moment).

If the notch always bothered you, this phone is good news. It’s the cheapest smartphone with an Ultra FullView screen. While the more expensive V15 Pro has a 6.39-inch screen, the V15 gets a larger 6.53-inch display. We do feel it would have been great if Vivo had included a super amoled panel like the V15 Pro. It’s still great but it’s an IPS LCD. Other than that, the screen is a joy to use thanks to high brightness, rich colours and sleek bezels. The big disappointment on the V15 is that there no support for widevine L1 which means you cannot stream HD content from various OTT players. What’s the point of having a gorgeous screen if you cannot enjoy streaming HD content on it.

Apart from the gorgeous display what stands out on the smartphone is the motorized pop-up camera. Vivo offers the same 32MP front camera as the V15 Pro here and it delivers fantastic selfies in daylight and indoors. In low light, the detail suffers but the selfies are still good enough to use on social media. When shooting in portrait mode, the camera delivers good bokeh effect, but we also noticed that the photos tend to be over-sharpened.



You still get a triple rear camera setup on the Vivo V15 but instead of a primary 48MP sensor on the V15 Pro, this one gets a 24MP f1.8 sensor with dual pixel phase detection autofocus. The other two sensors remain the same: 8MP ultrawide and 5MP depth sensor. You get various shooting modes including AI beauty, AR stickers, night mode and a Pro mode. Photos offer vibrant colour with nice details in daylight. In low light, the photos look good on the screen but you will see noise and loss of detail on close inspection. Video recording is available limited to 1080p which is a disappointment considering that phones at half the price offer 4k video recording now. Also, you cannot switch between the primary and wide-angle lens during video recording – you will have to stop recording, change to wide-angle and then start over.

On the hardware side, the V15 comes with an octa-core Helio P70 coupled with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. This configuration proves to be good enough for day to day usage as well as basic gaming. PUBG runs at medium graphics but there were random visible frame drops in the game. The good thing is that the P70 doesn’t suffer from too much heating and delivers excellent battery life. We regularly got a full day’s battery life with around 20-25% battery to spare.

There were a few other things that impressed us on the Vivo V15. The fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate, audio output is loud and clear, you get a dedicated microSD slot for storage expansion and the box comes with a 18W fast charger. In terms of disappointments, there is no face unlock, the vibration motor is weak (we couldn’t feel the phone ringing in a pocket) and there are loads of bloatware apps.

As a trimmed down version of the V15 Pro, the Vivo V15 delivers on the stand-out features of its big brother but with some cut corners. While it is the cheapest smartphone with a no-notch full view display, motorized front camera and a triple rear camera setup, it feels lacking on some fronts. If you can, spend a little extra for the V15 Pro or look at the Oppo F11 Pro which gives you a motorized front camera and no notch display with a 48MP + 5MP dual rear camera at Rs 24,990.