The Vivo V9 Is The First Selfie Phone From The Brand I Can Actually Recommend

April 10 20:52 2018 by Alexei Rivera Print This Article

Let’s call this post an Editorial. Because first of all, this isn’t a review of the Vivo V9 phone. We haven’t been in contact with the brand in a while – ever since they changed PR firms – so we don’t even have hands-on experience with the phone. But we do know one thing: MediaTek processors are terrible. (For quite a lot of reasons.) And now that midrange Snapdragon SoC’s can be found in much more affordable devices (like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X, Mi A1, Zenfone 3, etc.), there’s just no excuse to launch a mid-range phone (PHP 10-20k / US$200-400) with a crappy Octa- or even Deca-Core MediaTek or a 400-series Snapdragon. For the longest time, the Vivo brand has been launching inferior “selfie” focused devices asking for a lot of money with 2-year old MediaTek trash. Well, thank heavens – the new Vivo V9 is now launching with a proper processor – the Snapdragon 626.

Of course, that doesn’t exclude the fact that the phone still believes in the idea that more megapixels in a tiny front camera is better than just having a modest amount (Are they implying that they know better than Samsung or Apple? Because those brands have lowered megapixel numbers to “upgrade” themselves few years ago now.) Its also still overpriced, but at least you get better specs than you’d get from the Vivo V7+ – which was powered by a paltry Snapdragon 450 and a ridiculously horrible 1440×720 display and was launched just half a year ago.

This is the Vivo V7+. Don’t buy this.

To go from that abomination to a FullHD+ Snapdragon 626 is nearly night and day. And they’re asking for the same price – PHP 17,990. You still don’t get any optical stabilization in any of the three sensors or any form of fast charging, but at least you won’t be lagging while posting your new Chai Latte Venti Triple Soy Skim Milk Decaf on Instagram Stories.

Vivo V9 – PHP 17,990 (Get it from Lazada Here)

• Snapdragon 626 Processor
• 6.3” 2280×1080 IPS Gorilla Glass Display
• 4GB RAM, 64GB ROM, MicroSD
• 16+5MP Dual Rear Cameras With LED Flash
• 24MP Front Camera (with AI scene recognition)
• Android 8.1 Oreo with FunTouch OS 4.0
• Dual SIM LTE
• 3,260mAh Non-Removable Battery

But you do get a fairly large 6.3” screen (albeit with a notch), and if you ignore the more-megapixels-than-sense 24MP front camera, it’ll probably still take pretty good pictures. Though in retrospect, if brands really cared so much about better selfies in their smartphones, then why haven’t they implemented optical image stabilization in them? Oh, because its much easier to market some crappy megapixel numbers on their phones and billboards instead of actually adding real technology to improve the quality of their photos in a meaningful way.

I’m ranting again.

I really should stop. The Vivo V9 is the best Vivo phone they’ve made in years. And if you like the brand, like their designs, their features, and you don’t mind paying a little bit extra then this new phone is the first phone from the brand that I can really wholeheartedly recommend.