Home Tech Reviews Vivo V11 Review: A mid-range phone with an In-display fingerprint scanner

Vivo V11 Review: A mid-range phone with an In-display fingerprint scanner

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Yesterday, the Vivo V11 officially launched here in the Philippines. Similar to the Vivo X21, the handset features an in-display fingerprint scanner. This might be a sign that future Vivo smartphones will also contain this security feature.

Our team was given the opportunity to review this unit. The question is, is this device worth it? We’ll find out here.

SPECS Vivo V11
Display 6.41″ Super AMOLED display, 1080 x 2340 resolution, 19.5:9 ratio, 402 PPI
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 660
GPU Adreno 512
Memory 6GB RAM + 64GB internal storage (expandable up to 256GB via microSD card)
Rear Camera Dual: 12 MP (f/1.8, 1/2.5″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF) + 5 MP (f/2.4), depth sensor, LED flash
Front Camera 25 MP, f/2.0
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0, A-GPS, GLONASS, microUSB 2.0, USB On-The-Go
Battery Non-removable Li-Po 3400 mAh battery
OS Android 8.1 (Oreo)
Price PHP 19.999

Design

The Vivo V11 sports a glass back along with an aluminum frame and curved edges. It measures 157.9 x 75 x 7.9 mm and weighs 156 g. The device was really slim even but can easily be gripped. Similar to other recently released flagships, the smartphone has the infamous notch as well as thin bezels. In terms of its notch, it stood out due to its small size. No physical or capacitive buttons can be seen at the front since the Vivo V11 made use of on-screen buttons.

Moving on to the rear part of the device, the dual rear cameras are positioned at the top-left corner with its LED flash underneath. At the center, the company’s logo can be found with the words, “Designed by Vivo” at the bottom part of the device.

The usual power button and the volume rockers can be found on the right side of the smartphone the SIM tray can be seen on the left side. The bottom houses the USB 2.0 port, speaker grille, microphone, and the 3.5mm audio jack.

Overall, the design of the Vivo V11 looks elegant and modern. Unfortunately, some users might not be in favor of the glass rear back since it can be smudged with fingerprints. Although compared with other smartphones with glass rear backs, the marks aren’t that noticeable. We recommend using the transparent plastic case that came with the device to be safe.

Display

The Vivo V11 features a 6.41″ Super AMOLED notched display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The device’s screen produced vibrant images thanks to its FuntouchOS 4.5. The color also doesn’t change when viewed from different angles. We also tried taking some shots outside and we didn’t have any issues with looking at the screen.

In regards to the notch, although it can’t be hidden in the device’s default screen, it automatically hides when watching videos on YouTube as well as playing games. In addition, you can adjust the screen size of the YouTube videos by pinching the display.

An additional option included in the smartphone’s display is the “Always-On Display” mode. Furthermore, the user may control how long the mode can last.

Camera

The Vivo V11 sports a dual 12MP + 5MP rear camera along with a 25MP front snapper. Additionally, its camera is supported by Artificial Intelligence. In order to determine the smartphone’s camera capabilities, we took various shots in different scenarios.

Here are the sample shots:

In this first shot, the smartphone’s camera was able to give out a detailed photo. The colors are accurate and there weren’t any over-exposed parts even though this was taken during broad daylight.

In this next photo, the HDR mode was automatically used in order to lessen the brightness of the picture. The resulted in having a balanced shot in terms of brightness. Color-wise the image is accurate and the details are clear as well.

Even though this was also taken during the morning, the sky in the shot looked a bit gloomy. The details are sharp aside from the over-exposed part on the slide. Once again, the device produced an image with accurate colors.

This photo ended up being too vibrant for our liking due to the automatic HDR mode. It lost a lot of its contrast although surprisingly, the details can still be seen. Unfortunately, the brightness caused the tree to look dull and lifeless.

We also tried taking pictures indoors. As expected, the colors are still accurate and the details are still sharp.

In this sample photo, the lights inside the bulbs aren’t scattered so the details are clear. On the other hand, the lights further away from the camera ended up looking over-exposed or too bright which made it look harsh. On another note, the colors are still accurate.

Taking close-up pictures with this device ended up well. There weren’t any blurred parts and it had sharp details. Furthermore, the device had no problems focusing on the device.

We also tried taking pictures inside a dim-lit room. The lights didn’t end up scattered so the details on the glass remained precise. Even the fairy lights didn’t overlap with the light from the glass which meant that the device was able to detect that the lights came from different sources.

The Vivo V11 has a feature that lets the user add a bokeh effect to the picture. As seen in this photo, the effect looked natural and it helped enhance the subject to make her stand out. Additionally, the colors were accurate. The only problem we had on this picture is the over-exposed part on the sky.

Let’s move on to selfies. The photo taken normally looks good. We were taken aback since based on experience, selfies taken from previous Vivo phones looked a bit unnatural. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case on the Vivo V11.

As for the device’s beauty mode, we made sure to use the default settings. The mode ended up removing the dark circles under the subject’s eyes along with her beauty marks. It also made her skin smoother. Fortunately, the user can adjust the beauty mode according to their preference especially if they want to tone down the changes.

Additional features that the camera has is Group Selfie as well as a feature where you can change your selfie’s lighting situation.

The Group Selfie works kind of like a panorama. All you have to do is slowly move your phone from side to side as indicated on the screen. This way, you’ll be able to add more selfies in your pictures.

Here are some examples of the different lighting situations that you can use with this phone. On the left is the “Rainbow light” mode and on the right is the “Studio light” mode.

Similar to other Vivo smartphones, the Vivo V11 also has AR stickers which can be used through the rear and front camera. Here are some samples.

Features and User Experience

The Vivo V11 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 along with an Adreno 512 GPU and an octa-core processor clocked up to 2.2 GHz. It came with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The smartphone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo.

In terms of features, the Vivo V11 contains Navigation gestures that allow the user to launch various applications by swiping at the screen. Rest assured, the company made sure that the device will provide a tutorial first when this feature is activated for the first time.

Additional features of the device include Face Beauty for Video call, Gaming mode, Smart motion, Smart Split (manual screen-split), App clone, and Smart click. The App Clone feature allows the user to open two accounts at the same time. One of the features that I liked in this device is its shortcut method for taking a screenshot. All you have to do is swipe on the screen with three fingers.

In regards to security, the smartphone sports a fingerprint scanner and a face unlock feature. One of the smartphone’s main highlight is its in-display fingerprint scanner. Both security features work fine. Unfortunately, although the Face unlock works fast without delay, the user has to press and hold the fingerprint scanner to activate it. On another note, the face unlock feature doesn’t activate when the user’s eyes are closed so there’s no need to worry about it getting unlocked when you’re asleep.

We also made sure to test the phone’s gaming performance. The games we played were Asphalt 9, AOV, and PUBG. There weren’t any problems during gameplay and no lags occurred. The graphics are clear and detailed even in games with heavy graphics.

We tried looking for an option that hides the notch but unfortunately, we weren’t able to find one.

Benchmarks

We tested the Vivo V11 using the following benchmarking tools and here are the results:

Benchmarks Vivo V11
Antutu 126234
Geekbench (single-core) 1444
Geekbench (multi-core) 5288
PCMark Work 6033

Battery

The handset is fueled by a 3,400mAh battery supported by Dual-Engine Fast Charge.

It’s not the best battery out there but it’s decent enough that it can last more than a day of light usage. The smartphone also features multiple battery saving modes. Moreover, the device took 1 hour and 22 minutes to charge it from 20% to 100%.

Battery Vivo V11
Battery 3400 mAh battery
Battery Life 24 hours with more the next day
Charging Time (20-100%) 1 hour and 22 minutes

Audio

The sound produced by the handset was loud enough even on medium volume. On the other hand, it sounded a bit scratchy due to the bass. Overall, as long as the volume is controlled, it provides a clear sound.

Verdict

In conclusion, the Vivo V11 did well. In terms of display, the resolution was good and it provided vibrant colors as well. Although its main highlight is its in-display fingerprint scanner, that’s not all there is to it.

The device’s camera was able to take quality photos in exception to dark photos. It’s good to note that it allows the portrait mode even when using the front camera.

Performance-wise, the smartphone is able to multi-task as we didn’t have a hard time switching from games to other applications. Game-play was also good enough as no lags occurred. Of course, the decision on whether the phone is good or not still lies on the user since we all have our preferences.

Do you think this smartphone is worth buying? Let me know in the comments!

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