Introduction
How many front cameras is too many? Certainly not two - two is just right, vivo says, and ushers in the V5 Plus. And not just any two - a 20MP primary shooter, and another 8MP one for depth of field effects. Theres also a 16MP rear shooter (we wont be calling it primary anymore), bringing total on-board megapixel count to 44.
Wait, back up a little there, you said vivo, and all Im seeing is an iPhone with a vivo badge on the back? Indeed, the V5 Plus carries more than a passing resemblance to Apples latest, antenna bands and all, and youd need to be super naive to think its a coincidence.
Underneath the iPhone-like shell, the Snapdragon 625 ticks, and its a top-class chipset... for the midrange phone that is the V5 Plus. You wont be strapped for storage (64GB) or RAM (4GB) either, and the rear 16MP camera also shoots 4K video. What else could you ask for?
vivo V5 Plus key features
- 5.5-inch IPS LCD of 1,080 x 1,920 resolution; 401ppi; Gorilla Glass 5
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset; 14nm fabrication process; octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; Adreno 506 GPU; 4GB of RAM
- 64GB of built-in memory
- Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, Funtouch OS 3.0 on top
- 16MP rear camera; 26mm-equiv. f/2.0 lens; single LED flash
- 20MP+8MP front camera; 26mm-equiv. f/2.0 lens; single LED flash
- 2160p video capture @ 30fps
- Home button with fingerprint scanner
- Dual nano SIM slots; Cat. 13/7 LTE support; 802.11 a/g/b/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.0; GPS
- 3,160mAh battery
Main shortcomings
- Quite pricey
- No microSD slot
- No FM radio and NFC
- Co nstantly having to explain its not an iPhone
Well, you could ask for a microSD slot to expand those otherwise roomy 64 gigs, and the lack of NFC and particularly FM radio is surely going to be an issue to some potential buyers. Whats going to bother all of them, however, is the price - at more tan $400 the V5 Plus is a pretty tough sell in a world of Redmi Notes going for less than half that.
vivo V5 Plus press images
Its a premium brand though, vivo, and a price premium is to be expected. Plus, name the other phone that has a couple of selfie cameras that can produce depth of field effects. It certainly isnt one of those Redmi Notes. Well get to the camera eventually, but lets start the usual way - hardware overview is on the next page.
Unboxing
The vivo V5 Plus comes in a flat squarish box. There is a headset bundled - budget-minded phones typically skip those, but for a $400 midranger youd expect to at least get a pair of earbuds. A clear silicone bumper case is also included.
Package contents
Theres also a charger rated at 5V/2A or 9V/2A, and a USB cable, naturally. Marketing department insists on calling it a Dual Charging Engine but for all we know, it must be Quick Charge 2.0.
vivo V5 Plus 360-degree spin
The V5 Plus measures 152.6 x 74 x 7.3 mm - all very much standard numbers for a 5.5-inch smartphone, and nearly identical to the OnePlus 3Ts dimensions. That said, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is 2mm wider (and 2mm in this direction do make a difference), and also 1.2mm thicker (even more tangible). Mind you, the Asus Zenfone 3 (ZE552KL, because you absolutely need that with Asus phones) is 3.4mm wider - talk about bezels.
At 158.6g the V5 Plus also weighs as much as the net 5.5-incher. The same Redmi tips the scales at 165, but does have a larger 4,100mAh battery to show for that (and it probably accounts for the extra thickness too).
Hardware overview
As far as iPhone 7 impersonations go, the vivo V5 Plus is in the running for top spot. Just look at its back - the antenna bands, the camera placement, theres even a Designed by vivo inscription where it should say Designed by Apple in Cupertino.
Its in some of the details that the vivo handset differs, inevitably. Controls placement, Home button shape, and all those black spots around the earpiece eventually reveal thats no iPhone. But the immediate first reaction is Copycat!.
iPhone impersonation
Thats not to say that the V5 Plus doesnt look good or isnt well built - quite t he opposite. Its a solid device with confidence-inspiring look and feel. The metal back with a satin finish says premium (and is crazy slippery like all such designs, iPhone included), the display has the compulsory 2.5D curved edges - theres hardly anything to put you off the V5 Plus, physically.
The screen enjoys the latest Gorilla Glass 5 protection, which makes us wonder why the handset comes with a pre-applied screen protector. Better safe than sorry can always be cited as a reason, but it does make us deduct some points for posh. Peel it off though - posh points instantly restored.
Vivo used to rely on capacitive keys below the display, Home included, with the fingerprint reader around the back. However, the Apple influence has seen the adoption of a physical Home button with a reader in it and now just the back and task switcher keys are capacitve. They also light up when you wake the phone.
A bit more personality on the front
The Home button isnt TouchID-circular, but does serve the same touchID-ing purpose - theres a fingerprint sensor embedded in it. Its also one of the fastest weve seen, and works virtually every time.
Theres a lot going on above the display. The earpiece is here, theres no escaping that (okay, the Mi Mix would beg to differ). There are two cameras to be found next to it - the closer one is the primary 20MP shooter, while the auxiliary 8MP unit is further to the left. In the corner theres an LED notificatio n light too.
Thats not all though. A proximity/ambient light sensor combo lurks behind the tiniest of the cutouts. The one next to it is the LED fill light - not a flash, strictly speaking, as it lights up and stays on instead of only firing when youre taking a shot.
Top bezel packed to the brim
On the right side of the device youll find the power button, a little bit above the midpoint, with the volume rocker further up. They are quite well placed, no complaints here.
Just the SIM card slot is on the left side of the phone. The tray will only take nanoSIMs, one or two of them, but no microSD - 64GB of built-in storage is all you get.
Right side • Power button and volume rocker • Left side • Dual nano SIM tray
The bottom is also brimming with cutouts. Theres the microUSB port in the center, flanked by a screw on each side. On the right is the loudspeaker, while on the left youll find the microphone and the 3.5mm jack - we can copy Apple all we want for looks, but the headphone jack stays, is what vivo is saying.
By contrast, theres nothing to be seen on the top plate.
Bottom handles wired connectivity • microUSB 2.0 • Nothing on top
Its a 5.5-inch phone so you wont be able to reach it all with one hand (though there is a software feature that shrinks the interface to manageable dimensions), but the bezels are thin, the controls are well-placed, and its overall a joy to handle. Again, its slippery, be careful.
In the hand
5.5 inch FullHD display is good, not great
The vivo V5 Plus is fitted with a 5.5-inch FullHD IPS display. Pixel density is 401ppi, so its plenty sharp and our microscope shot revealed, quite expectedly, a s tandard RGB arrangement with equal number of subpixels for each primary color.
The V5 Plus posted good numbers for maximum brightness, allowing it to beat LCD-equipped competitors Redmi Note 4 and Huawei nova plus, but falling short of the Zenfone 3s scores. As for AMOLEDs both the Moto Z Play and Galaxy C7 can crank up the brightness even higher than the V5 Plus, when you put them in auto mode. The Oppo R9s is dimmer than its vivo cousin, and so is the OnePlus 3T, and neither gets a boost in auto.
The well contained blacks on the vivo V5 Plus result in a very good contrast ratio that the Zenfone 3 matches, but the Redmi Note 4 cant. AMOLEDs are all superior in this respect, by definition.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.348 | 475 | 1365 | |
| 0.45 | 607 | 1349 | |
| 0 | 447 | ∞ | |
| 0.38 | 439 | 1158 | |
| 0.00 | 422 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 625 | ∞ | |
| 0.31 | 397 | 1281 | |
| 0 | 371 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 526 | ∞ | |
| 0.032 | 411 | 12844 | |
Color reproduction isnt particularly accurate - average DeltaE is 6.1 and it goes all the way up to 11.9 for some colors. Whites are also visibly bluish.
Sunlight legibility is not great either. Its on par with the nova plus, and better than the Redmi Note 4, but the Zenfone 3 is superior in this respect and so are all the AMOLEDs.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3 .756 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Sony Xperia X Compact
3.694 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - Huawei P9 Lit e
2.679 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
2.378 - HTC 10
2.378 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Medi aTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Connectivity
The V5 Plus is a dual SIM device and it accepts nano SIMs only. Only one card at a time can tap into a 4G network, but the other one can meanwhile be on 3G too - its not limited to just 2G connectivity. Alternatively, you can have both cards connected to a 3G network.
Vivo itself doesnt detail what category LTE the phone supports, but Qualcomms specs page for the Snapdragon 625 says Cat.7 downlink (300Mbps theoretical maximum) and Cat.13 uplink (150Mbps).
There is dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac with Wi-Fi direct and hotspot support, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS, GLONAS and BDS for positioning. An FM radio is missing, sadly, and so is NFC.
A microUSB 2.0 port is used for charging and attaching peripherals (OTG needs to be enabled in settings), and theres a good old 3.5mm headphone jack.
vivo V5 Plus battery life
The battery inside the vivo V5 Plus packs 3,160mAh worth of juice. The Redmi Note 4 has almost 1,000mAh more, while the Zenfone 3 we mentioned only makes do with 3,000mAh. The OnePlus 3Ts cell is rated at 3,400mAh, but theres a more power-hungry chipset to feed there. The Moto Z Play, on the other hand, has the same Snapdragon 625 as the V5 Plus and 350mAh higher battery capacity.
A whole day plus a couple of hours of voice calls on a 3G network should be more than enough for even the heaviest of talkers. The Zenfone 3 only does 16h, the Redmi Note 4 (the Mediatek version) manages a few minutes more than 21 hours, but then the OnePlus 3T outlasts the V5 Plus by over 5 hours in our testing.
In the Wi-Fi web browsing test the vivo handset conked out after eleven and a half hours - not bad at all, yet 2 hours short of the Redmi and 4 hours before the Moto Z Play. The Zenfone 3 calls it quits an hour and a half earlier than the V5 Plus, while the OnePlus 3T cant even make it to the 9-hour mark.
Video playback longevity isnt as great, though the 9+ hours arent strictly a disappointment - more like an average number among very good ones. The Redmi Note 4 can do half an hour more, the Zenfone 3 will play for a full hour after the V5 Plus has died, and the AMOLED screen of the OnePlu s 3T allows it to loop videos for thirteen and a half hours. AMOLED plus an even bigger battery equals eighteen and a half hours of video playback on the Moto Z Play - exactly twice as long as on the V5 Plus.
The individual tests add up to an overall endurance rating of 76 hours - 2 more than the Zenfone 3, 7 short of the Redmi Note 4 (Mediatek) and 24 less than the Moto Z Play.
The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case youre interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones weve tested will compare under your own typical use.
Marshmallow with a ton of added features
Its good ol Marshmallow running on the vivo V5 Plus, but you wont be able to tell, really. The interface is so iOS-like, youll need a double -take to make sure youre not actually holding an iPhone. That includes icon designs, too - vivos been going down the path of emulating Apples mobile OS, but its now gotten to a point where its more of a full-on copy&paste affair.
The lockscreen is nothing out of the ordinary, offering two shortcuts in the bottom corners - just the dialer and camera, but you cant customize those.
Default lockscreen • Password entry • Camera shortcut in action
The lockscreen is likely to go unnoticed most of the time - in fact you wont be seeing any of it if you enable fingerprint unlock. As was the case in previous interactions with vivo fingerprint recognition, its instantaneous, there are no animations and youre at the homescreen before you know it. Even big-name flagships cant beat that, in our experience, at least.
Fingerprint settings
Past the lockscreen its the same single-tier interface like you get on iOS. The homescreens hold all your apps, and theres no app drawer, but it doesnt look like youre limited in the number of homescreens you can have. You can group the app icons in folders and tapping on a folder shows its contents in a nicely animated popup on a blurred background. Theres a dock on the bottom of the homescreen, which takes up to 5 icons, folders included, and redistributes them evenly, depending on the number.
You can rearrange the homescreens any way you like and the pane you place first is the default one that appears when you tap the Home button. The panes cannot be cycled, which can prove a problem if you have a large number set up.
The homescreen doubles as an app drawer • Folder view • Managing the homescreen panes
Notifications are evoked with a downward swipe from the top. The phone will group the notifications by apps, so things are nice and tidy, and theres a dismiss all button conveniently located on the bottom for when things go out of hand on all your social networks.
You can enable a banner-style preview that will pop up on top of the entire interface when a new notification comes in, and you also get granular control over which app can push notifications when and where.
Now, you might be startled to see no quick toggles here, but fret not - they are tucked away elsewhere.
Notifications shade • Status bar and notification settings • Head-up • Per-app settings
On previous vivo models, swiping up from the bottom edge would bring out a combined toggles/brightness/tasks drawer, reminiscent of the iOS Control center, called, um, Control center. The tasks portion of it has been assigned to the left capacitive key now, so its just sliders and toggles.
The quick toggles offer the expected functionality and aside from the simple on/off action, work as shortcuts to the respective setting upon a long press. The removal of the task switcher from this UI element has allowed for two rows of toggles now, instead of just one, and you can rearrange them or hide the unused ones. The brightness slider doesnt take taps if you want to jump straight to a specific position, instead you need to grab it b y the handle each time - so Apple-y. Theres an Auto switch, at least.
The task switcher is a horizontally scrollable deck of cards which you tap to select, swipe up to kill, or swipe down to lock, so the kill all button spares them.
Control center
Screen pinning lets you lock the view on this one app that you choose - say you want to show someone a few photos, but dont want them poking through your messages. The feature needs to be enabled in settings first , and then when you open the task switcher you tap on the pin icon to pin the respective app. To get out of the pinned app you long-press the back key and at this point the phone will go into a locked state prompting you for a password or fingerprint. That last bit is optional, but to us it only makes sense that way.
Screen pinning
Theres a system wide search feature, not unlike a certain Spotlight. It can look into your contacts, messages, apps, and settings - provided, of course, you tick the appropriate boxes in its own settings.
Search
The vivo V5 Plus comes with extensive gesture and motion functionality, found in settings under Smart motion. Air operation can show you a quick glance screen with clock and notifications upon a wave above the proximity sensor, while a second wave will wake the device (you still need to unlock it).
Smart turn on/off screen can prevent in-pocket mishaps, keep the phone awake by looking through the front cam to make sure youre still staring back and also send the phone to standby with a double tap on an empty area. Smart call is a host of features that rely on the accelerometer and proximity sensor to make calls, switch between earpiece and speaker and mute a call. You could also launch the flashlight with a (slightly violent) shake, but a second shake wont turn it off. Odd.
Smart motion gestures
Theres also a one-handed mode for easier operation, which shrinks the UI to one of the lower corners. Its activated in the original Samsung way - swiping in from one of the edges and back out. Youre also given the option to resize the window, depending on how long your digits are.
Small screen mode
Weve praised vivo before for their useful screen-grabbing utility called S-capture, and its here as well. Chief among its features is the ability to capture long screenshots, for example, an entire webpage or a conversation in a messaging app. Alternatively, you could record a video of whats going on the screen, like gameplay or instructional videos. The Funny screenshot option lets you crop a part of the screen with a freeform or preset shape, of which there are a few.
S-capture
Theres also a rather limited multi-window implementation. Basically, if youre watching a video, and a message comes in, a notification pops up on the side and you can expand it to view the message without switching back and forth between the apps.
Synthetic benchmarks
The vivo V5 Plus is powered by none other than the Snapdragon 625 chipset - probably our favorite recent midrange SoC. The reason why we speak so highly of it is already clear - go back to the battery life section. Efficiency is the 14nm chips greatest merit though, and we know not to expect miracles in the performance department.
Kicking off with a little GeekBench-ing its peculiar to see almost the entire bunch of S625s post scores within 3 points of each other in the single-core test. Only the Moto Z Play is somewhat behind, to the tune of 6%, which is largely irrelevant. What is relevant is just how much more powerful one Cortex-A72 core is over its little Cortex-A53 bro - compare the scores of the Xiaomi Redmi Pro and Redmi N ote 4 (both here in Mediatek Helio X20 flavor) to the S625s.
Of course, a Kryo core is even snappier - representing team Snapdragon 821 we have the Mi 5s Plus and the OnePlus 3T. Its unfair, you say? Not really - with a practically identical price tag to the V5 Plus, the 3T has every right to be here, and the Mi 5s Plus could even be had for less.
GeekBench 4 (single-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3T
1890 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
1815 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
1551 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
1546 - vivo V5 Plus
846 - Oppo R9s
845 Huawei nova plus
843- Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
843 - Huawei Honor 6X
801 - Motorola Moto Z Play
795 - Lenovo Moto M
771
What was a marginal difference in the single-core test for the Moto Z Play, gets more substantial in multi-core - its now trailing the average Snapdragon 625 by more than 15%. The V5 Plus, Oppo R9s and Huawei nova plus are on par, but the Zenfone 3 ZE552KL goes way beyond expectations. The Helio X20 and Snapdragon 821 do have a comfortable advantage here as well, just not the 2:1 ratio we see in single-core.
GeekBench 4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi N ote 4
4456 - OnePlus 3T
4364 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
4333 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
4053 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3885 - Huawei Honor 6X
3351 - vivo V5 Plus
3136 - Oppo R9s
3130 - Huawei nova plus
3100 - Lenovo Moto M
2921 - Motorola Moto Z Play
2621
Throw RAM and storage performance in the mix, as well as some web browsing and graphics and youve got yourself Basemark OS II 2.0. This composite benchmark reveals more differences in the phones fine tuning. The vivo V5 Plus and Oppo R9s perform similarly, slightly better than the Moto Z Play. Both of them, however, fail to keep up with the nova plus or the Galaxy C7. Even the Honor 6X with its Kirin 655 pulls ahead of the V5 Plus S625. By now its gotten clear that the Helio X20 and Snapdragon 821 will be topping these charts, this one included.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3T
2678 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2434 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
1728 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
1696 - Huawei Honor 6X
1309 - Samsung Galaxy C7
1222 - Huawei nova plus
1215 - vivo V5 Plus
1107 - Oppo R9s
1091 - Motorola Moto Z Play
1031 - Oppo F1s
269
No benchmark comparison would be complete without at least a handful of Antutu scores, and heres a dozen. Its not difficult to sum up the results - tightly spaced Snapdragon 625s, significantly higher-scoring Helio X20s, and Snapdragon 821s that are really in a different league.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3T
165097 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
155185 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
85162 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
77442 - Oppo R9s
66081 - Huawei nova plus
64680 - vivo V5 Plus
63812 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
63358 - Samsung Galaxy C7
62818 - Motorola Moto Z Play
62217 - Huawei Honor 6X
57012 - Lenovo Moto M
51831 - Oppo F1s
30657
Moving on to graphics-only benchmarks, the Basemark X figures wont surprise you, if youve been reading along. There is zero meaningful difference between S625s (Adreno 506 GPU), the Helio X20s Mali-T880 MP4 graphics processor packs a little more punch, while the Adreno 530 sets the reference - it is the current Qualcomm flagship-grade GPU, after all. The Mali-T830MP2 that ticks inside the Honor 6X can only do so much, while the Moto Ms Mali-T860MP2 performs even less impressively.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3T
36958 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
36062 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
13666 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
12190 - vivo V5 Plus
10542 - Huawei nova plus
10524 - Oppo R9s
10519 - Samsung Galaxy C7
10445 - Motorola Moto Z Play
10401 - Huawei Honor 6X
8458 - Lenovo Moto M
6732 - Oppo F1s
419
Were struggling to find new words to express the same thing once more, this time for the GFXBench fps scores. Here are the numbers and dont call us lazy, but do read the last paragraph for commentary (repla ce Basemark X with GFXBench, of course).
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3T
49 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
44 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
15 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
15 - Oppo R9s
10 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
9.9 - vivo V5 Plus
9.9 - Huawei nova plus
9.9 - Samsung Galaxy C7
9.8 - Motorola Moto Z Play
9.8 - Huawei Honor 6X
8.4 - Lenovo Moto M
7.1 - Oppo F1s
5.1
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3T
48 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
47 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
15 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
15 - Motorola Moto Z Play
10 - Huawei nova plus
10 - Oppo F1s
10 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
9.7 - Oppo R9s
9.7 - vivo V5 Plus
9.7 - Samsung Galaxy C7
9.6 - Huawei Honor 6X
7.9 - Lenovo Moto M
7.6
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3T
33 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
30 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
9.5 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
9.5< /li> - Oppo R9s
6.2 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
6.2 - vivo V5 Plus
6.2 - Samsung Galaxy C7
6.2 - Huawei nova plus
6.2 - Motorola Moto Z Play
6.2 - Huawei Honor 6X
4.8 - Lenovo Moto M
4.7 - Oppo F1s
2.4
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3T
33 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
32 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
9.5 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
9.4 - Motorola Moto Z Play
6.7 - Huawei nova plus
6.6 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
6.1 - Samsung Galaxy C7
6.1 - Oppo R9s
6.1 - vivo V5 Plus
6.1 - Oppo F1s
6 - Lenovo Moto M
5.2 - Huawei Honor 6X
4.6
To wrap up the performance section, lets just say that you wont be getting the vivo V5 Plus for its oomph. That said, it delivers a balanced performance youd expect from a midranger, and does so without killing your battery mid-day.
Phonebook
The phonebook app on the vivo V5 Plus is called Contacts and follows the general styling of the rest of the interface (cough, iOS). There are tabs, but unless you are big on groups, or want to jump to the dialer or to your personal info page all the time, chances are you wont be using them too often.
The main interface is a well-organized list, with favorite contacts at the top, followed by an alphabetical rundown of the rest. Naturally, there is a search field, which accepts both names and numbers, as well as a vertical slider, along the letters to the right, for quick navigation. There are no contact pics on this screen though, with Vivo opting to fit more but thinner rows.
The contacts app • Viewing a contact • Smart dial • In-call interface
Loudspeaker
The vivo V5 Plus posted a Very Good score in our loudspeaker loudness test putting it ahead of pretty much all of its competitors. There is some distortion at maximum level depending on what youre playing though.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing | Overall score | |
| 61.6 | 65.5 | 67.6 | Below Average | |
| 66.0 | 61.7 | 68.8 | Below Average | |
| 66.0 | 64.3 | 70.1 | Below Average | |
| 65.0 | 68.2 | 70.8 | Average | |
| 64.5 | 71.0 | 68.9 | Average | |
| 67.3 | 67.8 | 72.8 | Average | |
| 64.2 | 67.2 | 76.9 | Good | |
| 61.0 | 69.3 | 78.3 | Good | |
| 68.1 | 71.8 | 69.4 | Good | |
| 64.5 | 72.9 | 72.0 | Good | |
| 62.9 | 70.3 | 77.0 | Good | |
| 68.8 | 70.8 | 71.4 | Good | |
| 64.3 | 71.5 | 76.1 | Good | |
| 65.5 | 70.5 | 76.6 | Good | |
| 68.3 | 68.0 | 76.9 | Good | |
| 68.4 | 6 7.0 | 79.1 | Good | |
| 65.8 | 73.5 | 80.8 | Very Good | |
| 66.4 | 72.2 | 84.1 | Very Good | |
| 67.6 | 72.1 | 86.7 | Very Good | |
| 75.7 | 73.5 | 79.5 | Excellent | |
| 75.7 | 73.5 | 80.7 | Excellent | |
| 83.1 | 74.5 | 85.0 | Excellent |
Text input
In terms of text input, the vivo V5 Plus comes with a custom keyboard solution, courtesy of TouchPal. It has a ton of panes with symbols grouped by category and language, and theres also a recent tab. There are emojis as well. Were not thrilled that the keyboard shows all capital letters all the time, so you need to pay close attention to the shift key to be sure that youre typing lowercase.
Custom keyboard
Other apps
iManager is vivos central management hub, designed to keep your phone in top shape, if you think Android itself cannot be trusted with the job of managing RAM (it can). You can also review used storage from here and control internet access through Wi-Fi and cellular on an app-by-app basis.
iManager
The phone comes with a fully-functional file manager. It automatically groups items according to type, but also allows traditional folder browsing, as well as searching. Multiple file operations are possible too, but it doesnt work with a press and hold action - you need to hit the edit button top right.
File manager
All the little tools are available too, including a calendar, notes app with doodle support, a sleek-looking compass and full scientific calculator.
Calendar • ... with Year view • Compass • ... with digital level
Albums is one basic gallery app
The vivo V5 Plus comes with a rather minimalist gallery app, dubbed Albums. It consists of two tabs, one for your camera roll, the other for your various albums (yes). Either way, you get a grid of thumbnails, four in a row.
The main gallery interface is simple
A quite powerful editor is on board too allowing you to tweak photos straight from the gallery. Features range from trivial crop ping and effects all the way up to fine-tuning colors, shadows, exposure and applying different blurs. It is definitely more than enough for quickly fixing up a photo before uploading it online.
The image editor is full-featured, though
Video player
The V5 Plus dedicated video app has a basic interface but offers independent brightness control, DLNA connectivity, and a pop-up windowed view.
Simplistic video player • pop-out mode
iMusic, hmm
Continuing the iOS references, the music player is called iMusic (thats been its name for while on vivo phones). Its nothing special, but will do a fine job of playing your local music - no streaming, though. Songs can be browsed in various categories and playlists are easily accessible, for even more flexibility. The smartphone comes with preinstalled sound profiles for a few headsets.
Browsing songs in the music app • dedicated sound profiles for a number of headphones
The main playback interface consists of a backdrop of album art and a simple control pad. You get two toggles altogether, one for Repeat/Shuffle and another for switching on Hi-Fi mode, but it only works with headphones attached. Theres a handy timer that will stop playback after a pre-determined amount of time, and it can even power off the device.
Standard now-playing interface • music controls in the notification shade and lockscreen
Audio output is nicely loud, decently clear
The vivo V5 Plus did great when hooked up to an active external amplifier. The smartphone posted excellent scores for clarity and its volume was nicely high.
Loudness remained very good even with headphones, although stereo quality took a moderate hit. Some intermodulation distortion crept in as well, but it isn’t something you’ll detect in everyday usage. All in all a pretty solid showing by the V5 Plus here.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.03, -0.20 | -92.0 | 92.8 | 0.0020 | 0.0072 | -88.5 | |
| +0.24, -0.14 | -91.0 | 91.6 | 0.0080 | 0.219 | -56.0 | |
| +0.04, -0.02 | -93.0 | 93.1 | 0.0018 | 0.0085 | -93.8 | |
| +0.05, -0.02 | -92.7 | 92.8 | 0.0023 | 0.054 | -52.4 | |
| +0.01, -0.02 | -93.3 | 93.2 | 0.0010 | 0.0070 | -93.5 | |
| -92.3 | 92.2 | 0.0098 | 0.295 | -58.3 | ||
| +0.10, -0.03 | -94.2 | 94.0 | 0.0019 | 0.0064 | -89.3 | |
| +0.30, -0.07 | -92.5 | 93.0 | 0.810 | 0.271 | -31.3 | |
| +0.03, -0.30 | -86.6 | 83.6 | 0.0017 | 0.049 | -91.1 | |
| +0.06, -0.03 | -92.4 | 92.4 | 0.0018 | 0.021 | -88.2 | |
| Xiaomi Mi 5s | +0.01, -0.03 | -89.6 | 90.2 | 0.0029 | 0.040 | -85.5 |
| +0.71, -0.31 | -82.9 | 84.8 | 0.229 | 0.559 | -48.0 | |
| +0.06, -0.10 | -92.4 | 92.3 | 0.0015 | 0.0093 | -80.9 | |
| +0.03, -0.11 | -92.3 | 92.3 | 0.0011 | 0.012 | -77.0 |
vivo V5 Plus frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Which one do we call primary now?
The vivo V5 Plus comes with a 16MP camera on its back, the sensor mated to a 26mm-equiv. f/2.0 aperture lens. On the front, however, is where the real head-turner is - a 20MP+8MP setup co-engineered with Sony to deliver detailed selfies with blurred backgrounds. The lenses on the front are 26mm-equiv. f/2.0 as well.
The camera app interface is simple, yet functional and will be familiar to anyone whos picked up an iPhone. Swiping left and right (or up and down in landscape orientation) switches between basic stills, beautification mode, panorama and video. The separate video mode means you get to preview coverage before hitting record, something you cant do when you have a shared viewfinder for stills and video.
The flash toggle, HDR toggle, mode selector and settings menu are up top in portrait, so they pretty much require you to use both hands, but the front rear camera switch is down next to the shutter release making for easy single-handed use.
Camera interface
Photo enthusiasts will be pleased to find a Professional mode, and its one of the better made ones weve seen. It gives you access to a lot of manual controls, including exposure compensation (-2EV/+2EV in 1/3EV increments), ISO sensitivity (all the way up to ISO3200), shutter speed (as long as 32s), white balance by presets and manual focus.
Theres also a number of grid and spiral overlays to assist you with framing, and if thats not enough, you also get a digital level. These are only available in the Pro mode though, which is a shooting mode itself. What that means is you can forget about shooting HDR, for example, with the level or grids on.
vivos Professional mode is among the more powerful ones
The V5 Plus captures overall likable photos with sufficient detail, though it is missing some definition in intricate high-frequency detail like foliage. Colors are pleasantly saturated, a little warm too, but in a good way, if you will. Dynamic range is decent, but not all that great and combined with a slight tendency to underexpose (we liked the shots better with +1/3EV to +1/2EV exposure compensation) means youd be getting a bit darker shadows.
Camera samples
Our Photo compare tool is a good place to check out how the V5 Plus fares against any competitors in the controlled environment of our test lab. Weve pre-selected the OnePlus 3T and Moto Z Play, but you can pick your own battle.
vivo V5 Plus against the OnePlus 3T and the Moto Z Play in our Photo compare tool
HDR
HDR mode on the V5 Plus gets a toggle in the viewfinder, with on, off, and auto positions. If you activate it manually, or leave it in auto and the phone decides to engage it, an HDR icon appears in the viewfinder to let you know.
vivos approach to HDR processing is focused on bringing out the lower midtones, and preserving highlights, while the absolute darkest shadows remain black. This results in images that still have plenty of contrast, but also more visible detail in the midtones.
HDR mode: off • on
Panorama
The Panorama mode on the V5 Plus enjoys the privilege of being one of the modes available with a swipe on the viewfinder, instead of being buried in the shooting modes pane.
Panoramas are around 3,200px tall, and theres a good amount of resolved detail. There are no visible stitching issues (with stationary subjects) and exposure is even across the frame. Admittedly, there isnt much color this time of the year to begin with, but we also cant help but feel that the panoramas are a bit desaturated.
Panorama sample shot in portrait
Selfie camera
Wed go ahead and call the 20MP front facing shooter of the vivo V5 Plus its primary camera. Co-engineered with Sony, as vivo is keen to point out, the setup also includes an additional 8MP cam for depth sensing. Theres also a fill light to assist in the dark.
The bokeh mode is what were here for. Were pleased to report it actually works, and we properly torture-tested it with a subject that badly needs a haircut and has plenty of stray hairs to mess up the algorithm. They do, to be fair, but with careful framing and a few extra tries (and non-hobo hair), you can achieve excellent results.
Bokeh: off * on
You get a live preview of the the effect too, though its later, on the PC screen, that youll be able to spot the flaws. You can also adjust the focus point and the value of the simulated aperture (f/0.95 to f/16) post-shot, in-phone, so you can experiment after the fact.
More bokeh: off * on
The fill light is useful too. This shot below was taken at our studio in the same lighting used for the lowlight shot in the Photo compare tool - a very dim 28lux measured at the poster. Its not super sharp, but its infinitely better than nothing.
Fill light sample, bokeh on
Video camera
The V5 Plus can capture 4K video - another advantage of the Snapdragon 625 chipset. Naturally, 1080p recording is also supported. Theres no stabilization though, youre on your own.
2160p videos are encoded with a bitrate around 42Mbps, while FullHD gets 17Mbps. Audio is recorded in stereo at 128Kbps.
4K footage is nice and sha rp with minimal amount of static. Colors are slightly warmish, but saturated and pleasing overall. Contrast is good too, but there is a minor tendency to underexpose.
1080p video is rather pedestrian quality in terms of detail, though its largely identical to the 4K in other respects.
You can, of course, download untouched video samples, the way they came out of the V5 Plus. Weve uploaded them up on our server a 4K video (10s, 52MB) and a 1080p video (10s, 23MB) for you to examine in detail.
The examination can then continue in our Video compare too, where you can compare the V5 Plus output to any phone weve tested. Weve pre-selected the OnePlus 3T and the Moto Z Play, but picking a different set takes just a few clicks.
2160p: vivo V5 Plus against the OnePlus 3T and the Moto Z Play in our Video compare tool
1080p: vivo V5 Plus against the OnePlus 3T and the Moto Z Play in our Video compare tool
Final words
The iPhone 7 that isnt - vivo V5 Plus looks like it has rolled off the same production line as its Cupertino inspiration. Yet, it costs half that and it isnt half bad.
Vivo didnt get the memo that the two cameras should go on the back and made a dual selfie shooter. But then what good is a portrait mode really, if you cant make self portraits with SLR-like blurred backgrounds? Exactly.
Okay, the 20MP resolution of the front-facing camera is all about marketing, no one prints billboard-sized smartphone selfies. But the bokeh effect genuinely works - of course, within the limits of what can be done in software. But when it gets it right (cause its obviously not flawless), it can look spectacular. So the V5 Plus delivers on its greatest promise.
Aside from its chief claim to fame, the V5 Plus is a balanced package without any major flaws. The FullHD 5.5-inch display may not be great in bright sunlight and its color accuracy may not be strictly accurate, but brightness and contrast are aplenty.
We cant complain about battery life either - video playback lon gevity is only above average but if youre mostly browsing the web or doing voice calls, youd enjoy great endurance. Not a performance champ, the Snapdragon 625 chip is more than enough for everyday tasks, and some may not even notice the lowly framerates in heavy games.
Oh, and weve gotten to a point where even midrange SoCs like this one can do the number crunching for 4K video recording. The V5 Pluss 2160p footage is alright, 1080p does the job too. As for stills, the rear camera doesnt disappoint and despite a fair bit of noise shoots quite likable images.
vivo V5 Plus key test findings
- The design is undeniably iPhone-like, build quality is top notch.
- The display posts good numbers for brightness and contrast, but fails to impress in color accuracy and sunlight legibility.
- Battery life is very good - voice call longevity is excellent, web browsing time is solid, video playback is on the good side of average, all of this adding up to a 76-hour endurance rating.
- The phone runs on Marshmallow, which is pretty dated already, but the custom overlay is very rich in added functionality.
- Benchmarks reveal similar performance to other phones with the same chipset - dependable overall, but falling short in the most demanding 3D scenarios.
- The loudspeaker pumped out enough decibels for a Very Good rating; drive it too hard, however, and sound may get distorted.
- The 16MP rear camera produces detailed images with pleasing colors and decent dynamic range.
- The 20MP+8MP front camera combo shoots excellent selfies. The simulated bokeh, while not exactly perfect up-close, is great for social media sharing, where lower resolution makes the flaws less evident
- Video quality is very good in 4K with lots of fine detail and good contrast and colors. 1080p footage is decent, but nothing more.
The V5 Plus major issue is price. You may be able to get two of them for the price of an iPhone, but its not the iPhone its competing with. For what vivo is charging you can get some pretty competent midrangers from big-name makers, and why not even a proper flagship from vivos sister company OnePlus.
Marginally more expensive, the OnePlus 3T is significantly more powerful, particularly in the graphics department - definitely a better choice for mobile gaming. The two phones trade victories in battery life disciplines, with the vivo lasting longer on the web, and the 3T being better in video playback.
The 3Ts software that looks like stock Android, yet offers plenty of customization, would likely be more universally appealing, but if you want the iOS experience on Android, nothing will beat the V5 Plus. Only, its based on Marshmallow, and we cant see that changing anytime soon. Or at all, really. The 3Ts selfie cam isnt bad, but the V5 Plus has that bokeh going for it , and even if the 3Ts rear camera is superior its not so to the point of being a decider. All things considered though, you must really love selfies (and also youself), to pick the V5 Plus over the 3T.
OnePlus 3T
Next comes the Moto Z Play. Similar hardware and more battery and its no wonder the Z Play outlasts the V5 Plus in all tests. The AMOLED display is also brighter and performs better in the sun, the rear camera output is finer, and its vanilla Android too, for those that like their OS the way Google intended it to be. Oh, and the Z Play is, in fact, slightly cheaper. No creamy bokeh selfies on it, though.
Motorola Moto Z Play
Then theres the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, and things are lookin g even worse for the V5 Plus. Same chipset, same display, more battery, less than half the asking price. Of course, the Redmi isnt as posh (though definitely better looking than the rock-bottom price would suggest), cant record 4K video and has a measly single 5MP camera on the front, but the price difference is just too huge to ignore.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 • Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (MediaTek)
The Oppo R9s shares some of its DNA with the V5 Plus, but there are a few differences - microSD slot, better rear camera with a wider f/1.7 aperture and dual pixel autofocus, AMOLED display. The V5 Plus snatches the win for selfie camera, of course.
Opp o R9s
The Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime has been hugely popular, because its a lot of phone for little cash. It runs on Samsungs own Exynos 7870 chip, itself made on a 14nm process as well, so it should be very efficient too - it certainly is inside the J7 (2016). The Prime lacks bells and whistles like bokeh effects, and its top version only comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (expandable, though), but again, it seems like a better deal than the V5 Plus.
Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime
Its easy to see the vivo V5 Plus as an iPhone-copying one-trick pony, an expensive one at that. The thing is, its pretty great at that one trick, and reasonably good at them other tricks. Theres no escaping the copycat boos, and there are much better deals to be had, but it wont be a stretch for vanity to defeat common sense here.
! ( hope useful)
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