Vivo V17 first impressions: Pricey, gorgeous, and a potentially promising camera

Another day and Vivo has launched yet another smartphone. The company unveiled the Vivo V17 in India at a price of Rs 22,990. It follows the launch of the Vivo V17 Pro in September, the smartphone that made headlines due to its 32 MP dual pop up selfie camera. No, this smartphone does not come with the same gimmicky dual pop-up selfie cameras but after using it for a while, I have to say that Vivo has done a really good job with its design. The smartphone deserves some brownie points for its design which is something that other brands should take notes from. While the device is still being tested for the full review, here are some of my initial thoughts about the Vivo V17 after using the device for a couple of days. [caption id=“attachment_7764601” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] Vivo V17 comes in Glacier Ice and Midnight Ocean Blue colour variant.[/caption]

Design: One word – Subtle

The smartphone comes in two colour variants – Glacier Ice and Midnight Ocean Blue. The one I have is Midnight Ocean Blue. This dark blue colour variant with a glossy back is really eye-catching. The logo is placed on the back in silver, a good combination with blue. Maybe I prefer this variant because I really like the blue colour or it could be because it doesn’t look very tacky and full of rainbow colours like other smartphones. Anyhow, it’s a personal preference and I’ll call it subtle. Does it get smudgy, you ask? Yes, it is indeed a smudge-fest when it comes to the glossy back. However, you could go for the silicon cover that comes bundled with the phone in the box. [caption id=“attachment_7764611” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Vivo V17 comes with a 4,500 mAh battery.[/caption] The Vivo V17 comes with a quad rear-camera setup at the back that is neatly tucked on the top left corner of the phone, within a capsule-shaped module. This module also contains an LED flash. On the right edge of the phone, you will find a power button and above it is the volume slider. At the bottom, you will see a speaker grill, a headphone jack (Thank God!) and a Type-C charging slot. Even though it has a 4,500 mAh battery, the phone isn’t bulky at all, and it is not too broad as well. On the front, the Vivo V17 comes with a 6.44-inch hole-punch display and has an E3 Super AMOLED panel. It has an aspect ratio of 20:9 with a Full HD+ resolution at 1,080 x 2,400 pixels. The 32 MP front camera sits at the top right corner. Its hole-punch design doesn’t grab much attention which is a good thing. And I must admit it is a really tiny hole that I guess you won’t even notice after a certain period of time. This design gives you a good experience and no interruption when you’re watching a movie or playing games. [caption id=“attachment_7764521” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Vivo V17 comes with a 6.44-inch hole-punch display and has an E3 Super AMOLED panel.[/caption] There is an in-display fingerprint sensor in the phone which is fast and I will say the same for face unlock option as well – really quick. But, but, but… this face unlock feature struggles in low-light settings. So, you might want to stick to the fingerprint unlock option only.

Promising camera for now

The Vivo V17  features a quad rear-camera setup that has a 48 MP primary sensor, 8 MP ultra-wide-angle camera,  2 MP depth sensor and 2 MP macro sensor. The rear camera captures some good images but I did find that when it comes to night mode, it is a little underwhelming and lacked details. I can tell more about this once I get to spend more time testing this camera, especially the “Super Night Mode”. I personally liked the bokeh mode of the camera as it quickly adjusts the focus and gives good quality images. The daylight images are good in terms of details, sharpness and colours. But this is not my final say and I will have to use it more to get to a conclusion. You get several options in the camera like AR stickers, AI scene identification, AI portrait framing, slo-mo and time-lapse. [caption id=“attachment_7764501” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Vivo V17 comes with 32 MP front camera.[/caption] On the front, you get a 32 MP camera that captures good details and colours. It could be a good option if you are a selfie lover. The front camera also comes with a “Night Mode” option, but I wasn’t much impressed by the image quality as it lacked clarity. Here are a few camera samples clicked by the Vivo V17

Sufficient battery capacity, performance is snappy

The smartphone is equipped with a 4,500 mAh battery and it comes with an 18 W fast charger. Fast-charging support is one more added thing that I like about this phone. The battery is more than enough for a person like me who loves to spend a lot of time on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. In terms of storage, it comes in just one 8 GB RAM + 128 GB internal storage variant. You will get dual nano-SIM slots with a dedicated microSD card slot in this device. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset and it is very fast. The smartphone runs on the Android 9 Pie-based Funtouch OS and in the short amount of time I used the phone, it didn’t show any signs of lag. You can switch between the apps quickly as well. You also get earphones bundled in the box with this smartphone which is something that is missing nowadays. So good job on that! [caption id=“attachment_7764491” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] In terms of storage, Vivo V17 comes in just one 8 GB RAM + 128 GB internal storage.[/caption]

Worth buying?

To answer that question, I’ll have to spend some more time testing the device. Overall, I really like the design and appreciate its sleek and slim look and let’s not forget its amazing colour right! In terms of the camera as well, it has proved to be a good one. Although I am a bit doubtful about the night shots since I was not really impressed by it. However, I will test it more to come to a conclusion. In terms of performance, with the Snapdragon 675 processor, it’s fast and smooth. The smartphone’s 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage is enough for seamless multi-tasking. Its battery life according to the specs should last up to a day or so. Further testing is required. Let’s see how well does the phone perform when it comes to competing with its rivals from Realme and Redmi. I will tell you more about it in my detailed review. Stay tuned folks!