If taking selfies is something you do all the time, Vivo phones are the best pick. Vivo always comes out with new smartphones for people who love taking selfies. Vivo’s latest phone, the V23e, is no different. It’s part of the company’s very famous V series.
Vivo added two new phones to its Vivo V line on January 5: the Vivo V23 and the Vivo V23 Pro. This Vivo V23e is the follow-up to the Vivo V21e, which was released in June 2021 and is a lighter version of the Vivo V23. This gadget has few improvements over its predecessors, and the 44 MP front-facing camera is its main feature. Will it be fun for today’s young people to get a better smartphone for the money, or is “selfie prowess” enough? Here’s our review of the Vivo V23e after using it as our primary smartphone for two weeks. First, though, let’s look at the details:
Vivo V23e 5G Full Specifications
| LAUNCH | |
| Announced | November 09, 2021 |
| First Release | November 09, 2021 |
| NETWORK | GSM / CDMA / HSPA / LTE |
| BODY | |
| Dimensions | 160.9 x 74.3 x 7.4 mm |
| Weight | 172 g |
| SIM | Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| DISPLAY | |
| Type | AMOLED |
| Size | 6.44 inches, 100.1 cm2 (~83.8% screen-to-body ratio) |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| PLATFORM | |
| Operating System | Android 11, Funtouch 12 |
| Chipset | Mediatek Helio G96 (12 nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core |
| GPU | Mali-G57 MC2 |
| MEMORY | |
| Card Slot | microSDXC |
| Internal | 128GB 8GB RAM |
| MAIN CAMERA | |
| Triple | 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide) 8 MP, f/2.2, 120˚, 16mm (ultrawide) 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro) |
| Features | Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR, panorama |
| Video | 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS |
| SELFIE CAMERA | |
| Single | 50 MP, f/2.0, (wide) |
| Features | HDR |
| Video | 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps |
| SOUND | |
| Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | No |
| COMMS | |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, apt-X HD |
| Positioning | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| NFC | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C, OTG |
| FEATURES | |
| Sensors | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro |
| BATTERY | |
| Type | Li-Po 4050 mAh, non-removable |
| Charging | 44W wired, 69% in 30 min (advertised) |
| MISC | |
| Colors | Black, Aurora |
Read More: Vivo X90 Pro 5G Review: Best Camera Phone
Box Content
- The Vivo V23e phone
- 44W Brick for Vivo Flash Charge
- Type-C USB Cable
- Case for Protection
- Pin for Sim Ejector
- How to Get Started and Stay Safe
Vivo V23e Price
Vivo v23e is a value-for-money smartphone. It’s great news for selfie lovers. The Vivo always focuses on its camera setup. Now talk about its price. Price may vary in different countries. The price in the Indian market is ₹ 23,999. And in Bangladesh, its price is 27,990 BDT+ VAT.
Vivo V23e Design
When it comes to the Vivo V23e 5G, the design is both simple and complex. One colour is Sunshine Coast, and the other is Moonlight Shadow. The build quality for each colourway is very different; the Sunshine Coast has a glass back, and the Moonlight Shadow has a plastic back that could be better. Strangely, there’s no price difference between them. We used the Moonlight Shadow colour for our study.
This back is made of flat, matte-finished plastic like a mirror. It shimmers when light hits it and keeps fingerprints and smudges away. Fingerprints can be seen on a surface that isn’t very shiny, but they are easy to wipe off. The matte finish makes it easy to hold onto the device and doesn’t feel slippery. Vivo also includes a Transparent Polycarbonate Case (TPU) to protect the phone and keep its good looks.
This phone is thinner and lighter than the Vivo T1 5G. It weighs 172 grams and has a 7.36-mm diameter. To give you an idea of how it looks, it has a power button and volume rockers on the right, which give you tactile input but nothing on the left. Over on the bottom is a Type-C charging port and a single speaker. The SIM tray slot is on the right, and the backup microphone is on the left. It has a primary microphone on top of it. It has a SIM slot that simultaneously holds two SIM cards, one SIM card, and a memory card.
Some Lacks
The speaker’s output is average if you listen to music or films. They are loud, but the sound lacks depth when turned up to higher levels. You can find smartphones with audio speakers that sound much better at this price range. The three cameras are in a square-shaped bump on the back of the phone that sticks out a little, making it shake on flat surfaces.
Vivo v23e Display
The only bad thing about this AMOLED screen is that it shows bright, punchy colours that are easy on the eyes. We didn’t see any problems with vision in bright sunlight, either inside or outside. Other great things about this display panel are the AOD display, the in-screen fingerprint reader (which still looks fantastic), and the regular LCD panel, which makes blacks bigger and whites brighter.
One is Standard, the other two are Professional, and the third is Bright. We did notice, though, that the “Professional” profile changes the colour to warm tones while the “Standard” and “Bright” shapes don’t change anything. Because of this, we suggest that you only use the “Standard” option. The Widevine L1 approval means you can play HDR content while watching Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Vivo V23e Performance
- Helio G96
- RAM 8GB
- ROM 256GB
In this new version, Vivo swapped out the SD 720G for the Helio G96, which performs about the same or slightly better than the Helio G95.
Two main cores in the chipset are running at 2.05 GHz. Six cores always run at 2.0GHz. Mali-G57 MC2 GPU helps the phone with its images.
If you’ve used a device before with a Helio G95 chip, I promise you that this one will be similar. Based on Antutu and Geekbench, I got the following results. Check the table below to see how well the Realme 8 works with a G95 CPU.
In real life, the Vivo V23e does an excellent job switching between tasks. It was easy to use different apps without any problems. Adding the 4GB of extra RAM Vivo offers to the main RAM can help the phone run smoothly and quickly.
Technically, you can have 12GB of RAM, which is enough for the most demanding tasks. V23e can play PUBG with HD graphics without problems, but Call of Duty can be played with middle settings. Both online games can have a high frame rate.
I didn’t have any lags or frame drops when I played games. G96 does a great job. The specs for the 4050 mAh battery are better than the 4000 mAh cell in the V21e, which makes it slightly better in real life. At the end of our testing days, we still had enough energy to review a few news sites before bed.
The 44-watt charger can fully charge the battery in an hour faster than the V21e’s 33-watt charger. The fingerprint reader works faster than Realm 8.
The single-firing speaker can make a great sound for movies and music. It’s quiet for a room that size.
Vivo V23e Cameras
The app’s design is simple and easy to understand. The camera’s main features include professional settings, scene recognition with tips and buttons that let you quickly switch modes, automatic HDR, different filters, and more.
On the main unit of the Vivo V23e, there are three cameras:
- a wide view (64 MP, 1.79 εm aperture)
- very wide angle (8 megapixels, 2.2 mm lens)
- macro (2 megapixels, 2.4-inch lens)
Photos taken with a wide-angle camera have natural colours, good dynamic range, and little noise. During the day, the camera is just as good as the one in the older Vivo V23. In standard lighting, blurring the background in portrait view doesn’t hurt anything. In many low-light situations, night mode can be helpful.
The ultra-wide-angle camera
The ultra-wide-angle camera takes good pictures with enough light, but the image is distorted and less sharp around the edges. You should only count on getting good shots if there is enough light. At night, there is a clear lack of dynamic range and post-processing techniques that are too harsh to erase small details.
About 4 cm away is where the closeup camera’s focus point is. When the lighting is good, the module lets you take exciting pictures, but the pictures will only look good when you look at them in your social network posts.
With a frame rate of up to 60 frames per second, the primary camera can record video in 1920×1080 quality. Digital stabilization can be used, but it will lead to frame tearing and a lower FPS. While the Vivo V23e can record videos, the picture quality could be better, especially regarding fine details.
The front camera
The front camera gets extra attention from the company that makes the phone. You can use it to take pictures with a 50 MP quality. When in Portrait mode, the camera instantly focuses on the eyes, and you can take pictures in a number of different ways. The photos have a good colour range and are very detailed.
You can use electronic stabilization when you take video. So, you’ll have to drop the frame rate from 60 to 30, and the highest quality you can use is still 1080P.
Vivo v23e Software
Considering what I said about Always-on Display, the software experience was better than I thought it would be. As for the Funtouch OS, I see it as another highly tweaked version of Android from China that doesn’t look anything like stock Android…
I was wrong, too. Vivo’s Android experience is more like “pure” Android than MIUI or One UI. Vivo only has a few apps, and you can ignore them (except for the gallery and camera, which are necessary). There are also no ads where they shouldn’t be.
But remember that the phone still has Android 11 on it. Because Android 12 launched so slowly, it’s hard to say if it’s good or bad. Android 13 is coming out soon, and Google is tightening Android and the Play Store security. Because of this, Vivo should update its phone to the most recent version of Android.
But Vivo should be praised for some nice software changes they’ve made. It’s great that you can use some apps next to each other or in pop-up windows. Vivo really nailed the “long screenshots” experience, and Ultra Game Mode helped me take photos and record my screen while I was playing (more on that later).
The thing I didn’t like most was the widgets. I don’t like having a lot of apps and clock/weather widgets on my homescreen, but the clock/weather widgets were completely broken for me. If you try to set a third-party picture as wallpaper, the phone might decide that the white clock widget on a bright background is what you need, and there’s no way to change it. You should be able to quickly find another clock app for Android because there are so many to choose from.
The phone felt quick and smooth (as smooth as a 60Hz screen can be), and none of the apps I used had any issues or “hiccups.” No apps closed all of a sudden, and no notifications were missed. This is very important if your phone is used for work.
Vivo v23e Battery & Charging
The phone’s life and charging are where it really shines. By today’s measures, 4050 mAh isn’t a very big battery capacity, but I got two work days out of it. I picked up the phone at 9 AM on day one and often used the camera and texting apps. At 8 PM on day 2, it was 10% charged and ready to go.
44W Flash Charge could charge it to 100% while I drank tea and showered, which is pretty cool. One small problem is that you need to use the charger and cord that come with the phone to charge it so quickly. It doesn’t matter what charging port and cable I use; my 60W PD brick from Baseus will only charge slowly. Remember this if you want to have an extra cord or charger.
Vivo v23e Competitors & Summary
But how does the Vivo V23e stack up against other phones? Take a look at these phones that are around the same price as the Vivo:
Realme GT Master Edition
Realme has been making a lot of noise lately with its racing-themed smartphones. And GT Master Edition is worth all the fuss. Even though it has 2 GB less RAM, it should be much faster than Vivo’s phone because it has a 120Hz screen and a Snapdragon 778G CPU. It also has a slightly bigger battery (4300 mAh) and charges faster at 65W. Again, we have a cutout for a picture camera with a punch hole. Also, Dmytro Koval wrote a review of this phone that you can read.
Redmi Note 11 Pro
The newest phone in this famous series is like the Vivo V23e in a few ways: it has 8 GB of RAM, the Helio G96 processor, and terrible video recording quality. The connections end here, though. Redmi has a screen that refreshes at 120Hz, a main camera with 108 MP, a bigger 5000 mAh battery, and a charger that supports 67W. It also has a thinner chin and a punch-hole camera cutout that looks much better. If how you look is more important to you.
Samsung Galaxy M52 5G
The Realme GT Master Edition and the M52 5G have almost the same specs: a 120 Hz screen, Snapdragon 778G, and 6GB of RAM. The M52 5G, on the other hand, has a 5000 mAh battery and a 25W charger, which is slower. The cameras are a little better on paper, and there’s a Samsung logo on the back, which may still mean something to you.
POCO F3
The Snapdragon 870 chipset in the F3 makes it faster and more powerful than almost all of its competition. Even though it only has 6 GB of RAM and a 48 MP camera, it has a big 4520 mAh battery and a 33W charger to play games longer and with better graphics settings.
You can see that the Vivo V23e differs from other phones on the market. Not only does it properly meet all the requirements for a modern phone, but it also needs to catch up in every way. On the back, it looks cool, but on the front, it looks old. The screen on the phone is AMOLED, but it only works at 60 Hz. It has 8 GB of RAM, and that’s not even adding the 4 GB of SWAP.
However, with a mid-range processor, they’re optional. It looks like it has good cameras, but it only sometimes takes and sends good shots and videos. Overall, the V23e feels like a tried-and-true mid-range smartphone from the past: it has everything you need but nothing truly exceptional. This method may have worked in the past. Vivo’s strategy is, at best, questionable, especially since rivals are working hard to blur the line between mid-range and high-end smartphones (yes, with some tricks and mixed results).
Vivo v23e Verdict
However, the Vivo V23e only comes in one colour and storage size (8GB/128GB), costing Rs 25,990. You can buy the phone on Flipkart and Vivo’s official website.
The Vivo V23e 5G is like an average student who barely gets enough points to pass: it’s just an intermediate device that isn’t better than its competitors in any way. These small trade-offs hurt the overall experience, like needing a faster refresh rate, an iffy SOC, and slow day-to-day performance. This phone is a good choice for people who want a good 5G phone with a fun camera setup, a lightweight design that will look good on you, fast charging, and a design that will appeal to people who like Vivo phones. It can handle moderate game sessions but not as well as other options. If, on the other hand, your main uses are making short calls, using social media, and taking pictures, this will meet your needs.
If you’re looking for other options, the Realme 9 Pro+ has a 90Hz AMOLED touchscreen and a MediaTek Dimensity 920 processor that works better than most and a good camera experience overall. The 120W Fast Charging on the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is lightning fast and looks and works better than other chargers. You could also get the Realme 9 SE, the OnePlus Nord CE 2, the Realme GT Master Edition, or the iQoo Z5.
