Vivo V20 SE Review
Vivo V20 is a mid-ranger with a focus on cameras, design, and fast charging. Read on the review to see how is it
Vivo has been known for making camera-centric phones that have managed to attract a wider audience in India. Carrying forward its tradition, it launched for us the Vivo V20 recently with a focus on detailed selfies with its 44MP Eye Autofocus selfie snapper. With a similar focus on the front camera, the company recently introduced the Vivo V20 SE, which is a slightly toned-down variant of the V20.
The V20 SE gets 48MP triple rear cameras, 32MP Super Night selfie camera, an AMOLED display, 33W fast charging, and a sleek design under Rs. 25,000. I got to use the phone for some time to find out how it performs in the mid-range segment. Read on IndiaTV Tech’s review to know.
Vivo V20 SE Review: Design
The Vivo V20 SE carries the good looks of the V20 and comes across as a sleek, premium-looking phone. The build quality is more than decent, which is impressive on the part of Vivo. It gets a sleek and slim body, which makes holding it a delight. The lightweight design adds on to the overall ease of usage. This is topped with easy one-hand usage due to a pretty accessible design. The phone gets two colours; Gravity Black and Aquamarine Green, out of which I got the former colour. The colour calls for an ombre finish with tones of black and silver at the back. This gradient design adds on to the overall looks of the device.
The smartphone features a volume rocker and a power button on the right side while the left side is blank. The top end has a SIM slot and a mic while the bottom end has a 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille. At the back, there is a rectangular camera module in the top left corner with three cameras and LED flash and a ‘Vivo’ logo in the bottom left corner. Upfront, there is a waterdrop notched display for fewer bezels.
The phone might not have a different look as the Vivo V20 but there is the essence of good looks, which makes up for the loss of innovation. If you go for the phone, you won’t feel disappointed for it serves convenience clubbed with class.
Vivo V20 SE Review: Display
The device spans 6.44-inch and has a waterdrop notched AMOLED display. The display gets a Full HD+ screen resolution with features such as Adaptive display. Eye protection, dark them, option to choose screen colours (Standard, Normal, Bright), and the option to hide the notched area.
The display has lesser bezels, which ensures a wider display for a better viewing experience. The screen is bright and aptly-lit. It produces vivid colours and the images/videos are quite bright and oversaturated. Along with this, you do get details but aren’t aptly highlighted. More often than not, the details feel washed out. But, the bright colours sort of compensating for this and you would enjoy the experience if you are into bright colours. But for people who notice the littlest of the details, can find the phone failing their expectations.
Vivo V20 SE Review: Cameras
The V20 SE gets three rear cameras arranged in a vertical manner: a 48MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle/macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. The rear cameras support autofocus, LED flash, Night mode, slow-motion videos, 4K videos, EIS in videos, beauty mode, and more. The front camera stands at 32MP with support for fixed focus.
The rear cameras are mostly able to capture good images with a balance in colours. While the images do have a slight hint of saturation they don’t feel over. The pictures aren’t fully detailed, leaving them slightly washed out. But, you can see some details here and there making the overall output less processed. The night mode works pretty good and can capture a good amount of details with lighting in low-light areas. The ultra-wide mode, macro mode, and portrait mode perform above average with a good amount of area coverage, close-up shots, and bokeh effect, respectively.
As for the selfies, indoor ones appear natural but slightly grainy. However, selfies in the Super Night mode, which is the main highlight of the phone, shines. It put the right amount of light on the face and produces detailed photos. Among others, the video quality was decent and ensured decent stabilisation and the HDR mode worked well too.
Vivo V20 SE Review: Spec Sheet
Here are the Vivo V20 SE specifications:
| Specifications | Vivo V20 SE |
| Display | 6.44-inch Full HD+ AMOLED |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB |
| Rear Camera |
48MP (main) 8MP (ultra-wide/macro) 2MP (depth sensor) |
| Front Camera | 32MP |
| Battery | 4,100mAh |
| OS | FunTouch OS based on Android 11 |
| Extra Features | 33W fast charging, in-display fingerprint scanner |
| Price | Rs. 20,990 |
Vivo V20 SE Review: Performance, Battery, OS
The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor, coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The internal storage is expandable via a microSD card.
The Vivo V20 SE is a decent performer. Using it for daily tasks such as browsing the net, taking images, using a plethora of apps, and more was smooth. While the usage isn’t smooth as butter and calls for some stutters, the lagging isn’t too visible. Playing games has also been decent and the phone can sustain heavy games such as CoD without causing much of an issue. Among, others the audio quality is decent and the in-display fingerprint scanner is quick.
The 4,100mAh battery lasted me around 1.5 days with the regular aforementioned usage and the 33W fast charging ensured the phone charges in less than an hour, which is quite decent. As for the OS, Funtouch OS 11 based on Android 11 has significantly provided improvements to the overall usage and a clean UI. However, there is bloatware and that can be reduced for a better user experience.
Vivo V20 SE Review: Verdict
The Vivo V20 SE, at a price of Rs. 20,990 (currently) is a decent mid-ranger with decent cameras, fast charging, and decent performance. This is coupled with a slim and good-looking design, which one can’t ignore. FunTouchOS can prove to a not-so-perfect UI and the rear cameras can be improved. But it isn’t a lot problematic. Hence, if you have the budget and aim for a Vivo phone, this is a perfect choice for the price and the specs it comes with.
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