Back in March, smartphone brand Vivo introduced the new breed of devices under the upper midrange V-series – the Vivo V27 and its cheaper sibling, the Vivo V27e.
While both smartphones are dubbed the “Aura Portrait Master” as a nod to the dynamic halo feature of the series, the premium V27 sports a curvier design while the V27e showcases a streamlined and light aesthetic.
At first glance, the Vivo V27e looks like it has a metallic panel on the back. In reality, both the frame and back are made of plastic but treated with a metallic texture to look more refined and elegant. Although it lacks the photochromic layer that its bigger sibling has, the muted panel of the V27e looks a lot less gimmicky and more professional-looking.
Because of the minimalistic design, Vivo is able to achieve the sense of lightness through the blank space and fluidity of the design without making it boring. Following the Bauhaus style of modern design, the V27e uses a compact camera arrangement, with the aura light system as a finishing touch.
Under the hood of its ultra-sensitive imaging system, the Vivo V27e is powered by a Samsung GW3 64MP main camera with optical image stabilization that produces clear images in daylight conditions and less blurry photos at nighttime. T
he aura light portrait system comes into play by recreating a studio-level soft lighting effect which is useless in landscape shots but works impressively well for selfies or close-up photos.
Without the 4nm processor seen with the V27, the V27e may seem like an underpowered smartphone. But actually, the MediaTek Helio G99 built on the TSMC N6 (6nm-class) chip production process is a reliable chipset for all-day gaming, streaming, and shooting.
The G99 delivers the MediaTek Intelligent Display Sync technology which improves the power efficiency by dynamically adjusting the refresh rate for when it’s needed on the 120Hz sunlight Amoled display.
With Extended Ram 3.0, on the other hand, a smartphone with 8GB of memory has double the equivalent Ram while decreasing resource consumption at the same time.
In real world settings, this means that the device is able to take on moderate to heavy games by shifting resources wherever it is needed.
Although we would expect slight heating during resource-intensive tasks like high resolution rendering, the 23-layer vapor chamber bionic cooling system does the job to minimize operating temperatures.
The Vivo V27e does support dual SIM cards but the second SIM slot also serves a microSD card for storage expansion. Out of the box, the V27e comes equipped with a vivo standard charger which supports a charging power of up to 66W, allowing users to go from 0 to 50% in roughly 18 minutes.
Unlike conventional modern android smartphones that are usually equipped Gorilla Glass protection, the Vivo V27e, the company has decided to go with Schott Xensation Alpha high-strength glass for the cover which is marketed as tougher than Gorilla Glass 5 and Gorilla Glass 7.
Conclusion
The Vivo V27e is a decent all-rounder that is suited for users who take a lot of portrait photos or use social media for most of the day. The featured aura light portrait system can be useful in some scenarios, but ultimately, is barely noticeable in lighting extremes.
Beyond its camera capabilities, the device shines as a moderately powerful daily driver, but for users who are looking for a better-looking phone, the base Vivo V27 variant is worth looking into.
