vivo Y31 – Deja vu?
vivo is not a stranger to introducing affordable midrange smartphones. In 2020, their budget and midrange devices sales helped them reach the top spot. There’s no surprise there because their smartphones are easily among the brands that are accessible online and brick and mortar stores throughout the country.
Today, we’re taking a quick look at this midrange smartphone, the vivo Y31. This isn’t exactly the first “Y31” device since vivo first introduced it in 2015.
If you want to know more about this product, here’s a full breakdown of its specs. We also dropped our benchmark results in the table below.
Brand | vivo |
---|---|
Display | 1080 x 2408 pixels, 6.58 inches |
Dimension | 163.9 x 75.3 x 8.4 mm |
Weight | 188 g |
Authentication and Security | Fingerprint (side-mounted) |
Front camera | 16 MP, f/2.0, (wide) |
Rear Camera | 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth), 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro), 48 MP, f/1.8, (wide), 1/2.0″, 0.8µm, PDAF |
SoC | Qualcomm SM6115 Snapdragon 662 (11 nm) |
Processor | 4×2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver |
Memory | 8GB |
Storage | 128GB |
Battery | 5000mah |
Charging | Fast charging 18W |
OS | Android 11, FunTouch 11 |
Network and Connectivity | BDS, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac |
Sensors | Accelerometer, Geomagnetic sensor, Gyro sensor, Proximity sensor |
Audio | 3.5mm jack, Loudspeaker |
Video | Supported Playback: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM |
Color | Ocean Blue, Racing Black |
Androbench Sec Write | 207.78 MB/s |
Androbench Seq Read | 510.83 MB/s |
Antutu Score | 189415 |
CPDT Benchmark Sec Read | 383.56 MB/s |
CPDT Benchmark Seq Write | 169.52 MB/s |
Geekbench Multi-Core | 1416 |
Geekbench Single Core | 316 |
PC Mark (Work 2.0) Score | 5983 |
What’s inside the box?
One thing that I am definitely allowed to show you are everything inside the box. vivo is included as much as they could inside the retail box of the vivo Y31. This means that you’re getting an 18w charger, Type-C to Type A cable, sim ejector tool, earphones with 3.5mm headphone jack, silicone case, and a couple of documentation. Here’s a picture of everything inside the box.
A cheaper vivo V20 SE?
It would be easier for you to picture vivo Y31 by comparing it with the vivo V20 SE. The devices look roughly similar, except for the layout of the camera bump. There is no denying that vivo’s design footprint are present on both devices. vivo Y31 is bigger and heavier than V20 SE. In terms of design, while having “premium look” was not actually affected, I find the V20 SE looks better and sleeker on various levels.
The display looks gorgeous, but not as great as the one on V20 series. It doesn’t look bad, but the colors appear a little bland than how colors are presented on my V20 SE.
You’ve got a side-mounted fingerprint sensor on the right side, which doubles as sleep/wake button. You can find the volume rockers just above the sensor. This sports a Type-C port, and beside it are speakers, microphone and 3.5mm port. There is a secondary microphone at the top for noice-canceling purposes, and a tri-cut sim tray (one tray can be used to mount micro SD card). Everything you need is on this phone, and vivo tried everything they could to not compromise the features that users would normally want to have on their smartphone.
48MP AI Camera Monster
This smartphone is also packed with a 48MP AI camera, which takes photos with impressive quality and detail. Here are some of the photos I took using the said lens with AI Camera enabled. For your appreciation, I zoomed in to a specific portion of the photo at post, which should give you an idea of its quality.
Lastly the vivo Y31 is installed with a 5,000mAh battery, which is enough to let you use the device for more than half a day!
Based on my first impression, I would say that this will pass as a cheaper and good alternative to the vivo V20 SE. “Cheaper” is just an assumption with the basis of how the phone is built and installed with slightly lower specs than V20 SE. We know that Y31 and V20 SE are of different tiers, but this will just give you a quick insight into how Y31 performs without us violating any embargo agreements. The official price has already been revealed by vivo – PhP12,999.
Video review will be out this weekend.
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.