We posted our full review of the vivo Y35 back in September, and we thought it was a good phone, offering a nice-looking design, decent performance and optics, as well as great battery life. A well-packaged device for the price.
After using the phone for almost three months, we’ve decided to do a long term take on the phone, to see how it fares today, and if it’s still worth the money.
Design
While it’s not a design that you won’t see anywhere else (the vivo Y22s pretty much is a case in point), the vivo Y35 shows that mid-range and even entry-level phones can still look and feel premium. They even put in a bit more by having a rear panel that shows shades of multiple colors when viewed in different angles, and the color of the camera island provides a good contrast.
Is it my favorite design for a mid-range phone? certainly not. But it’s ranked up there. The only quirk I find with the looks is the notch. I feel like even in this price segment, a punch hole is the way to go for the front camera.
Performance
The Snapdragon 680 has become a staple chip among a number of mid-range phones. It’s not my personal favorite, as that would have to be the 695, or on MediaTek’s side, the G99, but it does bring a good balance of performance and efficiency to the table.
Speaking of which, the vivo Y35 still manages to deliver the same level of performance that it had when we did our full review. For my use case, which is a lot of photography, social media, YouTube, and a little bit of Mobile Legends, this phone performs well without any major issues.
vivo Y35 packs 8GB of RAM, which is pretty standard in mid-range devices today, and a generous 256GB of storage.
Now, since the time of the release of the original review, a lot of new devices have made their way into the local market, and some of them offer a better package in terms of performance. The realme 10 for example, has a more capable processor at the same price point, and the new Infinix HOT 20s should also offer more performance and is even more affordable.
Camera
For its price, the cameras of the vivo Y35 actually performed better than I expected. Our sample shots showed plenty of detail and in most times great color reproduction. There are instances when it tends to lean on a cooler tone compared to how the actual subject is.
This verdict still holds after almost three months of use. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt like focusing in general has also improved. The original review mentioned the lack of an ultra-wide camera as a negative, and I also stand by that.
Battery
In our original review, the vivo Y35 scored around 19 hours of continuous 1080p video playback. And while we didn’t do the exact same test for this one, I can confidently say that the battery life is pretty much the same, with the phone lasting around two days with my use case minus the gaming part.
Charging-wise, it’s the same. The 44W fast-charging allows the battery to be topped-up from zero to full in just an hour.
Verdict
The vivo Y35 still looks great even compared to a number of newer devices that have come out. That of course, is with the exception of the notched display. In terms of the performance package, it’s still decent, but for the same price or less, you can get phones which have better hardware, especially if you’re more into gaming. For anything else, this phone should still do well.
The cameras on the vivo Y35, while not the most flexible setup, can still capture good looking photos, and the battery life is still great, not to mention this thing charges fast.
So, is this phone still worth its PHP 14,999 price tag today? Unfortunately, things in the smartphone world move very fast, and with the newer devices that have launched since its release, its overall value has certainly decreased. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a decent package overall, but its price needs to go down a bit to be more competitive.
Get the vivo Y35 here.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
