Vivo launched its latest V-series smartphones that came in the form of the V20, V20 Pro 5G and V20 SE last month. As was confirmed, the brand has launched the Vivo V20 in India today as the slimmest smartphone in the world and also the first non-Pixel commercial device to boot Android 11 out of the box.
The latest smartphone succeeds the V19, which was launched just a few months ago in May. The Vivo V20 comes in as a successor to the V19 and looks quite premium for its price tag. Apart from being the slimmest smartphone and an Android 11 device, the handset flaunts a commendable spec sheet as well. The smartphone arrived at our office and here’s a quick glance at what it brings to the table.
The Vivo V20 comes in a stylish blue box with a V-shaped gradient on the top. Inside, you will find a cardboard sheath containing the transparent protective case, SIM ejector tool and documentation. Under the sheath is the Vivo V20 lying atop the 33W fast charger, Type-C cable and a pair of earphones (which is a rare occurrence now). Vivo has also pre-applied a screen protector on the display, which is a plus.
With the new launch, the brand is bringing the aesthetics of the Vivo X series to the V series. The Vivo V20 resembles the Vivo X50 Pro even more than its predecessors. Gone is the wide rectangular camera module with a vertical lens placement on the back. Instead, the V20 features a dual-tone two-layered triple camera module with lenses arranged in a triangular fashion just like the X50 Pro. Vivo is offering the V20 in Midnight Jazz, Moonlight Sonata, and Sunset Melody colours. I received the first one, which is simply a dark grey hue but looks classy.
The back panel uses AG matte glass with an anti-fingerprint coating, which adds to the aesthetics of the device by keeping it clean. The brand is marketing the smartphone as the slimmest offering and at just 7.38mm, the V20 indeed is quite sleek. Additionally, at just 171g, the smartphone is also lightweight and is comfortable to use for long hours. The rounded edges further make it quite ergonomic.
On the front, Vivo has surprisingly taken a step backwards and has equipped the V20 with a waterdrop notch instead of a punch-hole cutout like the Vivo V17 and V19. The 6.44-inch screen is an AMOLED panel with 2,400 x 1,080 pixels resolution. I found the viewing angles, brightness and sharpness of the display to be great during my short stint with the phone. Thanks to the AMOLED panel, the colours are also vivid.
The Vivo V20 ships with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor, which is an 8nm silicon backed by Adreno 618 GPU. Vivo is offering the smartphone in two configurations – 8GB + 128GB and 8GB + 256GB. As for the software, the smartphone boots Funtouch OS 11 based on Android 11 out of the box. During my short stint with the smartphone, I didn’t face any lag or jitter but I will reserve my judgement for the full review. Powering the Vivo V20 is a 4,000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging.
Coming to the USP of the smartphone, the waterdrop notch on the front is housing a powerful 44-megapixel shooter with features like Steadiface selfie video, slo-mo selfie video, dual-view video, eye autofocus video and 4K selfie video recording, and more. On the back, there’s a 64-megapixel primary sensor backed by an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera that also doubles up as a macro and bokeh lens, plus a 2-megapixel mono lens. The initial pictures I took from both front and rear camera were high on detail and produced accurate colours.
The Vivo V20 pricing starts at Rs 24,990 in India and it competes with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy M51 and OnePlus Nord. However, the Vivo V20 makes a strong case for itself thanks to its superior cameras, Android 11, and premium design. I will be testing the smartphone more in my review to find out if it has what it takes to fend off the competition, so stay tuned.