vivo’s latest smartphone, the Y02s, has given the entry-level smartphone category a refreshing look. It’s no longer the boring phone that we’re used to.
From the outside, it is very pleasing to the eyes as the clear blues shade projects stunning looks when viewed from different angles or when hit by lights from different sources. The thinness and the texture add a premium to its look. The corners are curved to a bit of an “awra” to it. The phone is surprisingly smudging and fingerprint resistant. Although it wouldn’t have mattered because I will probably be using a case for it most of the I just couldn’t find one yet.
Moving to the buttons, you have the volume rocker and the power button both on the right and the sim card / micro SD card tray on the left. The bottom has stereo speakers, a microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack (which is really rare nowadays). And lastly a USB Type-C port for both charging and data transfer. Both the ports and buttons are not intrusive, meaning it still goes with the overall look of the phone.
Heading on to the display, it boasts a 6.51-inch Halo FullView Display with 1600×720 HD+ resolution that automatically adjusts to lighting conditions and also has an eye protection feature that filters harmful blue light. I watched a couple of videos on Netflix and YouTube because that’s where we usually go for entertainment, right? (no scandalous videos were played on this phone). So anyway, the viewing experience was acceptable, but it wasn’t exceptional. But it did what it was supposed to, deliver HD quality videos which got me hooked. I’ll use it for my late-night binging and scrolling.
Powering the vivo Y02s is an octa-core Helio P35 processor supported by 3GB RAM and a PowerVR GE8320 GPU. Although the specs are great on paper, entry-level phones aren’t built for that heavy gaming and multitasking. Don’t get me wrong, it can handle games and multi-task but it isn’t as fluid and as efficient as the mid-range and flagship phones. Entry-level phones are there to do basic stuff such as call, text, social media, entertainment and take photos.
Speaking of photos, the vivo Y02s came with a 5MP at f/2.2 selfie camera and an 8MP at f/2.0 main camera. The images are pretty decent even in low light conditions. I like how the camera was designed, making it look like a premium dual camera setup.
What I love though is its whopping 5000mAh battery that lasts me around two days on a single charge. That’s up to 18 hours of YouTube streaming, 7 hours of gaming, or 20 hours of music streaming. What comes as a surprise is that it can do reverse charging to power up your other gadgets!
vivo Y02s comes with the latest software Funtouch OS 12 and Android 12 that packs a lot of features including the Multi-Turbo 5.5 and Ultra Game Mode for gaming as well as EasyShare and iManager for phone management.
Entry-level phones have become more and more feature-rich and attractive. What I realised with vivo is that buying an entry-level smartphone is no longer something to be ashamed of, I mean it can now be flaunted because it looks very premium and is capable of doing things that most people do on their phone – social, shoot photos, and watch videos and make communicate. It maybe basic, but it’s something that you’ll be proud you owned.
The vivo Y02s come in Flourite Black and Vibrant Blue and are available for PHP 6,499. For that amount you get a beautifully designed smartphone, a huge battery, an octa-core processor, a huge 6.51″ HD display, and a type-c port. Is it worth it? It definitely is.
