Vivo V50 Review: A Reliable Partner You Can Trust

The smartphone market is notorious for its fast-paced development, high turnover, and unpredictability. It’s almost as if there’s no opportunity to settle down and catch your breath before the next big thing comes rushing in. On the one hand, it’s good that it keeps mobile technology innovation flowing and avoids stagnating. On the other hand, however, it can be a confusing and chaotic place for people looking for a reliable device they won’t regret buying for years.

That’s the kind of world that the new Vivo V50 is coming into. As the latest member of the brand’s accessible V-series phones, it needs to be able to set itself apart from the rest of the crowd, but it isn’t doing something flashy to accomplish that. In fact, it’s hardly doing anything new at all, so we just had to give this familiar face a test to see if it has what it takes to stand out and make it in this overpopulated market.

Designer: Vivo

Aesthetics

It’s almost a tradition for smartphone makers to change their designs every year in an attempt to drum up interest and hype. It’s reminiscent of the old Nokia days when you’d see a weird new design a few times a year, making for a rather large museum gallery now that the mobile brand is dead. It’s great for making news but, when you’re not the only fish in the pond, it’s terrible for brand recognition.

The Vivo V50, fortunately, carries over much of its predecessor’s DNA, which is a good thing because the Vivo V40 and V40 Pro were quite stunning. This year’s model makes a few subtle changes but keeps the overall look the same, retaining the beautiful simplicity found in its graceful curves. That includes the same “Dual Ring Camera Module,” previously called the “Gemini Ring,” that gives it that unique “keyhole” look. It’s not a ground-breaking design by any stretch, but it creates a visual identity that Vivo has thankfully kept for at least one more generation.

The subtle changes that Vivo did make include a slightly flatter screen and edges. The company calls it a Quad-Curve design, but it’s really how most flat phone displays look anyway, with a slight curve around the edges to help hide the bezels. The back, however, is still quite curved at the sides, giving a bit of a compromise to both camps in the eternal “curved versus flat” debate.

Just like with the V40 series, Vivo made some interesting color choices this year. The Starry Blue employs a holographic design that brings the night sky to life on the back of your phone. Admittedly, the novelty will wear off quickly, but it’s still pretty to look at all the time. Our Ancora Red review unit isn’t that bad either, with an elegant luster that’s almost maroon in appearance, giving it a more luxurious character.

Ergonomics

Unlike its predecessor, holding the Vivo V50 is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the edges of the screen no longer run the risk of being accidentally activated because of its flatter design. On the other hand, some will feel that the flat edges conform poorly to their hand when holding the device. It isn’t uncomfortable, thankfully, since the back glass panel is still curved, so you are getting the best of both worlds in a way.

The phone isn’t too heavy, but it isn’t that light either at 189g. Given the very generous battery it’s hiding inside, you might actually be shocked to realize it isn’t heavier than it could have been. It’s a little top-heavy as well, which is to be expected, so triggering the under-display fingerprint scanner requires a little bit more care to not have it fall off your hand.

Performance

The design isn’t the only thing that’s the same with the Vivo V50. For better or worse, most of its internals have also remained the same as the V40 last year, with a few key differences. That wouldn’t have been so bad if not for one tiny detail: the V40 also kept the same specs as the V30 before it. Granted, both of those came out in 2024, so it’s not exactly that long ago, but it still doesn’t look good on paper. And as it turns out, not that good in practice either.

In a nutshell, the Vivo V50 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, a mid-range processor from late 2023, and uses LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage technology. The latter is a bit more problematic as it means slow data reading and writing. For reference, the latest storage technology is UFS 4.0 from 2022. In practice, however, the Vivo V50 does quite OK, with a few frame drops and stuttering when it comes to games. Don’t expect it to score high on synthetic benchmarks, of course, but it will do just fine for most uses outside of resource-hungry mobile games.

As for the differences, there’s some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that the 6.77-inch screen’s resolution has been downgraded from 2800×1260 to 2392×1080. It still fits the “FHD+” label, but that also means that it’s a little less sharp than last year’s Vivo V-series flagships. The good news is that, unless you’re actually particular about it, you might not even notice the difference and still enjoy a vibrant and colorful display.

The bigger difference, literally and figuratively, is the whopping 6,000mAh battery inside this thin device. That gives you at most a day’s worth of use, depending on your activities. It can even last two days if you’re a bit frugal. Charging the V50 doesn’t take that long either, with 90W charging that does meet the average of 40 minutes to charge from 20% to full. Needless to say, you won’t be stressed out from running out of juice in the middle of the day.

The Vivo V50’s theme of keeping what works continues in its camera system. Again, it might not sound great on paper that it’s practically using similar 50MP hardware for over a year, but in photography, even the smallest difference can make a huge impact. That’s definitely true in this case because the V50 impresses by doing more with less.

Unlike its peers, the Vivo V50 leans more towards more realistic color reproduction, though that often makes pictures look colder compared to the vibrant and over-saturated output of other brands. It errs on the side of trying to preserve as many details as it can and avoid over-processing. It doesn’t always work, though, and you can sometimes end up with more noise, especially in low-light situations.

Where the phone’s dual 50MP cameras do excel is in mimicking ZEISS lenses. Portrait photos come out quite nicely, pulling off accurate bokehs with pleasant blurring and accurate separation of foreground and background, even without a telephoto lens. The larger Aura Ring flash also gives a more natural glow to faces, though it doesn’t have much effect on scenes where brighter lighting is needed.

All in all, the Vivo V50 isn’t outstanding in its performance. In fact, it lags behind its rivals in the same segment who have upgraded to newer and better technologies. Those don’t come without costs, though, either in terms of stability or retail price. What the Vivo V50 brings to the table is a tried and tested formula that has proven to be reliable and functional, delivering stability and peace of mind without any hidden costs.

Sustainability

Like some of its more subtle changes, Vivo has also improved the V50 in ways that are, unfortunately, invisible to the naked eye. While its predecessors already met the standard for durability with an IP68 rating, this year’s V flagship takes it a step further with IP69 certification. Although the chances are less likely, it does mean that the phone is protected from a splash of hot water in case of an accident.

Vivo is also promising 3 years of major Android updates and four years of security updates. Unfortunately, the phone isn’t as future-proof as it sounds. If those upgrades bring more features that require not only more processing power but also faster data storage speeds, the Vivo V50 will clearly be at a disadvantage. This is one area where the seemingly harmless old hardware would become a liability instead.

Value

The Vivo V50 is a strikingly elegant phone, one whose design has been verified by its immediate predecessor. Despite its year-old hardware, it can still keep up with most user demands outside of heavy gaming. Even then, all you need to do is tweak the settings to balance graphics with long battery life, creating an experience that is just as enjoyable as an expensive high-end phone.

Normally, we could leave it at that and give the V50 a big round of applause. Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist in isolation, which makes its value even harder to gauge. Its $470 price tag for the top-of-the-line 12GB memory and 512GB storage configuration is definitely tempting, but there are other phones on this tier that offer a lot more while not asking that much more in terms of price. It makes the Vivo V50 a harder sell than it should be, especially with what you’re getting for less.

Verdict

Not everything that is old is bad. Wine, wood, leather, and brass, for example, can age gracefully and create unique characteristics that bring value to the design. Old can also mean stable, battle-tested, and reliable. It’s not flimsy and unpredictable, bringing a sense of calm and even peace.

The Vivo V50 is like this, confident in how it doesn’t have to tread uncharted territory to bring the value that consumers want at this price point. Its features are already proven, and with a few nudges here and there, it even improves the formula by building on its solid foundations. Unfortunately, it is also being outpaced and outperformed by some of its peers, and only time will tell how long Vivo keep on using the same design before it becomes obsolete.

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