The Vivo V29 lets selfie fans see the light
Photography-focused smartphone also packs a top-tier screen
Depending on where you live, Vivo has been a go-to brand among the best mid-range smartphones – especially if you’re all about phone photography. That looks set to continue with the new Vivo V29, which pairs a high pixel count camera with a ring light that’s nine times brighter than a typical phone flash, for flattering portrait shots in all conditions.
The V29 officially made its debut a few weeks ago, but Vivo has waited until now to talk specifics, including which countries it’ll be heading to. India, Malaysia, Turkey and Mexico will be among the first to get it, along with a handful of European markets. As expected neither the UK nor the US officially make the cut, just like previous years.
Those able to get their hands on one will find a well-equipped mid-ranger, with a pair of 50MP main snappers: one on the rear and one up front for stellar selfies. An 8MP ultrawide and 2MP depth cam play supporting roles. All three rear cams can call on the ring light, which has become something of a Vivo staple. It’s 36% brighter than the one found in the outgoing Vivo V27, and is packing four separate LEDs (two warm and two cool) to deliver 23 levels of automatic colour temperature adjustment, which should mean convincing looking shots no matter the background lighting.
Elsewhere the spec sheet looks impressive. The Vivo V27 has a 6.78in curved-edge AMOLED display with 2800×1260 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and support for HDR10+ content, set into a polycarbonate frame. Go for the Peak Blue or Starry Purple model and the rear panel is filled with millions of tiny particles, which glisten in the light as a nod to the stars that make up the Milky Way. Noble Black is the more subdued alternative, with a micro-etched pattern, while Velvet Red uses colour-changing Flourite glass to jazz things up under UV light.
Whichever you go for, you’re getting a slender handset that’s just 7.46mm at its thinnest point, and one that weighs in at 186g. Impressively it’s also IP68 dust and water-resistant, which is still a surprising (but welcome) inclusion on any mid-range handset.
Inside you’ll find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ processor, paired with either 8 or 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of on-board storage. A 4600mAh battery should last long enough for all-day use, and it’ll manage 80W fast charging over USB-C. On the software front, Vivo’s FunTouchOS interface sits on top of Android 13.
Prices have yet to be confirmed, but we’re expecting the Vivo V29 to trade blows with the Google Pixel 7A, Samsung Galaxy A54 and Nothing Phone 1 around the £400/$400/€450 mark.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor