• March 28, 2024

There’s no shortage of stylish, affordable smartphones in the market, and vivo—with its huge portfolio of smartphones—has an offering that those on a budget should check out.

We’re talking about the vivo Y02s, an entry-level smartphone that looks anything but.

The vivo Y02’s box includes the device itself, a 10W charger, USB type-C cable, SIM ejector pin, and quick start guide. Unlike others, however, this one doesn’t come with a free clear jelly case or a pair of earphones out of the box.

Design and build

The vivo Y02s is available in Vibrant Blue and Fluorite Black. We got the former, and it looks chic for an entry-level device. Its glittery effect elevates the look, while the durable back plastic panel has a matte finish, which makes the phone less prone to unsightly smudges.

The phone has a boxy design with flat sides and back (so flat it can stand on its left side on its own). Meanwhile, the edges of the glass display are angled with a 2.5D curvature.

The volume and power buttons are on the right edge while the SIM card tray is accessible at the top. The 3.5mm audio jack, pin-hole microphone, USB type-C port, and loudspeaker grille are all found at the bottom edge of the device.

The rear camera module will make you think the phone has two lenses, but the second camera ring actually houses an LED flash. I think it’s quite clever, actually. It makes the Y02s look more premium since it seems like it has dual cameras instead of just one 8-megapixel shooter.

The Y02s weighs just a little under 200g, but it feels sturdily built. We didn’t notice any creaks or flimsiness during our time with it.

Display

The vivo Y02s has a 6.51-inch HD+ (1600×720) Halo FullView display with a small notch for the selfie camera. Watching content on this display is quite nice and the 60Hz refresh rate is good enough for this purpose. Of course, playing games with this refresh rate isn’t going to be as buttery smooth as those on phones with 90Hz or 120Hz, so keep your expectations in check.

Complementing the display is the bottom-firing speaker, which has decent volume and clear vocals, but has a rather weak bass.

The display is bright and viewing angles are decent. Alas, you can’t see much of what’s on the display when you’re using the phone outdoors—especially when the sun is bright. This could pose a problem when you’re trying to shoot outdoors and you can’t really see your subject.

Cameras

Speaking of shooting, the vivo Y02s’ 8MP f/2.0 rear camera churns out pretty good photos in well-lit situations. Unfortunately, its performance isn’t consistent especially when it comes to color accuracy and dynamic range. The camera also struggles indoors and when lighting conditions are tricky.

The 5MP selfie camera, on the other hand, produces good enough selfies with decent colors and skin tone. The Aura Screen Light (a.k.a. selfie fill light) helps a lot, too, as it illuminates your face when you’re shooting in dimly lit areas.

Here are some sample shots we took with the vivo Y02s:

Hardware

The vivo Y02s is powered by a MediaTek Helio P35 octa-core chipset paired with 3GB RAM and a 32GB internal storage that’s expandable via a microSD card. Sadly, the Y02s doesn’t have the dynamic/extended RAM and the puny built-in storage is quite frustrating.

Otherwise, this phone performs decently for basic tasks, switching between apps, or scrolling through social media. As expected, there’s a noticeable lag when you have several (read: more than five) apps running in the background.

It’s possible to play mobile games on this phone, too, such as Mobile Legends at medium graphics quality.

Battery

Despite its slim design, vivo was able to equip the Y02s with a generously sized 5000mAh battery, which can last almost two days on a single charge. You can even put that cell to good use as the phone supports 5V/1A reverse charging.

The bundled charger, however, is only 10W so charging the phone fully can take as much as 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The good news? A 15-minute charge will give you about 9 to 10% battery, which is good when you just need to make a quick phone call or send a text message.

Speed says

The vivo Y02s offers decent features and a massive battery in a slim, chic-looking device. It does, however, fall short when it comes to some aspects of its performance.

But if you’re looking for a phone with trendy design and long-lasting battery life, then the vivo Y02s could be the phone for you. Its SRP when it launched was P6,499, but it’s included in the ongoing Paskong La vivo Loca promo, which means you can score the phone for only P5,999.

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