vivo V23 5G launched in Kenya last week. This is the company’s first 5G smartphone in the country and brings a bevvy of new features including a colour changing back and improved photography.
You can watch our unboxing and first impressions review above or here.
Full review is in the works and as you wait, we checked out how its cameras perform.
vivo V23 5G ships with five cameras – three at the back and two at the front. We have a 64MP triple camera setup that includes an 8MP ultrawide with a 120-degree field of view and a 2MP macro sensor.
For selfie lovers, we have a 50MP main and an 8MP ultrawide front-facing camera housed in the notch. The ultrawide comes in handy when taking group selfies.
The dual selfie camera setup is coupled with dual led lights what Vivo calls Dual-Tone Spotlight flash for lowlight selfies.
You can change the colour temperature right from the camera app from warm, default to cool.
The Vivo V23 supports up to 4K 30fps video recording for both the selfie cameras and main cameras. that’s pretty cool, especially for vlogging. You can also shoot at 1080p at either 60fps or 30fps.
Modes to play around with include Double Exposure, Pro, High Resolution, Time-Lapse, Slo-Mo, Dual View, Movie and Live Photo.
Additional settings include Framing Lines, Level Meter, WaterMark and Motion Autofocus.
I took a ton of photos and videos during my period with the phone and I’m glad to say that the vivo V23 5G cameras take the smartphone’s photography and videography performance to new heights.
From the selfies to the bokeh shots to the low light shots and videos – the phone did an incredible job.
You are definitely going to get selfies and portraits ready for social media posting whether in good lightning or lowlight as you’ll see below.[Link to full resolution images below]
Steadiface is enabled at 1080p at 30fps for ultra steady shooting. If you take a lot of video calls for work or family, you’ll really appreciate the high-quality selfie video output.
4K footage was really smooth – perfect for vlogging and shooting TikToks(you’ll have o downscale to 1080p but the clarity still remains.)
The cameras at the back also brought standout performance.
Regular photos turned out great and thanks to the huge sensor, you get natural bokeh instead of using the portrait mode. Colours, exposures, dynamic range were handled pretty well. You won’t go wrong when you decide to snap a shot and share on social media.
Videos came out worthy of posting to YouTube, Instagram or TikTok too. There are three modes for stabilization starting at ultra(1080p at 60fps) and standard for both 4K 30fps and 1080p at 60fps. Time-Lapse(1080p and 720p) and Slow Mo(1080p 120fps and 720p at either 120fps and 240fps) are also handy modes to play around with. You’ll love the shots as I did.
Dual Video lets you simultaneously record with both the front and back cameras at either 1080p or 720p.
The GW1 Sensor comes through for lowlight photography as shots came out with little noise and artefacts. This goes well even for lowlight bokeh shots – they were surprisingly good. Details and colours are pretty decent.
[View photos in full resolution]
Conclusion
vivo has been at the helm in terms of industry-leading camera performance and the V23 5G encompasses that and more. You are getting an interesting set of cameras and fun modes to play around with and they all deliver whether in good lighting conditions or in less-than-ideal scenes. We also get style and performance that you should expect from a mid-ranger – I’ll delve more into that in our upcoming full review of the vivo V23 5G.
So far, this is a smartphone camera you should consider if you’re in the market for one.
I’ll be sharing more snippets on our Instagram stories. So hit me up if you want to know more details that I didn’t cover here and I’ll address that in the review.
Pricing and Availability
vivo V23 5G is now on sale from Ksh 59,999 available at Vivo’s retail stores countrywide and partner e-commerce sites.
vivo V23e goes for Ksh 33,999.
vivo has also partnered up with Lipa Later to offer financing plans.
