Vivo V29 5G Review: Mighty Midranger

Vivo V29 5G was announced early this week and is the company’s latest mid-range smartphone in the country. We finally have it and here’s our initial review to give you an idea of what to expect.

Vivo usually releases two midrange smartphones in the camera-centric V series each year in Kenya and the Vivo V29 5G succeeds the Vivo V27 5G which was launched early this year.

Like its sibling, the Vivo V29 continues with the same impressive photography and videography capabilities as seen below.

Before we begin, here’s what you get in the box:

the phone with a factory-applied screen protector.
Type-C charging cable
80W power brick
Sim ejector tool
case
documentation

DESIGN

Right off the top, the Vivo V29 looks really beautiful. Our unit is in Noble Black with a subtle shimmer. It’s pretty light like its predecessor and its curved design and slim profile make it comfortable to use even for long periods.

The camera housing has been redesigned with the Aura Light moved to the bottom below the two lenses but we’ll talk about that later.

The back glass has a matte finish which I liked as it doesn’t get fingerprints and smudges. Oh, and it also has IP68 ingress protection to round up which is impressive and a first for Vivo’s V series.

Other features include two microphones, a bottom-facing speaker, and a dual nano-sim card slot. It also has a speedy optical under-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock for biometrics.

The stunning sharp screen complements the attractive design and it’s the best I’ve used this year. It’s a slightly curved(at 55 degrees) 6.78-inch 10-bit AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, 1300 nits peak brightness, and 2800 by 1600 pixel resolution(1.5K).

I was pretty impressed with the overall viewing experience even when outdoors. It’s an amazing canvas for watching movies, showing off your gallery, gaming, browsing the web and scrolling social media.

PERFORMANCE

Vivo V29 comes powered by Snapdragon 778G, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. You get up to 8GB of virtual RAM too.

It runs on Android 13 and FunTouchOS 13 with support for two years of major OS updates and three years of security updates. It is currently on the November 2023 security patch. It recently got updated to Android 14-powered FunTouchOS 14.

Vivo V29, Vivo V27 Get Android 14 Update in Kenya

The phone is no slouch when it comes to performance – it handles everyday tasks excellently. Multitasking never slowed the phone as well. You will comfortably use the phone with no worries of lagging.

The Ultra Large Vapor Chamber Bionic Cooling System kept the phone cool even when gaming in the highest graphic settings.

You’ll be in good hands with the phone.

CAMERAS

Let’s talk about cameras. Vivo V29 ships with a triple rear setup and a punch-hole selfie camera. It has a 50 MP main camera with OIS, an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP depth camera. We also have a 50 MP front-facing camera.

Vivo V29 comes with an Aura Light feature that brightens faces when taking lowlight portrait shots. There’s a Smart Color Temperature Adjustment that detects the surroundings when the Aura Light is enabled which is a nice addition and the pictures are appealing.

Lowlight Portrait With AuraLight On Shot 1 — Lowlight Portrait With AuraLight Off

It comes in handy when you don’t want to use the LED flash as the photos taken with the Aura Light don’t have the harshness.

The camera app has multiple modes to play around with including 24 vlog modes with templates for food, travel, night and sports. There are movie LUTs as well which are film tone templates that range from nostalgia, retro, classic, mute, autumn and more.

Video recording is capped at 4K 30fps for both the main cameras and the front camera for selfie videos. Stabilization is available on the three lenses with video capped at 1080p 60fps. Selfie videos are stabilized at 1080p 30fps.

The cameras take great photos and videos. They come out looking vivid, well-detailed and sharp with natural saturation. The dynamic range and vibrance are excellent. Lowlights are also really bright which is perfect for sharing on social media.

SELFIES

REGULAR SHOTS AND LOWLIGHT

Overall, the Vivo V29 is a great camera smartphone.

BATTERY

Vivo V29 has a 4600mAh battery that supports 80W wired charging. 18 minutes tossed in the charger will get the phone from empty to 47%. 40 minutes will juice it up from empty to 92%.

In terms of endurance, I was getting between 7 and 8 hours of screen on time between heavy and moderate use. On days of light use, I could push the phone for a day and a half.

VERDICT

The Vivo V29 is a well-rounded midrange smartphone – from the design, its cameras and how capable it performs. The ultrafast charging and the curved and high-resolution screen are the cherries on top.