Vivo V3 and V3 Max Launch: What’s Good and What All’s bad!

By Ankit

| Updated: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 19:20 [IST]

Vivo launched the V3 and V3 Max smartphones in India at a press event in Mumbai. The company also announced their new brand ambassador - Ranveer Singh as well as the partnership with IPL Season 9, starting next week.

The V3 and V3 Max are the latest flagship smartphones for the Indian market and come with mid-range and high-end specifications, respectively.

Here are all the pointers as to what all is good and bad about the Vivo V3 and V3 Max launched in India.

THE GOOD

4GB RAM at an effective cost

Vivo V3 and V3 Max Launch: What’s Good and What All’s bad!

Vivo V3 Max, the higher end of both the smartphones, has 4 gigabytes of RAM at a price of Rs. 23,980. This puts it in comparison with other such smartphones like the Xiaomi Mi 5, Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, all of which have 4GB of RAM but are priced much higher. This, relatively, puts the V3 Max in a situation making it one of the most cost-effective smartphones with that amount of RAM.

Phase Detection Auto Focus

A new technology in mobile camera optics, Phase Detection Auto Focus or PDAF is quite rare in smartphones of this price range. Both the V3 as well as V3 Max equip this tech in their rear cameras. It is currently proving to offer the fastest focusing times in real-life scenarios. Samsung kicked it off with the PDAF tech in the Galaxy S5, then Apple introduced something similar under the marketing name Focus Pixels with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Sony has the system in its newest IMX230 sensor as well, calling it hybrid autofocus.

360-degree fingerprint sensor

Most smartphones now come with fingerprint sensors on them, providing extra security for your precious data. The Vivo V3 and V3 Max also follow suit but there is a feature that stands out. The fingerprint sensor on both these smartphones is placed on the rear provides 360-degree feedback. This means that whatever way you use your finger to register a fingerprint, it will read it, irrespective of the angle of your finger. As complicated as it may sound, this feature is quite a nifty way to reduce phone unlocking time.

A kickass audio engine/system

Launched by Vivo in 2014, the AK4375 Hi-Fi audio chip is something that has always been appreciated on their smartphones since the X5Max was launched. This is a special audio chip that enhances sound quality by focusing on all highs and lows in the type of music you play with it.

Ranveer Singh - The youth icon

Putting aside the features of the smartphones that were launched, another highlight of the Vivo launch was the roping in of Ranveer Singh as the company's brand ambassador. After successive Bollywood hits, Ranveer is one actor who is quite popular with the Indian youth. This will enable Vivo to catch the eye of the population of Indian markets, one of the youngest in the world.

THE BAD

Snapdragon 652 over Snapdragon 820

The Vivo V3 Max is powered by Qualcomm's latest mid-range chipset, Snapdragon 652. The price tag of around Rs. 24,000 puts it in competition with the recently launched Xiaomi Mi 5, which is running the high-end Snapdragon 820. Yes, the Snapdragon 652 is just a tad bit low in performance compared to the 820 but equipping the flagship chipset in a flagship device gives a better overall appeal.

The V3 is overpriced

With specifications like Qualcomm Snapdragon 616, 3GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, as well as a cut-throat competitive Indian smartphone market, one would expect the Vivo V3 to be priced around the sub-10k price point. Priced quite steeply at Rs. 17,980, the Vivo V3 is definitely overpriced and makes the V3 Max a much better upgrade at a difference of around Rs. 6,000.

Android 5.1

Both these smartphones are running on FunTouch 2.5, based on top of Android 5.1.1. The latest OS from Android 6.0 Marshmallow - that released more than 6 months back. This has been the case with almost all of the OEMs and as a result only 2% Android smartphones are running Marshmallow.