Vivo T2 review: a capable sub-20k contender

Name: vivo T2
Item: vivo T2
Rating: 7
Author: Ashish Kumar

Published On: May 2, 2023

Review Summary

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The Vivo T2 is the latest addition to the company’s T-series lineup, aimed at budget-conscious buyers. While it shares the same chipset as its predecessor Vivo T1 5G, launched last year, the Vivo T2 comes with a few significant changes, with differences in the camera setup, charging capability, design, and display type. Vivo claims that the T2 5G provides superior performance and user experience, but does it really? In this review, we’ll take a closer look at the Vivo T2 and see if it’s worth your hard-earned money.

Verdict

The Vivo T2 is a good everyday device use that many would find right up their alley. It boasts an attractive colour-changing design, a lovely screen, and a respectable chipset. The handset also has impressive camera capabilities in daylight. The only trade-offs are the missing stereo speakers and ultra-wide lens.

The lowdown

The Vivo T2 flaunts a colour-changing design that sets it apart from other smartphones in the segment. I got the Nitro Blaze colour variant for review, which not only has an appealing look but also shifts between shades of blue and orange as light hits it from different angles. Furthermore, the device has a gradient pattern at the back that camouflages fingerprints and smudges, except for the area surrounding the cameras. This area has a glossy finish, which may be more prone to showing fingerprints and smudges. Moving on, the phone has two giant camera rings on the back panel. The rings protrude from the surface, causing the device to wobble when lying flat, and have the text “High Definition Photography” etched next to them.

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The Vivo T2 has a plastic build and flat edges, which makes the device both thin and lightweight. With a thickness of 7.8mm and a weight of 172 grams, the handset is incredibly comfortable to hold and use for extended periods. Additionally, the phone’s relatively compact size, measuring 163 mm in length, makes it effortless to manoeuvre. The volume rocker and power button on the right fascia of the phone were easy to reach without performing any finger gymnastics. As for I/O, the Vivo T2 packs a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom edge. The handset has a single bottom-firing speaker that produces decently loud audio, although the sound lacks crispness.

The Vivo T2 packs a 6.38-inch AMOLED screen with FHD+ resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 1300 nits brightness, HDR10 support, and Widevine L1 certification. The display has thick bezels, a wide chin, and a dated waterdrop notch atop. Be that as it may, the display is fun to look at while playing games or consuming multimedia content. The viewing angles on the display are excellent, the colours look vibrant, and the details appear sharp and crisp. The screen legibility is impressive even under direct sunlight.

Furthermore, the 90Hz refresh rate works fine across the UI and supported apps, with almost no lag in animation, scrolling, and transition. The handset has a “Smart Switch”, which automatically adjusts the refresh rate between 60Hz and 90Hz based on the content played on the screen to save some battery. The Vivo smartphone supports HDR10, and can play back content in FHD resolution from streaming platforms.

The Vivo T2 is powered by a 5G-capable mid-range Snapdragon 695 SoC, which has a clock speed of up to 2.2GHz. The chipset performs decently in benchmarking tests, scoring 2,034 points in Geekbench’s multi-core test and 403,850 on AnTuTu. Moreover, the chipset barely throttles when running 50 threads for half an hour on the CPU Throttle test. The everyday usage of the handset is on par with other phones that feature the same chipset. The T2 did not stutter or show any lag while going through emails, social media apps, or binge-watching shows and movies on OTT platforms. The phone also handles multitasking quite well, making it a reliable device for regular usage. Gaming is not the smartphone’s strongest suit, but it can run graphically-demanding games such as Call of Duty on low settings and frame rates. On the memory and storage front, the phone is equipped with 6GB / 8GB of RAM and 128GB user-expandable storage.

In terms of optics, the Vivo T2 sports a dual-camera setup at the back, with a 64MP OIS primary sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. The front camera is a 16MP shooter for selfies and video calling. These are dependable cameras with quick capture time and focus speed, at least in daylight. The primary 64MP camera produces 16MP stills by default that are detailed and well-calibrated. The colours also look lively and accurate, and the dynamic range is respectable. HDR does an excellent job of brightening up the scene without overexposing the subjects or losing highlights. The 2MP depth sensor delivers decent portrait shots in ample light, with good edge detection and satisfactory blur effect.

The 13MP selfie camera offers a good amount of facial detailing and accurate skin tones when the sun is out. The portrait mode of the camera also has a few issues with edge detection, but the shots are still usable. However, the low light performance of the front and rear cameras is not very impressive, with images lacking detail and proper colour balance. There is also a noticeable amount of noise. The Night Mode can help counter the noise and add a bit of detail to make the images usable. The OIS (optical image stabilisation) also comes in handy here, as it helps you better capture those long exposure shots from the primary camera.

The Vivo T2 houses a 4,500mAh battery, which provides enough backup that should last an entire day for casual users. I was hitting the bed with 20-25 percent battery still left on the phone after using it throughout the day for checking work messages, streaming web series/ movies, some navigation, and more. In the PCMark battery test, the T2 5G returned with a healthy score of 18 hours. The handset supports 44W quick charging, which can juice up the device from 0-40 percent in about 30 minutes. The remaining 60 percent takes another 40-45 minutes. The Vivo T2 can be fully charged in roughly an hour and 20 minutes.

In terms of software, the Vivo T2 boots FunTouchOS 13 atop Android 13 out of the box, and comes with various new features that enhance usability. For example, the Album app now allows users to hide photos/videos, and the camera app can remove metadata from shots. The handset also comes with a phone cooling feature, which reduces/ pauses the number of apps running in the background to prevent overheating, and app pinning for privacy. That said, the phone does have bloatware and some unwanted notifications. However, users have the option to uninstall third-party apps and disable folders such as Hot Apps and Hot Games via the V-App Store.
For security, the Vivo T2 rocks an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is reliable as well as accurate. Connectivity options on the phone include 5G, 4G LTE, dual SIM standby, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 6, and GPS.

Final verdict

The Vivo T2 competes with several smartphones in the segment, such as OnePlus Nord CE3 Lite (review), Moto G73 (review), Redmi Note 12 (review), and iQOO Z7 (review). These score over the Vivo smartphone in some aspects. However, the T2 is a great option, lacking mainly in terms of audio output and an ultra-wide camera. The Moto G73 5G does offer stereo speakers and an ultra-wide shooter, but lacks the richness of an AMOLED panel. The Vivo T2 is selling in India starting at Rs 18,999 for the 6GB RAM variant, while the top-end 8GB RAM option costs Rs 20,999. You can purchase the device via the company’s official website and Flipkart across the country.