Vivo T4 review: power-packed with a massive battery

Vivo’s T-series has built a strong reputation for delivering capable smartphones at an affordable price. The Vivo T3 (review), which followed the promising T2, was one of the fastest smartphones with a reliable camera setup under Rs 20,000 last year. Now, with the fourth generation—Vivo T4—the brand faces the challenge of living up to those high expectations.

The T4 rises to the occasion with the largest battery capacity ever seen in an Indian smartphone, all packed into a sleek, slim design. It also offers fast charging, a solid Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC, and a well-tested camera setup. However, this increases the smartphone’s price, making the Vivo T4 the most expensive smartphone in the series.

Verdict

The Vivo T4 impresses on multiple fronts, reinforcing its position as one of the standout options in the sub-Rs 25,000 segment. While it does edge up in price compared to its predecessors, the additions in the battery, upgraded chipset, and quick charging speeds justify the bump. Its minor trade-offs (like the lack of an ultrawide camera and NFC) don’t outweigh its strengths, making it a compelling buy, especially for power users and gamers.

Design and display

Apart from its specifications, the Vivo T4 also stands out for its design. The smartphone weighs 199 grams and measures just 7.9mm in thickness, which is pretty impressive given its 7,300mAh battery. Moreover, the weight is well-distributed, and the overall look is sleek and stylish. The bold circular camera module, inspired by flagship designs, adds character, though it may not suit everyone’s taste.

The phone comes in a couple of colour options: Emerald Blaze and Phantom Grey. The Phantom Grey variant, which we received for review, has a matte finish, but it is prone to smudges, so using the bundled case is recommended. Be that as it may, the Vivo T4, with its IP65 and MIL-STD-810H ratings, along with Shield Glass protection and impact cushioning, is built to handle minor drops and everyday wear.

While the Vivo T4 may not come with NFC support for tap and pay payments, it sports an IR blaster cleverly placed on the rear camera module, allowing you to control compatible home appliances. As for security, the smartphone boasts an in-display fingerprint scanner for security that’s fast and reliable. Rest remains standard – a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer and a SIM tray with a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion. There is only one speaker on the device, which is loud but lacks an immersive sound experience.

Moving to the front, the Vivo T4 sports a 6.77-inch quad-curved AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution, a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 5,000 nits for a reasonably good viewing experience. It’s one of the brightest displays in its segment, delivering excellent visibility even under direct sunlight. This is also based on our lab test.

There’s HDR playback support, though streaming is currently limited to FHD resolution on platforms like Netflix. Hopefully, a future software update will enable higher-resolution streaming support.

Cameras

The Vivo T4 features a dual rear camera setup, led by a 50MP main sensor paired with a 2MP depth lens, and a 32MP selfie camera tucked neatly into a punch-hole cutout. While it skips an ultrawide lens—something that you can find in a few competitors, such as the Redmi Note 14 and Motorola Edge 60 Fusion, the T4 makes up for it with solid 4K video recording at 30fps on both front and rear shooters. In day-to-day use, the camera system performs reliably, producing vivid colours, balanced exposure, and flattering selfies that feel true to life. Detail tends to dip in low light and portraits, where images can look slightly soft and dim. Still, the portraits’ bokeh effect feels natural, and selfies impress with true-to-life tones and solid exposure. Night mode boosts clarity but leans into oversaturated colours.

Overall, the Vivo T4 is not a photography powerhouse, but it delivers consistent results for everyday shots. Read on to learn how the smartphone performs against the Realme Narzo 80 Pro.

Daylight

The Vivo T4 delivers more natural colours and better dynamic range, preserving shadow detail well. In contrast, the Realme Narzo 80 Pro captures finer details with its warmer tone, brightening the scene and enhancing visibility in darker areas.

Portrait

In portrait shots, the Vivo T4 slightly outperforms the Narzo 80 Pro in detail. That said, while Realme’s portraits stand out for bold contrast, its bokeh effect isn’t as natural as the Vivo offering. Neither smartphone is accurate with skin tones and edge detection.

Selfie

The Vivo T4 takes a clear lead in selfies, thanks to its 32MP front camera that captures sharper facial details and more accurate skin tones. In comparison, the Narzo 80 Pro’s 16MP sensor produces hazier results, though it handles background exposure slightly better.

Low-light

In low light, the Vivo T4 captures sharper images, while the Realme Narzo 80 Pro offers better colour accuracy with a more natural grey sky. However, the Narzo smartphone struggles with light flares and grain, giving the Vivo offering an edge in overall clarity.

Low-light (night mode)

With night mode on, the Realme Narzo 80 Pro cuts noise but lacks detail. The Vivo T4, despite slight smoothing, handles flares better and delivers sharper, cleaner images. Its colour accuracy isn’t perfect, but it still outperforms the Narzo in low light.

Performance and software

At the heart of the Vivo T4 lies the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, coupled with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The mid-range chipset from Qualcomm ensures an efficient cooling system and capable performance. To test that, we ran global benchmark apps such as AnTuTu on the device, and it scored close to 8 lakh points, which is pretty impressive for a sub-Rs 25,000 smartphone. On Geekbench too, the Vivo T4 crunched some good numbers, overpowering the competition with single and multi-core scores of 1,174 and 3,334, respectively. The smartphone also maintains superior performance under sustained load, scoring 69.2 percent in the Burnout CPU throttle test.

When it comes to real-world performance, the Vivo T4 handles everyday tasks like streaming, browsing, multitasking, and light editing with ease. Impressively, even without an active Vapour Chamber cooling system, the device stays cool during demanding sessions. In a 90-minute gaming test with BGMI, COD: Mobile, and Real Racing 3, the T4 registered around a 20-degree Celsius temperature rise, which is on par with most competitors.

Software-wise, the handset boots FunTouch OS 15 layered atop Android 15 out of the box. While it comes with 61 pre-installed apps, the UI remains smooth and stable with no performance hiccups. It also offers useful AI features like Super Doc for document correction, Instant Document Converter for quick PDF creation, and AI Eraser for seamless photo edits. Vivo promises two years of Android updates and three years of security patches, which is decent but could’ve been better considering Motorola, Samsung, and Nothing continue to raise the bar with software update cycle.

Battery and charging

The Vivo T4 manages to squeeze a 7,300mAh battery into a slim and lightweight design, owing to the Silicon Carbon tech. The latter is a new type of battery that boasts higher energy density than traditional Lithium-Ion cells, allowing more power storage without increasing bulk. The result speaks for itself—in the PCMark battery test, the Vivo T4 delivered an impressive runtime of 18 hours, showcasing its excellent endurance.

The smartphone also manages battery consumption quite efficiently in real-world usage. After streaming a 30-minute YouTube video at the maximum supported resolution, it consumed just 3 percent of the battery, which is higher than the iQOO Z10 (review) that shares identical specifications. Moreover, the device used only 4 percent battery after playing BGMI, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Real Racing 3 for 30 minutes each, lower than the 6 percent average seen on competing devices under similar conditions.

This makes the Vivo T4 a true battery powerhouse, comfortably lasting over a full day even with moderate to heavy use. Charging is equally impressive, thanks to 90W fast charging support. The bundled charger can take the phone from 20 percent to 100 percent within 45 minutes, faster than many phones with much smaller batteries. The T4 also supports bypass charging, which powers the device directly during use, reducing battery stress and helping preserve long-term battery health.

Final verdict

The Vivo T4 ticks all the right boxes from design and display to battery, performance, and cameras. The handset is sleek, stylish, durable, and lightweight despite the massive 7,300mAh battery, which easily lasts through heavy use, making it ideal for students and everyday users. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 ensures smooth multitasking and efficient performance, while the vibrant 120Hz AMOLED display enhances everything from scrolling to streaming and gaming.

Though the dual-camera setup is functional, it lacks the versatility of ultra-wide or macro sensors found in some rivals. Low-light shots and finer details could be better, but for general use, it gets the job done. If your priorities lie in long battery life, reliable performance, fast charging, and an immersive display, the Vivo T4 delivers solid value, starting at just Rs 21,999.

Editor’s rating: 8.3/10

Reasons to buy

• At 199 grams and 7.9mm, it’s slim despite the huge battery, with IP65 and MIL-STD-810H durability.
• The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 delivers excellent benchmark scores and real-world smoothness.
• The 7,300mAh battery is unmatched, delivering all-day endurance without bulk, thanks to silicon carbon tech.
• With 90W fast charging, it powers up in under 45 minutes from 20 percent to full.

Reasons not to buy

• Lacks an ultra-wide lens, which competitors like the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion and Redmi Note 14 include.
• Limits functionality for contactless payments with no NFC support.