Review Summary
Expert Rating
Following the successful launch of the Vivo V29e smartphone last year, the company has now introduced its successor in the form of the Vivo V30e. This sub-Rs 30,000 smartphone shares a few traits with the regular Vivo V30 (review) smartphone, announced earlier this year. However, a few corners have been cut to sell the smartphone at a more affordable price point. The V30e features an 8MP ultrawide snapper instead of the 50MP one found in its counterpart and is powered by a slightly more budget-friendly Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC. Does this compromise make or break the smartphone? More importantly, how does it stack up against its competitors? We aim to address these questions and more in this Vivo V30e review. Keep reading.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The Vivo V30e is a good buy for anyone looking for a mid-range smartphone that has an appealing design, a sleek form factor, a punchy screen, and impressive battery life. While the cameras of the smartphone are likeable and the performance is fine for the most part, these aspects don’t seem to be best-in-class.
Design and display
If anything, the Vivo V30e will sway you with its looks. We received the Velvet Red colour variant for review, which looks aesthetically pleasing with its dual-tone finish design. The handset boasts a combination of a matte and a shiny surface around the back. The shiny surface is a small portion on the right sporting a pattern, while the rest is all matte, helping keep fingerprints and smudges at bay. Furthermore, the V30e showcases a circular camera module accentuated by a golden ring that protrudes slightly from the chassis, adding to its overall appeal.
Besides this, much like its elder siblings the V30 and V30 Pro, the Vivo V30e features a curved screen design with an in-display fingerprint scanner which is relatively quick at unlocking the device. As for I/O, the handset offers a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer, a bottom-firing speaker, and a centre punch-hole display.
The Vivo V30e display is 6.78-inch tall and of AMOLED variety that bears FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The display gets sufficiently bright for both indoor and outdoor visibility. The colour calibration is also impressive, with deep blacks and respectable viewing angles. The handset is Widevine L1 certified, ensuring streaming in FHD resolution from OTT platforms. Despite its substantial 5,500mAh battery, the phone remains lightweight at just 188 grams, ensuring a comfortable grip for extended periods of use. The smartphone would have ensured a better viewing experience with a stereo speaker output, but unfortunately, it only features a mono speaker. The latter does get loud but lacks that richness at the high volume levels.
Cameras
The Vivo V30e camera setup includes a 50MP primary sensor and an 8MP ultrawide lens. This is aided by the Aura ring light that has become the trademark of the V-series smartphones. The ring light assists with lowlight photography, especially portraits. There are several beauty filters and postures modes too if you wish to have some fun. As for selfies and video calling, the phone relies on a 50MP snapper in the punch-hole setup.
The camera performance is likeable, despite the slight oversaturation of colours which makes the images punchier and more vibrant than what they would be with natural tones. The dynamic range is impressive, with minimal loss of detail in shadowy areas. Images are notably sharp in well-lit environments but lack some clarity as light diminishes, which is typical for a mid-range smartphone. The 8MP ultra-wide sensor provides a wider field of view than the primary shooter, but sacrifices detail and sharpness. Additionally, minor as it may be, there’s some shift in colours. The ultrawide images look less vibrant than the ones from the main camera.
When it comes to portraits, the Vivo V30e provides a nice separation of the foreground from the background. The bokeh effect and skin tones also appear natural. The facial details are respectable too. Nevertheless, warping around the edges of the subject is visible upon closer inspection. The 50MP front camera performs admirably with skin tones but tends to slightly smooth out facial details, thereby diminishing the dynamic range by impacting the shadows. In low light, the Vivo V30e captures images with long exposure times, and there is no option to disable this feature. The results are average with slight distortion in the form of noise across the frame.
The 50MP primary shooter of the OnePlus Nord CE4 (review), which is the V30e’s closest rival, outputs brighter results with better detail than its counterpart. The images are also less grainy around the shadowy areas.
Performance and software
Under the hood, the Vivo V30e is powered by Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC, which is quite common in the mid-range segment. The SoC is paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB/ 256GB of user-expandable storage. While the handset may not top the benchmark charts in the sub-Rs 30,000 segment, the performance is fine for most day-to-day activities. This is evident in its AnTuTu and Geekbench scores, which are on par with the Realme P1 Pro that is selling in India for around Rs 21,000.
The handset is capable of some casual gaming as well. We tested our usual games on this device, including BGMI, Call of Duty, and Real Racing 3. The handset performed respectably well, with occasional frame drops. There was a slight increase in the thermals too, but the V30e didn’t become uncomfortably warm. On average, the battery life dropped by 5 percent after playing each game for roughly half an hour.
As for the software, the Vivo V30e runs the latest FunTouch OS 14 layered atop Android 14 out of the box. The handset is future-proof until 2027 with three major software updates and an additional year of security updates. The phone comes with several customisation options and pre-installed apps other than Google’s. There is Vivo’s own app store called V-Appstore, a browser, a cleanup utility and a security scanner called iManager. In addition, it includes popular third-party apps as well such as Netflix, Snapchat, PhonePe, Facebook and LinkedIn, which are removable.
Battery and charging
The Vivo V30e boasts a 5,500mAh battery, slightly beefier than its competitors. This also helped a respectable score of 14 hours and 56 minutes on the PC Mark battery test within the segment. The smartphone also excelled in our YouTube playback test, with its battery dropping by only 3 percent after playing a video for 30 minutes at maximum resolution and 50 percent brightness and volume levels. The handset should have no trouble lasting an entire day even with slightly heavier usage.
When in need of some juice, the handset supports 44W fast charging that can fully recharge the device from 20 percent within an hour. It is worth mentioning that the compatible charger is provided in the box.
Final verdict
Rs 27,999 is the asking price of the Vivo V30e as of the time of writing, and at that price, there is no shortage of smartphones available within the segment. Some of the popular alternatives include the OnePlus Nord CE 4 (review), POCO X6 Pro (review), and Realme 12 Pro+ (review), and each of them has their pros and cons when compared to Vivo’s offering. If performance is your priority, the POCO X6 Pro and OnePlus Nord CE 4 are worth checking out. The Realme 12 Pro+, on the other hand, has a versatile camera setup featuring a telephoto lens.
That said, these alternatives are predominantly available online through platforms like Flipkart and Amazon. In contrast, the Vivo V30e targets both offline and online markets. For offline buyers, it presents an enticing mid-range option with its appealing design, vibrant display, and impressive battery life. Barring the low-light performance, the V30e’s cameras are commendable. Those willing to stretch their budget could also consider the Vivo V30 for a slightly improved camera setup. However, for budget-conscious buyers, the V30e remains a solid choice within its price bracket.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Reasons to buy
- The handset will sway you with its looks.
- The display offers an impressive viewing experience.
- The battery life is good enough to last an entire usage even with slightly heavy usage.
- The camera performance is likeable, despite the slight oversaturation of colours.
Reasons not to buy
- The phone lacks stereo speakers for a more profound audio experience.
- Performance-focused users might have to look for alternatives.
 | Rs. 27,999.00 | Go To Store |
