With the success of the vivo V30 5G, vivo has another V30 series phone and that is the vivo V30 Lite. This colour changing phone has a total of up to 16 Gigabytes of RAM and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 chip. What’s amazing is that it can support up to 80-watt fast charging just like the V30 5G. What else does it have? Let’s find out together. You can watch my full YouTube review below.
The price of this smartphone is KES 35,999. Let’s see what this price gets you with a very quick unboxing first. The vivo V30 Lite comes with a phone case that grips the phone nicely. The free phonecase also has this flap that prevents debris from entering the USB port. The other accessories include some paper work, USB cable, SIM ejector tool and finally the big 80-watt flash charger. The screen guard comes already installed on the AMOLED display.
Appearance
I have the Breeze Green version of the V30 Lite, the other one being Crystal Black. The phone has these wavy lines that mimics patterns made on a grass field. In UV light the light green colour changes to a deeper and more profound shade. This effect works even in shaded outdoor areas. The colour changing is much faster in direct sunlight and after a few seconds you can see the light green change into a deep green.
The back cover is smooth to the touch and is a fingerprint proof surface. So there’s no need of constantly wiping phone.
The V30 Lite employs an ultra slim design which makes it sleek and comfortable to hold. The slim profile measures only 7.95mm in thickness. The phone weighs only 197 grams without and 216 grams with the phone case. This is for the Breeze Green edition because the Crystal Black edition is slimmer at 7.79mm thick and weighs less at 186 grams.
The metallic frame is glossy and reflective and is slightly curved at the corners. The ports at the bottom include the speaker, USB port and SIM Tray that can either hold 2 Nano SIM cards or a single SIM and an external SD card. At the top of the phone there’s a secondary microphone. The vivo V30 Lite utilizes the earpiece as the secondary speaker for a dual speaker setup. An interesting feature of the sound system is the 300% volume boosting. This makes the phone much louder.
The camera module seamlessly integrates with the phone’s slim design. With the phone case installed, it doesn’t protrude at all making it comfortable in your pocket. The area surrounding the camera bump is also reflective. I just wish it was a fingerprint proof surface like the rest of the back cover.
Display
The vivo V30 Lite features a 6.67 inch frame with an AMOLED Display. This display has a Full HD+ resolution of 2400*1080.This is perfect for consuming media content as well as gaming. This is as a result of the high contrast ratio and vibrant colors which produce vivid, lifelike images.
The animations are smoother because of the high 120Hz refresh rate. For better performance I left my setting to Smart switch which selects the refresh rate according to actual usage. By doing this I get both the advantage of a smoother display when required as well as save on battery consumption and reduce the phone heating up as well.
Furthermore, the device has earned the SGS Eye Care Display Certification, ensuring optimal eye protection for users. It’s also bright even in direct sunshine. That’s not all with the display as it also houses the sensitive fingerprint scanner which is very fast.
CPU & RAM Expansion
I had mentioned of 16 Gigabytes of RAM at the beginning of this video. The official 8GB’s of RAM can be extended up to 16GB by using the Extended RAM feature. This uses part of the 256GB storage as RAM and the maximum and only choice of ROM allowed is 8GB. Coupled with the Snapdragon 685 4G processor, this makes the phone capable of switching and easy recovery of over 25 apps. This ensures seamless multitasking without any compromise on performance.
By the way it’s great to see that the storage is at 256GB because I expected it to b 128GB.
Camera
Let’s switch focus to the Camera. The triple camera placement is stylish like we saw in the design. The main lens is 50MP, the others are a 2MP Bokeh and for the first time, a Flicker sensor. There’s a very bright Flash at the back and finally the Front camera is a dot in display 8MP lens.
Photos from the main camera are good and with just the right amount of contrast that differentiates the colours well. The Portrait mode makes a very big difference as it brings focus to the subject.
Selfies from the front camera are also detailed. The front Aura screen light brightens up selfies taken in dark environments. Take a look at this side by side comparison with the Aura screen light ON and OFF.
Now on to video recording. The maximum video recording quality is 1080p @ 30 frames per second on both the front and rear cameras. The rear camera can also support 60fps recording but with the maximum quality capped at 720p. The Full HD videos are crisp, clear and with the right amount of colour saturation. The stabilization is only available on the rear camera and here is a comparison with stabilization ON and OFF. Overall you can rely on the vivo V30Lite for your content creation needs.
Battery & Charging
Vivo guarantees 4-Year Battery Health on the v30 Lite. This feature ensures that the 5000mAh battery capacity will still retain over 80% of its original health even after four years of use. This guarantees the phone’s long-term performance and keeps the battery in top-notch condition.
The 80 watt charging significantly reduces the charging time. I conducted a charging experiment recently and I got 27% in only 10 minutes and 71% after only half an hour. That is very fast and impressive because this experiment was done from 1% charge. I got to full battery capacity in 46 minutes.
My figures didn’t fall off too far from the lab test advertised figures of 80% and 100% in half an hour and 43 minutes respectively.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the vivo V30 Lite is a great addition to the vivo V30 series. Although it doesn’t have the Aura Light, it still takes nice photos and videos. The performance is great, and the storage is just right for that price. Overall, it’s a stylish phone with great performance which is perfect for everyday use and content creation too.