Vivo has entered the increasingly competitive sub-Rs. 20,000 smartphone market with its new T-series, targeting Gen Z consumers who prioritize stylish designs and impressive specs for the price. The Vivo T1 5G, the first in this series, boasts a 120Hz refresh rate display, a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, and a large battery. But does it have what it takes to stand out in a crowded market? Let’s delve into this comprehensive review to find out.
Vivo T1 5G Price in India
The Vivo T1 starts at Rs. 15,990 in India for the 4GB RAM variant. You can also choose from two other models: the 6GB RAM variant at Rs. 16,990 and the 8GB RAM variant at Rs. 19,990. All three versions come with 128GB of storage. The phone is available in two trendy color options: Rainbow Fantasy and Starlight Black.
Vivo T1 5G Design
Vivo has adopted a fresh design language for the T1, featuring flat sides all around. This allows for a comfortable grip, while the rounded corners prevent it from feeling too sharp in your hand. At 8.25mm thin and weighing 187g, the phone is lightweight and easy to carry around. It sports a large display with a dewdrop notch, which might seem outdated compared to other phones in this segment that use hole-punch displays. The bezels are thin on the sides, but the chin is noticeably thicker.
The T1 5G has a plastic frame with the power and volume buttons positioned on the right side. The power button incorporates a fingerprint scanner, making unlocking a seamless experience. The left side is bare, while the top houses the SIM tray and a secondary microphone. The bottom edge features a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C port, loudspeaker, and the primary microphone.
The back of the phone is completely flat, with the camera module sitting neatly in the top left corner. It doesn’t protrude much, making the phone lie flat on surfaces. The Rainbow Fantasy color option, which I had for this review, is truly eye-catching. The sparkly iridescent finish shifts colors as you move the phone, and it manages to hide fingerprints well. A clear case is included in the box, though, if you prefer a more minimalist look.
Vivo T1 5G Specifications and Software
Vivo has clearly focused on certain key specifications to appeal to its Gen Z target audience. The Vivo T1 5G features a 6.58-inch LCD panel with a 120Hz maximum refresh rate and Panda glass for protection. It also boasts a peak touch sampling rate of 240Hz when in game mode, offering a smoother and more responsive gaming experience. The panel is set to Smart Switch by default, which automatically adjusts between 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz refresh rates depending on the content displayed.
Powering the T1 5G is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, the same chip that drives competitors like the Moto G71 5G. To prevent overheating under load, Vivo has incorporated a vapor cooling chamber. The phone also offers a RAM expansion feature, enabling you to utilize a portion of storage as RAM: 1GB for the base variant, 2GB for the 6GB variant, and 4GB for the 8GB variant.
While 128GB of internal storage is generous, you can further expand it using a microSD card in the hybrid dual-SIM slot. The Vivo T1 packs a 5,000mAh battery and supports 18W fast charging, which is slower than what some competitors offer. Thankfully, Vivo includes an 18W charger in the box.
Connectivity-wise, the T1 5G supports two 5G bands, which is significantly fewer than the 13 bands on the Moto G71 5G. It also supports dual 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.1, dual-band Wi-Fi, and five satellite navigation systems. However, it lacks NFC support, meaning you can’t use tap-and-go payments with this phone.
Running on top of Android 12 is Funtouch OS, Vivo’s custom user interface. Funtouch OS is highly intuitive and feels fresh, offering a smooth and personalized user experience. You’ll find Android 12 features like the privacy dashboard, which shows you which apps have access to your microphone, camera, location, and other sensitive data. Vivo has also implemented privacy indicators, displaying a green or orange dot in the top-right corner of the screen when the camera or microphone is being used by an app. You can also choose to grant location access only when an app is actively in use.
Further enhancing privacy, Vivo has added a screen capture protection feature. This prevents apps from capturing screenshots or recording videos when you’re entering a password or other sensitive information.
Vivo has made several customizations to Funtouch OS, allowing you to personalize your phone’s appearance using the Themes app. You can choose from various animations to give your device a unique feel. While these customizations are great, pre-installed bloatware like Moj, MX Takatak, ShareChat, Cred, Josh, and Facebook can be somewhat annoying. Thankfully, these apps can be completely uninstalled.
GameSpace, Vivo’s dedicated gaming hub, lets you access all your installed games in one place and see how much time you’ve spent playing them. Ultra Game Mode, activated when you launch a game, offers a handy voice changer feature, blocks incoming notifications, and lets you lock the screen brightness. Esports Mode goes even further by disabling gestures and intelligently allocating SoC resources based on the current frame rate and temperature, ensuring you have the best possible gaming performance.
Vivo T1 5G Performance and Battery Life
In my experience, the Vivo T1 5G was consistently snappy and showed no signs of slowing down. I had the 8GB RAM variant for this review, with RAM expansion enabled by default. I could effortlessly multitask between multiple apps, and I never noticed the phone having to kill apps in the background. Apps loaded quickly, and the phone felt smooth and responsive overall. The single bottom-firing speaker was loud, but a stereo setup would be a welcome upgrade.
Vivo’s side-mounted fingerprint scanner was accurate and required only a single tap to unlock the phone. Face recognition also worked consistently during the review period, offering a reliable alternative to fingerprint scanning.
Having previously tested the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC in another smartphone, I had a good understanding of its performance capabilities. Nevertheless, I ran several benchmarks to see exactly where the Vivo T1 5G stood in comparison. It achieved a score of 414,287 points in AnTuTu, which is higher than the score obtained by the Moto G71 5G. However, the two phones performed similarly in most other benchmarks. In Geekbench 5’s single-core and multi-core tests, the T1 5G scored 668 and 1,930 points, respectively. It also managed 85fps and 18fps in GFXBench’s T-Rex and Car Chase benchmarks, respectively.
I tested the phone’s gaming performance by playing Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). The game defaulted to "HD" graphics and "high" frame rate settings, which were playable without any noticeable stutter. After 15 minutes of gameplay, I observed a 3 percent drop in battery level, which is considered acceptable.
The Vivo T1 5G impressed me with its excellent battery life. With light to medium usage, the phone easily lasted for two days. In our standard HD video loop test, the phone lasted for an impressive 18 hours and 48 minutes. Idle battery drain was extremely low, meaning you wouldn’t have to worry about constantly charging the phone. While the 18W fast charging support is a bit slower than what some competitors offer, it was still fast enough to get a decent amount of charge in a short time. With the supplied charger, the phone reached 33 percent in 30 minutes and 64 percent in an hour, taking about an hour and a half to fully charge.
Vivo T1 5G Cameras
The Vivo T1 5G flaunts a triple camera system on the back, consisting of a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel shooter. The camera app is incredibly user-friendly, and you can easily switch between shooting modes with a simple swipe. However, the macro camera toggle is easily missed, and integrating it as a shooting mode would improve accessibility.
Vivo claims to offer a Super Night mode for low-light photography and Portrait Styles, which are filters that can be applied while taking portraits. Interestingly, these features are missing on the base 4GB RAM variant. The base variant also lacks the dual camera bokeh feature found on the higher RAM variants, relying on a single camera for bokeh effects.
In daylight, the Vivo T1 captured detailed photos. The primary camera produced images with good colors, and text at a distance was easily legible. However, it sometimes struggled to set exposure correctly in brighter scenes. The absence of an ultrawide angle camera, a common feature in competing phones, might be a drawback for some. Close-up photos were decent, although those taken under direct sunlight had exaggerated colors. Portraits exhibited decent edge detection, but the phone occasionally struggled to accurately separate the subject from the background. The macro camera enabled me to get up close to objects and capture tiny details with impressive clarity.
Low-light shots were only average. Colors appeared muted, and the primary camera couldn’t capture much detail in the shadows. With Super Night Mode enabled, the phone required 4-5 seconds to take a shot, during which you had to hold the phone completely still. This resulted in brighter shots with more detail in the shadows and improved color accuracy.
Selfies were quite detailed, and the T1 5G could manage HDR shots in bright scenes quite well. Low-light selfies taken with a light source nearby were sharper than those in dimly lit environments. Selfie portraits effectively separated the subject and background, creating a pleasing soft blur effect behind the subject.
You can shoot 1080p videos with both the primary rear camera and the selfie camera. The video footage was not stabilized, resulting in noticeable shakes when recording while walking. Low-light footage exhibited some graininess and jitter.
Verdict
The Vivo T1 5G is the inaugural smartphone in the new T-series, specifically designed for Gen Z buyers. Vivo has focused on providing highly desirable specifications such as a powerful SoC, 5G connectivity, a 120Hz refresh rate display, and a large battery. However, to achieve this aggressive pricing, some compromises have been made. These include the outdated dewdrop notch, limited 5G band support, the lack of ultrawide-angle camera, and only 18W charging. Furthermore, the entry-level 4GB RAM variant misses out on certain camera features, which potential buyers should be aware of.
While some of these factors might deter certain buyers, the Vivo T1 5G’s pricing will still be attractive to many. If you’re considering alternatives, the Moto G71 5G, Realme 8s 5G, and Redmi Note 11T 5G are all worth exploring, each offering its own set of strengths and weaknesses.
Ultimately, the Vivo T1 5G is a solid entry-level 5G phone aimed at Gen Z consumers who are looking for a phone with a sleek design, powerful performance, and a long-lasting battery. However, if you prioritize feature-rich camera performance and advanced connectivity, you might want to consider other options in this price range.
