Vivo V29e 5G review: Good performer with pretty design

Recently, Vivo released the new mid-range V29e 5G phone with prices starting at Rs 26,999 in India.

Like all the V-series, the latest model too, comes with visually appealing design language. However, does the device deliver good performance? Let's check it out.

Design, build quality, and display

As noted earlier in my first impression story, Vivo's latest phone is really gorgeous, particularly the artistic red model variant. It is the best Iooking-phone among the many, I have reviewed since the beginning of 2023.

. In the sunlight, the crimson-hued Vivo V29e looks so pretty in the sunlight. It has a glossy smooth panel with a crystal-like smooth texture on one side, which also houses the rose gold-hued dual-camera islands. The rest has a frosted glass-like panel with a matte finish. It excels in resisting the fingerprint smudges.

. The rail around the phone is sleek and curvaceous around the corners. The phone measures just 7.6mm in thickness and weighs just 181g. It's really hard for me to wrap my head around to understand how the company managed to squeeze in a massive 5,000mAh battery into such a compact device.

. However, the sleek design form factor has its limitations, as there is only space for a hybrid SIM slot. The owner has to choose between a second SIM and a microSD card for extra storage.

The super smooth slim phone is easy to carry around, but if you have buttery fingers, there are high chances of accidentally dropping it. It is advised to make good use of the soft transparent cover case, which the company offers for free with the retail box. It will surely protect the phone from getting cracked and also see-through case design ensures it doesn't lose any visual appeal.

. The display cascades up to the mid-frame on both the left and right sides, which further adds value to the visual appeal of the phone. It has slim bezels around the edges. It has 90.1 per cent screen-to-body ratio. And, have to say, I never encountered any accidental triggering apps during the entire review period.

The 6.78-inch AMOLED display screen is really bright. It has full HD+ (2400 × 1080p) resolution with a pixel density of 388 ppi (pixels per inch). It is good enough to read messages, and emails and watch multimedia content outdoors without any pressing issues to complain about.

Also, the in-display fingerprint sensor works fine as long as the finger is dry and clean.

. Performance

The new Vivo phone is powered by Qualcomm's reliable Snapdragon 695 octa-core processor with 8GB RAM and 128GB/256GB storage.

Our review unit comes with 8GB RAM + 256GB storage. Though there are a lot of pre-loaded apps, there are popular ones such as Amazon, SonyLiv, Spotify Candy Crush, and many other unknown applications. Thankfully, user-usable storage even for the base model (128GB), is big enough to install hundreds more apps and also capture thousands of pictures and videos of your loved ones.

Vivo V29e works smoothly without any issues. It can easily handle most of the graphics-rich games such as Asphalt 9: Legends and even battle royale games such as BGMI and others.

It supports Extended RAM and users can expand 8GB RAM to 16GB. With this, the phone will be able to work even smoother in day-to-day chores such as faster app loading and switching between multiple apps.

. The device runs on Android 13-based Funtouch OS 13 and is expected to get Android 14-based update in the coming months.

With a 5,000mAh cell capacity, Vivo V29e consistently delivers more than a day's battery life. The company is offering a 44W charger with the retail box. It takes around an hour to fully charge the device from zero to 100 per cent mark.

. Photography

. Vivo V29e 5G comes with a dual-camera module-- main 64MP( f/1.79, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) backed by an 8MP wide-angle lens (f/2.2) with LED flash on the back.

. The new phone takes really good pictures in the daylight. One thing you notice is that the camera kind of overprocesss the colourful flowers, particularly those with red, pink and orange. They usually look brighter than they appear to the eyes.

. Having said that, I am not complaining, as the photos do come really pretty worthy to be posted on social media platforms.

. The wide-angle mode lets users capture vast areas of the landscape without altering the physical structure.

. I have noticed some phones actually tilt the buildings and structures at the top to accommodate them in the frame, but thankfully, V29e's native camera app doesn't use such tricks.

. The new Vivo V29e also supports 2X optical zoom. There is less loss of photo quality, but beyond 5X, you will begin to notice noise in the frame. It can digitally zoom up to 10X.

. In the night mode, Vivo V29e takes brilliant photos. As you can see in the sample photo, the colorful lights reflected on the rain-soaked road are well captured. Very impressive for a phone under Rs 30,000.

. With portrait mode, you have to show some patience to get the focus right and once it gets locked, you are assured of perfect photos with a bokeh effect.

. In close-up shots, the subjects, particularly the leaves and flowers are captured well.

. The device also supports full HD 1080 video recording up to 30/60 fps (frames per second). And, you can record 720p HD videos too at a similar 30 or 60 fps speed. The video quality is on par with rival brands in its class.

. On the front, it houses 50MP (autofocus, f/2.45) for selfies and video chatting. It takes brilliant photos.

. Yes, it superficially process a bit to make the face smooth. It can elegantly remove any acne scars with feature-rich beauty tools and filters, and make it photogenic.

. Final thoughts

Vivo V29e's design language is a unique and visually pleasing to the eyes. It has a sleek form factor with a dual-curved edge display and the crimson colour scheme greatly enhances the visual appeal of the device.

Vivo V29e is not just an eye candy of a device, it aces with smooth performance and photography too, it takes fantastic photos in all light conditions.

. Vivo V29e comes in two options-- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage-- for Rs 26,999 and Rs 28,999, respectively. Consumers can pre-book Vivo V29e from August 28 and the device is slated to hit stores on September 7 in India including Flipkart, Vivo India e-store, and all partner retail stores.