vivo V40 Review – Portrait goes for more

The newest model in Vivo’s well-liked V series, the Vivo V40, is a smartphone that combines performance, style, and price. Vivo has been able to carve out a space for itself in the market for mid-range smartphones by providing devices that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also function well. This also applies to the V40 and here’s our review along with our verdict and conclusion during the course of our experience with the phone.

Unboxing Contents

Below is the list of the inbox contents.

• vivo V40 smartphone
• Soft Case
• FlashCharge 80W Adaptor
• USB A to C Cable
• User Manual/QSG

Design and Aesthetics

At a glance, the vivo V40 puts in the dual curved design on the back of the phone and also the display that is symmetrical across all sides with the body frame made of aluminum. The back is smooth and glittery, yet it also gives a smooth touch to it followed by the camera and lens bump that is located on the left of the phone, leaving the phone on the table still gives a sleek impression to it, as the bump isn’t that high after all.

Weighted at 190 grams and the sheer slimness of 7.6 mm only, that being said, it is not the lightest or the slimmest, however from the outlook of it, it is looking slim enough to be carried and hold, which in turn one can actually use and scroll comfortably well. Additionally it also comes with IP68 & IP69 Dust and Water Resistance.

The vivo V40 is available in three colors, Nebula purple, Sunglow Peach and Stellar Silver, all three of the color choices uses the similar materials at the back which the colors also matches the frame of the phone.

Display & Audio

Display wise, the vivo V40 has a dual curved 6.78 inch AMOLED display running at the smooth 120Hz refresh rate with 20:9 ratio and brightness that can peaked up 4,500 nits, making it suitable even under the very bright sunlight. Images and movies projected look sharp with good contrast and blacks are deep with smooth movement that project little to no lag to it, in part thanks to the efficient processor that is included as well.

One area where the Vivo V40 pleasantly included is a pair of stereo speakers on the phone. While it is not the loudest, the V40 still delivers clear and balanced sound with pretty good mids and highs are particularly well-defined, making it suitable for casual music listening or watching videos without headphones.

Camera

The Vivo V40 has two cameras on its back, a 50MP ultra-wide lens, and a 50MP primary sensor with OIS co-engineered with Zeiss. This combination allows for versatility in photography. Super Night Mode, Pro Mode, and other AI advancements are just a few of the many features that make it simple to take excellent pictures in a variety of lighting situations with the camera app.

Now towards to the quality, I must say the biggest trick under the vivo V40 phone is the portrait capability combined with the Aura light that can be adjusted as warm or pure white light, this gave a sense of different lighting effect outcome on the portrait photo. Taking pictures normal in automatic mode works as it is with good color, contrast and image quality is great whether it’s day or night with fair dynamic range. There is no telephoto lens support however zoomed picture quality at 5X or even more are clear with good identifications of subject or object. Test on night shots also shows very good identifications of the surrounding which makes it one of the few mid rangers that excels in this area.

While all sunshine and rainbows on the still images, video capture is limited to 4K at 30FPS, and this is not a total downside as the vivo V40 still supports 1080P at 60FPS recording which is still a common format for a quick recording and upload towards any social media platform today.

Performance & Software

The phone blends will in terms of performance and one can say it’s balanced. The vivo V40 comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen3 Octa Core SOC with 12GB of RAM and 256GB/512GB of internal storage. As usual the missing MicroSD card as expansion has become normal and 256GB is still plenty to install, load and store with. Battery performance holds up pretty well at 5500 mAh which can last you over a day without issue, and the supplied 80W charger is able to recharge the phone back in less than 2 hours.

Back to the software, the vivo V40 comes with Android 14 and Funtouch OS 14 that brings a number of enhancements and features such as the Screen Animation and Dynamic Light support. Other than that there is a few bloatware here and there but most of it can be manually uninstalled without intrusion. The rest are pretty standard carried over from the previous UI and Android combined with themes, privacy dashboard, Ultra Game mode are present in the phone as part of the ecosystem.

If you a mobile game lover, this phone can perform well with it as when we test with Genshin Impact, the vivo V40 can actually hold up near to 60FPS on low medium graphical settings and this shouldn’t be an issue if you are playing eSports centric titles such as Mobile Legends and Call Of Duty Mobile.

Here comes the final portion, the benchmark that the vivo V40 holds pretty well in terms of tested benchmark app against similar smartphone range in terms of performance and price.

Tech Specs

Verdict & Conclusion

The vivo v40 is a formidable mid-range smartphone with a nice mix of performance, design, and camera that can cater from casual users to mobile gamers with an appeal to a broad range of people. The phone also brings in importance on aesthetics and usefulness will find it elegant and slim. This could be a great option in its budget category since it performs well where it counts, while not having the most cutting-edge features, but still stands as a strong contender within it’s class.

vivo V40 is now widely available throughout all vivo online store and authorised stores selling at RM1999 for the 256GB model and RM2399 for the 512GB model.