Gadgetory

with the V 11 vivo is bringing some high-end features like an under glass fingerprint scanner and near bezel free screen to the mid range despite generally being a solid phone all round the V 11 feels a bit like it's bitten off a few more flagship features than it can chew right now the mid range seems to be going in one of two directions it's either cramming flay chip specs into a mid-range price point or is keeping the specks mid-range but trying to offer a watered-down flagship experience well the poco phone f1 is a good example of the former with beefy specs and no frills the vivo V 11 is a good example of the latter putting flagship features in a mid-range phone and in a lot of ways it succeeds it has a great display excellent battery life solid performance good looks high-end tech like an in display fingerprint scanner and tiny water drop not around an ear bezel free screen this is awesome stuff for a phone in this price bracket but it feels a bit like vivo should have focused on those basics and called it a day Before we jump in be sure to hit that subscribe button down below and ring the bell to be notified of future uploads and the Questor bring that flagship feeling to the v11 vivo has decided to a I all the things most notably in the camera now I have to admit that a few updates were pushed out while I was doing this review so if things may not stay this way forever but as it stands right now the V 11 camera experience is a bit of a mess in ideal conditions the V 11 camera is pretty good daylight shots and selfies and good conditions are excellent with great color and detail even low-light shots are okay if you're leaning the phone on something because there's no OAS or EAS here I ended up giving up entirely on the twenty five megapixel front-facing camera because well I've got some great shots some of the time it ended up grainy and soft far too often and I found it easier just to rely on the 12 megapixel primary camera instead while the V 11 doesn't handle dynamic range all that well it does have a great HDR mode I ended up leaving it on auto all the time because of how well it balances shadows and highlights without going overboard at night the V 11 loses points though as it blows out highlights can't handle moving subjects and generally looks grainy and undetailed again given ideal circumstances you can get workable shots the conditions need to be very specific to get them and the V 11 just isn't reliable enough for me the price doesn't get the V 11 a pass because significantly cheaper phone cameras like the Xiaomi me a to perform better once you get past the basics the V 11 camera experience only kind of gets worse day I scene detection is a bit slow and doesn't really change that much in the shot the AI portrait framing sort of works but all it really does is get you to Center your subject the AO a face beauty options can be handy if you're into that kind of thing but they tend to be a bit aggressive the panorama stitching is poor the portrait mode edge detection isn't all that great and so on but this many failed attempts at improving the extras on the camera I can't help but feel the vivo should have prioritized basic camera performance and left the rest to the flagships if your photography needs a pretty straightforward then the V 11 will do you just fine but if you're expecting a lot from all of the added extras then think again and this is basically the V L Evans problem it's a very good mid-range phone but it tries too hard to take on extras that it can't really back up because vivo has put so much into making the V 11 look like an affordable flagship it's hard not to point out several things that are missing while still being present on other phones in this price range there's no IP rating no NFC no wireless charging no 4k video or image stabilization no USB type-c and an obvious missed opportunity to have stereo speakers so the bottom firing speaker is the only one used for music and media on the plus side that single speaker is actually pretty decent with crisp eyes loud volume and decent sound even at full blast without sounding tinny the presence of the 3.5 ml headphone jack is a welcome bonus - meaning you don't need a dongle or to switch to bluetooth headphones blue g5 is also included so you can enjoy higher bandwidth as well the choice of micro USB is kind of hard to stomach on a phone as futuristic looking as the V 11 but it does have fast charging it's 3400 milliamp hour battery is really efficient and I regularly go through half of my second day before I needed to think about recharging you might want to disable the off-screen fingerprint scanner to save on battery though the most fun touch OS on Android 8.1 won't appeal to everyone but on my global unit changing the custom launcher is a simple enough task fun touch does have a bunch of good options like a nap and File Vault app cloning for multiple instances of a messaging or social media app display calibration motorbike mode always-on display gesture navigation and Google assistant and goo lenz baked right in FIFA's jovi virtual assistant is still onboard but it's basically relegated to handling in-game interruptions in game mode and some of the AI camera tweets already mentioned the V 11 feels very pocketable because of its relatively small size and lightweight and it won't break the bank either for the equivalent of 360 to 440 u.s. dollars depending on your market it will definitely make an impression when you pull it out of your pocket but the vivo V 11 has some very stiff competition from the likes of Jimmy and the poco phone as well as honor and even Oppo to be honest I think vive has missed a trick here by trying to do a little bit too much because it's the extras that let this phone down even as the essentials are almost universally well done it looks great and generally performs great and that would have been enough for me so it all boils down to what you expect from a mid-range phone these days if all you want is the best possible specs you can get you better look elsewhere if you want an affordable phone that brings flagship features to a mid-range price point and well I think there's other phones that have succeeded better on that front too but if you want a mix of good specs and performance with a real flagship look well the V 11 might just be for you only you know which compromises you're willing to put up with but the best part is if the V 11 isn't quite your cup of tea there are plenty of other great options out there there might be as always thanks for watching keep it locked to Android Authority comm because we are your source for all things Android