Vivo U10 review: A good smartphone for basic usage under tight budget

Vivo U10 review: To choose a smartphone to buy has turned into one hell of a task! There are a fantastic amount of options in the market and we are just talking about the affordable category! The smartphone manufacturers are launching devices as if there is a race and the the one with the most phones in the market will win. Joining the battle, and to make our lives that much 'tougher', is Vivo U10. And yes, the launch spree has helped Vivo to slowly gain a strong place in Indian consumers mindset. 

Vivo has come up with its latest U series smartphone names and U10 is its manifestation. Unlike other Vivo smartphones, U10 belongs to a sub 10k category, with the prices starting at Rs 8,999. Notably, The all new Vivo U10 will pose a tough rivalry to Redmi 7A, the Realme C2, the Realme 3 and others. Vivo U10 packs in a triple rear camera setup with decent hardware and a 5,000mAh battery in an affordable price range. So is it worth buying this device? Find out now.

Vivo U10 display and design

To start off, after hearing I had my hands on the U10, my friends wanted me to confirm whether it really is a Rs 9k priced smartphone. Why? Because the Vivo U10 definitely looks way costlier than 10k sub-category. Well, my friends were floored after I confirmed the price. Inspired by Vivo Z1 Pro, U10 has been designed beautifully. It looks great in hands and the grip is comfortable enough to operate the phone with one hand. It speaks volumes about the material used. However, you may find it a bit heavier comparing other smartphones with 5,000mAh battery. On the front, it has a 6.35-inch HD+ IPS display that offers 89 per cent screen-to-body ratio.

The phone has thin bezels and comes with a dewdrop notch on its front. On its back, the U10 has a plastic body that resembles a gradient glass finish. As far as the look is concerned, then know that Electric Blue colour that we received was just amazing. The colours on the phone look rich. The Vivo U10 comes in two colours, i.e Electric Blue and Thunder Black. 

However, the two drawbacks are that the screen of the phone is little too bright and its glossy finish attracts scratches and fingerprints at the back.

Vivo U10 performance

Being a tech enthusiast and gamer, I would definitely want every other smartphone to offer hours of smooth gaming experience. The Vivo U10 is a budget smartphone and it comes with a 2.0Ghz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC, running on FunTouch OS 9 based on Android 9 Pie. The phone features a 3GB/4GB RAM and 32GB/64 GB storage options and If you are an average smartphone gamer, who would play games for about one to two hours during a day, then its a good choice for sure. The fingerprint scanner, face unlock, reboot response is smooth and fast.

The phone easily handles heavy games like PUBG and Asphalt at medium settings without any lags. The multitasking on U10 is equally good, which makes it an ideal buy at an affordable price range. Now let's talk about the best part, a 5000mAh battery bundled inside Vivo U10 provides you around 1.5 days of backup in average usage. You can recharge your phone's battery to 80% in just one hour, which is quite impressive.

Vivo U10 camera

The company has given a three-camera setup on Vivo U10's back panel and a single image sensor on the front to take selfies. It includes a primary 13MP sensor, 8MP wide-angle lens and a 2MP depth sensor that allows you to take super clear images.

The dewdrop notch has a secondary camera for selfie. A triple camera setup doesn't make a smartphone with great camera hardware. Similarly, Vivo U10 has a decent camera which is average to use. 

Though, you can good and clear pictures with a number of modes available. While the details in the images lack that x-factor and the camera is fairly average in use. Overall, clicking a decent image in daylight is easy, while your dark light image will have some noise.

If you are fond of using filters on pictures, then there are a number of modes available in the camera app itself. For selfies, there's AI beauty option available. I personally liked the portrait shots that the phone manages to click. All bokeh shots come out pretty well with background clearly blurred out. Overall the portrait mode or its bookeh mode does the job fairly well.

Pricing

Talking about the pricing, it is a good buy in exchange for a lot of things on board. The base variant of the Vivo U10 comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage and costs Rs 8,990. While the second model of the phone has a 3GB RAM + 64GB storage priced at Rs 9,990. Notably, the high-end variant of the Vivo U10 comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage is priced at Rs 10,990.

Verdict

The Vivo U10 includes a triple-camera setup, 5,000mAh battery, a decent processor and that too at this affordable price. The smartphone is a good choice for an average smartphone user, but with limited usage.

If you are an average user who would use this to click decent images, surf social media, listen to music and a little gaming than this affordable smartphone which looks great and performs well, can be a good choice. However, there are many more smartphones available in the same category and you can do your research before buying one.