The budget smartphone segment of India is on fire right now, with ample great offerings from various manufacturers filling in the segment. Today, we had the Vivo S1 join the fray.
The Vivo S1 is the company’s latest budget smartphone which has a strong focus on aspects such as design and selfies. At a starting price of INR 17,990, it competes with the likes of the Redmi Note 7 Pro and the Realme 3 Pro which are the current segment champions. Let’s compare the specifications of the three.
Design
In true 2019 fashion, all three phones implement a gradient back design with multiple cameras and a notched display on the front. The Vivo S1 is made of plastic and is available in shades of white and blue. The Redmi Note 7 Pro is the only one that has a real glass back, with Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The Realme 3 Pro also has a plastic body that mimics a glass back. Redmi and Realme have rear-mounted physical fingerprint scanners while the Vivo S1 has an in-display scanner.
Display
The three phones have similar-sized displays with a waterdrop notch on the top for the front camera, and tall displays with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The Vivo S1 is the only one to offer an AMOLED display spread across 6.38-inches, while the other two sports 6.3-inch LCD displays. The resolution is same across the board, at 2340 x 1080.
Evidently, the AMOLED panel gets more votes for better experience compared to LCD panels.
Performance
The chipset powering a phone is a big part of the purchase decision for consumers in India. The Vivo S1 is powered by the MediaTek Helio P65 chipset. On the other hand, both Redmi and Realme opt for octa-core Snapdragon processors, the Snapdragon 675 and the Snapdragon 710 respectively. RAM options for all three vary between 4GB and 6GB.
Cameras
The Vivo S1 is the only one to offer a triple camera setup consisting of a 16MP f/1.8 camera, an 8MP ultrawide shooter and a depth sensor. The Redmi Note 7 Pro has a 48MP f/1.8 primary camera assisted by a depth sensor. Similarly, the Realme 3 Pro has a 16MP f/1.7 primary camera paired with a depth sensor. Only the latter two are capable of 4K recording. The front cameras on the three are at 32MP, 13MP and 25MP respectively.
Battery and charging
The three phones do not skimp out in the battery department and ship with rather large packs. The Vivo S1 has a 4,500 mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging that takes place over a micro USB port. The Redmi Note 7 Pro has a 4,000 mAh battery and supports 18W QC 4.0. The Realme 3 Pro has the fastest charging speed of the lot at 20W, juicing up the 4,045 mAh battery. Being 2019, it needs to be noted that only Redmi opts for a USB Type-C connector for charging and data.
Price in India
The Vivo S1 comes in three configurations with the 4 + 128GB variant priced at INR 17,990, the 6 + 64GB variant at INR 18,990 and the 6 + 128GB variant priced at INR 19,990.
The Redmi Note 7 Pro is priced at INR 13,999 for the 4 + 64GB model, INR 15,999 for the 6 + 64GB variant and INR 16,999 for the top 6 + 128GB variant.
The Realme 3 Pro retails at INR 13,999 for the 4 + 64GB model and INR 16,999 for the 6 + 128GB.
