Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Battery life
- A 3,130mAh cell that's good for a Full HD phone
- Strong Extreme Power Saving Mode for emergencies
Battery-wise there’s a 3,130mAh unit to keep the phone running, and an Extreme Power Saver Mode for real battery emergencies.
We put the Vivo 6 through our battery test - where we play a 90-minute video at full brightness with connectivity options on - and the phone had 81% battery at the end.
That's not an awful score, but it's not great either.
It means the Vivo 6 lost 19% of its charge, much like the Honor 5X did in this test. The Moto G4 Plus lost less battery at 17%, while the Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus lost a lot more at 24% of its charge.
In terms of daily use we found the Vivo 6 to be OK and usually make it to the end of an intense day with about 10% of its battery left over.
If you're going to be doing a lot with your handset, you may want a phone with a slightly longer life and it's a big shame Blu didn't see fit to include fast-charging here to ensure you're always charged up.
The Vivo 6 is charged up via USB-C, which is a welcome addition to the phone and makes it easy to plug in the cable when it comes to that time of day.
There is a fast charging feature on the Vivo 6, but it's not notably fast compared to other phones. Your phone will be fully charged from 0% in about 90 minutes though, so you can't really complain with that speed.
Camera
- The rear camera has a 13MP Sony lens
- This isn't the best affordable camera phone, but it's acceptable
- Its 8MP selfie camera may impress you
The Blu Vivo 6 won't give you the high-quality photography you'd expect to see from some smartphone cameras, but the results here are quite good compared to competition in the affordable space.
The Moto G4 Plus is the one to beat in this area, and quite a few of the examples we took showed the Vivo 6 can hold its own.
There's a 13MP Sony lens on the rear of the Vivo 6 and it proves impressive in terms of raw shooting ability.
When shooting in good lighting and with a stable phone, the Vivo 6 produces a high-quality image that's a touch better than the images from most phones you'd find in this space.
The autofocus on the Vivo 6 can be a little bit off though. We found ourselves touching the phone to focus the image and then a slight shake at the last moment would make it quite blurry.
You can get a great image if you take a bit of time, but the nature of most smartphone photography is that you're usually taking photos at speed and putting your phone back in your pocket immediately after.
The camera app on the Vivo 6 is simple to use and the interface is very easy to navigate. There aren't many complicated features here - it's just a case of choosing the setting you'd like and then taking a snap.
But there are some things you can tweak, including a lens feature that's a big help if you want to create arty images and don't want to download photo editing software to your phone.
Blu's Vivo 6 also comes with a HDR mode, which is something often missing from phones at this price point. If you want a more vibrant image from the Vivo 6 we'd recommend switching this on immediately when you get the phone.
For the front camera, there's an impressive 8MP sensor. That's usually the level you'd find on a Chinese smartphone in 2016 and it can take quality shots by front-facing camera standards.
It's not something everybody needs, but it means when you're using video calling software you're guaranteed to get a clear image every time.
Camera samples
