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Performance and software
Not only does the Vivo V9 look like a mid-range smartphone, its internal hardware is pretty average as well. The phone runs on the Snapdragon 626 chipset even though the Snapdragon 636 is already in the market. In fact, the Redmi Note 5 Pro is equipped with the newer SoC at the price tag of Rs 13,999 for the same 4GB/64GB specs.
The Snapdragon 636 is an upgrade over the Snapdragon 626 because of its octa-core Qualcomm Kyro 260 CPU in comparison to the octa-core Arm Cortex A53. Kyro cores offer more performance than the Cortex cores and use battery more efficiently as well.
The memory of the phone, is of course, expandable to 256GB using a microSD card slot if you feel you need more than 64GB for your data.
The display on the device is a little peculiar. It has a red tint to it and with no way to alter it, you’re basically stuck with it. It’s a little bit of a let down because with a 6.3-inch screen at its disposal, vibrant and accurate colors would’ve made the phone reach a new level.
To top it off, the FunTouch OS 4.0 layered upon Android 8.1 Oreo has aspects that are borrowed from Apple’s iOS. This isn’t a new thing for Vivo phones but if you’re a native Android user, it means that you’re going to have to re-learn a few things. For starters, the quick settings menu pops up from the bottom instead of from the top and the notifications are pulled down from the top.
The settings menu is also picked up directly from the Apple iPhone and placed onto the Vivo V9’s interface. The on-screen navigation button can be customised and if you’re not a fan of on-screen buttons to begin with, the FunTouch OS has the option of switching over to gesture based navigation. The gestures on the Vivo V9 function without any lag for the most part.
The phone also has a Motorbike mode, which is very convenient especially considering the traffic violations that happen by due to usage of smartphones on Indian roads. It allows the user to enable auto-rejection of incoming calls, mutes notifications and actually assesses the speed you’re moving at before letting you answer calls again.
Aside from keeping you physically safe, the phone has face unlock, pattern, pin, password and fingerprint unlocking for phone security. The fingerprint sensor works efficiently and while the face unlock works as well, it is occasionally laggy. There is gesture recognition, Air Operation and Air Unlock as well.
An interesting feature of the Vivo V9 is the Smart Click. You can customise how the phone will respond if you long press the volume down button. You can choose between activating the flashlight, recording audio, opening the camera app, opening facebook or enabling a different app altogether. It’s not entirely a new feature as compared to what’s available on other phones, but I like the option of being discrete.
Other than Smart Click, Vivo also has a whole host of ‘Smart’ options like Smart Call and Smart Low Volume.
Another aspect of adding convenience to the user, is the picture in picture option while gaming. You can play games while messaging apps like WhatsApp and Hike stay on the side in the form of a floating window.
Overall, the Vivo V9 doesn’t function all that horribly but the camera app did black out twice in the middle of taking sample shots. Also, the AR stickers mode in the camera app lags horribly. You can see the system trying to keep up every time you move your face.
Battery life
Of all the specifications of the phone, this is probably the most disappointing. The 3260mAh battery will not last a day with average usage. By average usage, I mean PayTM, Whatsapp, a game or two of Last Day on Earth and music on the way to work. By around 5 in the evening, I was hunting for my charger where it barely charged itself over the span of an hour.
I feel the biggest responsibility of a smartphone is to be reliable. Yes, all too often phones fail in this aspect but most of them try a little harder than the Vivo V9.
