Vivo S16e Smartphone Review – The Vivo S16 series phones were released in China not long ago and will provide three variants. We have already covered the Vivo S16 and S16 Pro reviews in our previous post, and for today’s review, we have the Vivo S16e. Like the other siblings, the phone was unveiled in December 2022, exclusively for the Chinese smartphone market. Besides this, the design layout is pretty much identical from head to toe.
But the major difference would be the flat screen that will render a decent viewing angle. Although the bezels are slightly thick, at the same time, the smartphone makers have downgraded the specs to some extent. However, it won’t be a concern as the device is launched as the affordable 5G segment. We won’t deny there are some flaws too, so let’s head toward the Vivo S16e review to find out more details about this phone.
Table of Contents
Vivo S16e Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The phone arrives with a pretty decent 6.62-inch AMOLED panel with decent resolution support.
- As for the hardware section, you will receive the Exynos 1080 chipset with Mali-G78 MP 10 GPU.
- At the same time, the phone also delivers an Android 11 with the dedicated Origin OS Ocean custom skin.
- A 50MP triple camera setup that will render impressive photos with a 16MP selfie lens.
- Lastly, the device brings a Li-Po 4600 mAh battery with 66W wired charging support.
Design and Display
The glossy design layout is worth noting about the Vivo S16e smartphone, while the back panel comes with a unique camera module that will give premium vibes when you are holding the phone. Besides this, the device arrives in three amazing shade options that allow interested users to make the best decision according to their color preferences. You will find Black, Green, and Purple options on the sale.
All of them look pretty astounding, but if you are looking for something fancy, then the purple color variant is a splendid choice that stands out from the rest of the options because of the additional texture. Anyway, the built quality of this phone is also quite robust with the slim form factor. Moreover, the lightweight build makes sure the phone can be used by a single hand without any problem.
Moving to the front display, the slim bezel 6.6-inch AMOLED panel will bring immersive colors and contrast support while watching your favorite content. Plus, a huge thanks should also be given to the 120Hz refresh rate will offer a smooth UI experience, while the HDR 10+ helps in increasing the content quality. Furthermore, it’s good to see that smartphone makers are providing 1300 nits brightness for decent outdoor usage.
Memory and Internal
The software end does confuse a lot of people since you are getting outdated Android 11 configuration on the Vivo S16e, which isn’t able to justify why the phone cost that much. Though, you can expect decent customization factors from the Origin OS Ocean that will allow users to modify the interface layout according to their desire. Following this, there are some native Chinese apps with which we weren’t familiar.
Speaking of the hardware section, the device brings the 5nm Exynos 1080 chip that handles the performance aspect precisely and works smoothly in extreme conditions. At the same time, the cooling system of the chipset is worth noting as the users won’t face heating issues in their daily usage. In terms of graphic support, the GPU manages everything properly.
You can play advanced games without much hassle, while the advanced refresh rate improves the touch response. Aside from this, you will find that the smartphone offers a starting varying of 128GB based on UFS 3.1 internal storage that will be accompanied by 8GB RAM. Following this, you will also find a 256GB space variant that will render 8GB to 12GB RAM support. But, the phone is lacking a storage configuration in the SIM tray.
Camera
The camera performance of the Vivo S16e is quite impressive with the help of advanced AI tech used by smartphone makers. But mainly, the 50MP primary lens is responsible to handle all of your photography and videography expectations because you are only getting a useless combo of 2MP macro and 2MP depth lens sensor. Both of the sensors are present to increase the number of lenses that’s it.
But at the same time, they don’t provide any major importance in the day-to-day photo session. Usually, the primary lens renders vibrant colors and proper contrast that grants impressive camera results. Even in low light, the camera performance is not behind the standard Vivo S16, and you won’t notice that much noise in the dark area with brilliant details.
As for the video recording aspect, the 4K video resolution is already preset for this phone, while there’s no sign of video stabilization. At the front, a dot-notch 16MP selfie sensor offers pretty good photos and videos with the aid of the native camera app. Moreover, you can also use various perks from the camera app to click decent selfies.
Battery and Others
The battery life of the S16-series phones is below average than the regular phones, which eventually leads to lower battery life. Even though, you are getting a Li-Po 4600 mAh battery capacity that will render up to 5+ hours of screen time for performing your daily social media usage and content consumption in a hassle-free manner. With that, you can also enjoy casual gaming to some extent easily.
Speaking of the charging speed, the Vivo S16e phone offers a 66W wired charger that can refill the half battery’s capacity in less than 20 minutes, which is quite good. Besides this, the device renders a remarkable sound output with the loudspeaker and has better tuning for crisp audio. Aside from this, the Vivo S16e is priced at $300 (Rs 24,990 in India) approx for the starting variant, which is a cost-efficient deal overall.
Vivo S16e Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Vivo S16e smartphone.
| Specifications | Vivo S16e |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| Announced | December 2022 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 162.5 x 75.8 x 7.7 mm or 7.8 mm |
| Weight | 187.7 – 189 g |
| Size | 6.62 inches |
| Display | AMOLED 120Hz HDR10+ 1300 nits brightness 20:9 ratio ~398 PPI density |
| Protection | No |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| OS | Android 11, Origin OS Ocean |
| Chipset | 5nm – Exynos 1080 |
| CPU | Octa-core 1×2.8 GHz Cortex-A78 3×2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 |
| GPU | Mali-G78 MP10 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB, 12GB |
| Internal | 128GB, 256GB UFS 3.1 |
| Camera | 50 MP (wide), PDAF, OIS 2 MP (macro) 2 MP (depth) Ring-LED flash, panorama, HDR Max – 4K@30fps |
| Selfie | 16 MP (wide) Dual-LED flash Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | No 24-bit/192kHz audio |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| NFC | Yes |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| Sensors | Under display fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity compass, color spectrum |
| Battery | Li-Po 4600 mAh 66W wired |
| Colors | Black, Green, Purple |
| Expected Price | $300 (Rs 24,990 in India) approx. |
Conclusion
The Vivo S16e is the best example of where should smartphone makers need to cut corners and where they need to go wild to perform well as a complete package. Even though, the phone got lower battery capacity, an outdated Android version, and doesn’t offer higher quality camera specs. But still, they can retain the basic features such as immersive display, decent chipset, good gaming performance, and decent charging support.
Overall, it’s so good to deal with if you are not worried about getting the latest Android update. The phone has its pros and cons, and the final decision is in your hand. But in our opinion, if you are looking for a better deal, you should consider the Realme 10 Pro Plus as it brings a decent set of features at the same price point.
