Vivo Y72 5G review: a good surprise!

When you take it out of its box, it must be said that the Vivo Y72 is hardly a sensation. This is a design seen and reviewed. So certainly the finishes are clean, but the device is a little thick with a notch “water drop” and a prominent chin. It’s all very “2019”. In the box we will find cool headphones (the jack is included), a transparent shell and the 18 W charger. The device is dual SIM compatible, but you will have to choose between this functionality and the possibility of adding storage memory. The NFC is included and the fingerprint reader takes place on the right side, within the ON / OFF button. Wireless charging is absent as is the IP68 specification.

A beautiful screen … 60 Hz

The Vivo Y72 5G’s screen consists of a 6.58-inch (16.7 cm) IPS panel with a standard 60Hz scan. When you are used to 90 or 120 Hz, it is difficult to get used to it again. On the other hand FuntouchOS, the Vivo overlay which looks like ColorOS (Oppo) while being quite close to stock Android in the menus, offers fairly complete colorimetry settings. In the end, the screen is better than that of its competitor the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G, which nevertheless offers a 90 Hz scan. In short, it is successful, but at this price, we would have liked a more daring refresh. On the power side, Vivo trusted the same chip as the Redmi Note 10 5G: the MediaTek Dimensity 700. It’s hard to see a difference with the Helio G95 from the same brand that equips the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10S. It is a good quality / price ratio, more finely engraved (7nm against 12nm) and 5G compatible, but apart from that… On games it is powerful and on multitasking it works very well, especially with 8 GB of on-board RAM. In terms of performance, it is very suitable.

The photo part: a nice surprise!

The Vivo Y72 5G is a nice surprise in terms of its photo capabilities. The main 64-megapixel sensor delivers 16 MP by default. The latter is very good during the day even if there are sometimes concerns about the exhibition. You will have to touch the screen with your finger to put the device in a square position. Of course the 64 MP mode (to look for in the Pro mode) delivers more precise shots, but requires a little more time for the capture, especially in difficult conditions. But whether it’s the default mode or 64 MP, the rendering in daylight is very good. The colors are respected, the saturation and the contrast are a little high, but the smoothing is discreet. In our opinion, it is a good balance between natural and worked.

At night, it’s excellent. This is a rendering at the level of the best. The ultra-wide angle is not perfect in terms of sharpness at the periphery, but there is good control over distortion. Be careful, the option is a little hidden, you will have to go to the Objective menu in the field of vision. This is also where you can use Super macro mode. It’s just a digital zoom, but Vivo had the good idea not to incorporate this optical gadget. A good point for Chinese. Portrait mode allows you to adjust the intensity of the background blur. In the More section, we will find augmented reality filters, stickers, a document mode for scanning and this Live Photo mode which allows you to shoot a few seconds to be able to choose the perfect photo. The 16 MP front lens does the job. We don’t count 4K video, but good Full HD at 60 fps.

Good autonomy, but only 18 W

With the photo, this is the criterion that interests potential buyers the most since entry-level smartphones run 80% of games: autonomy. This Vivo Y72 is a little thick, because it contains a 5000 mAh battery, but this slight overweight allows it to go the distance. If your not overdoing it with Netflix or the games, you will have two days peace, or even more if you do not have the habit of straining the screen. On the other hand, the fast charge of 18 W is a bit of a pain for this range around 300 €. With the supplied charger, we go from 0 to 100% in 1h30 and from 8 to 52% in 33 min.

Our verdict:

In the category of affordable devices with 5G, there are the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G, Realme 8, Oppo A54 and the POCO M3 Pro. The Vivo Y72 5G is more expensive than all of its competitors, but it offers reasonable performance, interesting battery life and above all, not at all bad photos. If you can ignore the slightly dated design and the not so annoying 60 Hz, the Vivo Y72 5G is a device that is worth it, especially since its price can only go down …

Shooting tests