Priced at ₹ 22,990, the Vivo V9 happens to be a mid-range device that flaunts an almost entirely bezel-less display along with an impressive camera setup. This is already made clear in Vivo’s tagline for the V9, “Perfect Shot, Perfect View”. Powered by a Snapdragon 626 and arriving with an up-to-date Android experience out of the box, the smartphone does promise a well-rounded experience for its price in the Indian market. This is further backed up by the smartphone’s 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.
After our full in-depth evaluation of the Vivo V9 (review), we decided to list out the top 5 features that stood out the most in this smartphone.
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Edge-to-edge display
The most apparent and prominent feature that the Vivo V9 brings is the large, 6.3-inch Full HD+ (1080 x 2280) IPS LCD screen. This 19:9 aspect ratio display covers almost 90% of the front of the smartphone, and is referred to as FullView Display 2.0 by the company. Even with the notch at the top, the experience on this display was admittedly gratifying. Browsing web pages and social media on this device benefited from the extra real-estate. Playing games and watching wide-screen videos on this screen was also a pleasantly immersive affair. The notch at the top does not impede on the visual experience terribly, and having such a large display allows you to zoom out from the obstruction if you so desired.
24-megapixel selfie camera
As with most Vivo smartphones, the V9 also happens to have a commendable front-facing camera that managed to take some impressive selfies. The 24-megapixel shooter with its ƒ/2.0 performs remarkably well in both well-lit and low-light environments. Colours were accurate and the details captured were better than many devices you get in this price segment. Vivo says that it uses AI to enhance the images. While the AI mentioned here might fall under a broader definition of the term, the software optimisations on photos were still pretty decent when it came to applying bokeh and background blur in portrait shots.
Dual SIM with dedicated microSD card expansion
This is one of the most impressive features the Vivo V9 has to offer. It has a hybrid SIM/microSD card slot that allows the use of two SIM cards along with a microSD card simultaneously. Unlike most dual-SIM capable smartphones that only allow the use of a microSD card only if you swap out the 2nd SIM card, this device lets you enjoy two cellular networks while also expanding your internal storage all the way up to 256GB.
Feature packed Funtouch OS based on Android 8.1 Oreo
Whether or not you can get used to an iOS-inspired UI on an Android is down to your personal preference. With that said, it is undeniable that the Funtouch OS on the Vivo V9 offers a great many features and tweaks to enhance the user experience. Furthermore, the latest iteration of Funtouch OS is based on Android 8.1 Oreo and brings over all the enhancements and bug fixes it offers. The main features that I appreciated the most include the extensive and individual notifications control, and the Picture-in-Picture mode that works quite well.
Intuitive gesture/motion-based controls
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Speaking of the software, Funtouch OS also has many intuitive gestures and motion-based controls that most definitely come in handy. When ‘blank screen glance’ is enabled and the phone is set down on a flat surface, you can simply wave your hand over the notch to get the status bar and time while the rest of the screen stays black. A similar feature called ‘Air unlock’ will use the same gesture to unlock your phone as long as no screen lock passwords are enabled. “Smart keep bright” mode would keep the screen illuminated as long as the front camera detects a face. Then we have the “Motorbike mode” which can be set up to auto reject calls, mute notifications and will only let you answer a call when it detects that you are no longer in motion.
