vivo V29 5G REVIEW: Impressive Display and Multi-color Aura Light for Low-light Photography

The vivo V29 5G boasts several upgrades over its predecessor spearheaded by a dedicated “Aura Light” multi-color mini ringlight feature. vivo claims that it’s like a photography studio in your pocket!

It also has a higher resolution display, 80W fast charging technology, Snapdragon processor, and a slim design with IP53 water resistance. Let’s explore all these features in our full review with several camera samples and performance tests.

 

What’s in the vivo V29 5G box?

 

The vivo V29 5G comes in a standard gray box. The model name is surrounded by a circular halo that seems to represent the “Aura Light” feature.

Upon unboxing, you’ll immediately see the smartphone itself with a pre-applied screen protector. Underneath the phone are the FREE transparent phone case, quick start guide, and warranty card.

There’s also a USB type-C cable, 80W fast charger, and SIM ejector pin. It doesn’t come with FREE earphones inside the box but you should check the stores for FREEBIES.

 

Design and Build Quality

 

I have the Magic Maroon color variant of the vivo V29 5G. It’s a classy and chic colorway with a glittery texture. There’s also a Starry Purple color option which looks slightly more dazzling.

This is a slim and svelte smartphone measuring 7.46mm only and feels even thinner when held thanks to the curved edges of both the front and back panels. It’s also light at 186 g only but still feels solid and sturdy.

What stands out in the back design is the “Aura Light” feature – a mini ring light below the cameras. We’ll talk about this feature later in the camera section.

 

Its volume and power buttons are on the right side while the SIM card tray, microphone, USB type-C port, and loudspeaker are all at the bottom. At the top are another microphone and the phrase “Professional Portrait”.

The device is certified IP68 water and dust resistant which means it can withstand being submerged in water for 30 minutes. Not all smartphones in this price range have this feature and I commend vivo for adding this to the V29 5G.

Overall, it’s a well-designed smartphone with a slim and sleek profile, classy colorways, and stand-out mini ring light feature at the back.

 

Display Quality and Multimedia Experience

The vivo V29 5G has a large 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a 1.5K resolution or 1260 x 2800 pixels. This is a higher resolution compared to most smartphones in this price range. It results in very sharp texts and graphics with inky blacks and vivid colors.

It’s great for watching videos on YouTube or Netflix with support for HDR content or simply browsing pictures on social media or your own gallery. There’s also 1300 nits of peak brightness making it bright and legible outdoors under bright sunlight.

This might be the best display on a vivo V Series smartphone yet.

However, I would have loved a matching stereo loudspeaker setup for more immersive audio. Instead, there’s only a single bottom-firing speaker. You’ll have to use earphones for better sound quality.

 

Camera Quality with Sample Pictures

The vivo V29 5G has triple rear cameras that capture good-looking pictures in daylight or well-lit scenes. Details are sharp, dynamic range is decent, and colors are lively. There’s a toggle called Natural Colors for more true-to-life color reproduction.

It has a 50 Megapixel main camera, 8 Megapixel ultra-wide camera, and 2 Megapixel macro camera. Most shooting modes are using the main camera and output 12MP pictures.

Here are several sample pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

The Portrait mode automatically switches to 2x zoom for close-up pictures with DSLR-like bokeh effects and beautification. There are still some fringing but most portrait shots look pleasing.

 

 

 

 

 

What sets the vivo V29 5G apart from other smartphones is its “Aura Light” feature – a mini ring light with multiple colors or tones. It’s separate from the normal LED flash and automatically changes the color temperature based on the lighting situation.

The resulting pictures look impressive with balanced lighting unlike the harsh traditional LED flash. It has a higher tendency to create red eyes in pictures though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I’m not mistaken, only vivo has a feature like this that truly makes a difference in picture quality. Indeed, it makes it easier to achieve “studio-quality” portraits with the new Aura Light.

Low-light shots that don’t use the Aura Light also look good especially when the dedicated Night mode is used. It even has Astro mode for night sky photography and Supermoon mode.

 

 

Meanwhile, there’s another 50 Megapixel camera on the front of the vivo V29 5G for selfies. It’s an ultrawide camera with autofocus and several zoom levels (.8x, 1x, and 2x) making Gen-Z selfies easier to capture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

vivo smartphones have been known to produce amazing selfies and the vivo V29 5G continues this tradition. Selfies are sharp with good color saturation and impressive portraits.

 

 

 

In terms of video recording, the main camera at the back can capture up to 4K videos with some form of video stabilization. For smoother-looking videos, there’s Ultra Video Stabilization but at a maximum resolution of 1080p.

The front camera also supports 4K video recording for sharper and clearer TikToks and Facebook/IG reels. There’s also automatic beautification for video calls.

 

Performance

The vivo V29 5G is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor with 12GB of RAM.

This is enough for smooth performance in basic tasks like navigating websites, scrolling across social media apps, and switching between different apps. It also has enough storage space for your 4K videos, pictures, and game files.

However, it’s a slight step back in terms of raw performance and power efficiency. It scored 998 points on the Geekbench single-core benchmark and 2,874 points on the multi-core test.

 

Gaming Experience

I played several games on the vivo V29 5G including Mobile Legends, Call of Duty Mobile, and Genshin Impact.

It can run Mobile Legends up to high graphics quality smoothly with minimal frame drops during team fights. The ultra graphics quality is disabled though.

 

When playing Call of Duty Mobile, the maximum graphics quality is very high. The gaming experience is also smooth whether playing in multi-player or battle royale mode with some frame drops in the latter during busy scenes.

Meanwhile, Genshin Impact runs at low graphics quality by default. Changing it to high results in jankier performance with lots of frame drops.

Hence, the vivo V29 5G can run most games at high graphics quality except for the most resource-intensive titles. There’s good thermal management too with the unit remaining within comfortable temperature through my testing.

 

UI, Apps, and Storage

 

 

The vivo V29 5G runs on Android 13 OS with the Funtouch OS 13 user interface. It’s a highly customized skin with a neat design and many hidden features in the Settings page.

It comes with several pre-installed apps including the usual Google apps, some vivo apps, and several third party apps including Facebook, Shopee, and TikTok. Thankfully, there aren’t many annoying notifications with the default setup.

There are downloadable themes, interesting live wallpapers, and the ability to customize UI colors. You won’t have to worry with storage space since the device comes with either 256GB or 512GB of internal storage. There’s no option to add a microSD memory card though.

 

Connectivity and Security

In terms of connectivity, the vivo V29 5G has dual SIM 5G connectivity. It can provide ultra-fast mobile internet speeds in areas with 5G coverage and drop to decent 4G speeds in rural areas.

It doesn’t have a 3.5mm audio jack so you’ll have to use USB type-C earphones or wireless earphones. There are several customizations for sound quality so make sure to tinker the Settings for your preference.

For security, it has an under-display fingerprint scanner that works quite reliably.

 

Battery Life and Charging

A 4,600mAh battery powers the vivo V29 5G and can last a whole day on a single charge with my normal use. I usually need to recharge every night though.

Playing games continuously drains the battery in about 5 hours only. That’s quite low in today’s standards.

Thankfully, recharging the device to 100% only takes 48 minutes only thanks to the 80W fast charger which is already included in the box. When you’re in a hurry, it can also recharge to 50% battery capacity in 18 minutes only.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the vivo V29 5G is an impressive photography smartphone especially when it comes to low-light portraits and selfies. Its “Aura Light” feature has now matured and revealed its true potential.

The sharp display, svelte design, and top-notch build quality also makes the device one of the best in its price range.

Despite these advantages, there are still a few disadvantages with this smartphone including its single loudspeaker system when most of its competitors already sport stereo dual speakers. It also settles for an aging processor and less than ideal battery life.

Still, I highly recommend the vivo V29 5G especially for aspiring content creators and those who value display and camera quality in a smartphone.