vivo Y35 Review: 44W Quick charging and more!

“Quick as a Flash” – that’s how vivo describes the vivo Y35 smartphone with its 44W fast charging technology.

However, it has a lot to offer aside from this headlining feature. There’s a 50MP rear camera, smooth 90Hz display, large 5000mAh battery, and plenty of RAM and storage at 8GB and 256GB respectively.

I tested these features for several weeks and here’s my full review of the vivo Y35!

 

Design and Aesthetics

 

 

The vivo Y35 comes in two color options – Agate Black and Dawn Gold. The latter is more attractive with its golden hues and anti-smudge texture.

It has flat sides which makes it look trendy while the slightly curved 2.5D edges results in comfortable swipes. The usual ports and buttons are all present including a USB Type-C port at the bottom.

 

On the front of the device is its large screen with normal-sized bezels. It also has a “Halo” notch for the selfie camera which honestly looks a bit outdated compared to punch-holes and pill-shaped cutouts.

Nevertheless, the vivo Y35 feels sturdy in the hands and has an interesting design that you’d be proud using the free transparent phone case.

RELATED: vivo Y35 unboxing!

 

Display and User Interface

The vivo Y35 has a 6.58-inch IPS LCD screen with FHD+ resolution, 401 ppi pixel density, and 90Hz screen refresh rate.

It’s large enough for watching videos, has sharp texts and graphics, and bright enough for outdoor use but not under direct noon-time sunshine.

The high screen refresh rate also makes animations and transitions in the user interface smoother than regular 60Hz smartphones. It’s a big upgrade for those who haven’t used smartphones with this feature yet.

 

 

The vivo Y35 comes with Android 12 OS with Funtouch OS 12 interface. It has a neat and clean UI with some pre-installed apps like Facebook, TikTok, GCash, and Lazada.

You’ll have to disable notifications from some apps though because some tend to send an overwhelming number of notifications.

It has several customization options including a dedicated Themes app, fonts, and dynamic animation effects.

 

Performance

The vivo Y35 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset with 8GB of RAM and plenty of storage at 256GB.

It’s a good combination for a smooth performance in general tasks like scrolling across social media apps, watching videos, and switching between different apps.

It scored 375 points in Geekbench 5 single-core benchmark test, 1,403 points in Geekbench 5 multi-core, and 2,084 points in 3DMark Slingshot. You may compare these scores with your current smartphone.

 

In terms of gaming performance, the vivo Y35 can run Mobile Legends in high graphics quality at 57 FPS. That’s a decent framerate but there are frame drops during clashes.

Heavier games like Call of Duty Mobile runs at 47 fps with more noticeable lags and frame drops. These were measured using GameBench Pro. It also has not enough power for resource-intensive games like Genshin Impact even at the lowest graphics settings.

It can only run most games smoothly at low to medium graphics quality.

 

Camera Quality

The vivo Y35 is equipped with a 50MP + 2MP + 2MP triple rear cameras with LED flash and a single 16MP selfie camera.

It can produce decent pictures and 1080p videos in well-lit situations. Pictures have sharp details and slightly over-saturated colors. It’s auto HDR feature is a bit tamed but produces good results when it activates.

However, there’s no ultra-wide or zoom lens. Here are some sample pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The vivo Y35 also has a dedicated Night Mode for shooting pictures in low-light situations. It improves the dynamic range and color vibrancy but moving subjects will be blurry.

Here’s another set of sample pictures:

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, the selfie camera of the vivo Y35 can capture detailed selfies with vibrant colors. Good quality selfie cameras are indeed a staple of vivo smartphones.

However, it still has limited dynamic range and will prefer the subject’s face even if it results in overexposed background.

Here are sample selfies:

 

 

 

 

Connectivity, Audio Quality, and Security

The vivo Y35 is a dual-SIM smartphone with 4G LTE connectivity. It can provide decent mobile internet speeds but you can’t take advantage of the faster 5G cellular networks.

Voice calls sound clear and crisp on the phone’s earpiece. Meanwhile, the single bottom-firing loudspeaker has an Audio Booster feature for even louder calls up to 150% and 200% but it can sound tinny for music listening at these volumes.

Meanwhile, security is handled by Face Unlock using the front camera and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button.

 

Battery and Charging Time

 

A 5,000mAh Lithium-Polymer battery powers the vivo Y35. It can last more than a day with my usual smartphone usage and around 9 hours of gaming.

It scored 19 hours and 26 minutes on the PCMark Battery Life Test 3.0. This is an estimate of its battery longevity with mixed usage at 50% screen brightness.

Re-charging the device for 34 minutes already results in 70% of battery capacity. For a full 100% battery capacity, it takes 56 minutes of charging using the bundled 44W fast charger.

 

Conclusion

The vivo Y35 is a good smartphone for its price range. Its screen is sharp, cameras are decent, performance is enough for casual games, and battery is long-lasting with quick charging.

It’s a safe bet for vivo and I expect this to be one of the company’s best-selling smartphones. However, I would have loved it if it had a slightly better chipset (Snapdragon 695 perhaps) and an ultra-wide camera.

It’s now available in vivo stores, kiosks, authorized retailers, and official online shops.