vivo V40 Review – Pros and cons, Verdict

Vivo recently introduced its V40 series in India and the biggest highlight this time around is that both the handsets in the series come with ZEISS optics. While the ZEISS branding for the cameras was limited only to the Pro variants of the V series till now, the base variant now boasts of the LUTs and the imaging systems co-engineered with the tech giant. But the upgrade is not limited to just optics. From the moderate IP54 dust and resistance rating on the V30 (review), the V40 has directly leapt to the IP68 rating. You also get a larger battery and a better display in comparison with the Vivo V30. But let’s find out if these upgrades can keep up with other phones in the extremely competitive price range.

Verdict

With meaningful upgrades, the V40 comes as a decent option in mid-range. With ZEISS goodness, the phone offers a better portrait camera experience than its predecessor but somehow struggles to capture details in certain scenarios. Some of the aspects that favour V40 include a sleek design, long battery backup, and a bright vibrant AMOLED display. However, in the performance department, some phones outperform the phone as Vivo has retained the same processor on the phone as its predecessor.

Design and display

While other brands have made subtle changes to their phones over the years, Vivo completely overhauls its design with each new series. This time around, the brand has gone ahead with a circular camera module on the top-left at the back with the assisting Aura Light ring right below it. The phone comes with curved sides and a glass back. Although I am not a big fan of this combination, it looks quite elegant and minimalistic in the case of the V40. Admittedly, when I first saw the renders of the phone, I had my doubts regarding the design. But, in person, the Titanium Grey colour variant of the handset didn’t just look good but also had a pretty decent in-hand feel. The phone is also available in Lotus Purple and Ganges Blue colours as well.

One of the biggest highlights as far as design is concerned is that the Vivo V40 (along with the V40 Pro (review)) is the slimmest phone with a 5,500mAh battery. The handset measures just 7.6mm in thickness and weighs 190 grams. Given the slim curved design and lightweight nature of the phone, it is quite convenient to hold and use with one hand. With IP68 dust and water resistance, the phone has been claimed to easily survive a depth of up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes in static water.

You get a 6.78-inch AMOLED display here with a screen resolution of 1260×2800 pixels, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 4,500 nits. With an impressive pixel density of 453ppi, the phone’s display looks sharp and offers great viewing angles too. The phone holds up extremely well even under direct sunlight. The curved display panel might be a hit or miss for some, depending on personal preference. Off-late, as I’ve mentioned in most of my recent reviews, I’ve leaned towards preferring the flat panels as you don’t get mistouches and viewing angles are also better. Having said that, if ambient light isn’t a major issue, the flowing effect on the sides of the display does deliver a more immersive experience.

With a responsive panel that offers a high contrast ratio and vibrant colours, the V40 definitely delivers the goods in the display department. 

Cameras

The V40 ships with a dual camera setup at the back, featuring a 50MP primary sensor with f/1.9 aperture, 1/1.55-inch sensor size, PDAF, and OIS support. The primary shooter is assisted by an ultra-wide 50MP camera with a 119-degree field-of-view, 1/2.76-inch sensor size, and AF. As I mentioned earlier, the V40 comes with ZEISS-branded cameras this time around. To provide a more natural flash, the brand has included ‘Studio Quality Aura Light’ on the phone. To recall, the V30 series also had the Aura Light but in a rounded square shape. This time around, you get a circular light but the idea remains the same – to provide you with a natural flash that can improve low-light images without overexposing them, unlike regular flash.

ZEISS multi-focal portrait allows you to capture some really good portrait shots at different zoom levels in various styles (Landscape Portrait – 24mm, Street Portrait – 35mm, Natural/Classic Portrait – 50mm) and edge detection was on point. I was consistently impressed with the portrait shots clicked by the phone and that is perhaps the strongest point in favour of the phone’s cameras. The different ZEISS Style Bokeh effects available in the portrait mode – Cinematic, Cine-flare, Planar, Sonnar, Sonar, Biotar etc., are all fun to use and the multiple LUTs available for different festivals make this camera mode consistently interesting. 

Aesthetically speaking, the V40 captures some really good shots, irrespective of the lighting conditions. I specifically mentioned the word ‘aesthetically’ for a reason. In terms of details, if you zoom into some of the camera samples clicked by the phone, they often lack the details that some other phones in this price range manage to capture. This is especially noticeable towards the edge of the images. First, you can have a look at some of the camera samples I clicked with the phone and then we can dive deeper into its camera performance against competition.  

Daylight

In the daylight shot, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro (review) boosted the colours too much for my liking while the V40 ended up blurring some of the objects at the edge of the frame.

In this shot, the Realme GT 6T (review) was the clear winner by a distance as it produced the most detailed shot with colour accuracy. While the V40 was decent in terms of colour reproduction, the image processing and lack of details were quite clearly inferior to that of the Realme handset.

Ultrawide

In the ultrawide shot, the Edge 50 Pro produced an oversaturated shot that completely changed the way the actual frame looked. On the other hand, the V40 also boosted the colours a bit (but far less than the Edge 50 Pro) and still struggled with capturing details. 

Surprisingly, in this shot, the Realme GT 6T produced the least detailed shot and the overall picture was really grainy. In terms of colour accuracy, Vivo was the best-performing handset here and even in terms of details, the phone performed well, although details around the edge of the frame were still questionable.

Portrait

In portrait shots, the V40 outshined the other two phones with ease. While all three phones offered good edge detection, the sheer variety of bokeh shots and the application of the bokeh effect itself gave a clear edge to the Vivo handset.

Both the Edge 50 Pro and the Realme GT 6T aggressively blurred the background and failed to capture my skin tone accurately. Vivo V40 produced a shot that was miles clear of the other two phones in this particular department.

Selfie

In the selfie department, the V40 produced the best image out of the three with colour accuracy in terms of skin tone and a decent amount of detail.

In comparison, the Realme GT 6T produced a washed-out image, while the Edge 50 Pro was in between the two phones in terms of colour accuracy and details. In the portrait selfies, I found the GT 6T edge detection to be superior to the other two phones.

Low-light (night mode)

In the low-light shots, the V40 overexposed the shots and made them overly bright, which resulted in shots that looked rather unrealistic. In comparison, the Edge 50 Pro did a better job of handling the level of exposure.

Realme GT 6T did not overexpose like the V40 but didn’t produce as detailed shots as the Edge 50 Pro either. Overall, the Edge 50 Pro managed to produce the best shots in night/low-light conditions.

Performance and software

While the Vivo V40 comes with some meaningful upgrades in many key areas, one aspect where it remains the same as its predecessor is the choice of processor. The handset comes with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset at its helm, and this is hardly a surprise as many brands are still opting for this SoC in this price bracket. The phone comes with up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 512GB of UFS 2.2 storage but the unit I received had 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. The phone offers up to 12GB of extended RAM to help it tackle some of the more demanding tasks and run more than 40 apps in the background to make sure you don’t have to constantly deal with reloading issues within the apps.

To gauge the phone’s performance against its top competitors, we pitted it against the Realme GT 6T and the Motorola Edge 50 Pro. In this comparison, we started by performing the AnTuTu benchmark test on all these phones. As the AnTuTu benchmark score is a quantitative measure of a device’s overall performance, it evaluates various aspects of the device’s hardware and software capabilities through a series of tests.

There were no surprises in this test as the Realme GT 6T with its Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset outperformed both Edge 50 Pro and the V40 easily. Despite featuring the same chipset, the Edge 50 Pro fared slightly better in comparison with the V40 on this benchmark. 

Next, we ran the Geekbench test on these same devices. The Geekbench score quantifies a device’s CPU and GPU performance through various tests, providing an overall measure of its processing power and efficiency in handling single-core and multi-core tasks. Here too, the GT 6T managed to outperform both the other phones.

However, the V40 performed better than the Edge 50 Pro in this particular benchmark test, indicating it can handle CPU-intensive tasks more efficiently.

Talking about efficiency, next up, we ran the Burnout test on these phones to gauge how they performed under pressure. In this test, the Edge 50 Pro was the winner, followed closely by the V40. The GT 6T’s performance was throttled to quite an extent in this particular test.

Moving on to the software, the V40 loads up Android 14-based FunTouchOS 14 out of the box. While the handset has around 51 pre-installed apps, I never felt like apps were unnecessarily shoved in my direction. The UI animations are pretty clean and with the 120Hz refresh rate, using the phone is a smooth experience. As we’re talking about the FunTouchOS 14, there aren’t any major changes from the V30 or the V40 Pro here. This means you get apps such as V-Appstore (Vivo’s own app store), iManager (cleanup utility and security scanner), and Jovi Home, which is an AI assistant that shares recommendations after learning your usage habits.

Battery life and charging speeds

With a 5,500mAh battery and 80W fast charging support, the V40 managed to offer a pretty good backup for me in daily usage. I usually had some battery left by the end of the day, which is always a good sign. In our PCMark battery test, the phone lasted for 13 hours. This is somewhat similar to the backup offered by other phones in this price range.

During our gaming test, where we played three popular games (BGMI, Real Racing 3, and Call of Duty: Mobile) on the phone for 30 minutes each, the cumulative battery percentage drop on the phone was 16%. This is on the lower side in comparison to competition. This means that the phone offers better battery efficiency while dealing with demanding tasks.

Final verdict

Vivo V40 brings along some notable improvements to the table over its predecessor but retains its predecessor’s SoC. This means that at a starting price of Rs 34,999, the phone is more expensive than the Realme GT 6T, which offers much more horsepower. Having said that, the V40 offers a good battery backup, an elegant and slim design, a bright vibrant display, and decent optics. While I think the general software lacks the kind of features its competition is offering, the camera software is top-notch. While this is a camera-centric phone, do keep in mind that the V40 struggles with capturing details in certain shots. If you can look past this, the V40 is definitely worth considering. 

Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10

Reasons to buy

• The phone is capable of taking some impressive portrait shots  
• The vibrant display offers a peak brightness of 4500 nits
• Despite being a slim smartphone, the V40 packs a massive 5500mAh battery

Reasons not to buy

• The phone carries the same chipset as its predecessor
• The cameras often struggle to capture details 

Tested by: Aditya Pandey and Ujjwal Sharma