Pulchritude Stride | Vivo V30e Review! [Part 1]

Can the lowest-end Vivo V30 compete against its siblings?

This is officially the second Vivo unit we have reviewed so far. The first was the powerful, almost professional Vivo V30 Pro with ZEISS lenses. Now, we’re going to dial down to the lowest end of the range, the V30e. Yes, it still sports that Aura Ring light but this time, it’s watered down and isn’t as bright. This one feels close to what the V29 had. Also, there are far fewer cameras here. Two at the back, mainly a 50MP Primary and an 8MP ultrawide, as well as a 32MP selfie camera. Also, it lacks the “ZEISS” branding this time, so no fancy effects from them. That collab is still pricey. A lot of things were toned down to make this device possible. Yes, that includes the chipset going down from MediaTek Dimensity 8200 to Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1. Price? Well, we’ll tell ya later!

Also, the V40 has hit the Chinese market already and will hit global soon. Heck, the V40 SE already made an appearance in some European countries so why only are we reviewing the V30e now? Well, here’s the thing. Vivo gave the phone to us late in the game. However, we firmly believe that people will not always buy the best and latest phone. So as long the brand still sells it officially, it will be relevant. We will discuss this part soon but first, enjoy the review. You’ll also see us compare this to the Pro a lot and see if it can compete, too!

Skip to our At a Glance to see the unboxing and our initial thoughts with the design. Here, we’ll start more straightforwardly. With the interface.

Oh, we almost forgot. ROLL THE SPEC SHEET!

SPECS:

• 6.78″ FullHD+ (2400x1080px) AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 (4nm)
• CAMERAS:
  • 50MP (Primary), f/1.8, Sony IMX882, EIS
  • 8MP (Ultrawide), f/2.0, GalaxyCore GC08A3
  • FRONT: 32MP, f/2.0, GalaxyCore GC32E1
• FunTouchOS 14 based on Android 14
  • May Security Update
  • July Software Update
• 5000mAh, 44W fast charging
• USB-C, Single Speaker, In-display fingerprint sensor, Virtual RAM (up to 8GB)
• 5G services, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC
• Coco Brown, Cloud White
• PRICE:
  • 8/256: PHP 17,999

SOFTWARE INTERFACE: Same ol’ FunTouch

If you read our Vivo V30 Pro review, or currently own a new Vivo phone, then you’re already familiar with FunTouchOS. It’s the same deal as last time. However, this iteration, while almost similar to the V30 Pro, feels somewhat unoptimized. It’s also just as bloated. However, it’s pretty easy to breeze through if you already own a few BBK phones, such as those from OnePlus, Oppo, and realme.

Compared with our OxygenOS-powered OnePlus Nord 3 (which uses the same interface template), the icons on the Vivo are way larger so the home screen apps occupy more space, therefore requiring more pages. Also, unlike the Nord, you can only arrange the app layout in either 4×6 or 5×6 arrangements. Meanwhile, the Nord 3 has several more options, from 3×5, 3×6, and everything in between.

Thankfully, if the icons are too large for you, you can easily resize them by long tapping the screen on the Vivo V30e. You can’t do that in the Nord 3. Well, you technically can, but the process is longer. You have to go to the settings then choose “Wallpaper & Style”, then tapping icons to edit the icon size. It’s much more straightforward with the Vivo.

By default, the icons on the Vivo are larger than the Nord. To make it consistent and easy to compare, we switched the icons from round to squircle.

Another huge but important difference that could be a deal breaker to some. OxygenOS lacks any ad or bloat, aside from the usual Google apps! This consumes a smaller amount of space. And even if it does have, you can easily remove them. The Vivo V30e does not allow you to remove certain pre-installed apps. You might need to root it first and we’re not doing that on a review unit, unless certain conditions are met.

DISPLAY: AMOLED Basics

The phone sports a curved 6.78″ FullHD+ AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. While almost the same as the V30 Pro, we noticed obvious differences. Firstly, the resolution. It is not as sharp because it’s only 2400x1080px instead of the 1.5K the V30 Pro offered. The screen of the V30 Pro is arguably one of its best features as text and videos are rich and full of life. It’s toned down here. The screen is also not as bright. Although, let’s face it. Outside of hot sunny days, who turns the display brightness all the way to max, unless you want to blind yourself?

By default, the screen uses adaptive refresh rate from 60-120Hz, depending on what you’re doing. It will automatically switch to 120Hz if you’re playing a game that supports it. However, you can easily tinker with this in the display section of the settings. Using a consistently high refresh rate will eat more battery and processing power. We’ll discuss the performance prowess of the Vivo V30e in Part 2.

Well, those are the basic things you need to know about the Vivo V30e upon first glance, aside from the exterior design and box. Tune in soon for Part 2, where we discuss how good the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 is. Spoiler alert: we’re not that impressed with it.