Vivo Y81

Vivo Y81 is an attempt of Vivo to get into the budget market and give others a run for their money. Priced at Rs. 8,490, Vivo Y81 is a capable model which tries to provide an all-round performance with its low but capable hardware.

However, in all aspects, Vivo Y81 fails to deliver a great result. While it does have a good processor, it can be a bit laggy. The battery of the phone is delightful, but the display falters. Hence, it is a hit and a miss, and you can go for it based on your preference.

Vivo Y81 arrives with a redundant aesthetic. It is not a unique look since users must have seen the same glossy rear on Vivo V9 and V9 Youth. However, the phone still has that premium touch. It’s easy to hold and it can fit in your hand comfortably. As is natural to most phones, it has a power button and the volume rocker button on its side. The phone also hosts a micro USB port, which is a bit of a disappointment since most phones have moved on to take up USB Type-C port. However, unlike most premium phones, the Vivo Y81 has retained its headphone jack, so it is a great relief for traditionalists.

The Vivo Y81 comes with a 6.22-inch HD display with 720×1520 resolution. It is a tall display that combines well with a 19:9 aspect ratio. The phone has a very average 270ppi pixel density. The pictures are not sharp, and they are not vibrant enough. The phone does not provide an immersive visual experience. If you want to run HD videos on this display, it falls short. Plus, when you compare it with its competitors, there are many phones which arrive with the Full HD+ screen at this range, making this set a poor model.

Vivo Y81 gets its power from the MediaTek Helio P22 chipset which is an octa-core chipset. It has a Cortex A53 processor which can reach about 2 GHz of clock speed. Plus, the phone is also paired with PowerVR GE8320 GPU and about 3GB RAM. While the MediaTek processor is all right for a mid-range phone, there is still a bit of lag present. Multitasking can be a bit difficult since multiple apps running in the background can freeze the phone. You can run 2D games smoothly on this phone without experiencing any freeze, but you won’t get playable frame rates in high-end games.

Regarding the camera, the phone comes with a 13MP primary rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture and Phase Detection autofocus. Plus, it has a software-enabled bokeh effect. In daylight, the camera shots are just passable. It can capture details well, but there is a bit of noise that gets captured. Low-light shots are not well-defined as it does not get enough details and tends to obtain a lot of noise. The bokeh effect is software-based, and this makes the edge detection very poor. The front-camera of 5MP is just average. There is a bit of a blur, and the colours are very soft. You can’t expect vibrant photos from this handset.

The Vivo Y81 comes with a passable 3,260 mAh Li-ion battery. It is a sizable battery and can keep the phone chugging for a whole day with light use. Plus, the battery is quite adequate since the phone does not have a great display, but only clocks up to HD quality. It makes the screen not as power-hungry and saves much of the battery juice.

The Vivo Y81 may look good but it is quite mediocre due to what’s present under its hood. In the day of AMOLED screen and QHD display, the phone sticks to HD display with very low pixel density. Plus, the processor on this phone is weak. It does not come with a dual camera module like most phone at this price range and hence, the photos also turn out to be average. It is not a recommended phone as it is highly priced but comes with mediocre assets.