Vivo Kenya traces its way to China, one of the world’s biggest consumer markets. The company’s entrance in Kenya towards the end of last year was remarkably paired with the launch of the industry’s first dual selfie smartphone – vivo V17 Pro(review).
However, the company has since introduced other phones on the market, majorly categorized into two series – vivo Y series and V series (The company could be launching a new phone in the V series next month). But we’ll focus on the former, which the company says was primarily tailored for the youth.
The former spans across different price points but don’t exceed the Ksh 30,000 mark. Vivo Y series phones available in the Kenyan market include vivo Y11, vivo Y12, vivo Y15, vivo Y17, vivo Y19 and vivo Y90.
Straight up Perks of Buying Vivo Y Series phones
Vivo Y series phones have marked their territory well when it comes to phones with sufficient battery juice. All but one – vivo Y19, have large 5,000mAh batteries which make the phones suitable for anyone who prioritizes that. But who doesn’t love enough battery juice anyways?
The displays are also pretty sizeable for better viewing experience with at least 6.22-inches in size. They didn’t go wrong with the design, too, especially when you have an appetite for the devices at the higher end of the series.
Fast charging is also included, but this tech is available for the lower mid-range devices, and not the entry-level ones. For instance, vivo Y19 packs 18W Dual Engine fast charging that helps juice the high capacity battery rapidly.
On the storage front, the phones are well specced. There minimum storage offered is 32GB for the cheapest device across the series, which goes for about Ksh 10,999. Others have quite a reasonable allowance for media with 64GB and even 128GB of storage.
Performance-wise, vivo Y series should get the job done pretty well, looking at what’s under the hood.
The Downsides
But well, as they say, no product in technology is “the product.” Pretty much everything could’ve been done better in some way or another. That’s why we couldn’t call this piece a done deal before checking the other side of the story.
Most importantly, in a market with a variety of choices, you always have to have cut your coat according to your cloth. Similarly, vivo’s Y series devices do offer quite well features based on your needs. They are majorly tailored for battery junkies.
As much as vivo Y series phones offer similar features to what is available on the market at various price points, pricing is genuinely not that good.
On the value for money aspect, the company’s entry-level devices offer a considerable good deal. But on the midrange devices(20K to 30K zone), that ratio deteriorates exponentially compared to the competition.
Throughout the entire series, you’ll notice there is a lack of some features which are quite essential at some price points, like USB Type C, and 1080p display resolution on a 20k phone. Only vivo Y19 has a 1080p display which goes for Ksh 26,999.
The company’s Android UI dubbed Funtouch OS can also feel different if you’re coming from other devices – it took some time before we got used to the UI in the vivo V17 Pro.
Vivo also lags on another vital aspect of the modern-day smartphone — software and security updates. For instance, there is no Android 10 rollout timeline out there even for the high-end devices in the series like vivo Y15, Y17 and Y19.
But in general, vivo’s Y series phones have their appropriate use cases, and when polished even better, they can tick well in the local market.
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