The vivo Y16: Highly affordable, expensive-looking smartphone

There are a bunch of reasons why people decide to upgrade their smartphones. If your top reasons are aesthetics, battery, and memory, then the newest entry-level contender — the vivo Y16 — will definitely make it on your list.  

Design and build

At first look, one wouldn’t think that the Y16 is a budget smartphone. It dons a trendy design that looks and feels premium, but in reality, its rear panel is made of plastic. Two colorways are available: Drizzling Gold and Stellar Black. The former features subtle gold rays that add to its unique factor and personality. What’s more, you get to appreciate its stunning design once light strikes it. Since it’s built with a lightweight (183g) and thin (8.19mm) frame, the Y16 feels effortless to carry around. 

Display

As for the display, it has a 6.51” Halo FullView LCD display with Eye Protection. You’re still greeted by the waterdrop notch, which will feel slightly out of date. On the bright side, the screen quality exhibits good color accuracy, which will excite those who like to binge-watch series. 

Camera

Large-looking sensors will surprise you at the back. It’s a good facade given that it seems to be a trend these days. The Y16 has a dual-camera system that consists of the 13MP main camera and 2MP macro camera. While in front, is the 5MP selfie camera. 

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Similar to the screen quality, the main camera produced photos that have vibrant colors and good color accuracy, especially in good lighting conditions. The sharpness of the details wasn’t bad either. 

Performance

While I was impressed with the seamless experience I had playing Asphalt 9 at the default visual quality, I wish I could say the same thing for Mobile Legends. Unfortunately, I experienced a few stutters that affected my game negatively. But then again, it may only be ideal for casual gaming not entirely for competitive purposes. Nonetheless, with the MediaTek Helio P35 processor and 4GB + 1GB Extended RAM, day-to-day activities such as scrolling through social media, switching apps, and streaming videos were adequately smooth.

What to look forward to, especially for its price point, is the 128GB storage, which can be expanded up to 1TB. That gives us so much room to store as many photos and videos, and download as many apps.

Battery

The 10W Fast Charger might not be its strongest suit as well, but at least, it houses a large 5000mAh battery that I was able to depend on for 2 days until recharging again. My activities consisted mostly of watching TikTok videos, streaming Netflix series, listening on Spotify, and replying to messages and emails. 

Verdict

If you have an eye on design upgrades for a budget smartphone, look no further as the vivo Y16 certainly delivers. It also receives a sizable battery and storage for its price point that builds up its appeal. If those are your top priorities, then this makes it a worthy upgrade for only PHP8,499.