vivo Y12s Review: Stylish Budget Phone, But Is It Worth Buying?

vivo Y12s was recently launched in Nepal. It is the update to the vivo Y12 which was launched in 2019.

vivo Y12s price in Nepal is Rs. 17,999 for the 3/32GB variant. It comes with an Helio P35 chipset, dual-camera setup, and a 5000 mAh battery.

So, does the vivo Y12s justify its price tag? I used it for a week and here’s what I think!

vivo Y12s Review

Design

• 164.41×76.32×8.41mm, 191g
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

vivo Y12s has a polycarbonate back with a dual-camera setup. The polycarbonate back has a glossy finish on the back and has a rainbow effect from certain angles.

The polycarbonate back can catch smudges but this looks like a good material even though it’s plastic.

Y12s has a Micro USB for charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, mic, and a single speaker at the bottom. On the right, it has volume controls and a power button with an embedded fingerprint sensor. On the left, it has a dual sim slot along with a dedicated slot for microSD.

Overall build and design of vivo Y12s is really good for the price but a micro-USB port in 2021?

Display

• 6.51 inches IPS LCD
• 720 x 1600 pixels
• 60Hz

vivo Y12s features a 6.51 inches HD+ display with a screen resolution of 1600 x 720. vivo calls it the Halo FullView display.

Color reproduction of the IPS panel is good and does the job for general consumers.

An HD+ IPS panel for the price is pretty decent and it provides a good viewing experience. The color is good with a slight hint of saturation. The brightness is also quite good. I did not have any problem using the phone under sunlight.

Performance

• MediaTek Helio P35
• Octa-core (4×2.3 GHz Cortex A53 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex A53)
• PowerVR GE8320
• 32GB 3GB RAM

In terms of hardware, It has a Mediatek Helio P35 chipset. Along with it, it has 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM. Helio P35 has an Octa-core (4×2.35 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53) CPU and PowerVR GE8320 GPU.

For memory, it has 3GB RAM paired with 32GB onboard storage.

Normal tasks like internet browsing, app browsing, and navigation run fine but it doesn’t feel smooth. There is some loading time for apps and the games take longer to load.

Playing graphic intensive games like PUBG and COD Mobile is not enjoyable.

Helio P35 chipset is not a good chipset for gaming at this price. I tried playing COD and PUBG at the lowest graphics but the experience was very poor. You will notice plenty of frame drops and lags. Games like Asphalt 9 are playable but the smoothness is not there.

vivo Y12s is definitely an underwhelming phone interms of performance as the competitions like Redmi 9 and Poco M2 offer an Helio G80 chipset.

Camera

• Rear Camera: 13 MP f/2.2
  • 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
  • Video: 1080p@30fps
• Front Camera: 8 MP
  • Video: 1080p@30fps

vivo Y12s has a dual-camera setup on the rear with a 13MP main camera and a 2MP depth camera.

ALSO READ: Redmi 9 Power Review: A Power Packed Phone With Long Endurance

NORMAL PHOTOS

The main sensor captures good photos in daylight with a decent amount of detail. The color leans towards a neutral profile. Dynamic range is decent for a budget phone but you will notice slight noise if you capture landscapes. Overall, the photos look good but they could have been better with more sharpness.

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PORTRAIT MODE

The 2MP depth sensor helps in capturing portrait photos and it is quite good. Edge detection is not perfect but it looks decent. And, the background blur is good enough. The detail is not that good though.

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Front Camera

The 8MP selfie camera of the vivo Y12s is not as good as the rear camera. The selfies do not have good detail and the indoor selfies have a noticeable amount of noise. In a low-light indoor situation, the dynamic range is poor.

As for portraits, the front camera can capture good detail in well-lit situations with decent background blur and subject separation. The results are not impressive indoors.

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LOW LIGHT PHOTOS

vivo Y12s captures photos with too much ISO in the low light situation which results in loss of detail. You can easily notice the noise as well.

It tries to brighten the scene with high ISO which leads to overexposed photos. On top of that, the photos look oversaturated.

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VIDEO

vivo Y12s can capture videos up to 1080p 30 fps from the rear camera. The results are what you expect from a budget phone. It lacks detail and the dynamic range is also limited.

The videos do not have stabilization as well.

Battery

• Non-removable Li-Po 5000 mAh battery
• 10W charging

vivo Y12s has a 5000 mAh battery which is enough for a single day. I was getting slighlty more than a day of battery life during moderate usage but it will easily last a day even with heavy usage.

As for charging, the 10W charging takes around 2 hours to fully charge the phone.

Security

vivo Y12s gets a side-mounted fingerprint sensor which works really well. It is fast and reliable. The face unlock is also fast and consistent under well-lit conditions.

Speaker

vivo Y12s has a single bottom-firing speaker. It sounds tiny and the clarity is not good at all.

ALSO READ: vivo Mobiles Price in Nepal: Features and Specs

Software

vivo Y12s uses Funtouch OS 11 on top of Android 11. Funtouch OS has come a long way and it is much better. vivo has taken inspiration from stock OS as the Funtouch 11 feels like stock OS. The quick toggle setting is similar to stock Android and the brightness slider has now been moved below the quick toggle as well.

The app drawer is available and the icon design is also similar to stock Android. Furthermore, it does have extra features that are not available on the stock Android. For instance, you can customize vivo Y12s to some level by using dynamic effects.

Funtouch OS has improved and I do like the experience of the new Funtouch OS.

Conclusion

vivo Y12s is a budget phone that comes with a good HD+ display and good design. Along with that, the build quality and design of the Y12s is very impressive.

The main camera also captures good pictures. However, competitions offer much more such as an ultra-wide-angle sensor and even a 48MP sensor at this price.

Where the vivo Y12s falls short is in the performance department. An old Helio P35 chipset with 3GB RAM is not a good combo for a phone with its price tag in 2020.

So, vivo Y12s is yet another stylish but expensive phone from vivo that does not have good enough performance for the price.

I hope you like our review of vivo Y12s. If you have any questions regarding this device, then drop them in the comments below.