vivo V29 Impressions | The Next Generation Portrait Master?

The vivo V29 is coming to PH shores soon, and it promises to be the new Portrait Master.

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Earlier this year, vivo launched its V27 series. Now, vivo is back with the V29, a phone that promises to be an even better Portrait Master.

As with the previous vivo V series devices, the new V29 has a wide range of features that make it a great phone for photography, especially for portraits. Specifically, the new V29’s highlight feature is the Aura Light Portrait system that was introduced with the vivo V27. But this time, the V29’s Aura Light Portrait feature comes with many improvements.

Recently, we got to get our hands on a vivo V29, and we got to explore some of its features ahead of its upcoming Philippine launch.

To start, while the Aura Light module looks reminiscent to its predecessor, its light-emitting area is much larger and its brightness is increased by 36% according to vivo. This means you should get even better results when taking creative portrait shots.

What’s more, the V29’s Aura Light module comes with adjustable color temperature, meaning you can adjust the lighting from warm to cool. This gives you even more options when it comes to creative portrait photography as you can opt for a cooler or a warmer Aura Light Portrait without having to do any photo editing. On top of this, the V29 has vivo’s unique portrait bokeh effects that can change the background blur to different shapes.

Aside from portrait-specific features, the phone’s camera setup consists of a 50MP main camera which promises to deliver great photos, both in daytime and at night. This main shooter is complemented by an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP depth sensor. Then at the front, the phone has a 50MP selfie camera which promises to be a good shooter for selfies and group selfies. Plus, the front shooter also comes with a color temperature setting for the screen light flash.

Moving to the design, the vivo V29 has a striking design that looks quite premium thanks to its unique color. This color pattern is called 3D Magnetic Particle by vivo, and it has a nice gradient with glittery effects. Thankfully, even if it’s a glossy design, the back of the phone is not a fingerprint magnet.

If you also look at the sides, you’ll notice that the phone has curved edges which enhance the phone’s premium look and feel. Also, users won’t need to worry about the phone being slippery to use as its still quite a comfortable device to hold and grip, whether vertically or horizontally.

Moving to the front, the vivo V29 has a 6.78-inch AMOLED screen with a 1260 x 2800 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate display. While we’ve only had the phone for a while, the V29’s screen is already quite promising for binge-watching thanks to its vibrant colors and deep blacks.

Powering the phone meanwhile is a Snapdragon 778G 5G SoC, a chipset that should deliver good performance for both gaming and everyday used based on our experience with other 778G-powered phones.

We have yet to try the phone out in our typical gaming test, but given the processor, you should be able to easily play today’s popular esports titles with ease, as well as more demanding games, albeit probably at a lower graphics setting.

As with other vivo phones, the new V29 runs on Funtouch 13 OS which is based on Android 13 which should be fine for most Android users in terms of navigating through the menus.

Now for battery life, the vivo V29 packs a 4600mAh battery which should give the phone all-day battery life for fairly moderate use.

As for charging, the vivo V29 has incredibly fast 80W fast charging, meaning it shouldn’t take long for the phone to go to full charge. This is great news for users who use their phones heavily as well as for those who often forget to charge their phones at night.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, the vivo V29 is shaping up to be a compelling premium mid-range option for those who want a phone with promising portrait photography capabilities, all without sacrificing its other features.

Of course, before we can give it a full recommendation, we’ll have to test the phone out a bit more and wait for its official price in the Philippines. We won’t have to wait long though as the vivo V29 is set to launch in the Philippines this month.

vivo V29 specs:

  • 6.78-inch (1260 x 2800) AMOLED display, 120Hz refresh rate
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G processor
  • 8/12GB RAM
  • 128/256GB storage
  • Rear cameras: 50MP main + 8MP ultrawide + 2MP macro triple rear camera setup (with Ring-LED flash)
  • Front camera: 50MP
  • 5G, LTE
  • Under Display Fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C port
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.2
  • 4600mAh battery with 80W wired Fast charging
  • Android 13 with Funtouch 13