SELFIE OBSESSED

If you have been een yearning for perfect selfies, the Vivo vo V5 Plus’s dual-lens front camera won’t t disappoint. By NIDHI SINGAL

Be it the megapixel count, sensor size, or optical zoom, cameras on smartphones have come a long way. While most smartphones are jazzing up their rear cameras, Vivo is leading from the ‘front’. The new Vivo V5 Plus comes with a dual-lens front camera – 20 MP and 8 MP – to enhance the selfie experience. The 20-MP front camera has been co-engineered with Sony for clarity, while the 8- MP camera captures depth of field. Together, they capture more light, resulting in better images.

There is also a flash at the front which comes handy in low-light environments. The camera app works well. Selfies can be captured either in normal mode with HDR or in bokeh mode (for depth effect). Right next to the HDR is the flash setting control. When in bokeh mode, tapping on the screen puts the subject in focus, blurring the rest. Blur in the background can be adjusted by controlling the aperture between f/0.95 to f/16 – the former adds maximum blur, whereas the latter keeps everything in focus. The bokeh effect can be used in the image gallery, too, by adjusting focus and blur, after capturing selfies.

Most images clicked turned out pretty well, both indoors and outdoors. The selfie camera was able to capture the subject’s accurate skin tone most times, but sometimes it felt too bright/ white. Though the dual front camera steals the show, the 16- MP rear camera captures decent images, too.

The V5 Plus has a neat design, and bears a striking resemblance to the iPhone 6, albeit with a few tweaks. The 5.5-inch display is crisp and is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. Other than the camera module, lens, and sensor at the top, there is a rectangular home button below the display. It doubles up as a fingerprint scanner, and quickly unlocks the device.

The device has Vivo’s own Funtouch OS built on Android Marshmallow. It is powered by 2 GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor, paired with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB internal storage. This is a dual SIM device; the secondary SIM slot being a hybrid can be used as a microSD card for up to 256 GB. It is a good performer, but not as powerful as the OnePlus 3T with Snapdragon 821 processor (for `29,999). When used for regular tasks, with a couple of hours of camera usage, the 3,160 mAh battery lasted just over a day. ~