Review of Vivo Y17 - an affordable smartphone with a 5000 mAh battery

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The phablet is for those who are looking for a dialer and hate powerbanks.

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Equipment
• Design
• Screen
• Sound
• Camera
• Performance
• Software
• Unlocking
• Autonomy
• Outcomes

Specifications

Colors	Blue aquamarine, rose quartz
Display	6.35 inches, HD + (720 × 1 544), IPS
Platform	Mediatek MT6765 Helio P35 (4 × 2.3 GHz Cortex A53 + 4 × 1.8 GHz Cortex A53)
GPU	PowerVR GE8320
RAM	4 GB
Built-in memory	64 GB + support for microSD cards up to 256 GB
Cameras	Rear - 13 MP (main) + 8 MP (ultra wide angle) + 2 MP (depth sensor), front - 20 MP
Shooting video	Up to 1080p at 30 FPS
Wireless interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
Connectors	microUSB, 3.5mm analog audio jack
SIM card	Two slots for nanoSIM
Unlocking	Fingerprint, face, PIN
Operating system	Android 9.0 + Funtouch 9
Battery	5,000 mAh, fast charging supported
Dimensions (edit)	159.4 × 76.8 × 8.9mm
The weight	190.5 g

Equipment

In the box we found a smartphone, a transparent silicone case, a paper clip, an adapter with a power cable and a classic set of pieces of paper.

Design

On the Russian market, the model is available in two colors: blue aquamarine and rose quartz. We got the first modification. The back panel looks nice and plays in the light.

Vivo Y17 looks like a flagship. The picture is spoiled only by the thickened bottom frame. On closer inspection, the design compromises are already felt, but at a distance of a meter, the smartphone looks more expensive than it costs.

If you take the gadget in hand, it is noticeable that somewhere the manufacturer has saved money - both the back panel and the frames are made of plastic and respond with a dull sound to tapping. The smartphone doesn't seem to be reliable.

On the back there is a Vivo lettering, a fingerprint sensor and a classic vertical camera module. It sits a little further from the edge than most other smartphones. Under the module there is a flash peephole and the inscription AI Triple Camera, harmful to the laconicism of the panel.

On the left there is a slot for SIM cards and microSD, on the bottom there is a mini-jack, a microUSB input and a microphone hole, on the right is a paired volume key and a power button. The volume key is located above the power button. The latter has a little backlash.

The Vivo Y17 is a classic wide-grip phablet, not very suitable for one-handed use. May please lovers of large smartphones.

Comes with a transparent silicone case. With it, the smartphone becomes even wider.

Nice nuance: the cover has a special plug for mircoUSB. Compensates for the lack of dust protection.

Screen

A good IPS-screen is installed here, the work of which did not cause any particular complaints from me. It feels like it loses to OLED displays of more expensive devices. At first, light colors are a little straining, but a smartphone with such a screen can definitely be used.

Vivo Y17 claims to be a bezel-less status: the screen has a teardrop notch popular in 2019 and a thickened lower brow. They do not affect the work with a smartphone.

There is only one problem with the display: its resolution is 720x1544 pixels, and this becomes noticeable when watching a video. In this, Vivo Y17 is inferior not only to more expensive devices, but also to gadgets with a comparable price.

There are not so many settings: you can adjust the color temperature or turn on the eye protection mode, which makes the shades warmer.

Sound

Nothing special. A good headroom and lack of bass in the speaker as a class, but you can connect wired or Bluetooth headphones. There are no stereo speakers.

Camera

The camera has three lenses. The first is the main one, on which most of the pictures are taken. The second is an ultra wide-angle, with which more objects fit into the frame. The third is an auxiliary sensor for determining depth when creating portraits.

The camera confidently produces good shots in good lighting. With bad - how it will turn out. When there is a lack of light, the shutter speed is increased so that the frame is easily blurred. For a smartphone for 16 thousand rubles, the camera works at a level, only autofocus when shooting close sometimes fails. The ultra-wide-angle camera takes pictures a little worse, even in natural light. Here are some examples.

Photo taken with the main lens

Photo taken with the main lens

Photo taken with the main lens

Photo taken with the main lens

Photo taken with the main lens

Photo taken with the main lens

Photo taken with the main lens

Photo taken with the main lens

Photo taken with an ultra wide angle lens

Photo taken with an ultra wide angle lens

Photo taken with an ultra wide angle lens

Photo taken with an ultra wide angle lens

Photo taken with an ultra wide angle lens

Photo taken with an ultra wide angle lens

Photo taken with an ultra wide angle lens

Photo taken with an ultra wide angle lens

The front camera is nothing. The darker, the worse it works, but for video calls and selfies for Instagram Stories, it will work.

Portraits are the weak side of Vivo, and this is also evident in the older brothers of the Y17. The bokeh is unnatural, as if you just selected the background and walked over it with the Blur tool in the photo editor. Focusing often does not work correctly when shooting. But, one way or another, some acceptable results can be obtained here.

The camera interface is overloaded and inconvenient, using the standard application is unpleasant. There is even some semblance of their own TikTok with video shooting. In addition, there are a bunch of beautification settings, a document scanning mode, an analogue of Live Photo and a manual mode.

Performance

Responsible for the performance is the Mediatek MT6765 Helio P35 processor with a frequency of up to 2.3 GHz and 4 GB of RAM. They give the result on the verge of acceptable: there is enough for the system to work, but, for example, PUBG starts at low graphics settings and even so the picture slows down from time to time. Also noticeable is the not very fast return of the screen to taps and swipes - this can interfere with the reaction speed in games.

Here are the Geekbench benchmark results:

And here are the results of the AnTuTu test:

Software

It has the same skin as on other Vivo smartphones - the Funtouch 9. For a bit more information about it, see the recent Vivo V15 Pro review. In short: this is an iOS-like system with a bunch of pre-installed applications, many of which are copied from the services of the "apple" operating system both functionally and externally.

All Funtouch chips from "big" smartphones are here in place. During the test, we noticed one difference - the "Shortcut Center" quick action bar occupies the entire screen and looks different. The content of the panel is customizable: the additional buttons resemble the Workflow or Team actions on the iPhone.

Unlocking

The main type of unlocking is by fingerprint. In my experience, the sensor works flawlessly, but not always quickly and confidently. This is especially felt when unlocking the smartphone with an inactive screen. Sometimes it takes a significant amount of time for the system to realize that a finger has been applied to the sensor. Sometimes you have to apply it twice.

Insecure face unlock is supported. I would advise you to enable both types of authorization and use whichever is more convenient at a particular moment.

Autonomy

Autonomy is the main advantage of this smartphone. The battery capacity is 5,000 mAh, which can last for a couple of days with moderate use. At rest, the smartphone hardly sits down at all, dropping several percent of the charge per day.

Supports fast 18-watt charging, adapter included.

Outcomes

On the one hand, this is a weak smartphone, which has an irrelevant display, and the processor is about to stop pulling modern applications.

On the other hand, the desire of the developer is caught to make an accessible device for those who do not spend a lot of time on the smartphone, do not watch videos and do not play games. There is a passable camera here, and the battery can keep the gadget afloat for several days.

The price of the device is 15,990 rubles. There are many alternatives in this segment. For example, we recently released reviews of Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 or Samsung Galaxy A-series smartphones. Vivo Y17 may get lost against their background, but if all you need is calls and autonomy, this is quite an option.

The smartphone will hit store shelves on June 8th. On the first day of sales, Vivo Y17 will be available with a 40% discount at M. Video in the Aviapark shopping center and at Eldorado in the MEGA Belaya Dacha shopping center. There the price of a smartphone will be 9,590 rubles.