The vivo V29 5G will officially launch in the Philippines on September 22, with its release likely to follow in the last week of September. Unlike in previous years, though, the company’s local arm won’t bring the vivo V29 Pro 5G to the market, or at least not yet.
(Update, September 26: Our vivo V29 5G review is up!)
(Update, September 18: Here’s how much the vivo V29 5G is in the Philippines!)
Recall that we spotted the series’ Pro variant on vivo’s local website as early as May; obviously, the plan changed between then and now. So, instead of looking forward to two new models, we’re expecting just one, the successor to the vivo V27 5G, which we reviewed early this year. In that article, we said: “Overall, we think the vivo V27 5G is a huge improvement over last year’s V25 5G and brings big upgrades that everyone was looking forward to across the board, especially in terms of design and performance.”
In the Philippines, the vivo V27 5G with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage was priced at P24,999 (around $439) at launch. It’s too early to tell if the vivo V29 5G can live up to its predecessor’s impressive showing, especially since we’ve only had it for about two weeks. But we do think it’s a promising piece of tech, particularly for users who are after high-quality portrait shots and selfies. And it looks nice, feels solid, and is pleasing to hold, as expected of a premium midrange model.
Stay tuned for the launch!
It’s a shame the vivo V29 5G doesn’t have the color-change back panel of the previous generation. The red (or maroon?) unit we have sports a matte, powdery backing with an anti-fingerprint coating. The large rectangular camera module is back, bigger than we remember it on the vivo V27 5G.
More notably, vivo has repositioned the Aura Light flash of the previous model, placing it under the main camera. This year, the tiny ring light has been improved with a color temperature slider, allowing you to shift between warmer and cooler tones depending on your preference. The brand says its improved Aura Light flash will allow users to capture studio-quality portrait pictures, but the jury is out on this one as far as we’re concerned. We’ll be sure to share some tips on how to get the most out of it in our full review.
The front camera has a 50-megapixel sensor coupled with a wide-angle lens and can shoot crisp 4K video at 30 fps
Like its predecessor, the vivo V29 5G packs a 50-megapixel primary camera alongside an 8-megapixel ultrawide shooter and a 2-megapixel filler sensor for better portraits. The front camera also has a 50-megapixel sensor coupled with a wide-angle lens and can shoot crisp 4K video at 30 frames per second, too. This high-res selfie camera even lets you shoot video with artificial bokeh, and it’s impressive how realistic the background blur looks in good lighting. It even comes with a handy posing guide in Portrait mode to help you strike a pose.
As usual, vivo nails the camera side of things with its latest offering. The vivo V29 5G not only takes good pictures in both day and night scenarios, it’s also a fantastic selfie shooter with plenty of filters and beautification features that work in real-time. Of course, we’ll do a deeper dive into image quality when we publish our full review.
Sample shots
Sample selfies
Inside, the vivo V29 5G packs a 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset and a 4,600mAh battery that supports fast charging up to 80 watts, allowing for a 50% charge in just 18 minutes. The shift to a Snapdragon processor is a curious one, especially considering the V27 5G’s efficient 4nm Dimensity 7200 chip, but faster charging is always a welcome addition.
That’s it for our initial hands-on impressions of the vivo V29 5G. Be sure to check out our final verdict when the embargo lifts on September 22.
vivo V29 specs
- 6.78-inch curved AMOLED display, FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
- 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G with 5G
- Adreno 619 GPU
- 8GB/12GB RAM
- 128GB/256GB storage
- Triple 50-megapixel main, 8-megapixel ultrawide, 2-megapixel macro rear cameras with OIS + EIS, Aura Portrait flash system
- 50-megapixel front camera with autofocus
- Under-display fingerprint reader
- 4,600mAh battery with 80-watt fast wired charging
- FuntouchOS 13 based on Android 13
- IP68 rating for dust and water protection
- Colors: Purple Fairy, Blue, Magic Maroon, Noble Black
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