Vivo V50e review: Is this phone worth buying under ₹30,000?

Hindustan Times

21-04-2025

Vivo V50e review: The sub-Rs.30000 segment has become quite competitive, with brands like Oppo, Poco, and Realme stepping up their game with back-to-back popular releases. While several smartphones under ₹30,000 focus on performance and battery life, the Vivo V50e is designed for people who prioritise photography over heavy-duty tasks. This year, the Vivo V50e comes with some noticeable upgrades, but with the same processor as the V40e. While it may raise some eyebrows, the smartphone is full of interesting features that may attract buyers.
Well, during my time of usage, I quite enjoyed the display experience, the camera quality, and the lasting battery life. However, the smartphones miss out on providing powerful performance. Therefore, if you are considering buying the Vivo V50e, it's worth questioning whether the new Vivo V50e at Rs.28999 is worth buying, considering the emerging competition in the mid-range smartphone market.
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When looking at Vivo's design journey, it always comes up with innovative ideas to make its phones look different, irrespective of budget or premium series. However, since the Vivo V40 series, the company has been following a similar design profile and making just a few iterations along the way, which has left me feeling bored. With the Vivo V50e, you get a new rear panel design with a similar camera design to its sibling, the V50.
However, it's safe to say that Vivo has committed to bringing durable smartphones with an IP68 and IP69 rating for dust and water resistance. Overall, the Vivo V50e design looks stylish, but the plastic body is something which I do not prefer as it makes the phone slippery. Therefore, some design refinements would be appreciated.
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For display, the Vivo V50e features a 6.77-inch quad-curved AMOLED display with support for FHD+ resolution, HDR10+, and Widevine L1 certification. Therefore, it is one of the perfect mid-range smartphones for entertainment purposes. The viewing experience on Vivo devices never disappoints, from crisp visuals to detailing, it is always a treat for the eyes. The smartphone offers a 120Hz refresh rate, bringing smooth navigation, and offers up to 1800nits peak brightness, which is adequate and offers decent usage during direct sunlight conditions.
The main attraction for Vivo V50e is its camera, which claims to provide pleasing performance at an affordable price. Looking at the specs, the Vivo V50e features a dual camera setup that includes a 50MP Sony IMX882 main camera with OIS support and an 8MP ultra-wide camera. On the front, the smartphone features a 50MP selfie shooter with a Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor.
Coming to the camera performance, the V50e manages to capture detailed images with natural colours during the daylight photography. While it makes the colour vibrant, it does not oversaturate to make the scene look edited. Therefore, you can expect great daylight images. One of the attractive features of the Vivo V50e is the portrait mode that provides three focal lengths: 1x, 1.5x, and 2x. With 1.5x mode, the camera captured pleasing images with adequate background blur and great focus on the subject.
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In terms of low-light camera performance, the Vivo V50e has drastically improved, providing detailed images with decent colours. Since the smartphone focuses on wedding photography, it could capture great images in well-lit conditions without a grainy effect. Looking at the 8MP ultra-wide camera, since the sensor resolution is smaller, we did not have much expectation, but the images turned out fine, but not the best.
In terms of performance, the Vivo V50e retains the same MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor as last year's Vivo V40e. While it's a capable processor for mid-rangers, it provided a mixed experience. With the processor, the smartphone offers 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage, bringing seamless performance and storage. With day-to-day performance, such as browsing, scrolling social media, streaming OTTs, and others, the smartphone performed quite well. During basic tasks, the smartphone does not stutter, but with several apps running in the background and longer duration of usage, you may notice slight lag.
When it comes to gaming, titles such as BGMI and COD Mobile run smoothly with default graphics settings. However, with higher graphics settings, the smartphone stutters after about 30 minutes of gaming with frame drops and choppy gameplay. Therefore, if you are looking for a gaming-centric smartphone, the Vivo V50e may come to your liking, but it is decent for casual gamers.
The Vivo V50e runs on FuntouchOS based on Android 15, providing plenty of features and a smooth software experience. The smartphone also includes AI features such as Live Call Translation, AI Eraser 2.0, AI Screen Translation, AI Note Assist, and much more. However, the software is full of bloatware, which may not be preferred by every user.
The Vivo V50e is backed by a 5600mAh battery, which provides impressive battery life. With casual gaming, social media, browsing, and streaming, you can easily run the smartphone for an entire day on a single charge. Therefore, this is one of the best mid-range smartphones with long battery life. The V50e sports a 90W wired charging with recharges the smartphone in roughly 45 minutes.
Who should buy the Vivo V50e? In my opinion, the smartphone is a great balance of camera, performance, and lasting battery life. People who prefer casual gaming, seamless day-to-day usage, and promising camera performance could buy the Vivo V50e as a worthy upgrade. Additionally, the big quad-curved display is perfect for your entertainment, allowing users to binge-watch for hours with great battery backup. However, I would not recommend the Vivo V50e to someone who is an active mobile phone gamer and multitasks often, as part of day-to-day usage.