The last vivo smartphone I reviewed with ZEISS technology was the vivo V30 Pro. The definite standout aspect of that phone was its cameras. Despite some of my qualms with that phone, that was a good phone. With the V40, vivo made ZEISS technology more accessible. Did the brand cut corners to the rest of the phone to make ZEISS possible? Find out in my vivo V40 review.
Disclaimer: vivo Philippines sent over a vivo V40 loaner unit with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage in Nebula Purple. It arrived on October 18, and I unboxed it on the same day. I’ve been using the V40 for mroe than two weeks for the review.
Unboxing Experience
vivo kept the design of the V40 box consistent with the recent V Series phones. It’s also nice that the unboxing experience is relatively unchanged. The one thing that impressed me besides having the 80W FlashCharge power adapter included in the box is the color-matched phone case! That’s honestly a nice touch, and adds to the more premium feel of the V40.
Design and Build
vivo somehow manages to nail its design and build quality as it packs even more power and performance in its V Series phones. While the Philippines didn’t get the V40 Pro, I have a feeling that its slim 7.58 mm profile can make up for that. (It honestly won’t, but I appreciate its thinness very much.)
Another thing that users can appreciate is the presence of two ingress protection (IP) ratings: IP68 and IP69. You can be at ease that your phone can take more punishment against dust and even when submerged in “static freshwater” for up to 1.5 meters in up to 30 minutes.
I honestly love the look and feel of the vivo V40. Its curved matte back is such a joy to hold in the hand. Even its sides help out with the overall grip. The volume rocker and power button are clicky enough despite how slim they are. The V40 is one of those phones where putting a case on it feels wrong. (There is a nice purple case if you want to use it.)
Display and Speakers
The vivo V40 rocks a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2800 x 1260 and supports 120Hz refresh rate. It has support for 100% of the DCI-P3 color space and has up to 4500 nits of local peak brightness. Unless you can’t see the picture below, the V40 has a curved display. My opinion on the curved display vs. flat display debate still remains, but a curved display’s advantage is how it feels in the hand.
I’m just glad that the V40’s display is mostly visible outdoors thanks to that high peak brightness. Beyond that, there’s not much to say other than it’s a good display overall. Watching Netflix and YouTube videos is pretty much enjoyable with this display.
It’s also nice to see vivo add dual stereo speakers on the V40. Not having them on the V30 Pro was a big disappointment for me, so seeing it rectified here is a plus. While the overall video watching experience is good, I find the speakers to be not as loud as other phones I’ve used. This may be due to space constraints, but I wouldn’t mind a slightly thicker phone with louder speakers.
Performance and Software
The V40 uses a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor with 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and either 256 or 512 GB of UFS 2.2 storage. It has support for 12GB of Extended RAM (bringing the phone’s usable RAM to 24GB), though this relies heavily on its internal storage. This phone runs Funtouch OS 14 based on Android 14.
When I first used the V40, I thought the phone is slow! After playing some Pokemon UNITE and running many benchmarks, I realized that Funtouch OS is holding this phone back. The UI feels slow even if the phone has a 120Hz refresh rate display, and background apps are severely limited. (That last point has one benefit that I’ll talk about in the Battery Experience section.)
It’s a good thing that only the UI felt slow. That feeling went away quickly when playing a game. You can check out footage of me playing Pokemon UNITE for a bit.
Benchmark Results
In case you want to check out the benchmark results, here they are:
Battery Experience
One aspect of vivo smartphones that people tend to overlook sometimes is their batteries. This is even more apparent with the vivo V40. It has a 5500 mAh “BlueVolt” battery which uses second-generation Silicon-Carbon anodes to pack more battery density than most phones. Supporting that battery is 80W FlashCharge fast charging technology.
While charging this phone from 0 to 100 in around 48 minutes isn’t the fastest out there, it’s fast enough for most situations. (Disclaimer: I only used the iPhone as a timer.) The most impressive part about the V40’s battery experience is its battery life. I’ve never had a phone last more than 19 hours in a PCMark Work 3.0 Battery benchmark before. Whatever optimizations vivo did to make this possible is worth commending the brand in this aspect.
Cameras
The claim to fame of vivo’s V Series is its cameras. From initially focusing on the selfie camera to bringing ZEISS technology to the midrange segment, the V40 brings the latest chapter of vivo’s efforts. On paper, the V40 is poised to have better cameras:
- All three cameras rock 50MP sensors with different apertures (the main camera is f/1.88 while the ultrawide and front cameras are f/2.0)
- Only the main camera has OIS
- All the cameras get some form of ZEISS technology
How does all of that apply in real-world use? Let’s check the photos and see if the vivo V40 and its ZEISS capabilities put out great photos.
Click on the photos for full-resolution versions!
The first thing that surprised me about the V40’s main camera is how inconsistent the exposure can be. This is fairly basic and is something that can be fixed with a software update, but I got multiple updates on this phone and this still happens. While I can still see the detail, it’s disappointing to see this inconsistency on a camera-centric phone.
vivo did a good job with balancing the colors on both rear cameras. Phone makers tend to overlook this sometimes even when the brand markets a phone to have good cameras. When the exposure doesn’t get in the way, the vivo V40 does a great job with color reproduction across the 50MP main and ultrawide cameras.
I also like how the V40 somehow still maintains enough detail despite only having 2x zoom capabilities with its 50MP main camera. The photos below are as close to some low-light shots as you can get here.
One thing I liked about the V30 Pro was how it handled portrait photos. It’s a good thing I also see that goodness here in the V40’s portrait photos. Even the cutouts are so good that I’m surprised these came out of a phone!
Front Camera
The vivo V40’s front camera also gets the ZEISS treatment, and it definitely shows in the portrait photos. I’m just happy to get higher-resolution front cameras that are good for vlogging or even just taking large group selfies.
Should You Buy the vivo V40?
I’m glad that vivo brought ZEISS technology to even the standard V Series phone. With the V40, the brand mostly kept that same good camera quality I saw in the V30 Pro. It’s not just a good camera phone though: everything else in the V40 made it a good all-around smartphone. From its insane battery life to good performance in a strikingly slim design, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the V40 to those who want a good all-around phone.
While I wish the Philippines also got the V40 Pro, I don’t think you should sleep on the vivo V40.
Pros
- Strikingly slim design, yet good build with both IP68 and IP69 ratings
- A good and bright AMOLED display
- Performance is good for a slim phone
- Excellent battery life and charging speed
- All 50MP cameras are good with the help of ZEISS technology
Cons
- Phone still tends to get slippery with the Nebula Purple color; use the included case
- Funtouch OS holds this phone back
- Inconsistent exposure from the cameras
The vivo V40 5G is widely available in two variants, both with 12GB of RAM. A variant with 256GB of storage retails for P26,999, while the 512GB storage variant retails for P29,999. These two variants come in three colors: Sunglow Peach, Stellar Silver, and Nebula Purple. You can get the V40 in all vivo concept stores nationwide and online via e-commerce partners Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop.
There’s also an 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant in Nebula Purple that you can get exclusively at Lazada for P25,999.