Vivo T2 5G is the company’s latest mainstream offering in India, the base variant of which launched for less than Rs. 20,000. The smartphone is an upgrade of Vivo T1 (Review), released in 2021. Some of the changes include camera setup, charging capability, and design and construction. The direct competition of Vivo T2 5G is OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G, Redmi Note 12 5G, Moto G73 5G and its own cousin iQoo Z7 5G.
Vivo has delivered enough upgrades on the latest model and you should be looking at it at sub-Rs. Price range of 20,000? Here is our review.
Vivo T2 5G price in India
Vivo T2 5G launched in two configurations in India. The base variant offers 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage which is priced at Rs. 18,999. The top variant has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage which is priced at Rs. 20,999.
Vivo T2 5G design and display
In terms of design, Vivo T2 5G is quite different from its predecessor. The new smartphone features a completely different camera module and receives a flat polycarbonate body and structure. The two large camera modules on the back house the main camera and secondary sensor, along with an LED flash.
Vivo sent us the Nitro Blaze color of the T2 5G and as we mentioned in our first impressions article, it has a glossy finish and a bicolor effect (blue to orange) when light falls on it from different angles. It also gets a unique gradient pattern that hides fingerprints well. Personally, I found this color option to be quite premium. If you prefer the classic black color, you can choose the Velocity Blaze option.
The flat body and slightly rounded edges of the Vivo T2 5G make the smartphone easy to hold. With a weight of 172 g and a thickness of 7.8 mm, even extensive use is comfortable. The placement of the volume and power buttons on the right side of the frame is good, and the buttons are easy to reach. Overall, I quite like the handling feel of the T2 5G.
Vivo T2 5G’s Nitro Blaze color is quite attractive
While most of the competition these days opt for a screen cutout in this segment, the Vivo T2 5G looks a bit dated with its relatively thick bezels, prominent chin and a waterdrop notch. Vivo doesn’t mention this anywhere (at least at the time of writing this review), but it has confirmed to Gadgets 360 that the T2 5G is IP54 rated for dust and water resistance.
Vivo T2 5G uses a 6.38-inch AMOLED display, which is a step up from the IPS panel seen on T1 5G. The new model also offers better brightness levels than before. It has a 90Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, and a declared maximum brightness of 1,300 nits. The screen supports HDR10 with Widevine L1 certification for HD and superior video playback through streaming apps. I had a good experience streaming content from OTT platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney + Hotstar, although these apps didn’t seem to detect the display’s HDR capability. Colors are vibrant and punchy, and back levels are deep.
Vivo T2 5G has a ‘smart switch’ function for the refresh rate, which automatically adjusts it between 60Hz and 90Hz depending on the screen content. I didn’t face any lag in animations, transitions or even when scrolling through menus.
Vivo T2 5G retains the 3.5mm headphone jack for those who still prefer to use wired headphones. However, if you prefer to use the speaker then you might be disappointed by the lack of stereo speakers. The single speaker on the T2 5G is not loud enough to enjoy content. The phone has an AI-based facial recognition and an in-display fingerprint scanner, and both are accurate and fast in terms of authentication.
Vivo T2 5G has a 3.5mm headphone jack
Vivo T2 5G specifications and software
The Vivo T2 5G uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC, which was also available in last year’s T1 5G. The T2 5G supports 44W fast charging compared to the previous model, but the battery capacity has been reduced to 4,500mAh (from 5,000mAh). This phone also has a hybrid SIM slot, USB Type-C port, Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 6 and GPS.
Vivo T2 5G runs on Funtouch OS 13, which is based on Android 13. Vivo has made several improvements to Funtouch OS over the years, but the software is still loaded with a lot of bloatware. You get many native and third-party apps by default, of which you can uninstall the latter, but the option to disable many of the native apps is not available. The good news is that folders like Hot Apps and Hot Games can be disabled through the V-App Store.
Even with many pre-loaded native apps, I noticed that the notification spam from these apps decreased quite a bit, but I still got about four to five push notifications daily, which was annoying. One area where there seems to have been an improvement is in RAM management. I noticed that most previously opened apps stayed active in the background and didn’t reload when I went back to them.
Vivo T2 5G performance and battery life
We tested the 6GB RAM variant of the Vivo T2 5G, which returned an AnTuTu score of 410,346 points. The phone scored 869 and 1,879 points in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core tests. In the T-Rex and Car Chase tests of the GFX Bench graphics benchmark, the phone managed 77fps and 17fps respectively. I haven’t faced any performance issues with daily use. The phone handles almost all basic tasks very well, be it social media apps or casual games.
Vivo T2 5G has a bright and vivid AMOLED screen
Speaking of games, I tried some graphics-intensive games like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty: Mobile, which initially took a little while to load, but ran very well on low and medium settings. Call of Duty: Mobile ran fine on ‘High’ graphics setting and ‘High’ framerate combination by default. However, as soon as I increased the settings to ‘Very High’ graphics and ‘Very High’ frame rate, I noticed occasional stutters during gameplay. The Vivo T2 5G also didn’t get too hot even after about 30 minutes of gameplay.
Vivo T2 5G impressed me a lot in terms of battery life. It delivered about nine hours of screen on. Vivo claims that the smartphone can be charged up to 60% in 25 minutes. In our testing, we found the phone charged from 1% to 40% in 30 minutes, and up to 100% in around 1 hour and 17 minutes via the adapter provided in the box. In our HD video battery loop test, the T2 5G managed to run for 20 hours and 52 minutes, which is pretty good.
Vivo T2 5G Cameras
The Vivo T2 5G gets a dual camera setup on the back, which includes a 64-megapixel primary sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a 2-megapixel portrait lens. The phone has a 16-megapixel front camera for selfies. However, it lacks an ultra-wide camera.
The main camera’s performance in daylight is very good. Exposure and colors in the photos were accurate, and details were plentiful as well. HDR did its job and exposed the subject and background well, even in backlit shots. A ’64MP’ mode is also available in the camera app, which takes photos at the sensor’s native resolution. Exposure and colors were accurate in photos taken in this mode, but details were weaker and noise was noticeable when zooming in on the photo.
Vivo T2 5G main camera previews (tap for full size)
The main sensor’s low-light performance was also above average. The photos were correctly exposed and the colors were accurate. Night mode worked well for adding detail, improving exposure, and reducing noise in the darkest parts of photos.
Portrait mode with the rear camera also worked well in day and night conditions. Natural background blur is available on photos. However, sometimes the camera was unable to accurately capture the edges of the subject. I noticed a subject blurring effect in some photos, but it was rare.
Vivo T2 5G camera swatches (top to bottom): Low-light landscape, night mode (tap to view full size)
Skin tones were accurate in photos taken in portrait mode with the selfie camera. However, at default settings, the camera softens skin textures slightly, but this can be adjusted in the beauty mode settings. Even with the front camera, edge detection was sometimes not accurate in portrait mode.
Vivo T2 5G rear main camera sensor can record videos with resolution up to 1080p @ 60fps. Most competitors, including iQoo Z7 55, support 4K video recording. Videos shot with the T2 5G were quite shaky without stabilization, but with it turned on, motion was smoother, but with some frame tearing. Video quality was good, with decent dynamic range and colors. The front camera can record videos at 1080p 30fps, which resulted in decent quality footage.
Verdict
The sub-Rs. The price of 20,000 for the basic variant makes Vivo T2 5G a good competitor in its segment. The smartphone doesn’t compromise too much on performance in its class and things like the bright AMOLED display, 3.5mm headphone port, long battery life and fast charging make the T2 5G an ideal smartphone for content consumption for this budget. The rear camera setup is good and can capture some decent shots both during the day and at night. The selfie camera also manages photos of adequate quality for Instagram, in good lighting conditions. However, I missed an ultra-wide camera in the setup.
Some of the things that put the T2 5G a step behind the competition is its lack of stereo speakers. Overall, Vivo T2 5G is a good option in this price range if you don’t mind the bloated nature of Funtouch OS.