Vivo Y22: In today’s crowded market of crazy on-specs smartphones, Vivo Y22 dares to be different. It aims for a workhorse approach, to support your day-to-day, throwing high-quality performance out the window in favor of competitive value over its pricier competition.
The Y22, with its understated looks, big battery and camera package that caters to the average users, does do the same as it firmly announces its arrival in the budget segment.
But does that performance and feature set make it worth the cost? Now we share the good and the bad about the Vivo Y22.
Design and Build:
Simple and Charm No, neither of these phones is designed to impress.
The Y22 is a clean and modern looking choice by Vivo. Its rear panel has a two-tone finish with a touch of panache without being excessive.
There’s a pleasant texture to the back that feels good in the hand, and it helps minimize fingerprint smudges on the back of the phone, which is a small but welcome touch.
The plastic build doesn’t make it seem cheap or flimsy at all. It’s approximately 190 grams and 8.4mm for a comfortable touch and daily use.
You also get an IP54 rating, so it can tolerate the odd splash or dusty conditions, which is something of a rarity at this price level.
The flat edges and curved corners make it easier to hold, and there’s a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that’s fast and well situated.
Display: Simple Yet Functional
Vivo Y22 features a 6.55-inch HD+ LCD display with 720×1612 pixel resolution. On paper, that doesn’t look too impressive – rivals will give you Full HD+ displays, or thereabouts.
But it’s all fine for standard practices, such as texting, browsing, and streaming video.
The color of the display is good, the brightness is sufficient for indoor and most outdoor conditions, and the touch is sensitive. Just don’t count on razor-sharp visuals or wide viewing angles. It’s very obviously built for utility, not media-burdened use.
Works: Does The Job
Under the hood, the Y22 is powered by the MediaTek Helio G85 SoC, paired with 4GB/6GB of RAM and 64GB/128GB of internal storage.
It is by no means a gaming powerhouse, but it will do what you’d expect of a regular phone — making calls, WhatsApp, browsing the web, YouTube and light gaming just about okay.
Casual games perform quite well and you can even multi task here smooth enough thanks to Vivo’s extended RAM, which utilizes some portion of the storage to be a virtual RAM.
But if you’re planning to run graphics-intensive games or jump between lots of apps, you could run into the occasional stutter.
Camera: Plain But Social-Media Ready
The Vivo Y22 comes with 50MP main lens along with 2MP macro lens. The camera interface is straightforward, and in good light, the main sensor takes colourful, reasonably detailed pictures. It’s perfectly sufficient for sharing photos on social media, or taking quick snaps while on the go.
Portrait shots look decent now, with good background separation at that, though edge detection isn’t perfect in every case.
Lowlight, here is a different story, not awesome but can be called as usable with a SW night mode.
There is an 8MP selfie camera on the front, not great but will do the job for video calling and regular selfies. Skin tones are the natural ones and beauty filters are adjustable or disabled altogether, if so you wish.
Battery Life:
A Standout Point Plain and simple, they last a long time and work between multiple devices.
One of the standout features of the Y22 is a 5000mAh battery that can last a day and a half of moderate use. It keeps up without breaking a sweat, whether you’re watching videos, listening to music or browsing.
You also get 18W fast charging, which shoots some juice into the battery and takes it to about 70% in a bit over an hour. It’s not the fast fastest, but it’s still a significant improvement over the typical 10W charging available on other budget phones.
Software: Med Light Och Slank Software: Trying To Keep It Light And Slim
Vivo Y22 is based on Android 12 with Funtouch OS 12 on top. UI is clean and snappy with enough customisation, plus the neat touches included by the brand such as Ultra Game Mode, Multi-Turbo for better resource management.
There is some preloaded bloatware, although it can mostly be uninstalled. Overall, the software experience is pretty good given the price range of the phone.
Pros:
Clean and stylish design
Large 5000mAh battery
Decent daylight photography
IP54 water/dust resistance
Fast side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Expandable storage and dual-SIM capabilities
Cons:
HD+ screen feels outdated
Not the most gaming-friendly performance
No stereo speakers
Low light photography is okay
No 5G support
Vivo Y22 Bottom Line: Good and Refreshingly Basic
The Vivo Y22 is not here to triumph the spec sheet wars. It’s made for the kind of user who is searching for a reliable, everyday smartphone with good battery life, a solid camera and a tidy-looking body.
It lacks a little bit in areas (read: resolution and performance), but it’s a consistently enjoyable and easy use thanks to how stable it is.
If you’re low on cash and aren’t a fan of the glitz and the glam, then the Vivo Y22 is decent option worthy of your attention.