Vivo Y100 5G review

The vivo Y100 5G, which has recently been released in Malaysia, has an intriguing design since it appears to be radically different from what one would anticipate for its low price while containing design characteristics often found on flagship phones.

We had the opportunity to get our hands on a sample ahead of its official debut here for field testing, and after putting it through its paces, here’s our vivo Y100 5G review, in which we discuss whether their midrange smartphone is worth your money.

vivo Y100 5G review – Build and Design

Entry-level phones give up a number of features to keep prices low, and one of the first things to go is often build quality and aesthetics, yet Vivo’s latest midrange phone defies this trend with build quality and design that you’d expect from something twice the price.

Astute readers will notice that numerous variants of the vivo Y100 5G exist, each with a unique design and specs for a distinct country; nevertheless, our vivo Y100 5G review sample is similar to the one released for the Indonesia market earlier this year.

In terms of build and style, our vivo Y100 5G review sample appears like a flagship phone and pays respect to Cupertino with rounded corners, a flat display, and a backplate with modest chamfering on the edges that give it a premium appearance. That’s not all; the phone also has an IP54 designation for dust and splash resistance, which means it is practically splashproof, allowing it to withstand a little soak in the rain but not complete immersion in water, which is especially useful given Malaysia’s unpredictable weather.

What initially attracts attention to the vivo Y100 5G is its Purple Leather finished backplate, which is composed of vegan leather in a purple hue of lilac that is sensual to the touch and puts it above comparable designs in its price category. The fake Purple Leather finish has the feel of exquisite calf leather, and it even has false stitching along the borders to complete the impression. In Malaysia, the vivo Y100 5G is also available in a dark black color called Crystal Black.

To match the Purple Leather backplate, the camera housing is finished in a chromed metallic purple that looks surprisingly upscale. As a nod to smart design, the camera housings are generally flush with the backplate, reducing the chance of scratching the camera lenses while placing the phone face up on a table.

While the top and left sides of our vivo Y100 5G review sample are generally ordinary, the right side houses a power button and volume rocker, while the base houses a USB-C charging connector, a small grille for one of the two stereo speakers, and a SIM card tray with a surprise.

Sliding the SIM card tray reveals a feature that is becoming increasingly rare in today’s top phones: a microSD card tray for adding additional storage of up to 1TB in capacity. Users who retain memories on their phones and enjoy storing movies, books, and photographs will appreciate the inclusion of expandable storage.

Up front, our vivo Y100 5G review unit has a generously sized 6.67-inch Ultra Vision AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution manufactured by Samsung, which has a large 91.9% screen-to-body ratio due to thin side and top bezels, though the bottom has a slightly thicker bezel, which does not detract from its stunning appearance. A single 8MP selfie camera is fitted into a tiny punch hole on top, along with a tiny slit for the earpiece and second speaker, which combine with the one at the bottom to make a stereo pair.

The display also has a number of premium features, including an in-display fingerprint reader in the phone’s lower quadrant, a 1,200 nits high brightness mode for using the camera mode in direct sunlight, and SGS Eye Care certification, which certifies that the display filters out 6.5x more harmful blue light than conventional displays.

Where vivo nails it with the design of the vivo Y100 5G is the even heaviness and pleasant grip, which make it easy to operate one-handed while remaining somewhat pocketable.

Notably, the vivo has enhanced the Purple Leather finish with an anti-stain coating, which helps it withstand scratches, wear and tear, as well as discoloration from stains and perspiration, ensuring that it keeps its classy appearance for years to come.

Our vivo Y100 5G review sample has stayed in perfect shape despite being carried about in my pocket and used during the course of a typical work day. In terms of build quality, the vivo Y100 5G outperforms expectations given its pricing.

vivo has also gone above and above in this regard, including a host of additional accessories to accompany the phone. Our vivo Y100 5G review sample also included an 80W FlashCharge fast charger with a USB-C connection, a soft protective shell, and, upon closer inspection, a pre-applied screen protector on the display, along with the normal warranty documentation and SIM eject button.

vivo Y100 5G review – Performance and Specifications

Paired with the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset is 8GB RAM and 256GB of expandable storage via the aforementioned microSD card slot that supports cards up to 1TB.  Keeping the phone juiced is a huge 5,000mAh battery with 80W FlashCharge wired fast charging which is a pleasant bonus to have especially for a budget phone. Here’s how our vivo Y100 5G review unit stacks up on paper…

What sets the vivo Y100 5G apart is its FunTouch OS 14’s ability to designate 8GB of storage to operate as virtual RAM, which they’ve named Extended RAM, allowing for a massive 16GB RAM cache for quick app switching. While this functionality may be turned off, there is no way to allocate more or less virtual RAM to the job.

A notable feature of FunTouch OS 14 is the inclusion of a special Smart Charging Engine 2.0 algorithm that intelligently optimises charging speeds to reduce battery ageing, including safer overnight charging by stopping the process when the battery reaches 80% and then charging it to full capacity just before you wake up.

To that end, vivo also offers a four-year battery warranty, ensuring that the battery’s capacity does not fall below 80% over this time period; if this occurs, they will replace the battery on-site, providing further piece of mind.