Vivo Y17s Review: A Budget-Friendly Smartphone with Impressive Features

The Vivo Y17s is an affordable smartphone designed to meet the needs of everyday users. With its sleek design, reliable performance, and solid battery life, the Vivo Y17s aims to provide great value for money in the competitive budget segment. As smartphone prices continue to rise, the Vivo Y17s positions itself as a practical choice for those seeking a reliable device without breaking the bank. In this review, we will dive into the phone’s key features, including its design, display, performance, camera, battery, and overall user experience.

Design and Build Quality

The Vivo Y17s features a modern design that makes it look more expensive than it actually is. The phone is built with a polycarbonate body, which helps keep the weight low and contributes to its durability. Available in attractive colors like Mystic Blue and Secret Black, the Vivo Y17s has a glossy finish that catches the light, making it look sleek and polished.

At 8.28mm thickness and weighing just 190 grams, the Vivo Y17s is lightweight and comfortable to hold. The curved edges and smooth finish allow the phone to sit comfortably in your hand, making it easy to use for extended periods. The phone’s design is clean, with minimal bezels around the 6.56-inch display, giving it a modern and polished appearance.

On the back, the phone features a dual-camera setup housed in a vertical module, along with the Vivo branding placed neatly in the center. While the phone’s design isn’t groundbreaking, it provides a premium feel that’s rare in this price segment.

Display

The Vivo Y17s comes with a 6.56-inch IPS LCD display, offering a HD+ resolution (1612 x 720 pixels). While it doesn’t have the sharpness or vivid colors of an AMOLED screen, it still provides a solid viewing experience for budget-conscious consumers. The screen is bright enough for daily use, whether you’re browsing, watching videos, or playing games, although you might experience some difficulty viewing it under direct sunlight due to the relatively lower peak brightness.

The HD+ resolution is decent for casual usage, but you might notice some pixelation when watching higher-quality videos or looking at intricate details. For its price range, however, the display is perfectly fine for general tasks like social media browsing, watching YouTube videos, or reading articles. The 60Hz refresh rate ensures smooth scrolling and decent responsiveness, although it falls short when compared to higher-end models with 120Hz or 90Hz refresh rates.

Despite these limitations, the Vivo Y17s’s display is adequate for users who are not particularly demanding when it comes to screen quality. The phone’s wide viewing angles and natural color reproduction make it a decent option for its price.

Performance

Under the hood, the Vivo Y17s is powered by the MediaTek Helio G85 processor, which is a mid-range chipset designed for smooth performance in budget smartphones. Paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, the Vivo Y17s is capable of handling everyday tasks like browsing, social media, and light gaming with ease.

Multitasking is relatively smooth, thanks to the 4GB of RAM, but heavy users might find the phone slowing down when too many apps are running simultaneously. For light to medium tasks, however, the Vivo Y17s performs admirably, providing a snappy experience without much lag or stutter. When it comes to gaming, the Helio G85 can handle popular titles like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile at low to medium settings, making it a decent choice for casual gamers on a budget.

The phone runs on Funtouch OS 13, based on Android 13, which offers a clean user interface with a variety of customization options. The OS comes with features such as dark mode, gesture navigation, and App Cloner, providing a modern and user-friendly experience. However, there are some bloatware apps pre-installed on the device, but they can be uninstalled if not needed.

The Vivo Y17s also supports expandable storage via a microSD card (up to 1TB), which is a great feature for users who need more space for photos, apps, and media content.

Camera System

While the Vivo Y17s isn’t a flagship-level device, it offers a solid camera setup for its price. The phone features a 13MP dual-camera system on the back, with a primary camera and a secondary 2MP depth sensor for portrait shots. On the front, the Vivo Y17s has an 8MP selfie camera, perfect for selfies and video calls.

Rear Camera

The 13MP primary camera on the Vivo Y17s delivers decent performance in well-lit conditions, capturing detailed and sharp images. Colors are generally accurate, and the HDR mode works well in bright scenes to capture more detail in the shadows and highlights. However, in low-light situations, the performance drops slightly, with images showing some noise and lacking the sharpness found in more expensive smartphones.

The 2MP depth sensor helps create portraits with a blurred background (bokeh effect), making your subject stand out. While the results are acceptable, the edge detection can be a bit hit or miss at times.

For video, the rear camera can record at 1080p, delivering smooth and stable footage, though the quality may degrade in low light. Overall, the camera setup on the Vivo Y17s offers good value for everyday photography and casual shooting, but it’s not the best if you’re looking for high-end performance.

Front Camera

The 8MP front camera offers decent performance for selfies, with good color reproduction and details in well-lit environments. The AI Beautification mode helps enhance skin tones and smoothens features, though it may sometimes over-process images. In low-light situations, selfies tend to get a bit grainy, but this is typical for budget phones.

For video calls, the front camera performs adequately, providing clear and sharp enough visuals for most needs.

Battery Life and Charging

The Vivo Y17s is equipped with a 5000mAh battery, a feature that is increasingly common in budget smartphones. With a battery this large, the phone easily lasts through a full day of use, even for heavier users who engage in activities like gaming or video streaming. For light users, the phone could last up to two days on a single charge, making it a great option for those who prioritize battery life.

The Vivo Y17s supports 18W fast charging, which is decent for a phone in this price range. It takes about 2 to 2.5 hours to fully charge the phone from 0% to 100%, which is a bit slower than some competitors offering faster charging speeds. However, given the battery size and price point, the charging speed is reasonable.

Software and Features

The Vivo Y17s runs on Funtouch OS 13, which provides a range of customization options and features to enhance the user experience. Funtouch OS includes a dark mode, AI-enhanced performance, and useful tools like split-screen multitasking and game mode for an uninterrupted gaming experience.

Additionally, the in-display fingerprint scanner and face unlock offer convenient and secure ways to unlock the device. Dual SIM support makes the phone ideal for users who need to separate work and personal numbers on a single device.

Conclusion

The Vivo Y17s is a budget-friendly smartphone that offers a great balance of features, performance, and design. With its sleek design, solid battery life, decent camera system, and smooth performance, the Vivo Y17s is a compelling option for users who don’t want to spend a fortune but still want a reliable and feature-rich device.

While the phone’s display resolution and camera performance may not be the best in its price segment, it still provides excellent value for users seeking a phone for basic tasks like browsing, social media, and casual photography. If you’re looking for an affordable smartphone that doesn’t compromise on essentials, the Vivo Y17s is definitely worth considering.