Vivo Y30 (2020)

STAR WARS TECHNOLOGY? – With the restrictions resulting from Covid I needed a new phone that could handle QR codes, (Android 10 or better) as my existing phone was Android 4 and could not be upgraded. After much research. I bought a Vivo Y3s. Likes> Big 6.5 inch screen, so bigger keyboard. 5000mah battery, about the biggest on the market at the moment, giving you about 3 days on standy by, or 2 days with heavier use before a recharge is necessary. Has already upgraded itself to Android 11. Comes with Google Duo, so it can have video calls with other G/D phones, even Apple if so fitted. Works very well. Because it has a big battery, it comes with a big charger to suit it. The inbuilt compass displays your exact location. A great safety feature if you are lost or broken down in the middle of nowhere. Has the option of facial recognition or fingerprint, with 4 number additional passcode. Good quality front and rear cameras with flashlight, which doubles as an emergency torch. I dont need any extra fancy cameras! Comes with a decent FM radio. You have to buy your own earphones to plug in, but youwill buy you a good set from an electrical store for under $20. Comes with "Translator" where it can translate a foreign language document verbally or reproduce it in your language. Star Wars stuff you think? Well it works, and I get great amusement from it. Quite fast in getting on the internet, a lot faster than my laptop. Good performer with phone calls, video calls, pictures, videos, bluetooth, radio, internet etc. Dislikes: Printed instructions very basic, even though the phone has some instructional videos on it, it does not cover every situation. Phone has a habit of hiding things by itself. e.g. Contact list can disappear until you search around for it and restore it to where you want it, etc. It keeps me amused. Experience is the best teacher,so you are prepared when it happens again. It has done everything I want in a phone and I did not need to spend 10 times the price to get it.

Could be better, could be worse – For the money I paid I was pretty happy til it started to play up. Then I got a similar prices and another Android based phone and it was much quicker and less stalling. I guess you get what you pay for

Adequate for basic phone users – We bought this phone at a heavy discount to replace another phone whose battery had died after 4 years. This one was on sale so as my husband's phone needs are very basic (primarily calls, listening to music and sending a few texts) this seemed to fit the bill. Overall it has reasonable specs for the price we paid - 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 5000mAH battery and an adequate camera (13MP main, 2 MP macro and 8MP ultrawide) and USB-C. It is a nice large phone (6.47in) and quite heavy, but unfortunately not full HD (1560 x720). It comes with Android 10 and a 2 year warranty. Interestingly this is one of the few budget phones that has NFC - I've not found a phone in this price bracket with this feature. It also has face recognition (only one face can be registered) and fingerprint recognition (multiple fingerprints), both of which are very responsive. The phone also came supplied with a screen protector and a custom silicone case. The phone manual is very basic and could certainly do with more detailed explanations. Similarly, FAQs on the Vivo website are also fairly mediocre. There was no problem cloning the old phone with the exception of music and photos - it was just impossible to transfer these directly from the old phone using the clone phone app (EasyShare) on this phone. This app just did not work correctly. It did transfer all the contacts and apps, but that it where it stopped. I tried to transfer music via my laptop but it required new VIVO USB drivers which are in Chinese! I finally used Google Drive to load music onto the phone, slow and tedious but it did get the job done. Even though it is a relatively cheap phone it does have some interesting features including an Ultra Game mode which controls the behaviour of the phone such as stopping calls whilst you're gaming. The phone has a couple of annoying features which stop it from being a great phone in this price bracket. You cannot scroll up to show all the phone apps. Instead, the apps are distributed over 2 or more screens (depending on the number installed) and require a side swipe. More annoying still is that the apps are in apparent random order, so, if like me you prefer them in alphabetic order (which seems the sensible way to go), you will have to do this manually or use an app like Nova Launcher. There is simply no other way. Would I recommend it? Yes, if you can get it at a discount. If not, there are other phones in the same price bracket which are just as good (and better known brands) It's a good basic phone with some nice features, but nothing outstanding.