vivo Y100 5G review – Poshly appointed budget phone with blazing fast 80W charging tested

The vivo Y100 5G that has just launched in Malaysia is a rather interesting design as it looks completely unlike what one would expect from its modest asking price while featuring the kind of design features you’d typically expect from a flagship phone. 

We got the opportunity to get our hands on a sample ahead of its official launch locally for field testing and after putting it through its paces, here’s our vivo Y100 5G review where we share if their midrange smartphone is worth your money.

vivo Y100 5G review – Build and Design

Entry-level phones concede a number of features to keep price points low and one of the first things to go is typically build quality and aesthetics though vivo’s latest midrange phone bucks this trend with build quality and design that you’d typically expect from something at twice the price.

Astute readers will notice that several versions of the vivo Y100 5G exist with a different design and specifications for certain regions though our vivo Y100 5G review sample is akin to the one released for the Indonesia market earlier this year.

In terms of build and design, our vivo Y100 5G review sample looks every bit like a flagship phone and pays homage to Cupertino with rounded corners, a flat display and backplate with subtle chamfering on the edges that lend it a premium touch. That’s not all – the phone also has an IP54 rating for dust and splash resistance which means that it is effectively splashproof, allowing it to survive a minor sousing in the rain but not full immersion in water which is a feature that is exceptionally handy seeing Malaysia’s erratic weather.

What immediately draws the eye to the vivo Y100 5G is its Purple Leather finished backplate that is made of vegan leather in a purplish shade of lilac that is sensuous to the touch and which elevates it over competing designs in its price range. The texture of the synthetic Purple Leather finish resembles that of fine calf leather and it even comes complete with faux stitches around the edges to complete the look. In Malaysia, you can also acquire the vivo Y100 5G in a dark black shade of Crystal Black.

To complement the Purple Leather backplate, the camera housing is done up in a complementing shade of chromed metallic purple that looks surprisingly posh. As a nod to sensible design, the camera housings are also mostly flush with the backplate which means there is far less risk of scratching the camera lenses when plonking the phone face-up on a table.

While the top and left side of our vivo Y100 5G review sample are otherwise unremarkable, the right hosts a power button and volume rocker with the base hosting a USB-C port for charging, a tiny grille for one of the two speakers that form a stereo pair as well as a SIM card tray with a surprise. 

Sliding the SIM card tray reveals a vanishingly rare feature that not even flagship phones have these days – a microSD card tray to add additional storage up to 1TB in size. For users who keep memories on their phone and love to store movies, books and photos, the addition of expandable storage is an absolute lifesaver.

Up front, our vivo Y100 5G review unit features a generously sized 6.67-inch Ultra Vision AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution manufactured by Samsung that has a large 91.9% of screen-to-body ratio on account of thin side and top bezels though the bottom has a slightly thicker bezel though this does not detract from its gorgeous looks. Up top set into a tiny punch hole is a single 8MP selfie camera as well as a tiny slit for the earpiece and second speaker which combines with the one at the base to form a stereo pair.

The display also hosts an array of premium features, among them is an in-display fingerprint reader in the lower quadrant of the phone, a 1,200 nits high brightness mode for usage of camera mode under direct sunlight as well as Eye Care certification from SGS that vouches that the display filters out 6.5x more harmful blue light than a conventional display.

Where vivo nails it with the design of the vivo Y100 5G is the even heft and comfortable grip that make it comfortable to wield one-handed while being relatively pocketable too. 

Of note is the fact that the vivo has augmented the Purple Leather finish with an anti-stain coating that helps it to resist scratches, wear and tear as well as discolouration from stains and sweat too to ensure that it retains its posh look for years to come.

Over the course of field testing our vivo Y100 5G review sample being toted around in my pocket and general usage across the course of the usual work day, it has thus far remained in pristine condition. As far as build quality goes, the vivo Y100 5G knocks it out of the park for its price range.

vivo has also gone the extra mile here by adding a slew of complementary accessories to go with the phone. Also bundled with our vivo Y100 5G review sample was an 80W FlashCharge fast charger with its accompanying USB-C cable, a soft protective casing and, on closer observation, a pre-applied screen protector on the display with the usual warranty paperwork and SIM eject pin as afterthoughts.

vivo Y100 5G review – Performance and Specifications

In terms of hardware, our vivo Y100 5G review sample is fairly well equipped as midrange phones go. Powering the phone is a Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor of recent vintage built on a 4nm process. The Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset is a midrange processor issued late last year that is optimised for efficiency with a pair of Cortex A78 2.2GHz performance cores and six Cortex A55 efficiency cores clocked for 2.0GHz that has a quoted 10% performance improvement boost over the prior Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 chipset. 

The chipset also features 5G connectivity and supports WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity too which covers all the bases. Running under the hood is the latest Android 14 with vivo’s own FunTouch OS 14 overlaying it with OS updates for 2 years and security updates for 3 years which is fair seeing the price point of the phone. 

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…

Price	RM1,199
Display	6.67-inch AMOLED, 2,400 x 1080 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate, 1,200 nits high brightness mode, 91.90% screen-to-body
Processor	Snapdragon 4 Gen 2
OS	Android 14 w/ Funtouch OS 14
Memory	8GB RAM + 8GB extended RAM (virtual) / 256GB + micro SD
Camera	50MP w/ PDAF + 8MP ultra wide angle camera [rear] / 8MP [front]
Battery	5,000mAh w/ 80W FlashCharge fast charging
Size/Weight	163.17 x 75.81 x 7.99mm [Purple Leather] /191g

What makes the vivo Y100 5G interesting is that their FunTouch OS 14 has the ability to assign 8GB of storage to act as virtual RAM that they’ve dubbed as Extended RAM, allowing for a huge 16GB RAM cache for fast app switching. While this feature can be disabled, there’s no way to assign more or less virtual RAM to the task.

An interesting feature with FunTouch OS 14 is the inclusion of a special Smart Charging Engine 2.0 algorithm that intelligently optimises charging speeds to mitigate battery ageing including safer overnight charging by stopping the process when the battery hits 80% and then charging it to full just before you wake up .

To wit, vivo also has a whopping four year guarantee on the battery too where vivo guarantees that the capacity of the battery will not drop below 80% during this time period; if it does happen they will replace the battery on the house which offers added peace of mind.

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, my vivo Y100 5G review unit enjoyed the following results…

3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	156
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	154
3D Mark Wild Life	667
3D Mark Wild Life Unlimited	663
Geekbench 6 Single core	917
Geekbench 6 Multi core	2,244
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	410
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	625
PC Mark Work 3.0	8278

On paper, the results are within parameters for a chipset in its category with strong single and multicore performance though synthetic benchmarks aren’t indicative of actual usage scenarios. In practical field tests as a primary phone, our vivo Y100 5G review sample proved to be an able performer for everyday tasks and even a spot of gaming too.

The generous amount of both physical and virtual RAM allowed for fast app switching and the phone was able to tackle the usual games like Call of Duty Mobile. Asphalt 9 and Diablo Immortal on default low settings though Genshin Impact does have a slight lag in especially heavy battles.

For general tasks expected of a smartphone, the vivo Y100 5G managed to handle web browsing in a competent fashion and was able to swap effortlessly between a dozen open browser tabs and even several games without issue.

Where the vivo Y100 5G impresses is its 120Hz AMOLED display which was able to serve up pin sharp text and the sort of lush colours that only an AMOLED display can offer while its high refresh rate ensured buttery smooth animations when navigating the menus. Not all games support 120Hz though and for the most part, movies and web browsing tend to hover around the 60Hz mark. 

The display also has a High Brightness Mode though this is only available when you’re using the camera where it temporarily spikes up screen brightness to 1,200 nits to ensure a clean view. Even without HBM, the vivo Y100 5G’s display is among the best seen on a phone in its price point. 

On that note, vivo has also augmented the gaming experience on the phone with enhanced responsiveness with 1,200Hz touch sampling as well as even more responsive touch when gaming controls for pixel aiming which is especially crucial in competitive shooter games where accurate marksmanship is critical. In Call of Duty Mobile, I managed to enjoy an equivalent level of tactility and responsiveness akin to significantly pricier phones to put sufficient rounds downrange to efficiently win a few solo Battle Royale matches. 

Another impressive addition that’s typically the province of a flagship phone is the provision of stereo speakers which lend an extra acoustic oomph for movies and gaming. They’re also a dab hand at music too and were able to be dialled to maximum without distortion while offering a fair bit of detail. 

In terms of battery life, the generously sized 5,000mAh battery and power efficient Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset were able to offer exceptional endurance for standard usage scenarios. With a usage profile that consisted of a combination of WiFi or data, a few minutes of phone calls, constant usage of social media as well as TikTok and the odd YouTube instructional video or two combined with a few rounds of gaming, the phone easily lasted a full day and a half of use. In PCMark’s benchmark test, it managed to achieve an impressive 19 hours and 49 minutes of battery life which is outstanding for a phone.

Charging it with the provided 80W FlashCharge gave it a nippy 80% charge from dead zero in about 30 minutes which is quite a feat. Even with such nippy charging speeds, their Smart Charging Engine 2.0 algorithm was able to keep temperatures down to a manageable low without it being overly warm to the touch.

vivo Y100 5G Review – Cameras

The vivo Y100 5G features a serviceable rear dual camera setup built around a primary 50MP F/1.8 camera that handles most of the grunt work along with an 8MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera riding shotgun as well as a supplementary flicker sensor rounding out its complement.

This setup allows the phone to offer up to 10x digital zoom for stills and videos too with up to 1080p@30fps video capture quality. The front hosts a single 8MP fixed focus selfie camera that’s also capable of 1080p@30fps video with 2x digital zoom for both stills and video. 

Our vivo Y100 5G review sample managed to deliver great shots at up to 2x zoom with good colour saturation and dynamic range though shots beyond that look somewhat soft.

Low light shots are serviceable though the lack of optical image stabilisation means that a steady hand is required for best results and it’s best to stick to the main camera. While a Night mode exists, the results don’t differ all too much from shooting off the cuff with Auto. Selfies are decent and the camera does the job for the odd Zoom call or two.

Playing to its strengths, the vivo Y100 5G’s camera array offer their best results in daylight conditions and are more than sufficient for the typical Malaysian foodie shots, casual family and friend shots as well as selfies including the obligatory holiday pics and shots of rush hour traffic.

Should you buy the vivo Y100 5G ?

The vivo Y100 5G makes for a surprisingly appealing midrange phone that possesses features that are typically the province of flagship phones. You not only get a premium 120Hz AMOLED display but stereo speakers, a large battery with 80W fast charging as well as fair performance for a phone in its price point, all shoehorned into an elegantly hewn Purple Leather chassis.

At launch, vivo are tossing in RM298 worth of free gifts that include a free pair of vivo selection wireless earbuds as well as a vivo Care 1+1 Extended warranty plan which further add to its value though this is only ongoing until 28th March 2024. If you’re looking for a stylish budget phone, the vivo Y100 5G ought to be at the top of your shopping list.

vivo Y100 5G review sample courtesy of vivo Malaysia. To purchase, please visit their official eStore at https://mshop.vivo.com/my/product/2403 as well as their TikTok official store, Lazada official store and Shopee official store.