The Vivo T5 Lite went on sale in India last month. Fetching Rs 19,999, it is Rs 500 pricier than its iQOO counterpart (our review here). Apart from the branding, not much separates the two smartphones. Both devices run on the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC and pack a 6,500mAh battery. Given the current landscape of the smartphone market, these phones offer decent value for money. After reviewing the iQOO Z11 Lite, we took its Vivo sibling out for a spin. Here is our comprehensive review of the Vivo T5 Lite.
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In This Article
Vivo T5 Lite Review: Design and Display
Box Contents
- Smartphone
- 44W power adapter
- USB-A to USB-C cable
- Clear plastic cover
- SIM ejector
- Warranty card
- Quick start guide
The Vivo T5 Lite looks identical to the iQOO Z11 Lite, except for a couple of tweaks. The glossy section surrounding the camera module has been extended sideways to incorporate the LED flash and Dynamic Light. The Vivo branding is positioned on the left side of the panel instead of the bottom. The contrasting matte and glossy textures on the plastic panel lend it a great in-hand feel. The matte texture keeps it from attracting fingerprints and smudges.
The side button and the volume rocker are positioned on the right edge of the plastic frame. The fingerprint sensor is mounted on the side button. The hybrid SIM tray finds its way to the opposite edge. It has a slot for an external microSD card. At the bottom lie the microphone, USB-C port, and 3.5mm headphone jack. The speaker grille is placed up top. The smartphone weighs 209g and is rated IP65 for dust and water resistance. It is compliant with MIL-STD-810H durability standards.
The 6.74-inch IPS LCD panel has a 120Hz refresh rate and can hit a peak brightness of 1,200 nits. The bezels surrounding the screen get thicker at the bottom. The front-facing camera is housed in a waterdrop notch. The display is able to maintain legibility in regular outdoor conditions, but gets overwhelmed by direct harsh sunlight. The good news is that it offers a fine touch response. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner is fast and snappy.
The 720 x 1,600p display curates a decent viewing experience. The visuals pack good detail and vibrant colours. You don’t get the deep blacks of an AMOLED panel here, which is why the contrast isn’t that punchy. The top-firing speaker is loud, but there is a tinge of boxiness to its output.
Vivo T5 Lite Review: Performance and Cameras
Powering the T5 Lite is the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset. There are 3 RAM and storage variants on offer:
- 4GB + 128GB: Rs 19,999
- 6GB + 128GB: Rs 21,999
- 6GB + 256GB: Rs 24,999
We ran a couple of benchmark tests on the smartphone. Here is how it performed.
- AnTuTu 3D: 549186
- Geekbench 6: 714 (single-core) | 1915 (multi-core)
Even though they share the same chipset, the T5 Lite scores higher than its iQOO counterpart on Geekbench 6 and AnTuTu 3D benchmarks. The smartphone does a good job of going through routine tasks like calling, instant messaging, social media browsing, emailing, and media streaming. If you get your hands on the 4GB RAM variant, you may run into the odd jitter while multitasking. We used the 6GB RAM model for this review, so we didn’t have this issue. The slow storage configuration did cause the apps to take longer to load, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.
During the review period, we used the Vivo T5 Lite to play games like BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile. The smartphone offers decent gameplay if you limit yourself to low graphics and frame rate settings. The controls feel smooth for the most part, but there is a possibility of encountering the odd frame drop. The device does a good job of managing its internal temperature. The back panel starts warming up after the 15-minute mark.
The T5 Lite runs Android 16 skinned with OriginOS 6 out of the box. There are plenty of bloatware apps on the device. Thankfully, all of them can be permanently removed. Vivo has promised 3 major OS updates and 4 years of security patches for this device.
OriginOS 6 has a vibrant look and a light feel to it. Even though the smartphone uses a 6nm chipset and has limited RAM, the well-optimised software makes it feel snappy and intuitive. You also get a good range of customisation options for the lockscreen, homepage, app drawer, and other elements like the charging animation, screen transitions, and more. Even though the phone uses an LCD panel, OriginOS 6 supports Always-on Display. Instead of staying awake all the time, it comes to life when you tap the lockscreen.
The Dynamic Light is another fun little feature that you get on this phone. It wakes up when you plug in the charger, play music, launch a game, or get an incoming call or notification. You can customise its colour from settings. While taking pictures, this light can serve as a countdown timer.
You don’t get a central AI package on this device, but there are some AI tools strewn around. The Notes app has AI features to summarise documents. You can also get it to come up with text drafts based on your prompts. Furthermore, you get Google’s Gemini AI assistant on this phone. Circle to Search is still absent.
The massive 6,500mAh battery pack offers amazing mileage. It can last an entire day of heavy use quite easily. If your screen time goes up to 5-6 hours per day, the T5 Lite won’t give up on you before bedtime. On days with minimal usage, you don’t even need to plug in the charger at night. The 44W adapter provided in the box fully replenishes the battery pack in just over an hour.
The 50MP main camera captures good pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The images pack all the important details. The colours appear natural instead of overprocessed. The contrast and dynamic range are fine too. In limited lighting conditions, the camera relies on Night Mode to reduce noise in the images and artificially light up the subject.
Portraits taken by the main camera are vibrant and well-focused. However, the background blur leaves more to be desired. The front-facing 5MP camera captures clear selfies, but there is a tinge of softness to them. Both cameras can record 1,080p videos at 30fps. Recording videos in 4K resolution is not an option.
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Verdict
The Vivo T5 Lite is a fine budget phone for casual users. Its MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor can handle routine tasks and light gaming. The wide display is good for binge-watching content. OriginOS 6 is a charming Android skin that is well optimised for this phone. You also get a good range of customisation options to personalise how the phone looks. The 50MP main camera takes good pictures when there’s optimum lighting. The 6,500mAh battery pack is the biggest highlight of the phone, lasting an entire day of heavy use with ease.
Pros
- Nice design
- Dynamic light
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Good main camera
- Expandable storage
- Big battery
Cons
- Waterdrop notch on display
- LCD panel instead of AMOLED display
- No ultrawide lens in the rear camera array
