Vivo V40 review: Zeiss lens, Premium looks & IP68 Rating in a midrange price

Vivo V40 landed in Nepal a week ago and we are here with its review. This new midrange offering comes in a new design, the same Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip from last year's Vivo V30 but with ZEISS branding. And I have been using this phone for weeks already. And here in this Vivo V40 review article, I will share all of my experience regarding its camera, battery, display, and all! Before that, let's get into the specs of the Vivo V40 first!

Vivo V40 Specifications:

• Design: Monotone design with curved edges, IP68-rated
• Dimensions: 164.16 mm x 74.93 mm x 7.58 mm
• Weight: 190 grams
• Display: 6.78” AMOLED Panel, up to 120Hz refresh rate, 4,500 nits peak brightness, 452 PPI pixel density, 100% DCI-P3, and 105% NTSC color gamut
• Resolution: FHD+ (1,260 x 2,800)
• Chipset: Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 (4nm)
• RAM: 8GB or 12GB LPDDR4x
• ROM: 256GB or 512GB UFS 2.2
• OS & UI: Android 14 with Funtouch OS 14 on top
• Rear Camera: Dual Camera (50MP ZEISS OIS Primary + 50MP ZEISS Ultra Wide-Angle + Flicker Sensor)
• Front Camera: 50MP Camera (Centre-aligned hole-punch cutout)
• Security: In-display optical fingerprint sensor, Face Unlock
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient Light, E-compass, Proximity, Gyroscope
• Navigation: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS
• Battery: 5,500 mAh Lithium-ion cell with 80W wired charging
• Connectivity: Dual Nano SIM + eSIM, Dual 5G, Dual-band WiFi, Hotspot, Bluetooth v5.4, NFC, USB 2.0 Type-C
• Color Options: Nebula Purple, Moonlight White
• Price in Nepal: NPR 65,999 (!2/256GB)

Preorder Vivo V40 5G Here!

Vivo V40 Review:

A Nice Design

Vivo phones are known for nice designs and the Vivo V40 continues the legacy. This curved beauty with a curved middle frame gives a nice feel to my hands. And despite boasting a 5500mAh battery, this phone is slim. This Moonlight White variant I have has a matte finish and that's why there are no fingerprint smudges. Besides this shade, you can also opt for Nebula Purple. The camera module is new this time with a circular main module with an elongated pill shape holding a flash and a Flicker sensor. And the IP68 rating is a worry-free feature against dust and water splashes.

A Gorgeous Display

Like the Vivo V30, the display on this year's model gets no complaints. The 6.78-inch AMOLED panel has a 120Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 4,500ntis, and 1200nits of HBM. So be it for multimedia usage or normal tasks, the V40's screen feels great to use, thanks to the 100% DCI-P3 and 105% NTSC color gamut. And yeah, Vivo has finally brought a stereo speaker setup on the vanilla V series phone which was missing on its predecessors. It's pretty sharp and fairly loud while the bass is not that great. But the haptics are still buzzy and it is not acceptable for a premium midranger! Talking of the refresh rate, it is well-optimized and changes as per the refresh on the screen. No, it's not LTPO for sure, but it can switch between 60Hz and 90Hz and 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz  in smart refresh rate mode and high refresh rate mode respectively. So, I would suggest you go for the latter one if you are fond of using 120Hz smoothness, albeit for the sake of slightly less battery life. 

Performance

Now, comes the performance and it's the literal same processor from V30, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, which is not exactly a bummer, but Vivo should have provided a performance upgrade for the price it is asking for! The SD 7 Gen 3 still works great for normal usage as well as for gaming. I'm talking about 60fps gaming PUBG, 80fps on Mobile Legends Bang Bang, and some 47fps on Genshin Impact. The latter one is one of the heaviest games ever made for a smartphone, so, it's pretty imminent for SD 7 Gen 3 to stutter here. And during normal usage, I found the phone to be a bit sluggish here and there. That's why a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 or at least a Dimesnity 9200 would have been the key or a phone costing 66,000 rupees. 

FunTouch OS 14

The phone runs on FunTouch OS 14 which is, of course, based on Android 14. It comes with a few bloatware but no ads! To be honest, I have never been a fan of this skin as it is boring despite having some customization features. But some of you might like it so, I should not complain much about this department. Vivo is providing three years of OS updates and four years of security patches. 

ZEISS Camera

The camera resolutions this time are unchanged, it's the 50MP trio, two on the back and one on the front. But ZEISS coating is here marking some sort of a premium feature on a midrange as it's a top-notch lens maker. And the cameras are pretty impressive, although, I would have been more happier if a telephoto lens was provided!

Daylight

As expected, the daylight images are quite punchy with good details and a very decent dynamic range. You get ZEISS natural mode and Vivid mode here. I loved the latter one while you can go for the natural mode if you prefer a natural tone. And the ultrawide camera is equally beautiful as well.

Portraits

The 50MP main camera is the sole thing for portraits as there is no tele lens as aforementioned. But, the focal length options are the savior here allowing you to capture some good-looking portraits at 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm. So, it's safe to stay, it kind of suffices the need for a 2X telephoto. And the outputs are also punchy and social media-ready.

Nighttime

When the sun goes down, the normal mode of the Vivo V40 is more than enough to capture nice low-light shots. You wouldn't want to use the dedicated night mode as it overprocesses the images to my liking! 

Selfies

It's a Vivo phone, so, good selfies are mandatory. And the V40 fills in the steps with ease. The selfies are nice with good skin tone although a bit smoothened. But I can bet, most of us will surely go for a smoothened look than the natural looks, we see every day in the mirror!

Videos

Alright, the video section is sorted for up to 4K 30fps recording. Turning on the stabilization makes it better than the default mode. The front can also shoot at the same resolution, but there is no stabilization option.

Battery Life and Connectivity

Now, let's talk about the battery. You get a 5500mAh cell powering this guy, a 500mAh more battery power than the last gen. I got around 6.5 hours of SOT here which is just fine but I have also seen other 5500mAh phones granting you over 7 to 7.5 hours of battery life. But it's not a major thing to be concerned over and the 80W charger in the box saves the day by topping off the V40 in just an hour. Connectivity-wise, you are sorted with 5G, 4G VoLTE, Carrier Video Calling, and WiFi calling. The unit I'm using is an Indian variant though, so there is no Band 20 support, barring my unit from enjoying carrier aggregation on the NTC network. But the one that has launched in Nepal has support for all the bands of local telcos, so it is not an issue. In short, the connectivity section is pretty neat!

Vivo V40 Review: Conclusion

Okay, let's come to the conclusion guys. So, the Vivo V40 is a decent option for someone who's not looking for the absolute beast for the price in terms of performance. Realme GT 6T is for that with Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. Besides that, the cameras are good here and the looks and feel of this phone are premium as well as the battery life is great.  But I'd say, the pricing could have been more aggressive here, given the competition has another camera-centric contender, the Honor 200 with a 3X telephoto lens and overall good camera performance.

Vivo V40 Review: Pros and Cons

 Pros

• Premium design
• Great display
• Good ZEISS optimization
• Good battery life

Cons

• Performance could have been better
• No telephoto lens for the price