Entering the Philippines is the vivo Y12s, a sub-PhP 7,000 smartphone that boasts a large 5,000mAh battery, dual cameras, and fairly well-rounded set of specifications. But will these features be enough to let the device shine in the competitive budget-conscious smartphone category?
| Chipset | MediaTek Helio P35 |
| Screen | 6.51-inch IPS, 1600 x 720 |
| RAM | 3GB |
| OS | Android 11, Funtouch OS 11 |
| Rear Camera | 13MP f/2.2 Main, 2MP f/2.4 Depth; Rear Flash |
| Front Camera | 8MP f/1.8 |
| Storage | 32GB, expandable via dedicated MicroSD Slot |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 4G LTE |
| Connectivity | Dual-Band WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, MicroUSB |
| Battery | 5,000mAh, 10W Charging |
| Others | Side-Mounted Fingerprint Sensor |
| Colors | Phantom Black, Glacier Blue |
The smartphone’s packaging is fairly basic since it is geared towards an entry-level market. Everything is encased in a basic white and blue box that houses the Y12s itself, silicone case, documentation, SIM ejector pin, MicroUSB cable, and 10W wall charger. Nothing too much out of the ordinary here.
The vivo Y12s comes with a notched 6.51-inch 1600 x 720 display with rather small bezels at the side and a notch for its front-facing camera at the top. Details aren’t spectacular given its size and sub-FullHD resolution but the screen is decent enough for casual watching.
Meanwhile, colors produced by the smartphone’s display are good for daily viewing but they do lack a certain amount of saturation and detail at times. Fortunately, you can adjust the color temperature of the screen to comfortably fit your needs.
The smartphone also gets a single bottom-firing speaker. The volume is definitely there but details for audio need work. Its medium setting is definitely the sweet spot for loudness and detail in songs.
Ramping the volume to the max tends to “mix” all the audio together, which may be heard as an unintelligible mess at times. Highs can also sound tinny at higher volumes, so if you are playing music or watching videos, better stick to lower volumes to get a competent listening experience.
The vivo Y12s is available in two colors: Phantom Black and Glacier Blue. The variant we received for this review was the latter, and it is a simple colorway with some flourishes. I’s rear is a solid sky blue color with a diffused coating that reflects RGB light whenever lights hit it at a specific angle.
Despite the diffused coating, the light color of the device does not show any kind of fingerprints nor dust after usage. This resistance to dust and fingerprints allows it to maintain its great looks and minimalist design.
Its build feels solid enough with minimal flexing when pressed or squeezed. The sides are curved with a slight indentation inward for the display. It feels comfortable and ergonomic to hold at long intervals.
The volume rocker and power button with an integrated fingerprint scanner are all located at the right-hand side. Located at the reverse side is its SIM tray, which is able to house two 4G SIM cards and MicroSD card simultaneously.
At the bottom of the smartphone is a MicroUSB port, 3.5mm audio jack, and the aforementioned bottom-firing speaker. Its disappointing that the Y12s comes with the aging MicroUSB standard rather than USB Type-C since most smartphones, even budget-friendly ones, now come with it.
Though the vivo Y12s still runs on Android 10, it does come with the brand’s FunTouch 11 OS. It has most of the amenities you expect from an Android smartphone like a command center, app drawer, multi-window support, and dark mode. vivo-specific additions are also here like Jovi Home, the V-Appstore, and iManager.
If you ever find your game running a bit sluggish due to background software may enable Ultra Game Mode and Game Assistant to dedicate more of the system’s resources to your game. It also enables you to toggle notifications and calls to lessen any kind of distraction.
The vivo Y12s keeps everything simple in the camera department. The app supports all the basic features like Photo, Pro Mode, Video, Panorama, Live Photo, Time-Lapse, and Document. It also comes with several filters and support for HDR.
The smartphone comes with a 13MP f/2.2 main lens backed with a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Camera performance is not particularly ground-breaking but it does well given that it is an entry-level device. Photos taken in daylight or in good lighting have good detail but saturation could use some work.
Performance in dim situations, however, is what you expect: grainy photos without much in the way of detail due to the increased ISO. It does not help that the camera app lacks any kind of Night Mode.
Resting on its notch is an 8MP f/2.0 selfie lens. Performance is a bit mixed with well-lit photos showing enough detail and colors though dimly lit situations will produce grainy selfies. You will also need to tone down the beautifications by a bit in order to have natural-looking selfies.
A MediaTek Helio P35 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage resides inside the Y12s’ chassis. Its chip is the furthest from any world records out there but it does a decent job of delivering acceptable performance under normal usage. Benchmarks are not particularly superb but are good enough for a budget-friendly device.
Gaming performance will be serviceable for simple casual games and for competitive games that don’t ask too much out of the hardware. Settings for the latter will be somewhat limited to medium to low settings to maintain a consistent framerate. Graphically intensive games like Genshin Impact, however, will basically run like a slideshow even at the lowest setting.
The device is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that supports 10W charging through its MicroUSB port. We used the vivo Y12s to trudge through our daily work schedule with medium usage, which includes work, reading, replying to emails, watching movies and YouTube videos, and the occasional bout of Call of Duty: Mobile and League of Legends: Wild Rift.
By the end of the day, the smartphone still had plenty of charge to get us through the night and through to tomorrow. Running PCMark Work 2.0 battery loop test with medium brightness and volume yielded just shy of 16 hours of straight usage.
Priced at PhP 6,499, the vivo Y12s does not particularly bring anything new in the budget category but it does offer a fairly decent entry-level package with its long battery life, sufficient performance, and its decent cameras and display.
There are some downsides, however, like a MicroUSB port at the bottom and the lack of performance in graphically-extensive titles. You might want to temper expectations but the vivo Y12s should give a good enough experience for most budget-conscious consumers.
