Vivo V60e Review: Betting on great cameras, sleek looks, and a big battery

The ‘e’ part of Vivo’s V series is usually seen as the ‘lite’ version of the more powerful (and more expensive) devices in the series. It carries a strong essence of the main lineup but also brings a few compromises along with a smaller price tag. The Vivo V60e is no different. It follows the Vivo V60 and seems like its ‘lite’r brother. But it is much more than just the ‘lite’ version of a more powerful device, and comes with a number of impressive specs and some good looks. With a starting price of Rs. 29,999, will the Vivo V60e come from the shadow of its V sibling and also take on the likes of the OnePlus Nord and Redmi Note? Let’s find out:

Vivo V60e Design: Not original, but still very easy on the eye

The design of the Vivo V60e is nothing revolutionary. It follows a design blueprint similar to the Vivo V60. However, the phone still looks and feels premium. It comes with a tall display with thin bezels, which curves a bit around the edges, giving the display a slightly rounded feel. There is a punch-hole notch in the middle, on the top that houses the front camera of the smartphone, and an in-display fingerprint scanner near the base. The back of the phone is plastic, but not for a moment does it feel like that – it has a metallic look in matte finish, giving it almost a satin-like texture. On the top left corner is a huge vertical pill-shaped camera unit, which protrudes a fair bit and has a metallic accent around the edges, and with a round Aura Flash next to it. The frame is plastic as well, but has a more metallic sheen to it, making the phone feel quite premium.

Vivo has stuck to softly curved sides and has avoided the flat sides that are all the rage in the smartphone world right now. We think it makes the phone more comfortable to hold and gives it a very good hand feel. The base of the phone has the SIM card tray, Type C port, and the speaker grille, while the top has an IR blaster. The left side is completely bare, while the right side holds the volume rocker and the power/lock button. The phone is quite light at 190 grams (credit to its plastic build), and while it is impressively slim at 7.5 mm, it is definitely on the large side. It is 163.5 mm tall and 77 mm wide, which is very close to the 163.4 mm height and 78 mm width of the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

This pretty phone is pretty sturdy too– it comes with an IP68/ IP69 rating, which means it can survive a fall in the water. The phone comes in two colors, Elite Purple and Noble Gold. We received the Elite Purple unit, which looks more burgundy than purple but is still very good-looking. All in all, the Vivo V60e does not come with a revolutionary design, but thanks to its slim frame and sleek finish, it definitely looks quite stylish.

Vivo V60e Specs and Performance: A smooth mid-ranger with a great display

The Vivo V60e is powered by the mid-segment MediaTek Dimensity 7360 Turbo chipset, and comes with two RAM and storage variants – 8 GB/ 256 GB and 12 GB/ 256 GB. The storage on the phone is not expandable, so if you intend to keep a lot on the phone, we would suggest getting the 256 GB variant. It also features a large-ish 6.77-inch full HD+ display with 1600 nits peak brightness and 120 Hz refresh rate. But as with most Vivo V series devices, the V60e’s real spec strength is its cameras – the phone comes with a 200 megapixel main sensor with OIS, an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 50 megapixel selfie snapper on the front. And within its slim frame is a surprisingly large 6500 mAh battery with support for 90W charging. Vivo also packs a charger in the box.

This is essentially a slightly premium mid-segment setup, and it works exactly like that. The phone handles everyday tasks with ease. The display is a superb one for its segment, and delivers vibrant and punchy colors, and holds ground very well even under harsh sunlight. Viewing content on the Vivo V60e is a pleasure– the stereo speakers really add a lot to the experience. They produce audio which is not only impressively loud, but also has some body to it.

Messaging, calls, social media doomscrolls, photography, videography, checking mail, and viewing content were all smooth sailing affairs on the Vivo V60e. Casual games work super smoothly, too. While not really meant for high-end gaming, one can play titles like Call of Duty and BGMI on tweaked settings. The phone heats up a little when pushed, but never reaches alarming levels. The in-display fingerprint scanner works without any hitches. The large battery can easily see you through a day of hectic use, and can even last a day and a half with a little care. For its size, it gets charged swiftly too – it can get fully charged in a little over an hour. Mind you, with a battery of that size, even a fifty percent charge would be enough to see off a large portion of the day.

All in all, the Vivo V60e is a smooth performer as long as you stick to regular, everyday tasks and do not push it too hard.

Vivo V60e Cameras: Consistent, sharp, and the real stars of the show

Vivo’s V series is known for its cameras. And the Vivo V60e carries this tradition, sporting a massive 200 megapixel main sensor. It is not just about numbers; the camera produces some very pleasing shots, capturing a good amount of detail, especially in daylight. The colors turn out more on the side of vibrant and are warmer than what is natural settings, which most consumers will like, although photography purists might find them oversaturated. The camera snaps 12.5 megapixel pictures by default, and one can take higher resolution shots by turning on the high resolution mode, and can then choose between 50 megapixel and 200 megapixel ones. We would recommend trying the 200 megapixel mode (although it does result in very heavy files), as the difference between 200 megapixel and normal shots is quite noticeable – the textures and details captured are visibly sharper. The colors in high-resolution shots remain a bit on the warmer side, though. Cropping these high-resolution shots delivers good-quality images as well.

But it’s while taking these high-resolution pictures that the Vivo V60e shows its mid-segmentishness – the images do take some time to get processed. The V60e comes with four focal lengths for portrait shots– 23 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, and 85 mm – a handy addition, especially in a phone that lacks a telephoto lens. Portrait images are quite good – edge detection is mostly accurate, and the bokeh is impressive, although it does feel a bit artificial at times. The phone performs best in well-lit conditions, but its low-light performance is quite impressive as well. We were able to capture a good amount of detail even when the light dimmed down. There is a night mode on board as well, but we would advise sticking to the regular mode, as photographs look a little yellow in night mode.

Selfies have always been the strong suit of the V series, and the 50 megapixel selfie sensor follows the lead of the main sensor on the back, capturing skin texture and colors quite well. We were again quite impressed by the amount of detail captured. It is easily the best selfie camera in its segment and can hold its own even in a flagship company. The ultrawide sensor also punches slightly above its megapixel category and takes images with decent details and consistent colors. The phone allows one to capture 4K videos and again, delivers very pleasant results with plenty of detail, serving up vibrant and punchy color even in low light.

As with all V series phones, there are a number of filters that allow one to give one’s images a different vibe. There is also a Micro Movie mode, which is especially good for taking short videos and brings a number of handy editing options. There is also an underwater photography feature, which allows you to capture photos and videos underwater (that IP rating does not just make the phone solid).

All said and done, the Vivo V60e is pretty much a camera phone, and punches above its price in that regard. Just remember to be patient while those high-resolution snaps are processed.

Vivo V60e UI and software: AI and third-party rich UI, long battery life

The Vivo V60e runs on Android 15, which comes with a layer of Vivo’s FunTouchOS 15 on top. This is a bit disappointing, given that Android 16 has been out for a while, although the brand promises three years of OS updates and five years of security updates. FunTouch OS remains pretty loaded, especially with third-party apps. These apps can be removed, but they can be a little irritating. There are a number of AI features as well – Gemini integration, AI Call Assistant, Circle to Search, AI Captions, Notes Assist, Transcripts Assist, and more. They work reasonably well on the phone, provided you have a good Internet connection handy.

There are a number of camera-centric AI features as well. Apart from the basic ones like AI Erase, AI reflection erasers, the phone also has features specific to the Indian Audience like AI Festival Portraits, which can transform your photos to look festive ready, AI Wedding Vlog which makes video into wedding vlogs by adding music and effects, and AI Four Season Portraits which can take an image and transform it into four different weather looks. All of these are quite fun to use and deliver very good results, but require patience in terms of processing and a steady internet connection.

It is crowded, cluttered, and colorful, but FunTouch OS works very smoothly on the Vivo V60e. We are looking forward to the cleaner OriginOS in the coming days, but the V60e did not feel sluggish at any point.

Vivo V60e Review Verdict: The camera phone to get for under Rs 30,000!

The Vivo V60e comes with a starting price of Rs. 29,999, which places it in a zone inhabited by some very well-known phones. Those preferring faster processors might opt for the Poco F7, and those wanting a better all-rounder might look to the OnePlus Nord 5. But the V series has always been more of a camera and design beauty than a processor performance beast, and in this regard, the V60e packs quite a punch. Its gorgeous display, great cameras, and speaker combo make it a supreme multimedia device in the segment. And then there is that big battery packed in a slim frame along with that curved display, making it a very good-looking phone, with the Elite Purple shade standing out.

In that regard, its only real competitors are the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, which brings an equally unique design and some very good cameras to the mix, along with a relatively cleaner interface; and the old-ish Xiaomi 14 Civi which, thanks to substantial price cuts, is now available in the same price segment and brings a Leica touch to its photography. The Vivo V60e’s main and selfie camera combination, however, makes it the phone to get for those who want a very good mainstream camera experience inside a stylish-looking phone for around Rs 30,000.

Buy Vivo V60e