The Y55L offers a good mix of features at a reasonable price

Bangalore, October 11 2016: The two things trending in the smart-phone market these days are design and camera. More often than not, they combine to create a  selfie camera. Vivo has joined the trend, by combining these two features in its new   handset, Y55L, an upgraded version of the VIVO Y51L.
While most  phones are getting bigger and bulkier these days, Vivo has maintained a comfortable and lighter design for the Y55L. With 7.5 mm thickness and 142 grams weight, it doesn’t feel heavy and has a good grip. The 5.2-inch screen device could easily fit in your pocket. The Y55L comes with HD (1280×720) resolution. There’s an eye protection mode that prevents eye strain by filtering the blue light. This feature might interest an avid e-book reader or those who continuously watch videos on their phones. It is a neat looking device with a unibody design and curved screen.
Vivo has incorporated a front screen flash to its 5 megapixels front camera. It comes with a smart light sensor to automatically detect the ambient light and  adjust the screen brightness. We tried taking few shots during the day with more light,  as well as in the dark --  and the light sensor was effective in adjusting the pictures. The night selfies were less blurred and the day selfies weren’t too white or cloudy even with the flash on.  The only thing that disappoints us is the camera resolution, which could have been higher and helped in taking better selfies. The rear camera with 8 megapixels resolution is a decent performer with standard modes like panorama, HDR, night, etc.
The Y55L is powered by a  1.4 GHz, Octa-Core Snapdragon 430 processor with 2 GB RAM. It runs on Vivo’s Funtouch OS 2.6, based on Android 6.0.  Earlier this year,  the company had introduced its split screen feature which allows you to multitask with by opening two apps side by side: you can watch a video as well as reply to a message at the same time. The Y55L also comes with it and we think it is a really useful feature.
This device  has triple card slots, which means you can have dual-SIMs as well as a memory card. This is another feature we like:   it doesn’t restrict the user who can opt for either  more memory or an extra SIM. The internal memory of 16 GB is expandable up to 128 GB. The 4G VOLTE-enabled device comes with a 2650 mAh battery.
Our final verdict on  the Vivo Y55L: it is a fairly priced device with an interesting spec sheet.  It will  be available from  October 10 for Rs. 12, 980.
- V Sudhakshina