Vivo’s latest handset offers among the best lenses in this class – and a whole lot of software tools to improve your photos
By Anand Parthasarathy
November 9 2020: I don’t know whether it is happy coincidence or  deliberately canny timing, but the new Vivo V20 handset has a combo of camera specification and clever image-improving software that will be hard to beat for  amateur and semi professional clickers, in the runup to the Diwali shopping season.
Consider the cameras: The 64 MP main rear camera is supported  by an 8 MP combo which shoots 120 degree wide angle and closeups  up to 2.5 cms in the macro mode.  There is an additional 2 MP lens to shoot in monochrome. You can also jazz up the image  by adding night filters in green, blue, pink and gold.  Thought has gone into the ergonomics: A double tap on any figure in the image starts  motion autofocus, which means the figure remains in sharp focus even if it moves…. useful, if you are shooting a race and  want  to highlight one person  -- as most parents do! 
The other useful innovation I found  was the ability to lock the zoom feature to one moving object so that the zoom percentage adjusts as it follows the object or person. Simple things, but they will make a difference when the hand that holds the phone is not the steadiest or fastest.
The front  holds  a 44 MP selfie camera with  smooth  zoom from 15 cms to  infinity. Not many phones let you shoot selfie video in both  4k and  240 fps slo-mo. The V20 does. Also usefully, you can shoot through front and rear cameras simultaneously and display the result  either side by side or as picture in picture.
We are not done with the  photo features. Vivo’s  Funtouch OS 11 which sits on top of the Android 11 OS ( among the first to move up to  11 this year)   lets you the change the sky in a shot from sunny to cloudy to rainy. A photo doesn’t lie they used to say… well no longer true!  Offline the V20 has another neat solution:  It’s called Memory Recall and helps sharpen and brighten those old album images of daadimaa in that dusty album.
It is this basket of specs and tools that convince me that for an amateur or semi-professional photographer, the Vivo V20 is the best deal on offer at this time in this price band.
I am also thrilled that international  phone makers like Vivo have started embracing the Indian entrant in the navigation business. Indeed the Vivo is compatible with all current  systems – GPS, Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS and our own NavIC , the last in handsets sold in India only.
The 8 GB/256 GB version of the Vivo V20 is currently selling at  Rs 3000 below the MRP of Rs 30,990 while the 8GB/128 GB sells for Rs 3000 below the Rs 27,990 MRP.  You will find  the company’s links here