Vivo Y500

The Vivo Y500 is listed at Rs. 81,499 for the 6GB + 128GB model. It is the most premium Y series phone Vivo has sold in Pakistan, built around one thing: battery life.

Why people buy it:

• An 8100 mAh battery, the biggest in an official Pakistani phone when it launched, with 44W charging
• A 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED screen with 120Hz and very high brightness
• Stereo speakers, which are new for the Y series
• IP68/IP69 water and dust protection, plus Vivo's wide service network

What holds it back:

• It is 4G only. The Unisoc T7300 chip has no 5G, which many buyers find hard to accept at this price
• Performance is only average, close to a Helio G200 class phone
• Video recording stops at 1080p, and there is no ultrawide camera or NFC
• Vivo has not announced how many years of updates it will get

The competition is tough. The Infinix Note Edge costs only Rs. 91,199 and has 5G, the Dimensity 7100, an AMOLED screen and NFC, but a smaller 6500 mAh battery. The Tecno Pova Curve 2 at Rs. 99,999 offers 5G, a 144Hz AMOLED screen and an 8000 mAh battery.

Verdict: a good choice for office workers, students and anyone who wants two or more days of battery, a bright screen and a tough phone from a brand with easy service. It is poor value for gamers or for anyone who wants 5G.

The display is the Y500's second big strength. It is a 6.83-inch AMOLED panel with 1260 x 2800 resolution (1.5K) and a 120Hz refresh rate, with thin bezels on all sides. Our database lists 2000 nits in high brightness mode and up to 5000 nits peak in small areas.

In everyday use:

• It gets very bright, so it stays easy to read outdoors in strong sunlight
• Out of the box it runs at 1080p; you can switch to the full 1.5K resolution in the display settings, and pick a lower, 120Hz or automatic refresh rate
• YouTube HDR plays at up to 1440p
• An adaptive colour mode adjusts the screen to the light around you, much like True Tone on an iPhone
• The in-display optical fingerprint sensor works quickly

The stereo speakers are a real plus for watching videos. Opinions on the speakers differ: some call them among the fullest-sounding in this price range, while others find the sound leans towards treble and vocals.

The main limitation is the Always-On Display, which only stays on for a few seconds after you tap or move the phone.

The Y500 uses the Unisoc T7300, a 6 nm 4G chip, with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. Its performance is close to MediaTek's Helio G200 Ultra, so think of it as a capable everyday phone, not a fast one.

Real-world findings:

• Calls, WhatsApp, social media and app loading are handled without trouble in normal use
• In the standard mode, scrolling at 120Hz did not feel as smooth as it should. Turning on Boost mode in battery settings made scrolling, apps and even the fingerprint sensor noticeably faster, at the cost of more heat and battery use
• PUBG runs at 60fps, which is decent but not the best
• Unisoc chips are less common in Pakistan, so some games and apps may be less well optimised than on MediaTek phones

Long gaming and heat tests are not available yet. The bigger problem is the lack of 5G: rivals such as the Infinix Note Edge and Tecno Pova Curve 2 use 5G chips at or below this price.

The Y500 has a 50 MP Sony main camera with an f/1.8 aperture and a 2 MP depth sensor. There is no ultrawide lens; 2x zoom is a digital crop. The front has a 32 MP selfie camera.

Real-world findings:

• Daylight: clean, detailed photos with good colours, though the colours look a little different from other Vivo phones with stronger chips
• AI Retouch: the AI UHD and colour enhancement tools in the gallery noticeably improve skin tones and colour, and they are worth using on every photo, including selfies
• Portraits: background blur is fine, but processing adds a slight yellow tint, and bright red clothes can shift in colour
• Night mode is available, but clear low-light results have not been shown yet

Video: both cameras are limited to 1080p at 30fps, with no 4K option. Footage is good enough for WhatsApp calls and social media clips, and Vivo does not list optical stabilisation.

Overall it is a decent, casual camera that matches Infinix and Tecno phones at this price, not a camera-first phone.

This is the reason to buy the Y500. It has an 8100 mAh silicon-carbon battery, one of the largest you can buy officially in Pakistan, yet it weighs about 210 g and is not bulky.

Real-world results:

• In a day-in-the-life test with Google Maps navigation, music and high brightness, the battery barely moved over a couple of hours, and it lost only a few percent overnight with the Always-On Display on
• With normal 4G and Wi-Fi use over three to four days of testing, it lasted one and a half to two days per charge
• In the standard mode, expect around three days for light users; using Boost mode cuts that to about two days

Charging:

• 44W wired charging, with a 44W charger and a USB-A to Type-C cable in the box
• A full charge takes about 1.5 to 1.75 hours, depending on the starting level
• Reverse wired charging at about 7.5W to top up earbuds or another phone
• Bypass charging, which runs the phone directly from the charger while you use it, to reduce battery wear
• No wireless charging

Compared with the Tecno Pova Curve 2's 8000 mAh and the Infinix Note Edge's 6500 mAh, the Y500 has the largest battery, though all three charge at a similar speed.

The phone runs OriginOS 6 on Android 16. Vivo has not published an update promise for the Y500: Vivo's Pakistan page lists no number of Android or security updates. That is a weak point, since rivals such as the Infinix Note Edge promise 3 major OS updates.

Useful features:

• Boost mode for gaming and heavy use
• Automatic call recording in the dialer, without an announcement to the other caller
• Vivo Office Kit for moving files between the phone and a Windows PC or MacBook
• AI Captions for live subtitles on YouTube, TikTok and Netflix, plus AI call translation
• Circle to Search, Google Gemini, AI Retouch and AI Eraser 2.0
• Lock screen customisation and Origin Island

OriginOS feels refined and smooth for daily tasks. One small issue: the dialer keypad has no vibration feedback, although typing in chat apps does. It is worth checking the app list for ads and pre-installed apps after setup.