It has been a while since Vivo released a V-series smartphone and honestly, I was a bit curious. The brand’s last flagship, the V17 Pro, hit all the right marks when it comes to specs most especially its main shooter. I finally got the answer a couple of weeks back when Vivo announced the impending release of a new flagship, the V19, and its younger sibling, the V19 Neo. I had the opportunity to play around with the latter.
The V19 Neo is technically not the flagship variant despite the fancy “Neo” branding, but still, it’s no slouch nor a pushover. Powering the V19 Neo is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 octa-core processor mated with an Adreno 612 GPU, a decent mid-range combo that’ll give you smooth performance even on heavy loads. That, paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable internal storage is every multitasker’s dream.
Now that the internals are out of the way, we go on to the looks of the device. Our unit had the crystal white color scheme and comes with some gradient finish on the back, which I do say is really something to behold. The smartphone comes with a 6.44-inch Super AMOLED Ultra-O display with FHD+ (2400 x 1080) resolution. The screen definitely is one of the best I’ve tried and, ultimately, I found myself watching a lot of Netflix and Streams on the V19 Neo instead of reaching for the TV remote.
vivo has also thought about everything when packaging the phone. Inside the box was a clear and thick jelly case so you can still see the phone’s back yet still have a sense security in case you drop it. There is also a USB Type-C cable and fast charger for the V19 Neo’s 4500mAh battery and, surprisingly, a pair of earphones (you don’t see that very often these days).
The Vivo V19 Neo has a quad-camera setup at the back and a 32-megapixel front camera. The phone can shoot some great shots thanks to the 48-megapixel main shooter. What makes the V19 Neo interesting is the AI capability of its camera which recognizes the scene and subject you’re shooting. The dedicated night mode is also great—it may not be the best in the market, but for a mid-ranger it is impressive.
The V19 Neo’s AI does a great job in determining the scene and the subject. 
Here’s a sample of the macro lens. 
Here’s the V19 Neo’s indoor shots. The phone’s camera does a great job capturing the furs of Butterscotch. 
Here’s a look at the 48 megapixel mode. 
The V19 Neo’s camera does capture some bright contrasts. And considering the day was pretty gloomy when I shot this, the photo came out ok. 
The night mode was pretty good. I shot this around 8:30 PM and somehow it managed to make the sky look like the sun just set.
vivo has announced that the V19 Neo will have an SRP of PHP 17,999 which I think is a bit on the high side. I still need to do a bit more tinkering and testing before we coming out with my personal judgment on this smartphone based on its price and performance, so watch out for that.