Vivo V40 5G (Ganges Blue, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage)

Genuinely my own fault. Posting so somebody else does not repeat it. The listing says who should avoid this: Gamers — the chipset trails the POCO and OnePlus at lower prices. That was my situation and I ordered anyway. It does what it says on the page — it just was not the thing I needed.

50 MP autofocus front camera, unusual at any price. The one thing to know before ordering: Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is behind rivals costing less. To be fair that is written on the product page. I skimmed past it and had to rearrange things afterwards.

The page describes who this is for, and it described me: Buyers who photograph people constantly and want the best portrait output near Rs35,000. On that basis it has been the right call. 50 MP autofocus front camera, unusual at any price.

Had this a couple of weeks now, so this is not an unboxing opinion. Zeiss-tuned dual 50 MP rear with OIS. Still mildly irritated by one thing: Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is behind rivals costing less. Known trade-off rather than a fault, though, and I would buy it again.

Leading with the problem, because it is what I would have wanted to read: Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is behind rivals costing less. LPDDR4X memory rather than LPDDR5X. Neither is hidden — both are listed on the page — but they matter more in daily use than they look on a spec sheet. I have kept it, for one reason: 50 MP autofocus front camera, unusual at any price. That still outweighs the rest, but only just.