The Vivo Xplay5 Elite's dual-curved display is an AMOLED unit of QHD resolution with a diagonal of 5.43 inches (quite the odd number, you would agree). This comes down to a 541ppi density. Our microscope shot revealed a Diamond Pentile subpixel arrangement - par for the course and identical to the ones on flagship Samsung phones.
While it is AMOLED and AMOLED's supposedly don't light up black pixels at all - there's the occasional panel where that isn't entirely true - and the one on the Elite is such. It's nothing to worry about though, blacks are only ever so slightly lit, so the contrast is dozen of times higher than any LCD's.
Not so with brightness, where the maximum is only about average even for an AMOLED, and nowhere near a good LCD. It's also worth noting that latest-gen Samsung AMOLEDs can match LCDs for maximum brightness in direct sunlight, but the Vivo is far from that.
Display test | 100% brightness | ||
Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
0.05 | 358 | 7160 | |
- | 410 | ∞ | |
- | 540 | - | |
0.00 | 392 | ∞ | |
0.00 | 610 | ∞ | |
0.00 | 433 | ∞ | |
0.17 | 306 | 1855 | |
0.20 | 378 | 1881 | |
0.29 | 428 | 1543 | |
0 | 321 | ∞ | |
0.01 | 360 | 40000 | |
0.346 | 471 | 1361 | |
0.46 | 500 | 1094 | |
0.43 | 590 | 1382 |
That doesn't hurt it in the sun too much though. In our sunlight legibility test, the Xplay5 Elite posted solid numbers towards the top of the chart. Again, Samsung's own are superior, and so is the OnePlus 3.
Color reproduction is another area where the Xplay5 Elite does a reasonably good job. Average DeltaE is 5.0, better than both the LG G5 and Xperia X Performance, plus the Galaxy S7 edge in default mode. It's not without its flaws with whites exhibiting a bluish tint and red being the furthest off from reality at 9.3 DeltaE.
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite is a dual-SIM device with both slots taking nanoSIMs only. Specs say that one card gets the full connectivity package over 4G/3G/2G, while the second is limited to 2G. In our experience we had both cards connected to 3G, then one was on 4G while the other was on 3G, so the limitations might be specific to the networks in China.
There's dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac with 2x2 MIMO antennas, Bluetooth is v4.2, and the phone supports NFC and GPS. You can also wirelessly mirror the display over Miracast. There's no FM radio, though.
Wired connectivity is over microUSB 2.0 - no Type-C just yet. USB On-The-Go is supported, but make sure you enable it in settings.
There's a 3,600mAh battery inside the Vivo Xplay5 Elite - as much as Samsung fitted inside the Galaxy S7 edge and 20% more than what the S6 edge+ came with, coincidentally the same 3,000mAh capacity as the OnePlus 3.
The Elite did very well in our battery test with the notable exception of Wi-Fi web browsing. Whether it's the built-in browser or Chrome, the result is the same - short of 8 and a half hours. While it's not particularly bad, but it's disappointing compared to the other scores.
In the video playback test the smartphone was good for almost 13 hours, a solid figure. We're starting to notice a pronounced discrepancy between the results AMOLEDs post in the two screen-on tests we carry out, indicating that the tech may actually be better suited to one rather than the other. Perhaps we'll investigate further in that area.
With the display off, the Vivo Xplay5 Elite does a good job too. We reckon 33+ hours of 3G talk time on a single charge won't leave anyone wanting. Standby consumption is pretty low too, though a second SIM card does rob the phone of more than a dozen hours in the overall endurance rating.
The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
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