OPINION PIECE - Pat Pilcher is a freelance technology writer
Vodafones Smart V8 is the upmarket sibling of Vodafones Smart N8. Like the N8, it offers solid value for money, albeit with a few clever upmarket tweaks. After spending a week with it, here’s what I found.
Look and Feel
The V8 looks and feels flagship thanks to its alloy unibody design that sports a slick brushed metal finish and smooth chamfered edges. This finish is only interrupted by two top and bottom antenna bands. On the V8s front is an LED notification light. It is a simple thing but in use is incredibly useful. LED notification lights are all too often lacking in a lot of phones. It’s a handy means of unobtrusively seeing that there’s unread messages or an open Wi-Fi network nearby.
In the hand, the V8 feels solidly constructed and has a distinctly premium whiff to it. There’s lots of hints of the v8’s upmarket pedigree. These range from its satisfying heft through to small details such as the dual-speaker grilles on its base or the chamfered finish on its volume and power buttons. The fingerprint sensor on its back, is a bonus. All told, the build and design impress, especially considering the V8’s reasonable $349 sticker price.
In use
On the V8s font is a 5.5” LCD 1080x1920 FHD display. Colour saturation and contrast levels are good with no discernible viewing angle issues. The full HD resolution of the V8 is helped along with a 401ppi dot pitch. This is comparable to that of an iPhone 6 plus or iPhone 7. As expected, on-screen text and graphics look sharp, crisp and clean.
Another bonus with the V8 is its OS. Unlike a lot of similarly priced smartphones, it runs the latest flavour of Android - 7.1.1 (Nougat). This means it packs all the goodies that make Nougat exciting. These include Android assistant, split-screen multitasking and power management improvements to help wring even more life out of the V8s 3000mAh battery.
Some subtle, but useful customisations made by Vodafone also impressed. I particularly liked the addition of lock-screen shortcuts to the camera and flashlight, losing count of the number of times they came in handy. Equally useful are the small number of apps Vodafone added. They don’t really qualify as bloatware as they’re genuinely useful inclusions. I also liked the inclusion of an FM radio app (which for the Spotify generation means unlimited music without blowing mobile data allowances).
Corporate types will also like the Private Space app – it’s an encrypted file locker and password keeper. For situations where security is important, the private space app cannot be opened without the right pin/pattern /password or fingerprint. Vodafones tweaks also extend into gesture-based actions such as Flipping the V8 over to Mute and a three-finger tap to snooze an alarm.
All told, even though the V8 has a tonne of useful tweaks added, they’re not in your face. Because of this, it sports a stock looking android launcher, and this combination means that using the V8 feels good. This is something a lot of other smartphone makers could learn from.
In use, the V8 also feels snappy thanks to the Qualcomm 435 chipset tucked away under its hood. Games (which are a great way to stress test a smartphones silicon) ran smoothly. They also looked great on its crisp display.
Performance is helped along by the ample 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. For those with a sizeable media collection, the V8s available storage can be expanded to an extra 128GB using a microSD card.
Vodafone have also equipped the V8 with a generous 3000mAh battery. In practice, this got me through a a day and a half of typical use before demanding time with a charger. In situations where there is no wall-socket/charger, the V8 has ‘Smart Power-saving’ and ‘Ultra Power-saving’ modes. The ultra power-saving mode promises to double battery life, but this is done at the expense of energy hungry functionality which is disabled.
The V8s 16MP rear shooter is complimented by an 8MP front-snapper. Under optimal lighting conditions, both cameras performed well, delivering accurate colours balanced exposure and quick auto-focus.
The inclusion of HDR is also a bonus as it’ll help with shooting in high contrast situations. Because the HDR function needs to capture multiple versions of the same image at different exposure settings, taking a photo using HDR can take a little longer. In addition to stills, the V8 can also capture Full HD video at 30fps from both cameras. The camera app also deserves special mention not only for the number of available shooting modes available but intuitive access to features such as manual control, and the ability to watermark photos.
Verdict
While there are other affordable mid-range smartphones packing similar specs, the Vodafone Smart V8 delivers a lot of value given its very reasonable $349 sticker price. Add to this the elegant and well thought through customisations added by Vodafone and there’s a lot to like about the V8.
