Beebom
Rating6.5
Vivo T5 Lite 5G lures you in with its sleek design, dependable battery life, and fast charging, but daily use quickly exposes its true colours. It moves at a sloth's pace, stuttering through basic tasks like opening apps and multitasking. To make matters worse, the pre-installed bloatware spams you with relentless alerts like a possessive ex. In a fiercely competitive sub-Rs 20,000 segment, this is one phone you should steer clear of.
Pros
- Strong battery life and fast charging
- Clean design with good in-hand feel
- Customisable Dynamic ring light for alerts
- Main camera takes decent daylight shots
Cons
- Slow, laggy day-to-day performance
- Over 15 pre-installed apps
- Selfie camera over-brightens skin tones
The ongoing RAM and memory crisis has crippled the midrange smartphone segment, leaving only a few good 5G phones under Rs 20,000. The Vivo T5 Lite 5G, which launched last month, seemed like one such option. But, after living with the device for a week and using it as my primary device, I have realised the situation is much worse than I expected. Let me share my experience with the phone in this Vivo T5 Lite 5G review.
Vivo T5 Lite Box Content
The Vivo T5 Lite 5G includes all the rudimentary contents in the box along with some added extras. Here's everything you get with the phone:
- Vivo T5 Lite 5G smartphone
- Transparent silicone case
- Pre-applied screen protector
- 44W FlashCharge adapter
- USB Type A to Type C cable
- SIM ejector pin
- Paperwork
Before jumping to the review of the Vivo T5 Lite 5G, take a look at its key specifications.
Vivo T5 Lite 5G Key Details
Note: Our testing, opinion, and rating for this review are based on the phone's launch price. We recommend checking the current price before making a purchase decision.
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Design and Build
- 8.4 mm thickness, 209 grams weight
- Plastic frame and back, side-mounted fingerprint scanner
- IP 65 dust and water protection
Starting with the design, which is one of the most charming aspects of the phone for me besides battery life. The Vivo T5 Lite sports an all-plastic construction, but Vivo has put some thought into how the phone looks. My Wave Blue variant has this soft, almost meditative pattern on the back that looks like drifting clouds.
It's not on your face but a subtle design that is visible from a few angles, which I liked. It looks elegant enough that I never bothered putting a case on it during my entire Vivo T5 Lite 5G review period.
The in-hand feel is also pretty decent, with a soft matte texture on the back which allows for an easy and comfortable grip. The device is also refreshingly light, making it easy to toss in a pocket or bag without thinking about it, unlike the OnePlus N6, which was bulkier compared to this phone.
The sides are flat, but the phone is not thick enough for it to be an issue when using the phone in daily use. It also holds up to an IP65 rating, which allowed me to take a few calls on my way to the office while it was raining, but you still need to be careful about water damage.
Notch aside, the standout feature on the Vivo T5 Lite is its Dynamic ring light built around the camera housing. It blinks in one of six customisable colours for incoming calls, notifications, music playback, or even as a battery indicator.
I found it quite useful since I typically keep my phone on silent mode at the office, and it allowed me to keep tabs on my incoming calls and alerts without needing to keep the screen on or feel the phone buzz. My one complaint is that the LED customisation is not on a per-app basis. So, I could only assign a single LED colour for all alerts, no matter which app it is coming from.
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Display and Audio Quality
- 6.74-inch HD+ (720 x 1600 pixels) LCD display
- 120Hz refresh rate, no display protection
- 1200 nits high brightness (as claimed by the brand)
Coming to the display, it is a 720p LCD screen with a notch and thick chins at the bottom. This is on par with other phones in this category, like the Realme P4R or the Motorola g37 Power. However, the 720p resolution stretched across 6.74 inches doesn't offer the sharpest visual experience.
I could make out individual pixels now and then, and once you notice it, it is hard to ignore. Moreover, the colours look pretty bland for the most part, which I also pointed out in my Nord CE 6 Lite review, as that device also featured an LCD screen.
But I got used to the quality as I kept using the phone, bingeing YouTube videos, scrolling through hours of Instagram, and even watching a season of Narcos on Netflix. Plus, the 120 Hz refresh rate kept scrolling and interactions smooth for the most part.
However, I am not a fan of its brightness. It tops out at 1,200 nits of brightness, and it is not enough for outdoor usage, especially under direct sunlight. On more occasions than I can count, I found myself trying to crank up the brightness only to find it was already at max.
The audio quality is on par for a single speaker – it's loud but flat without much depth. This is why I stuck to using earbuds after my initial days of testing the device.
Overall, for casual use, it is a fine display. But if you want the best display phone under Rs 20,000 with punchy and vibrant colours, I suggest an AMOLED screen phone like the Samsung Galaxy M17 5G.
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Performance Tested
- Mediatek Dimensity 6300 processor
- Up to 6 GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage
The Vivo T5 Lite is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor, which has become the new staple for budget phones. It is almost a budget chipset that we have also seen on the likes of the Realme 16x and the Galaxy F70e 5G. Here's how the T5 Lite performs in typical benchmark tests.
While the benchmarks show decent results, the performance is anything but. Every single interaction with the T5 Lite during my review period reminded me of the Sloth from Zootopia. The phone takes about a second to register touches, then another to launch an app, and so on.
Something as simple as playing a song on YouTube Music turned into a whole ordeal. Open the app, wait for it to load, tap the search box, wait for the keyboard to show up, type the song name, wait for results to appear, tap search, and wait again for the results to actually load. By the time all of that finished, I genuinely reconsidered whether I needed to listen to music at all.
So forget gaming; even basic things are too much for this device to handle. But still, I dared to try gaming on this phone with basic titles like BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile that support 60 FPS on the lowest settings. But the phone struggles to run these games even at a decent 30 FPS. By the time I could spot an enemy, aim the gun at them and shoot, I was already dead.
This should give you an honest idea about the performance of the Vivo T5 Lite. I would recommend that if you are looking for the best gaming phone around 20,000, then get the Vivo T4x or spend a little more and get the Realme P4X or Realme P4 instead.
| Game | Settings |
|---|---|
| CoD Mobile | Low + Max (60 FPS stable) |
| BGMI | Smooth + Extreme (60 FPS) |
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Software and Updates
- OriginOS 6 based on Android 16
- 2 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches
The Vivo T5 Lite 5G comes with OriginOS 6 based on Android 16 on board, with 2 years of promised software updates and 4 years of security patches. In my previous reads, like the iQOO 15R review, I have mentioned how smooth and customisable OriginOS is. But in the case of the T5 Lite, I feel it is a major culprit behind its sluggish performance.
The phone comes preloaded with more than a dozen apps while consistently running unnecessary Vivo services in the background. The performance was so horrible that I had to look up how to uninstall apps and use every method to get rid of all bloatware on the phone.
I disabled the lock screen poster and virtual RAM too and removed some Vivo apps using the ADB method to get the phone to a usable state. I know the Dimensity 6300 is not a powerful chipset, and the 4 GB RAM is going to be a hurdle. But the same chip felt completely fine in the OnePlus N6 review. So, it had to be the OS.
Given that this RAM crisis isn't going away anytime soon, Vivo should really work on improving its software for lower-end devices. The current software experience of the T5 Lite isn't pleasant at all.
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Cameras Reviewed
- 50 MP, f/1.8 main camera with 1080p @ 30 fps video recording
- 5 MP selfie camera
The cameras aren't anything special on the Vivo T5 Lite 5G, as it features a single 50 MP main camera and a 5 MP front camera for selfies. Here's what the camera output looks like.
Main Camera
The main 50 MP camera delivers serviceable shots during the day. The results carry a decent, plausible level of detail for the price and would work fine for sharing on social media. The colours lean towards a noticeably vivid tone where green, particularly on plants and trees, appears cartoonishly vibrant.
The dynamic range is good, particularly in the shot of the Indian flag and the road where clouds are clearly visible. But zoom in, and the cracks show as trees and greenery turn into a soft mush with barely any texture.
Night and low-light photography is where things get messy. Images turn soft, exposure becomes inconsistent, and visible noise creeps into shots more than it should. That said, credit where it's due: it's not as bad as what we saw in the Realme P4R review in similar low-light conditions.
So this isn't the worst camera in its segment, just a clearly average one that leans on its main sensor doing all the work.
Front Camera
The front camera, on the other hand, processes skin tones like something out of a fairness cream ad. Every selfie captured from this 5 MP sensor brightens the skin tones by at least two shades, making the face of our jolly DOP almost luminescent. It's an aggressive effect with no way to disable it in the settings.
Video Quality
The video quality tops out at 1080p @ 30 FPS, which is a bummer, as I would have liked to see a 60 FPS option at minimum in this price range. Since there is no OIS in the camera, the footage looks visibly shaky, and there are some artefacting issues in the footage.
Battery Life and Charging
- 6,500mAh battery capacity
- 44W wired charging supported
Battery life is where the Vivo T5 Lite 5G actually delivers. I got around 7 hours of screen-on time during my Vivo T5 Lite review period with mixed usage. Still, I had almost 20% left by the time I went to bed. It is not as impressive as the likes of the OnePlus N6 with an 8,000mAh battery, but it gets by without having to put the phone on charge in the middle of the day.
Charging is another highlight of the T5 Lite, as it supports 44W wired charging, which can take it from 5–100% in about 1 hour and 10 minutes, which is impressive for a phone with a battery of this size. Most phones in this segment ship with massive batteries and painfully slow charging to match, so it is nice to see Vivo ship the T5 Lite with 44W support.
Vivo T5 Lite 5G Review Verdict: Should You Buy It?
By the end of my Vivo T5 Lite review period, I had made peace with its personality. The device wants you to slow down and reconsider your actions, even when you are in a rush. The battery life and charging are genuinely good for its price, and so is the design. Especially that Wave Blue back and the Dynamic ring light. I can also make peace with the display quality given the current market situation.
But the performance issue isn't a minor quirk you learn to live with. Needing ADB just to get the phone to a usable state isn't something the average buyer would ever consider doing.
And at Rs 19,999, it is not a cheap ask either. So, if you are considering getting the Vivo T5 Lite 5G, I would recommend you avoid the 4 GB RAM variant at all costs. For the same price, you can get the Realme P4 Lite 5G, which offers 6 GB of RAM and should offer a better user experience.
And if you're picking its 6 GB RAM variant, there are better alternatives you should check out like the Realme P4, Redmi Note 14 Pro or Infinix Note Edge.
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