Is the Vivo V5 Plus worth a buy?

Almost all smartphones focus more on the secondary or the 'selfie' camera, says Kakoli Chakraborty.

To comprehend how far the selfie trend has gone, one has to just look at the latest smartphones.

Almost all smartphones are focusing more on the secondary or the 'selfie' camera.

And, of course, why should Vivo stay behind?

The Vivo V5 Plus is the Vivo V5's successor flaunting a dual front camera. But more on that later.

The phone has a metallic unibody and is not only premium looking, but also comfortable to hold.

It has a 5.5-inch Full HD display that makes for sharp and vibrant images.

It also houses a fingerprint sensor just under the display. The sensor is quite responsive and doesn't take much time to register your print either.

Under the hood, the phone houses an octa-core Snapdragon processor with 4GB RAM. Though not the best in the league, the phone still manages to hold its own.

I ran several RAM-heavy games and apps and the phone didn't face a single hiccup. Neither did I face any lag while playing online multiplayer games.

Multi-tasking was a breeze and no stuttering was noticed.

The V5 Plus comes with a 3,055 mAh battery that supports fast-charging. The battery backup is decent enough to last an entire day on moderate usage.

On a full charge, the phone worked perfectly for a day even with some hours of gaming squeezed in.

Coming to the USP of the phone, the V5 Plus comes with a 16MP primary and a dual-sensor secondary camera -- 20MP and 8MP.

The 20MP sensor manages to capture good selfies, even in low-light conditions, while the 8MP sensor is mainly for depth.

The combined effect of the two results in pictures with the 'bokeh' effect, that essentially blurs the background and focuses on the subject.

I managed to get some pretty good pictures from the phone and photography enthusiasts would find it nifty.

Of course, there is a possibility of endless 'bokeh-ed' pictures suddenly cropping up on Instagram.

The secondary camera also features something called the 'Moonlight Glow,' that doubles up as a flash.

The primary camera has improved from its predecessor and the pictures contain considerably less amount of noise.

At Rs 28,980, the Vivo V5 Plus is definitely on the steeper side.

It doesn't offer anything extraordinary nor does it disappoint.

Sure, the dual camera is a nifty feature but apart from budding photographers, people are likely to go for cheaper options such as the Honor 8.