Computer Shopper - UK (2019-10)

ISSUE 380|COMPUTERSHOPPER|OCTOBER 2019

VODAFONE SmartV10

★★★★★

£105•From shop.vodafone.co.uk

VERDICT

Whilenotquiteperfect,theSmartV10istoo
good–andtooaffordable–tobeoverlooked

ANDROID 9.0 SMARTPHONE

Batterylife

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage90forperformancedetails

PROCESSORQuad-core2GHzQualcommSnapdragon429•

SCREENSIZE5.9in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,560x720•REAR

CAMERAS13megapixels,5megapixels•STORAGE32GB•

WIRELESSDATA4G•NFCNo•DIMENSIONS151x70x8.2mm•

WEIGHT145g•OPERATINGSYSTEMAndroid9.0•

WARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•DETAILSshop.vodafone.co.uk•

PARTCODESmartV10

SPECIFICATIONS

15h12m

VòAAjòãE’SČ~òãES~AVEoften been
reliable choices forbudget buyers, and the new
Smart V10 continues the same wallet-friendly
approach, while adopting adesign that looks
almost as eye-catching as apremium flagship.
It’s made of plastic, and the rear camera
housing and side buttons are chunky, but
otherwise the Smart V10 is well made forthe
money. Its glossy plastic chassis and silver-tinted
edges look nice,and it feels solid in the hand.
It’s charged via Micro USB instead of USB
Type-C, which limits the speed at which the
battery is replenished, but you don’t often see
speedy charging this fardown the price scale.
The massive 5.9in screen dominates, and while
it isn’t bezel-free,ittakes up alarge portion of
the front of the phone,with ascreen-to-body
ratio of just over 80%. The drop notch, which
houses the selfie camera, also looks swish.

PIXEL PINCHING
The IPS display’s 1,560x720 resolution is decent
fora5.9inpanel.It’sasurprisinglygoodperformer,
too: contrast is an exceptional 1,409;1, while peak
brightness hits asunlight-friendly 562cd/m2.
Even sRGB coverage,oftenthe downfall of cheap
displays, comes in at arespectable 86%, while
the average delta-E of 2.51 looks high but is
actually extremely good fora£100-ish handset.
The Smart V10’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 429
processor is also speedy by budget standards.
Geekbench 4scores of 867 in the single-core test
and 2,510 in the multicore test point towards a
smartphone that won’t entirely avoid slowdown
when juggling multiple applications, but is
decently fast forthe most part. However,the
GFXBench 3Manhattan onscreen test managed
an average frame rateof9fps, so you’ll have to
stick to basic 2D games.
Stamina is another high point, with the
3,400mAh capacity battery lasting 15h 12m in our
video loop test. That’s over two hours longer
than the Vodafone Smart X9 (Shopper377).
In an attempt to break awayfrom other
budget phones, the Smart V10 incorporates a
dual-camera array. This is arelatively simple
setup,with aregular 13-megapixel snapper
working in conjunction with a5-megapixel
depth-sensing lens formore effective blurred
background portrait pictures. You’ll find an
8-megapixel selfie camera on the front as well.
As forimage quality,the Smart V10’s output is
alot better than abudget phone’s shots have any
right to be.Comparing them with the same
scenes captured using the Alcatel 1X, it’s clear
that the difference in quality is significant. The
Smart V10’s camera manages to pack in more

detail in neighbouring brickwork and tree foliage,

with generally well-judged exposures. However,

the somewhat aggressive HDR shooting mode

seems to dramatically softendetails, producing

an image that can look quitewashed out. The

amount of visual noise is also increased, so we’d

recommend keeping this setting switched off.

When it comes to low-light shooting, the

differences in image quality begin to level out.

The Smart V10’s rear-facing snapper struggles

to let in enough light, producing asoft-looking

image that lacks detail. Still, it’s generally

better-looking than the gaudy,green-tinted

picture taken on the Alcatel 1X.

Finally,the Vodafone Smart V10 records video

footage only at amaximum 1080p resolution at

30fps, and there’s no video stabilisation to speak

of.Despitethis, the footage looks as crisp as the

limited recording resolution allows.

CHEAP FEATS

Look past the Smart V10’s low price and you’ll

find aphone that’s filled with goodies. Very little

else offers this much and asks forsolittle in

return. It isn’t flawless, but if your budget is tight

and you’re in need of acompetent phone,you

can do no better than this bargain wonder.

NathanSpendelow

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