The vivo Y36, which launched in the Philippines last July, has quickly become one of vivo‘s most popular smartphone models on the local market, and that’s not surprising given its reasonable price tag and respectable performance.
In the Philippines, the device carries a suggested retail price of P12,999, or roughly $231 converted, for 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
We said in our review, “A large screen, solid 6nm chipset, and long battery life are its strongest features, and you could do a lot worse at this end of the market.” In fact, we recently took a closer look at the vivo Y36 4G’s gaming and day-to-day performance and found that it can actually go above 60 fps in some games, including Mobile Legends and Dead Cells.
However, if you’re still curious about the phone’s camera performance and potential for content creation, you may want to keep on reading and scrolling for our more in-depth look at its rear and front cameras, which includes a few sample photos shot on the handset.
The vivo Y36 sports a well-crafted body with a 2.5D Curved Design featuring a rounded plastic backing that contributes to its comfortable in-hand feel
But first, some thoughts about its design: The vivo Y36 is hands down one of the most striking smartphones in its price range, sporting a well-crafted body with a 2.5D Curved Design featuring a rounded plastic backing that contributes to its comfortable in-hand feel.
The signature color this time around is called Glitter Aqua. According to vivo’s official website, it boasts a Golden Ripple Process that reflects onto a crystal-glass design. It goes on to say that the Glitter Aqua color variant is inspired by “the golden ripples of a shimmering lake,” and it’s pretty obvious where that description would come from.
The Glitter Aqua color variant is inspired by ‘the golden ripples of a shimmering lake’
If you’re not a fan of flashy aesthetics, especially on smartphones, you can also pick up the vivo Y36 4G in Meteor Black, which flaunts an anti-glare, metal-brushed flourite AG glass back for a more premium appearance. Regardless of which colorway you choose, you get a 6.64-inch flat LCD display on the front with a punch-hole cutout for a 16-megapixel selfie camera.
Another highlight here is the phone’s above-average dust and water resistance. We don’t see a lot of models in this price segment with an IP certification, so it’s a welcome surprise that the vivo Y36 4G carries an IP5X rating for dust resistance and an IPX4 rating for water resistance.
Basically, that means you don’t have to worry about your unit surviving certain outdoor conditions like rain, which is a major plus if you live in a tropical country where storms are frequent, like the Philippines. Having an IPX4 rating means the device is protected from accidental splashes; however, it cannot be submerged in water.
The smartphone packs two cameras in a rectangular camera module with the brand’s reflective Fantasy Frame design surrounding it
At the back, the local variant of the vivo Y36 packs two cameras in a rectangular camera module with the brand’s reflective Fantasy Frame design surrounding it. The main camera is 50 megapixels, while the secondary camera has a 2-megapixel depth sensor to help with portrait photography. That means you only get one usable camera on this model, and thankfully, it’s a pretty good one. The 16-megapixel front camera, meanwhile, is complemented by vivo’s Aura Screen Light feature to make your selfies brighter and sharper in low light, allowing you to snap Instagram-worthy images in dark conditions, like in a bar or restaurant.
Indeed, low-light scenarios can be challenging for any content creator using a smartphone as a camera. Thankfully, the vivo Y36 4G has a Night mode to help it produce brighter and sharper results when the lights are low. There’s even a number of Night mode filters to make your shots look more dramatic or just different from a color-tone perspective.
Like the camera-centric vivo V27 series, this particular model excels at shooting portraits and comes with several styles, filters, and light effects to make your pictures stand out and look stylish in Portrait mode. As a content creator, that means you can use this phone’s built-in camera features to take nice photos and directly share them on Facebook or Instagram without spending extra time applying edits.
Among the portrait styles we like is called Flash Portrait, which uses the smartphone’s built-in flash to brighten your shots and give them the “paparazzi” look. French Impressions, on the other hand, deliver a distinctive soft and ethereal feel without sacrificing clarity.
