Vivo Y55 Price, Specs, Unboxing, Initial Review, Antutu Benchmark Score

The new Vivo Y55 midrange Android smartphone has two key features that I'm sure many millennials will love.

First, it has beauty mode and Screen Flash for taking selfies using the front cam, giving you self-portraits that are instantly ready for sharing on social media regardless of the lighting condition.

Second, the handset's unique user interface has a built in Smart Multi-Screen feature that displays two apps on the screen side-by-side to help you get more things done. This supports a good variety of applications including Messenger, Youtube, and Google Play Movies, among others.

I've been playing with this handset for several days now and I think it's a pretty good purchase for just Php 7,990. Off hand, I'm inclined to recommend it -- especially to students and young professionals.

Alright. Let's do an unboxing, shall we?

The carton box looks a lot like that of the Apple iPhone. You lift the lid to reveal the stuff inside.

This is the standard Vivo Y55 retail package, which includes the unit itself, standard earphones, travel charger, microUSB to USB cable, user manual, and free silicone case.

I prefer earphones with no in-ear buds so I like this one; It also has microphone for making calls. The travel charger doesn't support fast charging, though.

Thanks for the free jelly case, Vivo! I mean, at least, I won't have to buy one separately.

Vivo Y55 sports a 5.2-inch HD (1,280 x 720 pixels) IPS display that looks bright and brilliant when viewed from various angles. The screen has good contrast and colors don't look washed out.

This handset features a non-removable back-plate with sleek metallic sheen that actually makes it look like anodized aluminum. A number of 2016 handsets - both from local and international brands - have this look, which I find rather attractive.

Both the volume rocker and the power button are found on the right panel -- for easy access using the thumb if you're right-handset and the pointer finger if you're left handed.

As someone who loves listening to music on the go, I love Y55's the loud speaker, which is located at the rear beside the microUSB port. This delivers audio louder than most phones in this price bracket all while maintaining the integrity of the clip. It's really good. Plus, because of where the speaker is placed, you can still enjoy your music well even if you put the device on the table.

Vivo Y55's main 8 MegaPixel autofocus camera (with LED flash, HDR mode, and Ultra HD mode) at the back performs well in settings with ample ambient light but struggles a bit in low lighting conditions. You can rely on it, though, for taking good food shots that you can share on Facebook or Instagram.

Will post more sample photos soon. Stay tuned!

On the other hand, the 5MP selfie cam in front is definitely one of the better ones on a sub-Php 8,000 handset that I've tried.

For one, its Beautification Mode nicely evens out the skin-tone but maintains its original color.

I'm proudly Moreno (brown-skinned). I'm glad it doesn't make me look Tisoy (fair).

Also, the front shooter's Screen Flash technology (that turns the display into an illumination source) can be relied on when taking selfies at night or in conditions where there's little ambient light.

That's my mom!

Under the hood, Vivo Y55 is powered by a 1.4 GHz 64-Bit Octa Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset - incorporating eight ARM Cortex A53 CPUs and an Adreno 530 GPU - and has 2GB of RAM for multitasking.

The smartphone has 16GB of internal storage (12GB of which is available to the user) that can easily be augmented using the dedicated microSD card expansion slot located at the top panel alongside the 3.5mm audio jack.

These internal hardware combine to give Vivo Y55 an Antutu Benchmark Score in the range of 41,000 to 43,000. Here, I got 42,276, which is certainly not bad given the SRP of this model.

Right out of the box, the device runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system underneath all the customizations that come with Vivo's very own FunTouch OS user interface. In fact, the skin is so heavy that you might find it hard to believe that it's actually on Marshmallow. Nonetheless, I find many elements of the UI quite tasteful and fairly useful -- especially the multitasking tab and easy-access menu you can pull up from the bottom of the screen anywhere you are on the interface and whichever app you're using.

The software optimizations implemented by Vivo as well as the handset's innards work together to deliver a noticeably smooth touch experience and light 3D gaming performance. For a midrange Android smartphone, this release certainly delivers in those departments (It's not the best but it's more than good enough) and it's something that I want you to take note of should you get to try out this model in an official Vivo outlet near you.

Dual SIM Dual Standby (microSIM + nanoSIM) and 4G LTE Cat4 enabled Vivo Y55 is now available at all Vivo Mobile Concept Stores and booths in all major malls nationwide. It comes in three colors, namely, Gold, Rose Gold, and Silver.