vivo Y36 5G Review – Punching Upwards

Unboxing the vivo Y36 5G

Starting off the vivo Y36 5G review with the unboxing, the packaging is a simple white box with some its branding kept to a minimal, relatively speaking. Some of its key features are listed on the rear. Inside the box, you can find the following items:

• 44W FlashCharge charging brick
• USB-C cable
• Documentations
• SIM ejector pin
• Clear protective case
• The vivo Y36 5G smartphone itself

Specifications

SoC	MediaTek Dimensity 6020, 7nm
RAM	8GB + 8GB Extended RAM
Storage	256GB
Display	6.64″ FHD+ (2388 x 1080) Dotch Display
Rear Camera	50MP + 2MP Bokeh
Selfie Camera	16MP
Battery	5000mAh 44W FlashCharge
Dimensions	Mystic Black: 164.06 × 76.17 × 7.98 mm Semporna Green: 164.06 × 76.17 × 8.07 mm 190g
Ingress Protection	IP54
Software	Funtouch OS 13 based on Android 13
Colours	Semporna Green and Mystic Black

Performance

Starting off our benchmark suite with Antutu v9, the vivo Y36 5G performed pretty much where we expected it to given its more affordable offering. CPU power might not be much but I would say it’s at least adequate for normal day-to-day use if you’re not editing videos or playing mobile games on it.

In Geekbench 6, it is the the weakest overall but it is also the cheapest. If you don’t compare scores, it managed to perform rather decently in both multi core and single core scenarios.

Moving on to 3DMark, I’m surprised the vivo Y36 5G managed a decent showing. It’s not great but given how the previous two benchmarks went, I genuinely expected worse. I did not bother to try running Wild Life here as that is quite a heavy test that even flagships will have at least a bit of struggle, so we went with only two of the Sling Shot tests.

Lastly on PCMark Work 3.0, the vivo Y36 5G actually managed an admirable score. This should at least give consumers a bit more confidence when using this as a daily driver. It practically indicates that if you’re simply using it to communicate people and for social media, it should work just fine.

In case you’re wondering, battery life is the one area that the vivo Y36 5G really shines within the tests. It managed to last 13 hours and 30 minutes (810 minutes) in PCMark’s Work 3.0 endurance test before the battery died. You definitely don’t have to worry about it dying all of a sudden as it can easily last through a whole day’s worth of use, even two days if you’re a light user.

Camera

Given the affordable price tag, I wasn’t expecting much from the camera on the vivo Y36 5G. However, it did manage to turn up a number of decent shots. It managed to capture a good amount of detail but you can see that it suffers quite a bit when zoomed in. I would describe it as one that is more light-dependent than a good number of smartphones out there as the shutter speed tends to be rather slow if it’s not bright. This would result in it having trouble with moving subjects, which is a lot more apparent in low-light environments. The selfie camera works well enough thanks to Aura Screen Light but you will need to tweak it a bit as pictures tend to be overexposed.

The Good

There are a number of good reasons to consider getting the vivo Y36 5G. For starters, it looks amazing in its 8mm slim chassis and Semporna Green colourway, having an aura of elegance you wouldn’t expect in this price range. Usually, you’d tend to see devices that look really cheap with hollow plastics all over but this one easily looks like something worth double its asking price.

The Dimensity 6020 chip powering works well enough to give me an overall smooth experience. For the most part, there is minimal stuttering as I quickly navigate through the entirety of the device’s UI, which is good enough for most people. You’d only really feel the need for better performance if you’re running mobile games or when you’re searching for files / apps as it’s not instant. With that being said, it is capable of playing mobile games, but it will slow down in the more resource-intensive ones like Honkai Star Rail, but that shouldn’t be a surprise.

As for the display, the brightness is adequate for most cases and size doesn’t feel big as it’s not wide so it’s easy for most people to use it with one hand. Furthermore, its Full HD+ resolution sets a standard for affordable devices, ensuring that 720P HD displays are a thing of the past. The icing on the cake here is the 90Hz refresh rate, giving you extra smoothness as you use the display. It’s nothing new in this day and but it’s not about changing the game at this price range, it’s about setting a new standard for affordable smartphones.

With up to 256GB of internal storage along with 8GB RAM, the latter of which can be further extended by an additional 8GB via Extended RAM, gives it more than enough memory for most consumers. You can have a lot of apps and store plenty of music, pictures and videos in it. Unless you’re a particularly heavy user, you would have trouble filling up the memory here but realistically, a heavy user would look for something stronger like the vivo V27.

If you want to check out our review of the vivo V27, click right here.

It also has a good variety of connectivity options, most notably 5G, NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.1. You essentially have everything you need here for a smartphone in 2023, so you don’t have to make any major sacrifices just because you’re paying less. In fact, the fact that it has IP54 certification means you don’t have to worry about it being fragile either as some liquid on it would not cause any harm. Just keep in mind to not bring it into the swimming pool with you as it’s not protected against that much water.

The Bad

Of course, there are a number of drawbacks for the vivo V36 5G as well. For starters, it only has a single speaker configuration. While the volume is decently loud, it does sound rather tinny and hollow. It would be nice to have stereo speakers but it might be too difficult to have that while still keeping prices low. Personally, I’m fine with it as is, just putting up points that can be used to further bolster its value for future iterations.

Secondly, while it certainly has an eye-catching design, the glossy nature of the rear means two things; it’s inherently a fingerprint magnet and it’s rather slippery to hold. However, this can be easily rectified with the use of a protective case, even if it is a cheap one. Most people tend to use a protective case, at least for style and personalization anyway so I wouldn’t be bothered about this at all.

Lastly, while it is great that it comes with Funtouch OS 13, based on Android 13, out of the box, it does come with quite a bit of bloatware. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as they can be useful. It’s a matter of whether you’d like to stick to their ecosystem or have your own set of apps. If it’s the latter, just install it and ignore the vivo apps, no harm done unless you’re very particular about having minimal apps installed on your device.

vivo Y36 5G Verdict

The vivo Y36 5G is an affordable, yet complete smartphone. You have everything you need at a low price of RM1,099. Yes, it does have its fair share of drawbacks but I wouldn’t call any of them a dealbreaker necessarily, and some are just to be expected in this price range. It ultimately depends on your budget and needs in a smartphone, and it’s not easy to find something as good at this price range.

At the end of our vivo Y36 5G review, I award this smartphone with our Silver Pokdeward.

Big thanks to vivo Malaysia for sending us this smartphone for the purpose of this review.