I’ve been trying out the Vivo V70, and it has a very unusual hidden camera mode that’s as gimmicky as they get, but that doesn’t stop it being some retro fun, and reminiscent of the early days of Instagram.
It’s called Film Camera Mode, and unless you know it’s there, you may never actually use it.
What is Film Camera Mode?
A Polaroid/Instagram homage
Instant cameras, like those made by Polaroid and Fujifilm, where the photograph is produced in physical form immediately after taking it, are fun and tactile in the modern, digital-first era.
Remember the early days of Instagram? The filters and style were based around those instant cameras, and the retro appeal made it cool and fun, encouraging people to make the switch from film to phone.
Vivo has recreated, to a certain extent, the look, style, and features of instant photography, via Instagram’s beginnings, inside the Vivo V70’s camera app. To find it, there’s an arrow indicator under the shutter button. Tap it, and the view immediately changes to a new interface you need to explore.
What does it do?
Fun with photos
Aside from the shutter button, you can select different filters and access a special portrait mode, but the real fun lies inside the awkwardly named Pack Film Photographic Paper menu.
These are essentially alternative borders which surround the instant-style image after you take a photo. Each gives a different look, and can be fully customized, right down to the words printed on the border.
Tap the shutter button and the photo “prints” out from the side of the main screen. Select the image, and you can view all the Film Camera Mode images in a special album. By using the filters, borders, and portrait settings, photos can be extensively personalized.
Not one for camera snobs
Gimmicky in a good way
Vivo’s Film Camera Mode isn’t one for camera professionals, but for anyone wanting a bit of fun and recall what Instagram used to be like before it was ruined by algorithms and advertising. It’s a cool extra feature.
The special mode still allows you to access the V70’s telephoto and wide-angle lenses, along with the selfie camera, so you’re not losing out on functionality by using it.
It reminds me of OnePlus’s interpretation of Hasselblad’s XPan mode. It’s not a feature you’ll want to use all the time, but when the chance does come along, you’ll enjoy it. However, its simplicity and emphasis on borders means it doesn’t encourage you to get as creative as XPan did.
The downsides come with the camera not saving a standard and a Film Camera Mode photo, so you’re stuck with only the photo with a border, plus Vivo doesn’t make the album experience very enticing or give it a look that matches the fun UI for the camera mode.
What about the rest of the V70?
Solid mid-range phone
The V70 is the latest entry into Vivo’s mid-range line-up, and another where the camera has been worked on with partner Zeiss. The 50-megapixel main camera is joined by a superb 50MP telephoto camera, and an ordinary 8MP wide-angle camera, plus a 50MP selfie camera.
It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, and the option of 256GB or 512GB of storage space. The battery has a 6,500mAh capacity and wired 90W charging.
On the front is a 6.59-inch AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 2750 x 1260 pixel resolution. Android 16 is onboard with Vivo’s OriginOS 6 interface, which Vivo says will receive four major OS updates and six years of security updates.
The phone’s frame is made of aluminum, it weighs 187 grams if you buy the black model, or 194 grams if you get one of the brighter colors, and is just 7.6mm thick. It’s durable too, with an IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance rating.
Using the Vivo V70
Compact and stylish
The Vivo V70 is a very sensibly sized smartphone, and it makes it a pleasure to hold and use. The low weight makes it manageable, there’s no fatigue when holding it in portrait orientation, and the slimline camera module stops it wobbling too much when face up on a flat surface.
I like the rounded corners and although the screen and rear panel are both flat, there’s no sharpness. There’s a reliable fingerprint sensor, and a suitably quick face unlock option that has usually beaten the fingerprint sensor, making it frictionless to operate.
Vivo’s OriginOS is more like Xiaomi’s HyperOS than Google’s Pixel interface, with some bright colors and unusual icon shapes by default, but at least the menus and features like Quick Settings are mostly untouched.
Vivo installs plenty of its own and third-party apps, so you will have to spend some time making the OS your own. OriginOS is a definite visual and operational improvement over Funtouch, Vivo’s previous Android interface.
Vivo V70’s price and availability
I haven’t used the Vivo V70 as my primary Android phone, so can’t comment on battery life, charging, or overall everyday performance. That said, nothing has come up so far to make me think it’ll be anything other than a reliable, capable phone.
The Film Camera Mode is fun, but not a reason to buy the phone. In normal mode, the camera takes vibrant, high-contrast photos suitable for sharing online, but the telephoto zoom is a real winner, with the 10x zoom returning really sharp and detailed photos. This gives the V70 plenty of versatility. The 8MP wide-angle is barely worth using due to its low resolution.
Vivo doesn’t sell its smartphones in the US, but has given some models a European release in the past. The V70 will be released in parts of Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and some other locations.
It’s set to compete with phones like the OnePlus 15R, Samsung Galaxy A56, and the forthcoming Nothing Phone 4a Pro.
