Vivo has finally brought back its S-series in the market after nearly seven years with the launch of the Vivo S2. The S series sits between the Y and V series in Vivo’s smartphone lineup. It comes with a stronger focus on design. In fact, Vivo calls it its “Design-First” series, aimed at young users who want a premium experience.
The Vivo S2 looks to tick many of the right boxes, atleast on paper. It comes with a curved AMOLED display, a large 7,050mAh battery, a 50MP Sony main camera, and the MediaTek Dimensity 7360 Turbo chipset. But as we all know, just having good hardware doesn’t always translate into a great overall experience.
The Vivo S2 has arrived at the Digit Test Labs and over the next few days, I’ll be putting it through a series of tests to find out whether it’s worth your attention. But before the final verdict, here’s my first impressions of the Vivo S2.
Taking the Vivo S2 out of the box, the first thing that caught my attention was its design. The phone looks sleek and feels comfortable to hold. Vivo sent us the Silk White colour variant, and I think it looks quite elegant. The back panel uses a plastic composite sheet and has a wave-like pattern, giving the phone a unique look when light falls on it at different angles.
On the rear panel, you’ll notice the pill-shaped camera module on the top. It houses two cameras on the left, while Vivo’s Aura Light sits on the right. The camera island doesn’t stick out too much.
Speaking of the display, the Vivo S2 features a 6.83-inch curved AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate. The screen itself looks vibrant and smooth at first glance. Vivo says the panel can reach up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which should make it easier to use outdoors.
The Vivo S2 comes with a dual rear camera setup that includes:
On the front, you get a 32MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture for selfies and video calls.
In my early testing, the main camera seems to capture good colours and decent detail in daylight. The selfie camera also appears promising at first glance. That said, I’ll be testing both the front and rear cameras in different lighting conditions, including low light and portrait shots, before sharing my final thoughts in the full review.
The Vivo S2 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7360 Turbo chipset, which is built on a 4nm process. It is paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. On paper, the hardware looks capable of handling everyday tasks like browsing, social media streaming and multitasking.
In my initial usage, the phone felt smooth while navigating through the UI and switching between apps. That said, I’ll be putting the chipset through benchmarks and gaming tests over the next few days to see how it performs under heavier workloads.
On the software side, the Vivo S2 runs OriginOS 6 based on Android 16 out of the box. The interface feels fluid so far.
The Vivo S2 packs a large 7,050mAh battery, which is one of its biggest highlights. Despite the big battery, the phone doesn’t feel too heavy in the hand. It still manages to feel comfortable to hold and use for long periods.
The phone supports 44W wired fast charging. While the charging speed isn’t the fastest in this segment, the larger battery could make up for it by offering longer battery life.
So, on paper, the Vivo S2 looks promising when it comes to endurance. However, I’ll be testing its battery life and charging speed over the next few days to see how it performs in real-world usage.
The Vivo S2 brings back the S series with a design that stands out, while also offering a curved AMOLED display, a large 7,050mAh battery and reliable cameras. The phone also feels smooth in day-to-day use so far, thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 7360 Turbo chipset and OriginOS 6.
That said, the Vivo S2 enters a highly competitive segment where buyers have plenty of options to choose from. So, while the specifications look promising on paper, the real challenge will be how well the phone performs in everyday use. The cameras, battery life, software experience and overall performance will decide if the Vivo S2 is worth considering.
Over the next few days, I’ll be putting the Vivo S2 through our set of tests at the Digit Test Labs, including benchmarks, camera evaluation, battery tests and gaming. Stay tuned for the complete review, coming soon on Digit.