vivo launched the vivo S2 FE smartphone in India earlier this month, after the recent launch of the S2. This is the company’s first smartphone in India to pack a whopping 10,000mAh battery. It also has an AMOLED screen and IP69 ratings. Is this a worthy big battery smartphone to stand out in the market? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- vivo S2 FE 5G 8GB + 128GB in Stellar Green colour
- Clear Silicon case
- USB Type-C Cable
- 44W FlashCharge wall adapter
- SIM ejector tool
- Quick start guide and warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
The vivo S2 FE has a 6.83-inch (1260×2800 pixels) 1.5K flat, 449 PPI flat Q10+ AMOLED display and 120Hz refresh rate. The display is bright even outdoors under sunlight, since it has up to 2000 nits HBM brightness. The colour output good as well since it has 1.07 billion colors.
You can select from standard (default), professional and bright screen colour modes. You can select smart switch that can switch between 60 Hz/90 Hz/120 Hz or force it to 60Hz or 120Hz.
Visual enhancement optimizes the color and contrast in apps like YouTube, Netflix and Prime Video for more vivid display effects. It also has HDR 10+ support, which works for YouTube and Netflix.
It has a tiny punch-hole that houses the 32-megapixel autofocus camera. The earpiece is present on the top edge, which doubles up as a secondary speaker. The phone has an in-display optical fingerprint scanner. The bottom bezels are minimal.
Coming to the buttons and ports, the phone has a power button and volume rockers on the right side. The dual SIM slots, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and speaker grill are present on the bottom. The secondary microphone is present on the top along with speaker vents. It has a plastic frame but comes with a matte finish that looks and feels premium.
In addition to Stellar Green color, the phone also comes in Zen White, and Titan Black colors.
The phone carries both IP68 and IP69 ratings for water and dust resistance and has Military-Grade durability (MIL-STD-810H). The phone is just 8.59mm thick and weighs 224 grams, since it packs a 10,000mAh battery.
Camera
- 50MP camera with Sony IMX852 sensor, f/1.8 aperture
- 2MP secondary camera with f/2.4 aperture
- 32MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture
The camera UI is the same as other phones running Origin OS. It includes several features such as AR stickers, long exposure, 50MP mode, supermoon, underwater mode, and more. Even though the phone has a 50MP rear camera, the final output is 12.5MP in size after pixel binning, and the front camera output is 32MP.
Coming to the camera quality, the daylight shots are good, and it is recommended to enable HDR option, which automatically switches on HDR according to the shot, so that the dynamic range is good. The camera can focus quickly. The portrait mode has decent edge detection. Even though it doesn’t have a dedicated macro mode, 2x zoomed shots are good for macro since they can focus close.
Low-light images are decent as well, but there is noise when you zoom in. The night mode is useful, thanks to the optimization. The 32MP camera does a good job in daylight, and the front camera portrait is decent as well, but it is not the best when it comes to low light.
Check out some camera samples below.
It can record videos at 1080 resolution at up to 60 fps from the rear and the front camera supports up to 1080p 30 fps recording. EIS does a decent job in stabilization, but the phone doesn’t have OIS support.
Software, UI and Apps
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 16 with Origin OS 6 on top. It recently got the Android security patch for October 2026. The vivo S2 FE will get 4 years of Android updates and 6 years of security updates matching the S2.
OriginOS 6 centers around the new Origin Smooth Engine, coordinating computing, storage, and display modules for sustained system responsiveness. The Origin Animation System introduces motion effects such as Spring Animation, Blur Transition, Morphing Animation, and One Shot Animation for enhanced visual fluidity, inspired by natural elements.
- Origin Island: Real-time status bar with Android 16 Live Updates
- Copy & Go: Copy details to call, text, or schedule directly
- Drag & Go: Move photos or content seamlessly between apps
- AI Retouch: Combines AI Erase, AI HD and AI color Adjustment
- Productivity Tools: Smart Call Assistant, DocMaster, AI Creation, AI Search
- Cross-Device Integration: Office Kit for Windows and Mac and One-Tap Transfer for iQOO and iPhone offer smooth workflow
Out of 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, about 7.52GB is usable, out of which 3GB is free when the default apps are running in the background. There is an additional 8GB RAM expansion feature. Out of 128GB of storage, 103.5GB is free out of the box. This gets a faster UFS 3.1 storage compared to UFS 2.2 in some phones.
Apart from the usual set of utility and Google apps, it comes preloaded with a lot of apps such as Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Spotify, Amazon, Truecaller, PhonePe and more apps and some games. These apps can be uninstalled, but they come back after reset.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone has an optical in-display fingerprint sensor, which immediately unlocks the phone just by keeping your finger on the sensor. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. There are different animation styles that display when you unlock, which you can disable. The phone also has face unlock that can unlock the phone in seconds, but it is not as secure as fingerprint.
Music Player and Multimedia
The default music player also has an equalizer and DeepField sound effects. It doesn’t have FM radio support. There is audio super resolution and super audio features. Audio through the stereo speakers is crisp and loud. Audio through the headphones is good as well.
This has Widevine L1 so that you can play HD content on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and other streaming apps. It also supports HDR playback on YouTube, and Netflix has HDR 10+.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features, such as 5G with support for n1/n3/n5/n8/n28B/n38/n40/n41/n48/n66/n77/n78 bands, and supports Airtel and Jio 5G out of the box. There is also dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 7 802.11be (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz), Bluetooth 5.4, and GPS + GLONASS support but doesn’t have NFC. It also has USB OTG support, and it has USB 2.0. We did not face any call drops, and the earpiece volume is good.
Moving on, the call quality is good, and we did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume was loud. It uses the company’s own dialer with auto call recording option and Google messages app.
The vivo S2 FE’s body SAR is 1.99W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.14/Kg which is under the limit in IIndia,which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
It is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300e SoC, which is a variant of 7300. It has 4X Arm Cortex-A78 cores at up to 2.5GHz, paired with 4X Arm Cortex-A55 cores at 2GHz. This uses TSMC’s 4nm process. The phone has a 3800 mm² vapor chamber liquid cooling, promising efficient heat dissipation during navigation, video viewing, and charging.
The new Arm Mali-G615 GPU does a decent job in games. You can play graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact, but you can’t expect sustained peak performance in high graphics mode. In BGMI HDR Extreme works.
In the 3D Mark wildlife stress test, it scored 98.3%, which is good. The temperature shot up from 32 to 37 degrees, which is not much. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 10,000mAh (typical) silicon-carbon battery that uses 4th-gen silicon anode technology. It promises over 80% battery health even after 1400 charging cycles or 7 years. In demonstration of its operational endurance, the device secured a Guinness World Record for the “Longest Electronic Product Testing Livestream,” logging a continuous runtime of 32 hours and 37 minutes, said the company.
I got close to about 10 hours of screen on time with 2 days of use. This is mostly on Wi-Fi and occasional 5G use with a smart refresh rate. This is way better than other vivo phones.
Since the phone has support for 44W fast charging, it can charge up to 50% in about an hour, and up to 100% takes over 2 hours. You will have to enable the fast charging option if you want to reduce the charging time, but still over 2 hours is a bit high. Wish the company had gone with a slightly faster charger considering the bigger battery.
There is also a bypass charging feature when gaming, so the charging current bypasses the battery to go straight to the motherboard, so it doesn’t affect the battery. It also has 6W reverse charging that lets you charge other devices with the phone.
Conclusion
Overall, the vivo S2 FE establishes itself as an endurance powerhouse without sacrificing everyday essentials. vivo has managed to engineer a massive 10,000mAh silicon-carbon battery into a chassis that remains surprisingly manageable at 8.59mm thickness. Backed by solid military-grade durability, IP68 and IP69 ratings, a vibrant 1.5K AMOLED display, and a software promise of 4 years of OS upgrades, it gets most core aspects right for heavy users, travelers, and field workers.
However, charging a 10,000mAh cell with a 44W adapter takes well over 2 hours, which requires some patience. The absence of Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) on the primary camera is also a slight compromise considering the price.
If battery endurance is your absolute top priority and you want a rugged, sleek daily driver with an impressive display, the vivo S2 FE is definitely worth considering. However, if you prefer faster charging, better low-light photography with OIS, and raw gaming power, you might want to look at the competition.
Pricing and availability
The vivo S2 FE is priced at Rs. 38,999 for the 6 GB + 128 GB model and the 8 GB + 128 GB model costs Rs. 42,999. It is now available from vivo’s official website, partner brick-and-mortar retail outlets, Amazon India, and Flipkart. There are also launch offers.
Alternatives
The POCO X8 Power is direct competitor that is cheaper and has 100W fast charging and OIS support. realme P4 Power also has a 10,000mAh battery but it lacks stereo speakers.
Pros
- 120Hz AMOLED HDR display is good
- Good cameras in daylight
- Smooth performance
- Solid build quality, IP68 + IP69 ratings
- Excellent battery life
Cons
- No OIS
- 44W charging is bit slow for a huge battery