24 Hours Series

24 Hours in Boracay

We took the Vivo V15 Pro out in the sun

Published

April 25, 2019

Daniel Morial

Summer is here and it’s time to go to the beach. The heat in the city is just too much to bear, but getting sunkissed at open seas or by the beach is different.

Among the popular summer destinations in the Philippines, Boracay always sits on top of the list. Vivo invited us to go on a quick vacation to showcase the newly released Vivo V15 Pro. Our main focus here will be the phone’s cameras.

The Vivo V15 Pro is equipped with three rear cameras: a main 48-megapixel camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide shooter, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies, the phone has an elevating 32-megapixel camera.

Without further ado, I’ll share my Boracay trip through the lenses of the Vivo V15 Pro.

The Stay

There are a lot of known hotels on the island of Boracay and most of them have close proximity to the beach. During our trip, we were checked in at Henann Regency Resort and Spa which some of you might know as the former Boracay Regency Beach Resort & Spa.

The place is just along the beachfront in the area of Station 2, making it truly accessible to popular points in Boracay. I only had to walk once along the main highway, because I make it a point to stroll along the beach if I have to go from one place to another.

Aside from having direct access to the beach, the resort also features its own outdoor pools. There are times that you just want a quick dip for when there are too many people on the beach. As you can see in the photo above, there’s a McDonald’s within the vicinity. It’s actually a NXTGEN store similar to the one available in McKinley West, Taguig.

The pool is ideal when you want a nice night swim since you can’t do it at the beach at night. If you’re like me, you can also just rest under the umbrellas and enjoy a fruit shake.

The Beach

The main reason you’d want to go to Boracay is to gander at its beautiful beach and crystal-clear waters. This ain’t just your ordinary beach, of course; the fine white sand is the pride of Boracay. 🏖

Here’s a closer look at the perfectly clean and white sands of Boracay. You can tell that a lot of tourists and locals have walked this area with all those footprints.

I’m not a beach person (please don’t judge), but I do love to bathe under the sun. With tall palm trees lined up along the coast, it’s nice to simply lay out a towel and lie down under the shade. 🌴

When the sun starts to set, be sure to have a great vantage point. The silhouette of the boats and people walking, swimming, and having fun is relaxing.

At night, the waters rest but not the people. The colorful lights from the restaurants and stores along the beach illuminate the scene.

Here’s a quick sample using Vivo V15 Pro’s night mode. You can clearly tell that beachgoers are not just here to swim; they also want to enjoy the Boracay nightlife.

The Experience

Apart from enjoying the beach, there are other activities to do while in Boracay. Island hopping is a must, so that’s what we did.

The boats await in this makeshift port, keeping them away from the swimming area.

While shooting some stills, the waves started to become strong which gave me this money shot below. It looks like it was taken from an action camera, right? Keep in mind that the Vivo V15 Pro is not water-resistant; a waterproof pouch is pretty popular in the area, you can easily get one if you want.

One of our destinations is the Puka Shell Beach, a less-crowded beach north of the island. What makes Puka unique is its white sand is mixed with tiny shells. If you want a more solemn beach in Boracay, visit Puka.

There are no big establishments in the area of Puka, but local vendors do sell fruit shakes, light snacks, and souvenir items.

A sunset cruise is also a great boat activity. The view from the beach is already charming, but sailing through the waters of Boracay during sunset is much nicer. A lot of boats that you can meet and socialize with go out in the open during sundown. 🌅

While waiting for the sunset, you can swim and do some water activities. But when the sun is already setting, it’s best to stay on the roof of your boat for a clear view.

Back on the island, the bars and pubs start opening their doors at night. Compared to before, the nightlife on the island has been tamed, but it doesn’t mean it got boring. 🙅‍♂️

If you’re hypersocial, you can join the pub crawl along with other tourists. The group is mostly composed of foreign nationals; great for those who want to make new connections.

A chill evening is also possible. Beachfront restaurants are open to welcome guests craving some good food and wine.

You can also sit by the pool which is what I did. My sunburn is already getting obvious here. 🤭

With that, I’ll end with this photo I took during the sunset cruise.

Everyone was taking sunset photos when I saw a Korean trying to hold the sun on her palm. I tried to pick out the sun instead. 😁

Full disclosure: Vivo invited GadgetMatch and the rest of the media for an all-expense three-day trip to Boracay. During the trip, I mainly used the Vivo V15 Pro as my daily driver. All of the photos here were taken by me using the V15 Pro.

24 Hours Series

vivo V27: Studio lights in your pocket

Meet the new Aura Light Portrait System

Published

April 14, 2023

Chay Lazaro

It’s spring 2023 and vivo is back with the V series. The vivo V27 comes with a new feature called Aura Light Portrait System, which takes its main camera to another level. Like its predecessor it’s got a color-changing back, making it a fashionable choice for different users.

Stylish color-changing design

We have the V27 in Emerald Green, which starts off with a lighter tint that looks like jade. When exposed to UV light, it changes into a darker shade of green. This is achieved thanks to the Emerald Glass processing technique. The phone also comes in Magic Blue, Flowing Gold, and Noble Black.

Chay is wearing light colors so the Emerald Green model matches her outfit better. It makes a nice, subtle pop of color, and goes with her pastel-y mint green purse and boots.

It’s also worth pointing out the 3D curved screen and this curved back on the V27 make it feel extremely thin and light.

Studio lights in your pocket

As mentioned earlier, the vivo V27 features the Aura Light Portrait System for great portraits even in low light. It’s a combination of the IMX677V sensor, which Sony designed with vivo specifically for this phone, algorithm optimizations, and the Aura Light. Its outer ring is matte and sandblasted, softening the light coming out of it.

The Aura Light, combined with the large sensor, and algorithm optimizations work together to take great portraits even in low light.

Lunch and coffee

The day before was a very long day so we figured we should get food and coffee. We found this dimly lit restaurant in Soho called Cafe Select. I think it’s a German restaurant because we had some schnitzel and there’s German decor everywhere.

We also specifically asked for the corner booth to test out the V27’s low light capabilities. Despite the lack of light sources, it’s impressive that the V27 managed to produce an accurate cutout of me even when I kept moving with the Bokeh Portrait video mode on.

There’s no natural light in this restaurant so it’s also the perfect place to take portraits and test out the Aura Light Portrait System. It’s like a portable ring light that you can use to take clearer portraits. Take a look at some examples.

On video mode, you can also use LUTs. We had fun using the Nostalgia filter to film a short video in the restaurant, which perfectly matches the vintage vibe of its interiors.

High definition selfies

The vivo V27 would not be a V-series smartphone if it didn’t have an amazing selfie camera. On the V27, we got a 50MP HD selfie camera with autofocus.

It’s worth noting that the phone feels so light in the hand. It’s so easy to take one-handed selfies. I also love how subtle the color change is on the Emerald Green model.

The V27 offers three levels of selfie filters that help hide blemishes and enhance your features — None, Natural, and Classic.

The 50MP front camera means clear selfie details. Most other smartphones have inferior selfie cameras compared to its rear counterparts, but not the V27. As you can see in the example below, zooming in on my eyes show that you can clearly see the strands of my eyebrows.

Walking the High Line & shopping

To test its video stabilization and macro camera, we continued to walk the High Line. Both features produced very impressive results.

Another feature we tried is MicroMovie. It’s perfect for creators like me. It comes with a whole bunch of templates that you can use for TikTok or Instagram Reels. I filmed a daily vlog with it and had so much fun.

While we were shopping, I noticed too that the V27 changed colors after being indoors for a bit. It turned into a beautiful white marble-like finish that fades into mint green at the bottom.

After the sun has set, it’s time to take more low-light portraits and OOTD. Our friends Alex and Leslie even joined us for a quick photo shoot. New York City comes to life at night, and with a 1/1.56-inch sensor and Super Night Mode, the vivo V27 can easily capture the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

More than just a camera smartphone

The vivo V27 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 and comes with either an 8GB or 12GB of RAM.

With Extended RAM the phone borrows memory from your internal storage and gives you an additional 8GB RAM. This way you get either 16GB or 20GB available RAM.