Vivo T4 Ultra: The increasingly blurred boundaries between smartphone segments have created a particularly interesting category often termed “premium mid-range” – devices that incorporate selected flagship features while maintaining more accessible price points through calculated compromises.
The Vivo T4 Ultra represents a particularly compelling implementation of this approach, focusing on performance and fast charging while making judicious trade-offs in less visible areas.
Having used this device as my primary smartphone for the past three weeks, I’ve developed nuanced impressions about where it genuinely excels and where limitations become apparent.
Strategic Context: Understanding the T-Series Position
To properly evaluate the T4 Ultra, one must first understand its positioning within Vivo’s diverse lineup.
As part of the performance-oriented T-series, this device targets young consumers seeking gaming capability and fast charging at accessible price points.
This creates a clear differentiation from Vivo’s photography-focused V-series and the more affordable Y-series, allowing more specific feature prioritization based on target audience needs.
Priced at approximately ₹23,999 ($290) for the base variant, the T4 Ultra occupies a strategically important position in the highly competitive mid-range segment where Chinese manufacturers, Samsung’s A-series, and various domestic brands fight intensely for market share.
This positioning reflects Vivo’s recognition that many consumers increasingly prioritize specific features aligned with their usage patterns rather than seeking balanced all-rounders.
Design Approach: Practical Sophistication
The T4 Ultra’s exterior design successfully balances visual distinctiveness with practical considerations.
The “Galactic Green” variant I tested features a matte-finished back panel with a subtle gradient that shifts between different green hues depending on lighting conditions.
This finish not only creates visual interest without appearing excessively flashy but also effectively resists fingerprints – a practical consideration often overlooked in glossier implementations.
At 7.99mm thick and weighing 191 grams, the device strikes a reasonable balance between substantiality and manageable heft.
The plastic frame incorporates a metallic finish that maintains acceptable build quality despite cost constraints.
The side-mounted fingerprint sensor doubles as the power button, offering reliable authentication with minimal delay.
The front design embraces contemporary aesthetics with a centered punch-hole camera and relatively slim bezels, though the slightly more pronounced chin serves as a reminder of the mid-range positioning.
The flat display with rounded corners enhances usability, particularly when typing near screen edges – an ergonomic consideration sometimes overlooked in curved implementations.
Display Experience: Balanced Performance
The 6.78-inch AMOLED panel represents one of the T4 Ultra’s clearer strengths.
This FHD+ resolution (2400 × 1080) display delivers vibrant colors and deep blacks characteristic of OLED technology, while the 120Hz refresh rate provides smooth scrolling and interface navigation that enhances the perception of system responsiveness.
Color accuracy impresses in “Standard” mode, while “Vivid” provides increased saturation without venturing into the cartoonish territory some competitors occupy.
The 1300 nits peak brightness ensures excellent visibility even under direct sunlight – a capability particularly valuable during outdoor usage.
The in-display fingerprint sensor demonstrates quick, reliable performance that compares favorably with more expensive implementations.
Gaming capabilities benefit from the 360Hz touch sampling rate, which provides responsive inputs during competitive titles where milliseconds can determine outcomes.
The dedicated gaming mode further enhances this experience by blocking notifications, optimizing performance, and providing quick access to game-specific settings without exiting the application.
Performance Dynamics: Gaming Priority
Powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 7300 processor, the T4 Ultra delivers performance calibrated for its gaming-oriented positioning.
This 4nm chipset provides efficient processing for everyday tasks while offering substantial graphics capabilities for mobile gaming.
The 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage in my review unit provided comfortable multitasking headroom for typical usage patterns.
In practical terms, the device handles everything from basic communication to demanding games without hesitation.
Apps launch promptly, system navigation maintains fluidity thanks to the 120Hz display, and switching between recent applications occurs without significant reloading when staying within reasonable multitasking boundaries.
Gaming performance represents a particular strength, with titles like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile running smoothly at high settings while maintaining reasonable frame rates.
The vapor chamber cooling system effectively dissipates heat during extended gaming sessions, preventing the throttling that often affects devices in this category during sustained workloads.
After 45 minutes of continuous gaming, the device remained merely warm rather than uncomfortably hot – an impressive thermal management achievement at this price point.
Camera Capabilities: Calculated Compromise
The camera system combines a 50MP Sony IMX882 primary sensor with an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro lens.
This configuration reveals one of the device’s clearer compromises compared to Vivo’s photography-focused V-series, emphasizing the primary camera experience while including secondary lenses of limited practical utility – an approach aligned with the device’s performance-oriented positioning.
In favorable lighting, the main camera captures detailed images with natural color reproduction that avoids excessive processing.
Dynamic range proves adequate for most scenes, though challenging lighting can occasionally produce blown highlights or crushed shadows. The ultrawide, while useful for environmental shots, exhibits noticeable quality degradation compared to the main sensor – particularly in lower light conditions.
Low-light performance reveals expected limitations, with noticeable noise and detail loss in challenging conditions.
The night mode improves matters considerably, producing usable images through computational photography that balances noise reduction with detail preservation – though results fall predictably short of devices specifically focused on camera capabilities.
Video recording capabilities include stable 4K capture at 30fps with reasonable electronic stabilization, providing acceptable results for social sharing and casual documentation.
The 16MP front-facing camera delivers detailed selfies in good lighting, with portrait mode creating convincing background blur despite relying primarily on software algorithms.
Battery Experience: Exceptional Charging
The 5500mAh battery consistently delivers full-day endurance even under heavy usage patterns, with more conservative users potentially extending into a second day.
While this longevity matches rather than exceeds some competitors, the charging experience represents a genuine differentiator.
The included 80W FlashCharge adapter transforms the charging experience from necessity to brief interlude, delivering a full charge in approximately 48 minutes.
More impressively, even a 15-minute connection provides sufficient capacity for several hours of typical use – a convenience that fundamentally changes usage patterns by eliminating battery anxiety even for the heaviest users.
Vivo T4 Ultra: Focused Excellence
The Vivo T4 Ultra ultimately succeeds through clear understanding of its target audience and judicious feature prioritization.
Rather than attempting to excel across all specifications, it delivers exceptional performance in areas most valued by its young, gaming-oriented demographic – processing power, display quality, and charging speed – while making calculated compromises in camera capabilities and build materials.
For consumers seeking substantive performance advantages rather than balanced mediocrity, the T4 Ultra offers a compelling proposition that focuses on features that meaningfully impact daily satisfaction for its specific target audience.
In embracing this focused approach rather than attempting universal appeal, Vivo has created a device that serves its intended purpose with impressive effectiveness.