The vivo S2, launched a few months back, was a solid phone that prioritized design and looks. That said, almost every phone today will get you a great-looking display, decent performance, and capable cameras. But there’s one thing that still annoys me: battery anxiety. Even expensive phones can leave you hunting for a charger by the end of a busy day. That’s the problem the vivo S2 FE tries to solve. Instead of competing purely on performance or camera hardware, vivo has given this phone a massive 10,000mAh battery. This was unimaginable just a few years back.
Fortunately, there’s more to the S2 FE than endurance. You get a 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a MediaTek Dimensity 7300e processor, and a 50MP Sony main camera. But is it worth the ₹38,999 price tag? I’ve been using the S2 FE for the past couple of weeks, taking it to cafes for Instagram stories, playing games, and more. Here’s how it held up.
vivo S2 FE Review
Summary
The vivo S2 FE focuses on battery life, and boy, does it deliver. The 10,000mAh battery comfortably lasts beyond two days, even with gaming, doomscrolling, and plenty of camera use. The design looks good, the 120Hz AMOLED display is great for watching content, and the speakers get loud enough for everyday use. Performance is decent for daily tasks and games like BGMI, too
Design & Hardware
The vivo S2 FE is built around a 10,000mAh battery, yet it doesn’t look like the rugged phones you’d normally associate with that capacity. It measures 8.59mm thick in Stellar Green and Titan Black, while the Zen White variant is slightly thicker at 8.69mm. The phone weighs between 224 and 225 grams, depending on the color. That’s not exactly lightweight, but it’s a reasonable trade-off for such a large battery. I have the green one, and I do like this design. The S2 FE looks simple, yet sophisticated enough to be used anywhere. The color also shimmers when the light hits just right.
The camera island is fairly standard, with two lenses and an LED flash. However, its transparent design is something new, and the 50MP branding has a subtle shadow that adds to the premium look. I also showed the phone to several of my friends, who all complimented the color and design, so that’s a bonus. As for the handling, the sides are plastic and flat. The phone is big, so handling can get a bit difficult if you have smaller hands. Regardless, the flat sides are comfortable to hold, and the phone slips easily into your pockets.
Durability is another highlight. The S2 FE has IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance, along with military-standard durability testing. These features should provide some reassurance against everyday mishaps, although I’d still keep the phone away from seawater, which is corrosive. You also get dual stereo speakers, Bluetooth 5.4, dual-band Wi-Fi, and an in-display fingerprint sensor. The sensor sits slightly lower than I’d have liked, but it worked every time, even with slightly wet or dirty fingers.
Display & Speakers
The vivo S2 FE features a 6.83-inch AMOLED display with a 2,800 x 1,260 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Watching videos, especially Lanterns, was a fantastic experience, thanks to the deep blacks and strong contrast. The high refresh rate made supported content and interface animations feel smoother.
vivo claims up to 2,000 nits of High Brightness Mode (HBM) brightness. While I don’t have a device to measure that myself, I did take the phone out in the hot October sun, and the panel was pretty visible. I wasn’t forced to squint. The display also supports HDR10+ and a P3 wide color gamut. Slim bezels and a claimed 94.47% screen-to-body ratio give you plenty of screen real estate. Without a screen protector or case, the phone held up against everyday wear without any major scratches. I also dropped it by accident, but the plastic frame absorbed that impact.
Audio comes from dual stereo speakers with vivo’s VEQ Algorithm. Stereo speakers make watching videos and playing games more immersive than a single-speaker setup, and that was true of the S2 FE. They get pretty loud, making calls easy to hear, while dialogue remains clear when watching YouTube.
Performance & Software
The vivo S2 FE runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 7300e, a 6nm octa-core processor with four performance cores clocked at up to 2.5GHz and four efficiency cores running at up to 2.0GHz. Graphics are handled by the ARM Mali-G610 MC2 GPU. You can choose between 6GB and 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, paired with 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
On paper, this is hardware aimed at everyday use rather than flagship-level performance. Browsing, messaging, social media, video streaming, and switching between apps felt smooth, with few stutters or long waits. I did notice some slight hesitation when opening heavier apps like Camera or BGMI, but nothing major.
The S2 FE runs Android 16 with OriginOS 6. vivo has introduced OriginOS 7 with the V80, but the S2 FE is still running the older version. You can personalize the home screen with widgets, wallpapers, and themes. Origin Island presents supported ongoing activities and notifications in a compact area, while Private Space lets you keep selected apps and personal content separate from the regular interface. It also includes Shake and Share to share content between compatible devices. AI is another focus, with features such as Google Gemini, AI Creation, AI Captions, AI Erase, Drag & Go, vivo Office Kit, and AI SuperLink. Some of these could be helpful, although I don’t use much AI myself.
Since this is a review, I also ran a series of benchmarks to test the S2 FE’s performance ceiling. In AnTuTu, the S2 FE scored 904,341 points. In Geekbench, it reached 867 in single-core and 2,949 in multi-core. As for gaming, I also downloaded BGMI. With graphics set to Smooth and the frame rate set to Extreme, BGMI ran well, with no noticeable lag even during combat. vivo has included a 3,800 mm² vapor chamber cooling system. During my gaming test, the phone got slightly warm after an hour of BGMI, but temperatures remained manageable
Battery Life
The 10,000mAh battery is easily the vivo S2 FE’s biggest selling point. vivo claims up to 30 hours of video playback, 30 hours of live streaming, 68 hours of voice calls, and 15.8 hours of gaming. While I don’t watch videos for 30 hours straight, I did find the S2 FE’s battery pretty amazing. It’ll last you more than 2 days, easy. For some context, I started my day doomscrolling through Instagram Reels, played BGMI for a couple of hours, watched YouTube videos, and took camera samples. I ended the first day with 55% battery remaining, which is insane. After using it throughout the next day, I still had 10% left.
vivo claims the battery will retain at least 80% of its original capacity after 1,400 full charge cycles under its testing conditions. Charging is handled by 44W FlashCharge, and the box includes a compatible charger. It’s reasonably fast, but with the big battery, you’d be looking at more than an hour to charge from 20% to 80%. You can also use the S2 FE as a makeshift power bank to charge other devices through its USB Type-C port.
Cameras
vivo says the S2 FE has a dual-camera setup. That’s a bit of a stretch, because the second sensor is a 2MP unit that doesn’t do much. That said, the 50MP Sony IMX852 primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture is half-decent. Give the sensor enough light, and it’ll produce photos with good colors, ample contrast, and details that don’t fall apart when you zoom in.
HDR performance was good, though the camera overexposed the sky in the harshest sunlight. Photos taken under artificial lighting also retained similar detail and color, so no complaints there. vivo’s portrait game has been excellent for years, and despite the lack of a telephoto camera, portraits come out well. In daylight, skin tones are accurate, and portrait mode does a good job of separating the subject from the background.
Nighttime performance, however, is where I’d deduct a few points. The sensor struggles to retain details and colors in low light, resulting in muddy-looking photos. It’s a noticeable step down from what the camera can achieve during the day. Video quality is another bummer. The S2 FE can only record videos at up to 1080p in 2026, which is hard to accept for a phone costing nearly ₹40,000. You also don’t get optical image stabilization (OIS), so footage can get shaky, particularly when you’re walking or recording handheld.
The 32MP selfie camera is a pleasant surprise, though. Photos have natural-looking colors and ample detail, making it a reliable option for selfies and video calls.
Verdict
Starting at ₹38,999, the vivo S2 FE is a phone that knows what it wants to be. It focuses on battery life, and boy, does it deliver. The 10,000mAh battery comfortably lasts beyond two days, even with gaming, doomscrolling, and plenty of camera use. The design looks good, the 120Hz AMOLED display is great for watching content, and the speakers get loud enough for everyday use. Performance is decent for daily tasks and games like BGMI, too. There are compromises, though. The rear camera struggles at night, video recording is limited to 1080p, and the lack of OIS can leave handheld footage shaky. Still, if battery anxiety is your biggest smartphone complaint, the vivo S2 FE is easy to recommend.