At a time when most smartphone brands are chasing slimmer bodies, brighter displays and faster chips, Vivo has gone in a slightly different direction with the S2 FE. Its headline feature is a 10,000mAh battery, which is something we usually associate with a power bank, not a phone that is just 8.59mm thick.
That number gives the S2 FE an interesting identity straight away. It is a phone built for people who spend long days outside, travel often, stream a lot, play games between meetings, or simply do not want to carry a charger everywhere. Vivo has not stopped at the battery either. You get a large 6.83-inch AMOLED display, stereo speakers, IP68 and IP69 protection, and a design that still looks clean and stylish.
The Vivo S2 FE starts at ₹38,999 for the 6GB/128GB variant. The 8GB/128GB version costs ₹42,999. I spent some time with it to see if this unusually large battery can make everyday phone use a lot more carefree while still delivering the sort of experience buyers expect at this price today.
Vivo S2 FE Review: Design, Build And Connectivity
The Vivo S2 FE takes a noticeably different route from the regular S2. The S2 is the slimmer, dressier sibling, with a satin-glass back, curved display and a sub-200g body. The S2 FE is built around that massive 10,000mAh battery, so it uses a plastic-composite back, boxier sides and a sturdier, more solid in-hand feel. Even then, it measures just 8.59mm thick and weighs 224g in Stellar Green, which is the version I tested.
Stellar Green is easily the most eye-catching colour. Vivo says it draws from raw emerald, and the deep green finish looks classy rather than loud. Zen White has a pearlescent finish, while Titan Black is the safest choice of the three. The rear panel picks up fingerprints less than I expected, and the Floating Crystal camera module gives it some personality. The lenses sit behind a clear cover, surrounded by a metal ring, so the module looks clean without copying the usual oversized circular camera island.
The S2 FE feels well put together. You get IP68 and IP69 ratings, plus military-grade drop resistance, which is reassuring on a phone meant to be taken everywhere. The power and volume buttons sit on the right. At the bottom are the USB Type-C 2.0 port, primary speaker, microphone and dual nano-SIM slot; a second speaker and microphone sit on top.
There is no microSD slot. Both variants have 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Connectivity covers dual-SIM 5G standby, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS and USB OTG. NFC is missing here, though.
Vivo S2 FE Review: Display
Up front, the S2 FE has a 6.83-inch AMOLED display with a 1.5K resolution of 2800 x 1260. That works out to 449ppi, and it shows. Text looks sharp, icons are crisp and photos do not lose their detail when you are scrolling through the gallery. The 1.35mm bezels also help; this is a very big screen, but it feels more immersive than intimidating.
Colour is one of the nicer things about this panel. It supports the P3 wide colour gamut and HDR10+, and Vivo has also included Netflix HDR certification. I watched a fair bit of YouTube and Netflix on it, and the display has the contrast and punch you want from an AMOLED panel. Dark scenes look properly dark, without swallowing the detail, while colourful shows and photos look vibrant without being cartoonish.
The phone can go up to 120Hz, so OriginOS feels fluid when you are flicking through apps or scrolling long articles. It is not an LTPO panel, but I never found the refresh rate to be an issue in everyday use. More importantly, it stays readable outdoors. Vivo rates it at up to 2,000 nits in High Brightness Mode, and I had no trouble using Google Maps, replying to messages or framing a photo under the afternoon sun.
Vivo has also included SGS certifications for low blue light, low flicker and sunlight readability. There is an in-display optical fingerprint scanner too. It is quick, reliable and, thankfully, exactly where your thumb expects it to be.
Stereo speakers complete the entertainment experience. They get loud enough for a room, with clear dialogue and decent separation, though bass is understandably limited at times.
Vivo S2 FE Review: Cameras
Vivo has kept the camera hardware simple on the S2 FE. At the back, there is a 50MP primary camera using Sony’s IMX852 sensor, paired with a 2MP bokeh camera. There is no ultra-wide lens, so this is a main-camera-first setup. Up front, you get a 32MP wide-angle selfie camera with a 90-degree field of view.
In good light, the main camera does a solid job. Photos have a natural colour profile, with a good amount of detail and fairly sensible dynamic range. Vivo does not push saturation too hard either, so images look ready to share without appearing overprocessed. I found the camera particularly dependable for food, pets, streets and the usual everyday scenes people actually capture.
Portraits are also a strong point. Edge detection is clean, while the Aura Light comes in handy after sunset. It gives faces a softer, more flattering fill than a normal flash, especially when you are shooting people indoors. The 32MP front camera is similarly good for selfies and video calls. That wider view is useful for group shots.
Low-light photography is serviceable rather than exceptional. The lack of OIS shows up when the light drops, and you need a steadier hand to avoid a softer or slightly hazy result. Still, the Night mode and Aura Light give you enough to work with for casual shots.
Video is limited to 1080p at 60fps from the rear camera and 1080p at 30fps from the front. Dual View Video is useful for quick vlogs, but it is only available on the 8GB variant. You also get AI Erase, which does a decent job removing the odd person or object from the background.
Vivo S2 FE Review: Performance
The Vivo S2 FE runs on MediaTek’s Dimensity 7300e, paired with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. This is an everyday-focused 6nm chip, not the kind of silicon you buy to flex on benchmark charts. But it is a better fit for the S2 FE’s long-battery-life pitch than it may initially sound.
In AnTuTu, the phone scored 894,060. Geekbench 7 returned 879 in single-core and 2,843 in multi-core tests. Those are healthy numbers for a phone in this category, and they line up with how it behaves in day-to-day use. Apps open quickly, switching between social media, Chrome, YouTube, Maps and the camera is smooth, and I did not run into any irritating stutters when I was using it as my main phone.
3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress Test paints a more nuanced picture. The S2 FE scored 689 at its best and 685 at its lowest, which are fairly low figures for a demanding graphics test. The 99.4% stability rating is high because there is barely any drop between those two scores. So, it does not point to exceptional gaming headroom, but it does show that the phone can sustain its modest peak performance without throttling heavily. Vivo’s 3,800mm² vapour chamber clearly helps here, and the phone only gets mildly warm during longer gaming sessions.
Gaming is not the S2 FE’s main selling point, but it holds up well for BGMI, Call of Duty: Mobile and other popular titles. You will get the best experience with sensible graphics settings rather than pushing everything to the limit. The 120Hz display, stereo speakers and massive 10,000mAh battery also make extended sessions easy to enjoy.
The S2 FE is not a performance monster. It stays smooth, manages heat well and gives you dependable performance without making you worry about the battery percentage through the day.
Vivo S2 FE Review: Software And AI Features
The S2 FE runs OriginOS 6 based on Android 16. After years of Funtouch OS, OriginOS is a more polished take on Vivo’s software. It looks clean and has enough personality without becoming busy. Animations are lively, widgets are useful, and there are plenty of customisation options. It all feels refreshingly easy to understand.
Origin Island continues to be a favourite of mine. It sits around the front camera cut-out and surfaces things such as charging status, media controls and other ongoing activities. It is not trying to copy Apple’s Dynamic Island; it is simply a handy little space for information that would otherwise crowd the notification shade.
There are plenty of practical features too. Private Space gives you a separate, protected area for sensitive apps and files. Shake and Share lets compatible phones transfer images and videos by bringing them close and shaking them. Vivo Office Kit is useful if you regularly move files between a phone and computer, while the shared clipboard and screen mirroring are welcome additions.
Vivo has also added AI Creation, AI Captions, AI Transcript Assist, AI Smart Call Assistant, AI Erase and Circle to Search with Google. I found AI Erase and Circle to Search the most useful of the bunch. Gemini integration can also use the camera or screen for contextual help.
There is still some bloatware during setup, but the apps can be removed. Once that small bit of housekeeping is done, OriginOS 6 is a good-looking, feature-rich interface that feels easy to live with.
Vivo S2 FE Review: Battery And Charging
Battery life is the S2 FE’s party trick, and it makes a difference daily. You get a 10,000mAh battery, so two days of use is completely normal. Be a little conservative with gaming, navigation and long video sessions, and you can stretch it to three days without babying the phone. I stopped thinking about charging it every night, which is the entire point of a 10,000mAh battery.
The 44W FlashCharge adapter is included in the box, which is welcome. But charging is not especially quick, and it is important to be fair about why. Forty-four watts is not slow in isolation, but it has a huge 10,000mAh cell to fill. Larger batteries naturally take longer to charge, even with reasonably fast charging hardware.
In practice, the S2 FE is a phone you plug in when convenient, rather than one you desperately top up before heading out. It takes time, but you rarely need to do it.
Vivo S2 FE Review: Verdict
The Vivo S2 FE is not trying to be everything to everyone. Its big promise is simple: give users a phone that lasts far longer than the usual one-day routine, and it absolutely delivers on that. The 10,000mAh battery is the star here, with two-day battery life feeling normal and three days possible with slightly lighter use.
It also gets the supporting bits right. The AMOLED display is excellent, the stereo speakers are good, OriginOS 6 is easy to live with, and the IP68/IP69 protection adds useful peace of mind. The Stellar Green finish looks particularly smart too.
There are compromises. The 44W charging takes its time, though that is understandable given the enormous battery. The cameras are dependable in daylight but fairly simple for the price, and the Dimensity 7300e is better suited to everyday use than demanding gaming.
At ₹38,999, the S2 FE is for someone who values battery life above almost everything else. I would pick the 8GB/128GB variant if the budget allows, especially for the extra RAM and Dual View Video feature. It is a refreshingly focused phone, and that focus makes it easy to recommend to the right buyer.
