Designed exclusively for food delivery riders and ride-hailing drivers.

Historically, smartphone manufacturers have vigorously competed for the substantial user base of food delivery riders and ride-hailing drivers. This user group not only exhibits high mobile phone usage frequency but also operates within a budget-conscious market, making them the core audience for manufacturers' mid-range to low-end models. Often, manufacturers leverage the term "food delivery superphone" as a promotional tool to attract the attention of riders and drivers.

However, as evidenced by user feedback on Coolapk, few models have truly satisfied both food delivery riders and ride-hailing drivers.

Image source: Coolapk

Can vivo Y500, the protagonist of this hands-on review, live up to being the "exclusive superphone" for riders and drivers? Here are Leitech's conclusions: vivo Y500 meets most riders' needs but may not suit gamers or photography enthusiasts. The specific reasons will be detailed in the hands-on review below.

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8200mAh Blue Ocean Battery, Capable of Lasting Two Days with Heavy Use

The vivo Y500 is equipped with an 8200mAh Blue Ocean battery, boasting an increased energy density of 847Wh/L. This means that while maintaining a large battery capacity, the phone remains relatively slim at about 8.23mm in thickness, providing a comfortable grip compared to other phones with similar battery life.

Image source: Leitech

From a practical battery life perspective, the impact of the large battery is evident: As an iPhone 15 Pro user, I felt for the first time that the "phone's battery life is inexhaustible".

To simulate high-frequency usage scenarios, I conducted an ultra-high-intensity battery life test: with the phone fully charged, I set the maximum screen brightness and 50% volume by default, and maintained a temperature range of 25℃ to 35℃ throughout the test. The test included: 12 hours of continuous playback of Bilibili 1080P videos, 1.5 hours of League of Legends: Wild Rift, 1 hour of Douyin, and 1 hour of camera use + review operations, with the final remaining standby time of 7.5 hours.

Image source: Leitech

Even after this rigorous test, the vivo Y500 still had 29% battery life remaining. Such performance is more than capable of supporting the high-intensity usage of riders and drivers throughout the day; if the low-power mode is enabled below 20% battery life, it can even achieve "two days of use per charge".

The charging speed is also practical: The phone is equipped with 90W fast charging, which takes only 50 minutes to charge from 29% to full and about 15 minutes to reach around 30%. Fragmented charging sessions can easily meet daily usage needs.

Image source: Leitech

Overall, the vivo Y500's battery life performance is impressive and fully meets the core requirements of a "food delivery superphone".

360° Wall-Penetrating Antenna with Strong Signal, Quick Order Snatching

As mentioned earlier, the importance of signal strength to riders and drivers is undeniable. Better signal reception translates to a higher success rate in snatching orders and more secure earnings. To test the vivo Y500's signal capability, I chose three "signal disaster areas": parking lots, stairwells, and elevators. The 360° wall-penetrating antenna equipped on this phone indeed delivered signal performance that exceeded expectations.

In all three test scenarios, the vivo Y500's internet speed remained stable: the download speed consistently exceeded 240Mbps; while the upload speed in the elevator fluctuated slightly, it remained around 13.6Mbps, with full signal reception throughout. In conventional network environments such as daily streets and residential areas, the signal experience was even smoother. It can be said that the vivo Y500 fully meets the needs of riders and drivers for "order snatching signals".

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IP68/69 Dual Waterproof + Military-Standard Drop Resistance, Providing Protection for Riders in Rainy Weather

This time, the vivo Y500 supports both IP68 and IP69 waterproof certifications. With these certifications, the phone can withstand submersion at a depth of 1.5 meters for 24 hours. There's no need to worry about daily water splashes or heavy rain, and it can also cope with extremely humid environments (such as wading scenarios).

Due to conditions, I couldn't simulate high-temperature and high-pressure water spraying scenarios, so I chose to simulate daily splashes: after directly splashing tap water on the phone, all functions remained unaffected, and the speaker produced normal sound. For riders, there's no need to worry about water ingress during rainy weather deliveries.

Image source: Leitech

In addition to waterproofing, the drop resistance performance is also noteworthy: the vivo Y500 has passed military-standard environmental testing and obtained the SGS Gold Standard Five-Star Drop Resistance Certification (covering all-round drop resistance and bend resistance tests on six sides and four corners). However, for safety reasons, I still recommend using a protective case during daily use. The anti-drop clear case included in the package has strong wrapping ability without compromising the feel, and its fully transparent design fully showcases the phone's body color.

Image source: Leitech

The vivo Y500 I tested is in "Dragon Crystal Purple" color: it appears lavender under indoor lighting, gradually turns whitish when exposed to light, and exhibits a hint of pale pink in strong light environments. Its appearance stands out among offline models at the same price point, making it an interesting option for daily use.

Image source: Leitech

Professional Mode with Innovative Features: Tailored for Riders and Drivers

By now, you can see what a food delivery superphone should ideally offer:

Strong battery life: Whether riders are snatching orders or drivers are receiving orders, they need the phone to stay on for long periods. While ride-hailing drivers can charge their phones in the car, which is slightly better, food delivery riders would find it inconvenient to operate with an additional power bank hanging on the phone holder. Therefore, there are extremely high requirements for the phone's battery life.

Stable signal: The core need of riders and drivers is to snatch orders, especially in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, where rider density is high. "Good signal" means being able to seize the initiative in order snatching. At the same time, a stable signal also ensures smooth communication with customers, avoiding issues like missed orders or stuck orders.

Waterproofing that meets standards: Riders' work is not affected by weather, and they work rain or shine. In the past, many riders would put their phones in waterproof bags for deliveries, providing protection but inconveniencing operations. Therefore, the phone's own waterproof performance has also become crucial.

Another key factor often overlooked by other manufacturers is precise system adaptation: the exclusive apps commonly used by riders and drivers differ greatly from the usage habits of ordinary users. If the system can provide exclusive optimizations (such as screen brightening, order snatching network acceleration, etc.), it will significantly enhance the usage experience.

As early as April 2024, Origin OS 4 introduced the "Professional Mode," a system optimization mode tailored specifically for riders and drivers. This mode automatically activates when exclusive apps such as Meituan Exclusive Delivery and Ele.me Exclusive Delivery are opened. After multiple iterations, the current optimization of the Professional Mode is already very comprehensive: the most practical "Order Snatching Network Acceleration" function automatically optimizes network priority during order snatching through AI, making the response faster for order snatching;

Image source: Leitech

It also supports functions such as "Automatic Screen Brightness Enhancement" (to cope with outdoor strong light), "Extended Lock Screen Time" (to avoid frequent unlocking affecting order receiving), and "Hands-free Call Enhancement" (to enable clear communication in noisy environments). These optimizations accurately address the core pain points of riders and drivers, truly designing functions from the perspective of professional users. This kind of detailed experience optimization is the hallmark of a food delivery superphone.

vivo Y500's core advantages are concentrated in battery life, signal reception, and protection, but in terms of performance and imaging, its performance is relatively average, belonging to the level of "adequate but not outstanding".

Performance: Suitable for light use, struggles with high-load games

The phone is equipped with the Dimensity 7300 processor, using TSMC's 4nm process, with a combination of 4 2.5GHz Cortex-A78 cores and 4 Cortex-A55 cores. While there are advantages in power consumption control, GPU performance is weak. In the AnTuTu 3D test, the phone even forcibly exited. I tested it three times before getting the final score: 760,000.

Image source: Leitech

Such performance can't even support League of Legends: Wild Rift running at 120Hz frame rate; if you want to play high-load games like Honkai: Star Rail, it's basically an "impossible mission". However, for light gaming needs, the phone can still cope: When tested with League of Legends: Wild Rift at medium graphics quality and 60Hz frame rate, there was no obvious frame drop, and the operation smoothness was acceptable. Light gamers can consider it, but heavy gamers are recommended to choose other models.

Imaging: Adequate for daily recording, poor night scene performance

The rear main camera of vivo Y500 is 50 million pixels, paired with a 1/2.88-inch sensor. Obviously, it cannot compete with large-sensor flagship models, so it should focus more on its "practicality for daily photography".

Indoor lighting environment: The performance is acceptable, capable of restoring picture details, and color restoration is close to reality;

Image source: Leitech

Outdoor high-light environment: The texture of shrub leaves and the spot texture of spherical shrubs can be clearly restored, but the overall sharpening trace is relatively heavy, making the edges of the picture appear somewhat harsh;

Image source: Leitech

Low-light night scene environment: The shortcoming is evident, with more noise in the picture (especially in the dark areas on both sides of the picture); even after algorithm optimization, the texture details of the white and yellow-green wooden boards in the middle of the picture were not well restored. The problem of insufficient light intake is more prominent.

Image source: Leitech

However, vivo's built-in Polaroid mode is still quite endearing. The film-like filters add a sense of nostalgia, personally liked by many.

Image source: Leitech

Summary: A Distinctive Tent Phone with "Partial Subjects" but Practical Enough

vivo Y500 can be described as a model with "severe partial subjects" – it concentrates its core advantages entirely on battery life, signal reception, and waterproof and drop-resistant capabilities, while the processor performance and imaging performance only reach the level of "adequate for daily use". Leitech believes that its audience positioning is also very clear:

Not recommended for: Users who value gaming performance and pursue imaging experience;

Recommended for: Food delivery riders, ride-hailing drivers, and other users in high-frequency outdoor usage scenarios, or middle-aged and elderly users who value battery life and durability.

The 8200mAh large battery + 90W fast charging completely eliminates battery life anxiety; the 360° wall-penetrating antenna ensures stable signal reception for order snatching; IP68+IP69 dual waterproofing + military-standard drop resistance, suitable for complex outdoor environments; coupled with the exclusive optimization of the "Professional Mode" in Origin OS 4 – vivo Y500 indeed precisely meets the core needs of riders and drivers. Calling it a "food delivery superphone" is well-deserved.

Now vivo's official website has opened the pre-order activity for vivo Y500, which will be officially released on September 1, 2025. As a cost-effective product mainly targeted at offline sales, the price should be quite affordable. Interested partners can keep an eye on it, and I will also release relevant information as soon as possible.

Image source: Leitech

Source: Leitech

The images featured in this article are sourced from the authentic image library of 123RF. Source: Leitech