Vivo X50 Pro Review: Do the excellent cameras and some powerful specifications make it worth buying?

Excellent optics packaged with good performance and battery.

Vivo is one of the largest manufacturers in the world which sells offline some very good products and has always pioneered when it comes to cameras which we had seen 3 years ago with a concept called the Apex in Mobile World Congress (MWC), Barcelona. 

This concept brought in the pop-up selfie camera and an in-display fingerprint scanner which is seen on most of the mid-range and flagship smartphones today.

Now Vivo has been selling mid-range smartphones and now it is aiming to take a dive into the flagship smartphone market with the launch of the X50 Pro. 

There are a lot of many flagships with the likes of the OnePlus 8 Pro, Xiaomi Mi 10 5G, and more. Also,

in this world, where we see 100x zoom of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, 120x zoom of the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra, does this gimbal camera of the Vivo X50 Pro has a lot going for it? 

Let's find out in the full review.

Vivo X50 Pro Design:

The Vivo X50 Pro build feels premium and looks apart when seen from a distance. There is a glass sandwich design where on the back, Vivo has gone for a matte-finish on the frosted glass which is prone to fewer fingerprints. 

The back of the Vivo X50 Pro has a huge camera setup that houses that gimbal camera and the other cameras. There is a silicon case provided in the box to protect the back from scratches and provide a good grip.

The camera has a slight bump and is felt when kept on a flat surface. The silver-blue color reflection on the back is clearly seen and shines when light is fallen on the back. On the front, the Vivo X50 Pro gets a curved display with a punch-hole camera on the top left corner.

The curved screen looks elegant and there are minimum bezels at the top and bottom. On the top, there is a secondary noise-canceling microphone while leaving all the other areas cleaner. The earpiece just lies on top of the display which is very small.

Coming to the sides, there is an aluminum frame that houses the power and the volume buttons on the right side which have a clicky feel and look premium. At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port next to the speaker grill, a dual SIM card slot, and a single microphone.

There is no 3.5mm headphone jack which is not a big issue since many flagships are skipping it and there is no IP rating which is a disappointment considering the price point at which it sells. The 181.5 grams weight does not feel heavy as the weight distribution has been done very well. 

Vivo is selling the smartphone in three different colors- Alpha Gray, Frost Blue, and Glaze Black. The Alpha Gray version has a nice look and will be the favorite among the public. Overall, the design and build on the Vivo X50 Pro feels and looks premium as it is a flagship from the Vivo. 

Check Here: Xiaomi Mi 10 5G Review

Vivo X50 Pro Display:

The Vivo X50 Pro has a 6.56 inches Full HD+ (1080 x 2400 pixels) Super AMOLED display with rounded edges on the display to the sides. There is a single punch hole camera that houses the 32MP selfie camera. 

Since it is an AMOLED display, you get inky blues and blacks with good color reproduction. The viewing angles are good also. The display has a 90Hz refresh rate which makes it very smooth for use when it comes to playing games and animations on the display.

There is an option also which includes the standard 90Hz, 60Hz, and a Smart-Switch mode where the display automatically adapts to a particular refresh rate depending on the application running in the background. 

The display on the Vivo X50 Pro is HDR10+ certified and has support for Widevine L1 which makes it easier to stream contents from third party applications like Netflix, Prime, etc. Combined with the 90Hz refresh rate is the 180Hz touch sampling rate which makes it feel very responsive while playing games.

The curve on the display did not provide any accidental touches and scrolling was really smooth. The peak brightness is capped at 1300nits and viewing the display, under direct sunlight was no problem and the auto-brightness sensor was also well-calibrated.

In low-light situations, the screen can go very dim and there are eye protection modes and the blue-light filter for reading or viewing anything on the display. The display can also switch between DCI-P3 and sRGB depending on the option that you want.

There is a color temperature slider to change between warmer and cooler tones on the display.

There is an in-display fingerprint scanner with a cool blue animation. It is an optical one and is very accurate and fast. The face unlock is quite fast but does take some delay which will not be a big issue. 

Overall, the 90Hz refresh rate and the curved display make it a good one for content consumption ann playing games.

Vivo X50 Pro Performance:

The Vivo X50 Pro sports a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chipset which is the one found on the OnePlus Nord. This Snapdragon 765G is a 5G capable chipset and just sits under the Snapdragon 8 series of chipsets. 

This chipset is built on the efficient 7nm process and has the same core configuration (1+1+6) as the Snapdragon 865 where the main Prime core is clocked at 2.4GHz, another Gold core is clocked at 2.2GHz where both are based on the ARM Cortex A76 architecture and there are another six Silver cores clocked at 1.8GHz based on the ARM Cortex A55 architecture.

The Snapdragon 765G is coupled with an Adreno 620 GPU and is available only in one variant which is the 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB storage. Here the storage speed is UFS 2.1 which is lower compared to the UFS 3.0 speeds in many flagships.

From day-to-day activities and multitasking heavily, the Vivo X50 Pro can handle them without any hassle. The Snapdragon 765G chipset offers a good gaming performance which is almost closer to the Snapdragon 865 chipset and can handle titles like Call of Duty, Asphalt 9, etc without any problem.

The Call of Duty ran smoothly on high graphics and we did not find any lag and plus the back did not feel warm. The games supporting higher refresh rate i.e. 90Hz ran smoothly where animations look good and the controls felt feather-light to use.

Vivo also has a dedicated Gaming Mode where it dismisses important call and notifications, improve the clock speed of the CPU and GPU for better gameplay and also provides floating windows for any messaging application, for example, Whatsapp.

In terms of benchmarks, in Antutu v8, the Vivo X50 Pro scored 330566 which is the highest score for any Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 series chipset and is lower compared to the Snapdragon 865 chipset on the similarly priced Realme X50 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 10 5G. 

Coming to Geekbench 5.1, the single-core score is 638, and the multi-core score is 1920 which is good. Overall, here we would say Vivo has provided a good chipset that is capable of good gaming and performance but compared to the competition, the performance slightly falls behind.

See also: OnePlus 8 Pro Review

                Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Review

Vivo X50 Pro Software:

The Vivo X50 Pro runs on the FuntouchOS 10.5 built on top of Android 10. With each update of the FuntouchOS, the UI and the look has been improved and is a big departure from the iOS style with cluttered applications, no app drawer.

However, there are a couple of applications pre-installed and some of them can be uninstalled. The FuntouchOS looks more cleaner and almost like Android 10. The notification toggle instead of swiping from below can be accessed from the top. 

You get customizations to various themes and icon apps, the always-on display can be customized and Vivo's own specific applications. 

All the Android 10 features remain which includes a system-wide dark mode, Android 10 navigation gestures, and Digital Wellbeing which tells about the health of the smartphone regarding battery life. 

With the Vivo X50 Pro, you get a good amount of gaming features like the Game Mode and an Eagle Eye which further lift the gaming experience. The RAM management has been improved on the FuntouchOS and the 90Hz refresh rate makes multitasking awesome.

The FuntouchOS may not be as good as the OneUI in Samsung and OxygenOS in OnePlus smartphones, but is a huge upgrade from its previous versions and does get most things done and provides a smoother experience.

Vivo X50 Pro Cameras:

The place where the Vivo X50 Pro makes the best outcome is in terms of cameras. It has an industry-first Gimbal camera system. So what is this gimbal camera system?

In each flagship smartphone, the main camera gets Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and also the Electronic Image Stabilization. But this gimbal system is another advanced OIS. The gimbal system uses x,y, and z-axis for stabilization and it takes five times more space than the regular OIS thus allowing 

slightly better stabilization in images and while taking videos.

Here the gimbal system uses dual ball suspension and voice coil motor and a magnetic frame. This whole setup provides mechanical motion compensation from the electromagnetic induction where the whole camera module moves opposite to the direction in which you are moving the camera.

This ensures better stability and comes effective at night. So to fit this camera setup, Vivo has gone for a lower 48MP Sony IMX598 sensor instead of the 108MP camera on the Xiaomi Mi 10 5G and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. 

The gimbal further does a good job in focusing on a particular object whether farther or near and at night, the shake is reduced to a good extent as it shoots with lower shutter speeds.

So coming to the cameras, there is a quad-camera setup that includes :

• 48MP f/1.6 Sony IMX598 sensor that provides 3x better stabilization over regular OIS
• 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera with 120-degree field of view
• 8MP f/3.4 telephoto camera that supports 5x optical, 10x hybrid, and 60x digital zoom capabilities.
• 13MP f/2.5 portrait camera for 2x optical zoom

The gimbal system is found on the main 48MP camera which is a Sony IMX598 sensor that takes some very good images during the day. There is plenty of detail and the dynamic range is good. The colors look over-saturated which does let it down a bit. 

There is a 48MP mode that also takes detailed images during the day and the dynamic range is good. The HDR mode works well and similarly tries to over-saturate colors. 

Similarly, at night, the main camera takes some excellent images with plenty of detail, no noise, and good contrast. The dynamic range is excellent and the color reproduction looks more natural. Here is the area, where the gimbal module works.

Instead of long exposure images, the gimbal module reduces the noise, and also there is a dedicated Night Mode to help in very low-light images. This brings out better highlights in shadows and also improves the exposure in the background. The HDR mode also works pretty well during the Night.

The 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera takes some very good images with plenty of detail and has a good dynamic range. But there is a lot of amount of noise which is clearly seen and the background tends to look overexposed at times. The contrast is good but when zooming into the images, there is a lack of detail.

The color reproduction is not so good as that of the main camera but the distortion correction does improve the quality of the image.

The images at night from the smartphone come out above average as the dynamic range is not so good but the level of details is still good. But there is a lot of amount of noise present and the images look over-exposed also.

Turning on the Night Mode, improves the dynamic range and also the long exposure in night images thus eliminating the noise a whole lot better. The only way to go for an ultrawide camera during the night is by using the Night Mode only.

The ultrawide camera also doubles up as a macro camera on the Vivo X50 Pro since it lacks an in-built macro camera. The ultrawide camera can focus as close as 2.5cm from the object and the details look good with good contrast and dynamic range. 

The noise is also less compared to the dedicated macro camera on other smartphones. There is also an Ultra Macro Mode which brings in good macro shots but tends to crop a whole lot of the objects in the frame. But still compared to many smartphones, the macro camera is good on this one.

The Vivo X50 Pro has a 13MP portrait camera that can do 2x zoom and takes some very good portraits.

The images come out good with high contrast and the colors look spot on. But the details are above average but the dynamic range is good.

The Portrait Mode is present which uses the Portrait camera which provides good subject separation from the background and the details are good. The dynamic range is good and the edge detection works well. Only Vivo's beauty mode comes into action that tries to make images soft.

The 8MP telephoto camera works well and provides 5x zoom and this camera works really well as it produces images with good dynamic range and the details look sharper. Till 10x zoom, the images have good color reproduction and dynamic range.

Above 10x zoom, the images lose color and look distorted. The dynamic range is good but distorted at 60x zoom like all other smartphones, it is just a gimmick and a good addition for all the camera lovers. 

At night, the images from the telephoto camera come out good with average detail and dynamic range. The 2x zoom provides the perfect shot and till 10x everything is kept in check whether it is the exposure in the background or the noise.

Above 60x, the images have a lot of noise and the contrast takes a hit. Still, the OIS works well in masking out the noise and taking sharper images.

Moving to the front, there is a 32MP Sony IMX616 camera that takes some very good selfies with a good dynamic range and colors look punchier. But the colors tend to over-sharpen a bit and Vivo's beautification mode comes into the picture. It can be manually turned off and the results come out good.

The HDR mode does over boost colors but handles the dynamic range a bit better. The portraits from the front camera come out good with proper background blur but the images look over-sharpened, the dynamic range is not so good and the noise is quite prominently present. 

In terms of videos, the Vivo X50 Pro supports 4K at 60fps. The gimbal setup comes into the picture and the videos have good color reproduction, the dynamic range is excellent and the noise is almost kept in check. We can clearly say this one of those few smartphones that provide good 4K videos.

At 1080p at 60fps or 30fps, the videos have excellent detail, dynamic range is good and the contrast works well too. Similarly, the 1080p videos from the ultrawide camera come out with excellent detail, no noise and the colors look punchier.

Now moving to the 8MP telephoto camera, the videos from it have a good dynamic range, the color looks punchier but noise is present but the OIS maintains it well and at night, the video footage works well.

On the front, the videos come out with good contrast and dynamic range but the skin tones do not look natural as there is quite a bit of over-exposure in the background, and plus the beautification mode gets enabled by default.

Overall, Vivo has done an excellent job when it comes to optics with that gimbal system and makes many smartphones with higher prices into admiration. Only the front camera needs some improvement or else the whole camera experience remains unparalleled.

Vivo X50 Pro Battery Life:

The Vivo X50 Pro houses a 4315mAh battery which is good for a smartphone having the Snapdragon 765G and does a good job when it comes to battery life. 

With the screen set to 90Hz, the Vivo X50 Pro can easily last for one single day with moderate usage and when switching back to 60Hz, the smartphone lasted for more than a single day.

With heavy usage that includes playing heavy games like Call of Duty or Asphalt 9 and streaming videos and casual browsing, the Vivo X50 Pro lasted one single day with 15-20 percent left in the tank. The average screen on time was found to be 5-6 hours which is good for a chipset built on an 8nm process.

To fuel up the 4315mAh battery, the Vivo X50 Pro is bundled with a 33W fast charger that charges from 0 to 100 percent in under 80 minutes. The 0 to 50 percent takes place in the first 20 minutes which is really good. However, there is no support for wireless charging which is a big miss considering this is a flagship.

Overall, the battery life is pretty good and the bundled fast charger charges the smartphone quickly.

Vivo X50 Pro Audio Quality:

The Vivo X50 Pro sports a single mono downward-firing bottom speaker which is adequately loud. The loudness is good but the sound feels muffled and is not so clear. There is support for Dolby Atmos for enhanced sound effects whether playing games or watching videos.

Like all other flagships, the Vivo X50 Pro also lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack. But the output from the USB Type-C port is really good due to the wireless aptX codec and can output for LDAC for lossless audio. Still, the lack of stereo speakers makes it an average player when it comes to audio quality.

Verdict:

The Vivo X50 Pro is an excellent flagship smartphone with all the necessities and stands out from the crowd due to the gimbal system which works really good compared to regular OIS on flagship smartphones. 

The things that really stand out are the excellent build and design, top-notch cameras especially the gimbal system which is far better than the images taken from the regular smartphone, and the punch-hole display that looks striking.

The battery life is also good considering the Snapdragon 765G is built on an 8nm process and the bundled 33W fast charger charges the smartphone pretty quickly. The FuntouchOS is also quite improved from its previous versions. The 90Hz refresh rate aids in when playing heavy games and also while browsing.

Now there are some of the things which were not so good. First being the FuntouchOS, don't get me wrong it is good but when you compare this to other skins like the OxygenOS on the OnePlus 8 Pro and the OneUI on Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, feels a bit short as they are a lot cleaner UI with less bloatware and better battery optimizations.

The Snapdragon 765G is a good chipset and it can handle gaming and everyday performance without breaking a sweat. But when you see other flagships like the OnePlus 8 Pro, Xiaomi Mi 10 5G, etc. which come with a powerful Snapdragon 865 chipset, it feels a bit lower.

Then there is a lack of IP rating at this price point which is a big miss considering the price point at which it sells. The front camera needs improvement when it comes to color and dynamic range which will be fixed in a future software update.

So overall, if you want a good looking smartphone with an excellent set of cameras and good battery life and is not much concerned about gaming and the software experience, the Vivo X50 Pro is the perfect buy.

But if you want other features like a better gaming chipset and a better software experience, you can have a look at other options in the market.  

For buying the Vivo X50 Pro click here.