Vivo X80 Pro review

introduction

One perk may have disappeared from the name, but don’t let that fool you – the vivo X80 Pro is the spiritual successor to the X70 Pro +. Essentially, it’s the company’s best cameraphone, and we’re making hardware and software advancements in the imaging department beyond what was already an extremely capable setup.

An all-round flagship, of course, the X80 Pro also includes a high-end chipset and high-quality display, as well as extra battery capacity this year, all in a stunning looking body. And most importantly, it’s going beyond the X70 Pro + – all the way to Europe now.

Vivo phones are rarely easy for us as there are often differences between the versions sold in China and those for external markets, this is the case here as well. The proprietary software level on Android is one of those (Origin in China, Funtouch elsewhere), but this year there are also two different chipsets: one is the Dimensity 9000, the other is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The materials and Available colors will also vary from region to region. We’re looking at a global variant of the X80 Pro with a Snapdragon / Funtouch combo.

With this distinction, hopefully, clarified, we describe the news. The main camera uses a unique Samsung sensor, albeit based on the familiar 1 / 1.3 “in previous generations. The shorter of the two telephoto lenses, meanwhile, has acquired a gimbal, a distinctive vivid touch. On the flip side, the ultrawide That extra stability has been denied now – perhaps the tele has a better use for it anyway. The 8MP stabilized periscope camera remains unchanged, as does the 32MP selfie unit.

In true high-end style, the X80 Pro’s OLED display features QHD resolution and supports a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz (but also as low as 1Hz). It is also slightly curved, for better or for worse. An underlying new development is the huge ultrasonic fingerprint reader, the same one we already saw (and loved) on the iQOO 9 Pro earlier this year. We also get a minor but still welcome increase in battery capacity to 4,700mAh (compared to 4,500mAh) and an increase in charging capacity to 80W (66W on the older model).

And it seems to be so, at least as far as the data sheets are concerned.

The specifications of vivo X80 Pro at a glance:

• Body: 164.6×75.3×9.1 mm, 215 g; Glass front, glass back, aluminum frame; IP68 dust / water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 minutes).
• Screen: 6.78 “LTPO3 AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10 +, 1500 nits (peak), resolution 1440x3200px, aspect ratio 20: 9, 517ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 and 3×2.40 GHz Cortex-A710 and 4×1.70 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
• Memory: 256 GB 12 GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• Operating system / software: Android 12, Funtouch 12 (global).
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f / 1.6, 1 / 1.3 “, PDAF, AF laser, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 48 MP, f / 2.2, 114˚, 1 / 2.0 “, AF; Telephoto lens: 12 MP, f / 1.9, 50 mm, 1 / 2.93 “, 1.22µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, 2x optical zoom, OIS gimbal; Telephoto lens: 8 MP, f / 3.4, 1 / 4.4 “, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom.
• Front Camera: 32 MP, f / 2.5, 26 mm (wide angle), 1 / 2.8 “, 0.8 µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K, 4K @ 30 / 60fps, 1080p @ 30 / 60fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K at 30fps, 1080p at 30fps.
• Drums: 4700 mAh; Fast charging 80W, 100% in 38 min (advertised), Fast wireless charging 50W, 100% in 50 min (advertised), Reverse charging.
• Various: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasound); NFC; Infrared port.

vivo X80 Pro unboxing

The presentation of the X80 Pro follows the tradition established by previous premium vivo phones. The phone arrives in a large square box of thick textured cardboard. It’s a different shade of gray-navy that’s hard to name – last year’s models leaned a little more towards gray, this is more blue. The shiny blue Zeiss badge is still the same shiny blue Zeiss shade. While it doesn’t look remotely like the small (and mostly empty) boxes of other flagships, the X80 Pro’s package has become nearly an inch thinner than last year’s models, so that should help with the logistics.

Inside, the phone is lying face down on the left side of the tray, but now you can see it all – the X70 Pro + had another layer of cardboard on top with a window cut out just for the camera island. It’s not like there’s any chance you’re missing the X80 Pro’s camera island, so perhaps accenting it further through packaging ripoffs wasn’t really necessary.

Two additional boxes under the tray hold the accessories and there is a good amount of them. An 80W charger promises fast charging, which we appreciate, but we tend to frown on USB-A-to-C connections in 2022 and that’s the case here. However, it’s hard to complain about the nice pair of in-ear headphones in the box.

The faux leather case with thick plastic inserts for the top and bottom of the phone (corners as well) is also welcome. It probably won’t offer much protection for the camera cluster, but keeping it safe and maintaining a semblance of good looks seems impossible. And it’s made to be seen, the vivo X80 Pro.