vivo X80 Pro Review | Geek Lifestyle

The new flagship vivo X80 Pro is a great smartphone for photography, but does it deliver when it comes to the overall experience?

-
ONE Store Beta Now Available

Recently, vivo launched its latest flagship lineup featuring the X80 and the X80 Pro. Both phones feature top-of-the-line specs, along with impressive cameras that are co-engineered by esteemed lens company, ZEISS.

For the launch, we got our hands on the X80 Pro, the higher-end model of the two — and boy does it deserve to be called a high-end device. Aside from being powered by a flagship-grade Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, the phone packs a ZEISS quad camera setup with two telephoto shooters. The cameras promise to be great for photography and videography, and ahead of this full review, we were able to test out the X80 Pro’s cameras for ourselves (spoiler alert: they’re excellent).

We’ve already established before that the vivo X80 Pro is a great smartphone for photography, but does it deliver when it comes to the overall experience? After all, a great flagship phone isn’t all about the cameras.

So, here’s our review of the X80 Pro from vivo!

Geek-sthetic

To get started, let’s take a look at the phone’s design. The X80 Pro sports a distinct look courtesy of its large camera module which houses the four ZEISS co-developed shooters. From the back, the X80 Pro will definitely stand out thanks to its cameras.

The eye-catching look of the camera module is balanced by the phone’s sleek black colorway. While the phone is only available in the Philippines in Cosmic Black, the color suits the overall design of the phone. Plus, the back may seem a bit glossy in some angles, but it’s actually not a fingerprint magnet (and personally, I found it to be easy to grip). Though if you need extra grip and/or protection, it does come with a slim black case inside the box.

Whether you go with the case or caseless, the X80 Pro feels premium, not to mention sturdily built. Though the phone is a bit on the large and heavy side, meaning users with smaller hands may find it a bit uncomfortable to use for long gaming sessions.

Personally, I like the size of the X80 Pro and found it nice in actual use. Though one thing to note is that its large size means it won’t fit some smartphone game controllers (such as the Razer Kishi that I tried with it).

Moving to the front, the X80 Pro has a large 6.78-inch display with curved edges, slim bezels, and a small holepunch notch at the top. From this view, the X80 Pro definitely looks like a premium flagship device.

Binge Watching Factor

Aside from looking great, the X80 Pro’s screen is an excellent match for binge-watching movies and shows. This is thanks to the high WQHD+ resolution, as well as the vibrant color output of the AMOLED panel. The large screen size also helps in giving you a more immersive viewing experience while on the go, especially if you watch movies with a widescreen aspect ratio.

For audio, the X80 Pro features stereo onboard speakers which have good audio output in terms of both audio quality and volume. Of course, for the best binge-watching and/or music listening experience, headphones/external speakers are a must. But you’ll need either a dongle or a wireless audio device as the X80 Pro does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Gaming Prowess

Powering the phone is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with 12GB of RAM. On paper, this configuration should mean that the X80 Pro is great for gaming. In our tests, it did not disappoint.

Whether you play todays’ popular games such as Mobile Legends or Call of Duty Mobile, the X80 Pro will not have any issues running them at max settings. The phone also packs enough power to run demanding games such as Genshin Impact. Specifically, Genshin Impact can still run smoothly even if you turn up the graphics settings.

For the most part, the X80 Pro is a great gaming device, though there are some areas that could be improved. To start with, the phone can run warm when under heavy gaming load. While not warm enough to be uncomfortable, it’s something to take note of when playing demanding games. The phone’s curved edge display can also interfere with some options in games, especially for titles with menu or settings options on the edge of the screen — these can be a bit hard to press on the curved edges.

Another thing to mention is the Multi Turbo 2.2 software feature which has several nifty features for screenshotting or handling notifications while gaming. Though we hope that vivo can add a lock-screen orientation mode so you don’t accidentally go back to the home screen when you have the phone set for swipe navigation.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

Now we move on to its cameras. The X80 Pro features an impressive camera setup consisting of a 50MP main + 48MP ultrawide + 12MP telephoto (2x optical zoom) + 8MP (5x optical zoom). At the front meanwhile is a 32MP selfie shooter.

We’ve already established that the X80 Pro is an excellent smartphone for capturing videos and portrait photos. So, for this review, we’ll be focusing more on the base capabilities of each camera.

First off, the phone’s 50MP main camera is able to capture quality photos with a good amount of detail. You can also notice that the photos have more natural colors compared to other phones with more vibrant images that can seem unnatural. This is thanks to the ZEISS natural color option on the camera app.

The 48MP ultrawide camera is also impressive as it captures great photos in both daytime in nighttime. Given the high megapixel count of the camera, ultrawide shots have a fairly similar level of quality at first glance to photos taken with the main camera.

For the first of two telephoto shooters, the X80 Pro’s 12MP 2x zoom camera also take good photos in daytime and nighttime. Colors are also natural when using this camera.

Moving on to the 8MP 5x telephoto camera, this shooter is nice to have if you like taking more extreme zoom photos. Though the quality isn’t as good as the 2x telephoto, it’s still a good performer for the most part.

Finally, the 32MP front camera is able to capture selfies with great quality.

For a more in-depth look at the phone’s portrait photography and videography capabilities, read here:

vivo X80 Series: Cinema Camera in your Pocket

Everyday Reliability

For everyday use, the X80 Pro does not disappoint as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and 12GB of RAM can easily handle all the tasks that you need without slowing down. The 120Hz refresh rate also helps it feel much smoother when scrolling withing and between apps.

As for its OS, the X80 Pro runs on Funtouch OS 12 based on Android 12. While the visual style and the several pre-installed apps may not be to the liking of stock Android purists, the OS should still be fine and easy enough to use for most users.

Now for battery life. The X80 Pro packs a fairly large 4,700mAh battery, and this makes the phone last for around a day of use. If you game on it heavily, you can drain the battery in a couple of hours, especially if you put its performance mode up. So, in terms of battery life, the X80 Pro is around average.

Though if you do need to charge, the phone features 80W fast charging, meaning you can charge the phone to 100% in well under an hour. This means if you need to top up, you can do so for just a couple of minutes and get hours of use in return.

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

Overall, the vivo X80 Pros is a great flagship smartphone thanks to its excellent cameras, great performance, and quality display. Coupled with the fact that the phone sports an attractive design, the X80 Pro is one of the best premium smartphone you can get right now.

Though if you want one, be prepared to spend as the X80 Pro is priced at PHP 59,999. The phone is definitely an expensive purchase, but if you want one of the best cameras on a smartphone and are interested in taking advantage of its cinematic videography/photography features, the phone is well worth considering.

Vivo X80 Pro specs:

  • 6.78-inch WQHD+ (1440 x 3200) resolution AMOLED display, 120Hz refresh rate
  • Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor
  • 12GB RAM
  • 256GB storage
  • Rear cameras: 50MP main + 48MP ultrawide + 12MP telephoto (2x optical zoom) + 8MP (5x optical zoom)
  • Front camera: 32MP
  • 5G, LTE
  • Under display Fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C port
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.2
  • 4,700mAh battery with 80W Fast charging
  • Android 12 (Funtouch 12)
  • Color: Cosmic Black
  • Price: PHP 59,999