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The Vivo X80 Pro is a successor to last year’s Vivo X70 Pro+, since it includes all of the major flagship features you’d expect from a top-tier flagship handset while also moving up the smartphone food chain. The X80 Pro is the fourth phone to be released as a result of the Vivo-Zeiss partnership, and it has Cinematic mode, new LUTs, XDR picture, extreme night vision, and more. The X80 Pro also includes Vivo’s own V1+ chip, which aids in the processing of AI-based features and works in tandem with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. Has Vivo, on the other hand, finally created a fantastic Android cameraphone? Here’s what we discovered.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
The Vivo X80 Pro comes with Type-C earbuds, a Type-C cable, an 80W fast charger, a SIM ejector pin, a phone case, a warranty card, and a quick start guide in the box.
Pros
- Versatile cameras with impressive performance
- Powerful and balanced performance
- Unparalleled camera stabilisation system
- Slim and strong build
- Decent battery life
- Bright and vivid display for daily use
Cons
- UI needs refinements
- Funtouch OS is loaded with bloatware
VIVO X80 PRO REVIEW: SPECIFICATIONS
Display: 6.78-inch 10-bit AMOLED, QHD+ (3200×1440 pixels), 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, Schott Xensation UP glass protection
Thickness: 9.1mm
Weight: 219g
Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
RAM: 12GB LPDDR5
Built-in storage: 256GB UFS 3.1
Expandable storage: No
5G support: Yes
USB-C: Yes
3.5mm jack: No
OS: Funtouch OS 12 based on Android 12
Rear Camera: 50MP (f/1.6) + 8MP periscope telephoto (5x optical zoom) + 12MP telephoto (2x optical zoom), 48MP ultra-wide (114-degree FOV)
Rear Camera Video: 8K (30FPS), 4K (30/60FPS), 1080p (30/60FPS)
Front Camera: 32MP (f/2.5)
Speakers: Stereo speakers
Battery and charging: 4,700mAh, 80W wired, 50W wireless fast charging
Vivo X80 Pro: Design
The Vivo X80 Pro follows in the footsteps of the Vivo X70 series, which debuted the giant reflective camera island and frosted glass coating. It feels identical to the Vivo X70 Pro Plus in terms of overall shape and dimensions. The Vivo X80 Pro is also available in orange leatherback in China, but only the black glass variant is available elsewhere.
The X80 Pro has a 6.8-inch 3200 x 1440 OLED display with a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz, which is characteristic of Android glass-and-metal slabs. It’s a lovely panel — as is the case with every flagship Android phone these days — but if I had to choose a flaw, it doesn’t get as bright as the panels on the Galaxy S22 Ultra or the OPPO Find X5 Pro. On extremely bright days, you’ll need to turn the brightness up.
The X80 Pro is well-made, with clicky, tactile buttons in convenient locations and a relatively light weight of 219g (by 2022 flagship standards). It’s not as wide as an iPhone 13 Pro, nor does it have the pointed corners of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. For most people, it should fit comfortably in their hand.
Vivo X80 Pro: Performance
The Vivo X80 Pro is a reliable performer with increased efficiency, making it an excellent everyday driver. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powered system is fast, fluid, and capable of running virtually any app or game from the Play Store. Despite the fact that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is a power-hungry chipset, Vivo has managed to maintain a consistent performance while keeping thermals under control and offloading some algorithm work to its improved V1+ processor. Even after playing games or using the camera app for an extended period of time, the X80 Pro does not grow warm to the touch like its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powered counterparts.
When it comes to synthetic benchmarks, the X80 Pro is right up there with the finest flagship phones, with impressive results that demonstrate its worth against phones like the Samsung Galaxy S22 (review) and Apple iPhone 13. (review). While it doesn’t have the highest AnTuTu score (that honour goes to another Vivo phone, the iQOO 9 Pro (review), it still scored over 9 million points, which is impressive. Similarly, the Vivo X80 Pro holds its own in other benchmarks like as Geekbench, PCMark, and GPU tests such as 3D Mark and GFX Bench.
On the X80 Pro, we tried demanding games including Call of Duty Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India, Genshin Impact, and even Apex Legends Mobile, and they all ran smoothly with no severe frame dips or in-game hiccups. All of these games played at 60 frames per second on the highest settings, with the option to increase the frame rate to 90 frames per second via frame interpolation in Ultra Game Mode. In addition, there is a 27-layer cooling system that keeps the phone cool and improves its thermals. Other features, such as the ultrasonic fingerprint reader, operate well and open the phone in a millisecond.
Vivo X80 Pro: Battery Life
The Vivo X80 Pro has a larger battery than any prior Vivo phones. With the phone’s display set to QHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate at all times, the X80 Pro provided a day’s worth of battery life on heavy usage. While every use case is different, if you do a lot of gaming or shooting pictures or videos, you may anticipate the battery to drain quickly.
However, in average use, which includes some internet browsing, photography, and video viewing, you may easily get 6 to 7 hours of screen time, which is excellent.In our video loop test, the X80 Pro lasted over 16.4 hours before dying, which is excellent and puts it on par with other flagships. The X80 Pro took roughly 43 minutes on average to fully charge from 0-100 percent in our charging tests, which isn’t the fastest but should enough for most users.
Cameras
The Vivo X80 Pro’s camera system is remarkably similar to that of the X70 Pro Plus, with four lenses covering ultra-wide, wide, telephoto (2x zoom), and 5x zoom focal lengths, all powered by Vivo’s self-developed photography chip and covered by Zeiss’ T-Coating (which reduces lens flare). Samsung’s GNV sensor was upgraded to the 50MP main camera (wide lens) (not to be confused with the GN5 sensor used in other recent Vivo phones). The GNV, on the other hand, is an updated version of the GN1 sensor that Vivo has been utilising for the past two years.
The X70 Pro Plus’s 48MP ultra-wide, 12MP 2x telephoto (dubbed “portrait lens”), and 8MP 5x Periscope zoom lenses all share the same chipset. The X80 Pro, on the other hand, has a dedicated imaging chip called V1 Plus, which is an evolutionary development of the V1 chip that debuted in the X70 Pro Plus.
One final change: the gimbal stabilisation technology that previously supported ultra-wide lenses has been repurposed to handle the 2x portrait lens, which has some new tricks.
Let’s start by looking at all four lenses’ images as a single group. The X80 Pro offers a good variety of optical focal lengths, ranging from 114-degree ultra-wide (focal length equivalent to roughly 16mm) to 5x optical zoom (125mm equivalent), although it falls short of the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s greater range, which reaches up to 10x. We can also see that, unlike iPhones or OPPO’s Find X5 Pro, the X80 Pro does not maintain colour temperature consistency across all four lenses.
Main camera, good lighting
The main camera on the Vivo X80 Pro captures beautifully detailed pixel-binned 12.5MP images. The big 1/1.31-inch sensor gathers a lot of light and creates a distinct separation between subject and backdrop in pictures. Colors have been brightened slightly but not overly so.While Vivo’s cameras brighten dark scenes significantly in low-light situations, the camera is smart enough to leave gloomy parts somewhat darker during the day for contrast.
The shutter speed is fast, and the focus is quick – this is a fantastic primary camera to use.
Main camera, low light performance
Now we move on to more difficult lighting settings, like as low light, backlight, or high contrast scenes, and Vivo’s digital photography prowess begins to shine through. The X80 Pro, like the Vivo X70 Pro Plus, excels at generating HDR images and nearly never blows out bright light sources. Take a look at the photos below: they’re all perfectly balanced. Each wave of the exploding flame in the hot air balloon can be seen. Every strand of light in Hong Kong’s neon towers is portrayed in precise colours. Every light source is clearly lighted, so you can notice the intricacies, whether it’s an exaggerated half-moon above the skies of Dubai or a gloomy street corner.
The Vivo X80 Pro excels in HDR photography, nearly never blowing out bright light sources.
Software
While manufacturers like OPPO and Xiaomi utilise essentially the same software for both its Chinese and international releases (with the exception that the latter includes Google apps pre-installed), Vivo offers two distinct software platforms: OriginOS for mainland China and FunTouchOS for the rest of the world. In earlier hands-on articles, I discussed OriginOS, and it’s safe to say that it’s considerably different from regular Android. FunTouchOS is a lot like the Android that most people are familiar with.
Although I believe FunTouchOS is not as polished or aesthetically beautiful as OPPO’s ColorOS or Xiaomi’s MIUI, I am still mainly satisfied with it, especially now that Vivo has added support for floating app windows (a feature I increasingly consider essential in modern big-screen phones). The app tray, which is a swipe up away, the notification shade at the top, and the choices to lock or wake the screen with double taps all work as they should here. I also enjoy using FunTouch’s interactive widget to control Spotify.
In the name of “battery optimization,” there’s also aggressive background task killing, which causes notification and app sync delays. Initially, Aamir’s texts and emails arrived late, frequently more than 10 minutes late. The app we use to log charging readings was also destroyed 5 minutes into the test, making graphing the charging time extremely difficult. The solution to this ruthless killing can be found in Settings > Battery > Background Power Consumption Management, where you can select your critical apps and change their settings from “Smart Control” to “Don’t restrict background power usage.” This will allow apps to wake up in the background and sync notifications.
Vivo also promises three generations of Android updates and 3 years of security patches in addition to the OS. This isn’t the best in the class, but it’s a step up from only two generations and three years. Keep in mind that Vivo does not officially support bootloader unlocking, so you’ll have to make do with whatever software the manufacturer offers. Developers do occasionally discover unauthorised bootloader unlocking ways, however this should not be relied upon when making a buying decision.
Buy the Vivo X80 Pro if:
You take a lot of photos with your phone, especially at night, and you want gorgeous images that you can share right away without having to edit.
You need a portrait camera that is multifunctional.
You want a high-end phone with all the bells and whistles, such as a fast charging brick, a screen protector, headphones, and a decent case you’ll actually use.
Don’t Buy the Vivo X80 Pro if:
You want a skin for your Android that has fluid animations and adjustable looks.
You care about long-term software upgrades – the X80 Pro only gets three years of Android updates, but Samsung and Google both get four.
The Vivo X70 Pro Plus is already in your possession.
