(Pocket-lint) – The Vivo X80 Pro continues a line of flagship-grade devices, looking to muscle into the global market. While well known in China and Asian countries, the push into Europe started with the Vivo X51 (called Vivo X50 Pro elsewhere) in 2020.
We’ve been through successive models – the X60 Pro and X70 Pro+ followed (both in 2021) and now the Vivo X80 Pro wants to grab your attention.
And attention is something that Vivo is throwing out: the sponsorship of the (delayed) Euro 2020 competition highlighted how seriously Vivo is taking things.
It you listened to Vivo, you’d think the X80 Pro was a camera. But it’s not: it’s a smartphone and there’s a lot more to it than simple camera performance. Yes, that camera does perform, but there’s complexity, an abundance of features and that will not suit everyone’s preference.
The rest of the phone experience is good too: there’s plenty of power, battery life that’s decent enough and a great display that looks good in pretty much every condition, but Vivo’s software in FunTouch OS seems to introduce problems that shouldn’t be there. That’s what keeps the X80 Pro from offering the smoothest experience – and while no phone is perfect, to convince a Pixel 6 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra user to switch to Vivo, you need to make this experience better.
Design and build
- 164.57 x 75.30 x 9.10mm; 219g
- IP68
Vivo continues the design trend it started with the Vivo X70 Pro+, with the biggest talking point being the huge camera unit on the rear of the phone. It dominates the top half of the phone as a big square block, then containing a round section housing some of the lenses – with one periscope camera dropping out of that roundel.
It’s similar to the X70 Pro+ – which arranged these lenses in a line to one side – but that’s not the only similarity to the X70 Pro+. These phones look very similar, with curved edges, the same button placement and that inscription across the top that reads “professional photography”.
The rear panel is glass, but it’s a matte finish. In fact it’s a luscious finish, called Cosmic Black: it’s silky smooth and shimmers when the light hits it. There’s a case in the box which will really only protect the back of the phone, with a soft touch feeling to it that’s a little like leather.
There’s a very capable display on the Vivo X80 Pro. It’s similar to that of the X70 Pro+, with curved edges and fairly minimal bezels. The front camera sits in a punch hole in the centre.
It’s an LTPO AMOLED display, which means it also offers adaptive refresh rates between 1-120Hz depending on what you’re doing. The aim is to give you the best refresh rate and save power by slowing it down when it doesn’t need to update quickly, like when reading static text.
There’s the option to choose 60 or 120Hz too, as well as the option for FHD+ resolution instead of the full thing. All these measures are designed to preserve battery life.
