Introduction
This is the X50 Pro, by vivo, not r… Unlike most smartphones nowadays, the X50 Pro is yet another unique smartphone. It is the first phone to have the Gimbal Camera System, which really improves the image and video quality a lot. Without further ado, this is the vivo X50 Pro review!
Specs
- 6.56-inch Full HD+ 90Hz AMOLED display
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB internal storage
- Rear cameras: 48MP f/1.6 main + 8MP f/3.4 periscope telephoto + 8MP ultra-wide + 13MP portrait
- 32MP f/2.5 front camera
- 4,315mAh battery with 33W vivo Flash Charge
- vivo Funtouch OS 10.5 based on Android 10
Design
The X50 Pro looks quite identical to many other Chinese smartphones on the front, like the OnePlus 8, Mi 10, and OPPO Reno4 Pro. It has a 6.56-inch Full HD+ 90Hz AMOLED display with curved sides and there’s a camera cutout on the top left corner. It has an optical in-display fingerprint sensor, works quite well for me.
The phone’s top and bottom are flat, making it able to stand on its own. The top of the phone shows the “5G” and “Professional Photography” wordings, clearly the selling points of the phone.
The phone comes is only available in the Alpha Grey variant, and it has a matte back finishing, something that I love about this phone. It has a gradient of greys, in fact, the phone looks a bit blueish from certain angles. On the top left corner, you’ll see the big camera modules, more on it later.
The bottom of the phone houses the SIM slot, microphone, USB-C port, and speaker. Sadly, the X50 Pro doesn’t have stereo speakers, meaning you can only rely on the down-firing mono speaker at the bottom.
Display
The X50 Pro sports a 6.56-inch Full HD+ 90Hz AMOLED display. As usual, the colors are vivid and eye-pleasing with deep blacks. However, even though it has a 90Hz refresh rate, the screen just doesn’t feel as smooth as a flagship phone like the HUAWEI P40 Pro, probably due to the less powerful processor.
There’s a common issue with the curved sides screen — the accidental touch, but this doesn’t happen too often since the curves are less slanted. vivo did take advantage of the curved sides by having the edge lighting effect on the curves, like what Samsung did with the curved screen phones.
Performance
Powering the vivo X50 Pro is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. To be honest, it’s a little bit disappointing not to see a Snapdragon 865 processor on this phone at such a premium price tag. You can’t blame vivo, though, as the company invested a lot in the camera department. Overall, the Snapdragon 765G processor can still get the job done smoothly.
In terms of gaming, I was able to play Call of Duty: Mobile in “very high” graphic quality and frame rate. As for PUBG Mobile, I was able to run “HD” graphics with “Ultra” frame rate. Changing it to “Smooth” graphics will let you play with “Extreme” frame rate, that’s the maximum performance. That’s not too bad, the gaming performance is actually quite similar to the HUAWEI P40 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S20 series!
Software
In terms of software, the X50 Pro runs on Funtouch OS 10.5 based on Android 10. The overall software experience is actually quite similar to the V19, which I reviewed recently. You can now finally have an app drawer and everything now looks more like a proper Android, instead of just the counterfeit version of iOS. Sadly, there’s no guarantee that vivo will be updating the phone to the next Android version, the company has always been quiet about it, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get the next Android version.
Camera
Here comes the main selling point of the phone — the camera! The X50 Pro packs a quad-camera setup on the back — 48MP f/1.6 main + 8MP f/3.4 periscope telephoto + 8MP ultra-wide + 13MP portrait. Selfie wise, there’s a 32MP front-facing camera. The main 48MP sensor actually comes with the Gimbal Camera System, something that is more advanced than the optical image stabilization (OIS). It comes with 5-axis stabilization, which allows the lens to tilt up, down, left, and right for more stable images and videos. This really is a groundbreaking technology on a smartphone, if you love to take videos, you’ll like it!
Ultra-Wide Camera
Main Camera (12MP)
Main Camera (48MP)
It also comes with an 8MP f/3.4 periscope telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and up to 60x hyper zoom. I don’t think anyone will actually use the 60x hyper zoom, though.
2x Zoom
5x Zoom
10x Zoom
60x Hyper Zoom
With such zooming capability, the X50 Pro also comes with the Supermoon Mode, which lets you capture the moon!
Supermoon Mode
I was actually quite amazed at the image quality, even though it’s using the AI algorithm to calculate and produce the image. Still, it was impressive!
Night Mode
With the Gimbal Camera System, one advantage is you get to capture great low-light shots with minimum camera shake. Overall, the X50 Pro is actually a great phone to shoot photos and videos, it’s one of my favorite camera phones.
Click here to view all the camera samples in full res!
Battery Life
The X50 Pro packs a 4,315mAh battery that supports 33W vivo Flash Charge. It’ll take around 1 hour to charge the phone from 15% to 100%. In terms of battery life, I was able to get through a day easily, in fact, nearly two days! If you are careful enough, using it for two days on a single charge is not a problem.
Final Words
Retailing at RM3,199, it’s not easy to recommend this phone at such a stiff price tag. Well, the main concern is actually the Snapdragon 765G processor, you can get a phone at an even lower price with a Snapdragon 865 processor. However, there’s no Snapdragon 865-powered phone that has the Gimbal Camera System like the X50 Pro at the moment, only the X50 Pro+ has but it’s not available. I myself wouldn’t mind the Snapdragon 765G processor as I am quite satisfied with its performance, and I really enjoy using the camera!
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