GADGET REVIEW: Vivo X80 Pro sells for the price of iPhone 11 Pro, but can it perform as much?

In May, Vivo announced a partnership with FIFA as the official sponsor and smartphone of the World Cup Qatar 2022.

Through the deal, the smartphone company, which initially focused on the Chinese market, sought to leverage its rights to the FIFA World Cup 2022, to run promotions registering its brand with football fans globally.

The partnership is a follow up on its 2018 sponsorship deal with FIFA, going on to make a brand statement of commitment and consistency in its desire to position itself as a major smartphone company ready to lock horns with other popular brands such as Apple and Samsung.

With a new V1+ imaging chip, glass front, glass back, aluminium frame, IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins); the Vivo X80 Pro comes as an upgrade to the X70 Pro+, an older device with similar specs.

Starting with the camera, the new Vivo X80 Pro is a top-notch for journalists, mobile photographers or anyone looking for a device that can give a detailed image like an iPhone 11.

The special camera touch is courtesy of a contract with Zeiss, a German company that has previously worked with Nokia and Microsoft.

The new Vivo flagship spits out images with a prominent “Vivo x80 Pro -ZEISS” watermark in the bottom left corner. For Vivo, it’s branding. But for reviewers and photo enthusiasts, it comes out rather childish as those watermarks can ruin good photos.

The battery capacity is another noticeable upgrade on the phone compared to the previous X70 model. While the phone comes with a 4,700mAh battery, X70 runs on 4,500mAh unit. Here, it leads the iPhone 11 Pro (running with only 3,969 mAh) notwithstanding sharing similar price tag.

Read also: GADGET REVIEW: Realme 8i is good but not without flaws

Meanwhile, it seems that the increase in battery capacity was merely to compensate for the heavy import of features that requires more power as its overall usage maxes at 14hours, same range as the iPhone.

On video quality in terms of frame-per-second (fps), the rear camera shoots 8K and 4K@30/60fps or 1080p@30/60fps while the front camera spits 4K@30fps and 1080p@30fps.

One notable thing about the new Vivo device is the charging technology. The phone is packed with an 80W charger and could charge 100% in 38 min, going by adverts. And, during wireless charging, it could peak 100% in about 50 min.

To put it in perspective, a Galaxy S21 Ultra takes about 1 hour and 5 minutes for a full charge, while Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max takes around 2 hours for a full charge with Apple’s own 20W adapter.

Yes, this particular Vivo device is not the fastest charging phone out there. Vivo iQOO 7 still holds the title of the fastest charging phone in the world with a 120W fast charging speeds, peaking 100% in just about 18 minutes. Another Chinese product, Xiaomi 11T Pro is a runner-up with a 120W fast charger that takes about 25 minutes to charge complete.

So, what about its OS, memory and chipset? Considering the price, it is not doing bad, the phone is built with Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.40 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.70 GHz Cortex-A510) and additional enhancement with Adreno 730.

Factory memory is 256GB with 12GB RAM and UFS 3.1. On operating system, the device, like Pixel 3, Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, Xiaomi- Mi 11, Oppo Find X3 Pro (whose price are way expensive) runs on Android 12 with Funtouch 12 (Global).

Finally, Vivo X80 Pro takes the size of iPhone 12 Pro Max; Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra; OnePlus 9 Pro; Redmi 11 Ultra; or OnePlus 9R 5G with a 6.78″ LTPO3 AMOLED display, 1440x3200px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, and 517 pixels-per-inch.

Judging from above qualities and specs, the phone may pass as a low budget for people looking for luxury and sophistication.

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