Vivo X90 Pro review

Editor’s be aware: We’ll rating this assessment as soon as Vivo confirms Western pricing for the X90 Professional – within the meantime, right here’s what we predict from testing it out.

Final yr we topped the Vivo X80 Professional our favorite cellphone digicam of the yr – so it’s truthful to say that we’ve been a bit excited for the X90 Professional, which takes issues one step additional with a whopping nice huge one-inch digicam sensor. 

It’s already given the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely digicam some stiff competitors, and even this early within the yr there’s an opportunity this may very well be 2023’s greatest cellphone for images – properly, aside from Vivo’s X90 Professional+, which is unfortunately staying a China unique. 

The common X90 isn’t any slouch elsewhere both, with one of many newest flagship chipsets, a welcome grippy leather-based end, and all the same old quick charging and high show specs you’d count on. 

Design & construct 

• Huge, however comfy to carry 
• Premium pretend leather-based rear 
• Large digicam module and busy rear design 

I’ve combined emotions in regards to the design of the Vivo X90 Professional, however let’s begin with the great. 

I’m a fan of the black vegan leather-based end you’ll discover on the rear of the cellphone, which makes it each grippier and extra sturdy than most rivals – and helps it stand out amongst the ocean of glass slabs.  

It’s sturdy elsewhere too. The IP68 score ought to hold the cellphone protected from each mud and water, whereas the display is created from Schott Xensation α – a latest rival to the favored Gorilla Glass. 

I additionally like the truth that, regardless of being fairly a big cellphone total, it feels comfy and deceptively mild within the hand. I say misleading as a result of it nonetheless weighs a wholesome 215g, however by some means appears to hold that weight properly. 

So what am I much less of a fan of? For starters, look past the leather-based end and the cellphone’s rear is…busy. There’s a subdued Vivo brand, a much less subdued blue Zeiss brand, an odd metallic strip with ‘Xtreme Creativeness’ inscribed in calligraphy, and a honking nice digicam module. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

That digicam stands out of the cellphone a great half-centimetre, and feels a bit extra obnoxious for the truth that solely three of the ‘lenses’ are actual – the bottom-right is just the spot the place a fourth lens would be on the extra highly effective X90 Professional+, which is simply bought in China. The digicam as a complete might be highly effective sufficient to justify its dimension – extra on that later – however you’ll have to be taught to stay with its design. 

Display screen & audio system 

• Expansive 6.8in, curved AMOLED show 
• Full HD+ decision and 120Hz refresh price 
• Commonplace high quality stereo audio system 

The show is without doubt one of the few areas the place the X90 Professional doesn’t fairly throw all the things on the wall, although it’s not at all a foul display. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

You get a big 6.78in AMOLED panel, with curved edges that hold it comfy to carry. The 1260 x 2800 decision is a lot, although admittedly is a drop down from final yr’s X80 Professional, which packed a QHD+ show, as most of the X90 Professional’s rivals do too.

Equally, the 120Hz decision is nothing to complain about, however it’s a disgrace that Vivo hasn’t used a contemporary LTPO show with totally dynamic refresh price from 1-120Hz, which might enable the cellphone to avoid wasting battery when that quick refresh isn’t actually wanted. 

1300 nits peak brightness isn’t dangerous, however once more, you will discover barely higher elsewhere similar to on the Galaxy S23 Extremely for those who usually want to make use of your cellphone in vibrant, direct daylight. 

This are all nitpicks that imply the X90 Professional’s display undoubtedly isn’t the greatest round, however remains to be glorious. It’s vibrant, punchy, and enticing, with HDR10+ help for relevant content material. Until display specs are your Mastermind specialty, you’ll discover so much to like right here. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The stereo audio system are a bit extra underwhelming, which is to say: they’re superb. I discover it onerous to get too labored up about cellphone audio system both method, and these are fairly commonplace: ok to play tunes in a pinch or take a name on speakerphone, however with some clear limitations. Once more: not the most effective, however ok. 

Specs & efficiency 

• Excessive-end MediaTek Dimensity 9200 chip 
• Lags a bit behind Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 rivals 
• 12GB RAM and 256GB storage 

Vivo made an uncommon selection with the X90 line. Whereas the top-end X90 Professional+ is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – the chip du jour for flagship telephones – the X90 Professional makes use of rival MediaTek’s Dimensity 9200. 

On paper, it’s a equally specced flagship chip, and needs to be an in depth match, although in benchmarks it really lags a good bit behind 8 Gen 2 telephones just like the Galaxy S23 Extremely or OnePlus 11. On the graphics-heavy GFXBench checks included under, be aware that each different cellphone included runs at the next decision – so what appear to be robust numbers for the X90 Professional aren’t really so spectacular. 

In actuality, I’m unsure how a lot any of that issues. The X90 Professional is so exceptionally quick and fluid that no-one might ever accuse this cellphone of being sluggish. Severe cell avid gamers may even see the attraction of the small step up within the Snapdragon, however no-one else would ever discover the distinction day-to-day. 

It most likely helps that Vivo ships the X90 Professional with 12GB of RAM by default, which helps with nippy multitasking. The 256GB storage allowance can be beneficiant, although it’s maybe a disgrace that there’s no choice to improve this additional – or increase it with a microSD card. 

Naturally there’s 5G help, together with the most recent Bluetooth 5.3 commonplace and the not-quite-latest Wi-Fi 6 – for some motive it doesn’t help the more moderen Wi-Fi 6E, although it’s unlikely your router does both. 

Digital camera & video 

• In all probability the most effective major digicam in any cellphone 
• Wonderful supporting lenses 
• No periscope zoom 

Till now I’ve been upbeat, however maybe not awe-inspired, in regards to the X90 Professional. Right here’s the place that adjustments. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

This cellphone was at all times going to return all the way down to its digicam. The Vivo X80 Professional was 2022’s greatest digicam, and it will take some doing for Vivo to exceed that – however it has. 

Let’s get the principle draw back out of the way in which first: there’s no periscopic zoom right here. The principle digicam and ultrawide are joined by a 2x zoom ‘portrait lens’, which nonetheless will get first rate outcomes as much as 5x magnification or thereabouts. Once more, the China-only X90 Professional+ does get that deeper zoom, it’s simply not included right here, which is a slight downside compared to the likes of the S23 Extremely. 

For my cash, the standard of the opposite three lenses greater than makes up for that shortcoming. The most effective by far is the principle digicam, which is powered by the 50Mp Sony IMX989 sensor. This 1in sensor is the most important round proper now, which implies it could seize extra mild for deeper dynamic vary, broader colors, and much better lowlight efficiency, all bolstered by Vivo’s in-house V2 picture processing chip.

At evening there is no such thing as a cellphone I’d quite have in my pocket for images than this. Vivid lights are rigorously uncovered to minimise glare with out a lack of element from darker spots of the body. And areas that ought to be darkish – just like the evening sky – have a tendency to remain that method. Different flagships come shut, however none ship fairly the identical impact. 

The sheer sensor dimension additionally means this shoots a bit extra like a mirrorless and even DSLR digicam, with a shallower depth of discipline. Which means you get a pure bokeh impact even with out utilizing portrait mode, and images that look extra, properly, photographic. 

There’s a draw back: the shallow depth-of-field means it’s simple to get bits of your topic out of focus, so that you’ll should work a bit more durable to border pictures. Nonetheless, discover ways to use it and also you’ll take images that merely don’t appear to be they’ve come from a smartphone. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

I discover the cellphone’s default colors a bit over-saturated, however fortunately a single faucet permits the Zeiss Pure Color mode – the digicam firm has lengthy collaborated with Vivo on its digicam {hardware} and software program, together with a T* anti-glare coating on the lenses right here. 

The Zeiss photograph mode retains true-to-life tones with none lose intimately or dynamic vary, and I a lot favor it. There’s a complete vary of different filters, some powered by Zeiss and a few by Vivo alone, together with a surprisingly good classic movie mode and a quite foolish Zeiss possibility so as to add JJ Abrams-style lens flare to each photograph. 

Transfer past the principle digicam and also you get a 12Mp ultrawide and a 50Mp, 2x telephoto. The ultrawide is the weakest of the three rear lenses, with a drop intimately, a flatter color palette, and diminished lowlight efficiency. That criticism virtually feels unfair although, because it’s nonetheless among the many higher ultrawides on the market. 

The 2x telephoto is even higher. It’s a disgrace there’s no periscope, however this digicam – which Vivo markets as a ‘portrait’ lens – fares properly sufficient at low zoom ranges to cowl most use instances, and good stabilisation means it could even take acceptable zoomed pictures at as much as 10x, although understandably these can’t compete with a real periscope. 

With a smaller sensor, it’s no match for the principle digicam in dimmer mild, however colors and crispness are higher than the ultrawide manages in different situations, making it a happier substitute. And with a broader depth of discipline, it could cowl for the principle shooter when the bokeh isn’t fairly proper, lending a versatility to the entire setup. 

The selfie digicam impresses too. The 32Mp sensor is impressively excessive decision, although the aperture of f/2.5 is a bit more restricted. Nonetheless, pictures impress when that element can shine by in good lighting, however don’t count on any of the low mild magic you’ll discover from the cameras on the opposite facet. 

Video recording from the rear cameras goes as much as 4K@60fps or 8K@24fps. Until you want the decision, you is perhaps higher off sticking to 1080p, at which level you’re ready to make use of the cellphone’s ‘Extremely’ stabilisation, which is among the many greatest round – and helps ship but extra glorious low mild capabilities. 

Battery & charging 

• Comfy all-day battery 
• Extremely quick 120W wired charging 
• Reverse wi-fi charging appears damaged 

If digicam is the principle space the X90 Professional excels, then the battery most likely comes up second. 

The 4870mAh cell is beneficiant, and near the most important you’ll discover in a flagship. Most significantly, it interprets to a cellphone that simply lasts a full day of use, and normally a good bit longer.  

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

In terms of charging, the 120W charger included with the cellphone is about as quick as they arrive. With the cellphone’s optionally available ‘Quick charging’ setting enabled, it restored a formidable 70% of the cellphone’s battery – so principally a day’s price – in simply quarter-hour of charging, one of many quickest scores we’ve ever recorded. 

Vivo has additionally included help for wi-fi charging and reverse wi-fi charging. You may technically cost at as much as 50W speeds wirelessly, however solely with Vivo’s official accent, which is bought individually – although it’ll work superb at slower speeds on regular Qi chargers. 

Unfortunately, I have to add that I’ve found the reverse wireless charging – which allows you to wirelessly charge other devices from the phone – to be entirely unreliable and borderline non-functional. Trying two pairs of earbuds and another phone, all begin to charge but seem to lose the connection quickly, only rarely managing to sustain charging. Hopefully this is fixed in an update, because for now it basically isn’t working. 

Software & updates 

• Ships with Funtouch OS and Android 13 
• Lots of bloatware 
• Three years of Android updates 

Finally we get to arguably Vivo’s key weak point in its ongoing attempts to break into Western markets: software. 

The awfully named Funtouch OS is still Vivo’s international Android skin (in China it instead ships the distinct OriginOS), and it’s still pretty frustrating. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

There’s some variation here to be fair. Global versions of the phone ship packed with bloatware – much of which can’t be uninstalled – but as a rule there’s substantially less of this on official UK and European models. 

What doesn’t change is the problem of over-optimisation. Funtouch aggressively manages app networking, battery use, and even permissions in the background, creating problems as it shuts off apps you thought were running, or blocks notifications.  

Other incompatibilities are harder to explain. For some reason the autofill capability of my password manager, 1Password, will not work on this phone. It works on every other phone I test, including the previous Vivo X80 Pro, but for some reason I can’t autofill a password to save my life on this one. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

One definite improvement is in long-term support at least: Vivo is now promising the X90 Pro will receive three Android version updates (taking it past this year’s Android 14 and through to Android 16) with security patches over the same period. 

That’s not as impressive a commitment as you’ll get from Samsung, OnePlus, Google, or some others, but it’s a step up for Vivo, means you can rely on this phone to run well for at least a few years. 

Price & availability 

This review of the X90 Pro remains unscored for now precisely because Vivo hasn’t yet confirmed how much the phone will cost in the UK and Europe – or even when it will go on sale, though we know it will eventually. 

Last year the X80 Pro started from £1,199/€1,099, and I would expect similar again. That would price it pretty directly against competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, but hopefully Vivo finds a way to undercut them slightly. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

For the full competition, check out our guide to all the best phones right now, the best phone cameras you can find, or the best Vivo phones for more from the brand. 

Verdict 

The Vivo X90 Pro is a powerful flagship by any measure, with perhaps the best phone camera you can buy outside of China – though it’s not without compromises. 

Everywhere from the display, to the chipset, to the software experience, the X90 Pro is always good – and sometimes great – but never the best around. 

That all changes with the camera, where Vivo’s phone is almost unrivalled, especially when it comes to the absolutely brilliant main camera – by itself undoubtedly the best around. The only real camera complaint is that with no periscope lens, this lacks the versatility of some rivals, including Samsung’s S23 Ultra. 

Specs 

• 6.78in, 120Hz, 2800 x 1260 AMOLED display 
• MediaTek Dimensity 9200 
• 12GB LPDDR5 RAM 
• 256GB UFS 4.0 storage 
• Camera: 
  • Vivo V2 ISP 
  • 50Mp f/1.75 main camera (Sony IMX989) 
  • 12Mp f/2.0 108-degree ultrawide lens (Sony IMX663) 
  • 50Mp f/1.6 2x portrait telephoto lens (Sony IMX758) 
  • 32Mp f/2.45 selfie camera 
• 4870mAh battery 
• 120W wired charging 
• 50W wireless charging 
• 5G/4G 
• Wi-Fi 6 
• Bluetooth 5.3 
• GPS 
• NFC 
• In-display fingerprint sensor 
• IP68 water and dust resistance 
• 164 x 74.5 x 9.3mm 
• 215g 
• Android 13 with Funtouch OS 13