Vivo X70 Pro+: A Premium Smartphone That Delivers on Camera Innovation
Vivo has been steadily climbing the ranks in the premium smartphone market with its X series, aiming to impress with top-notch camera features. While past models like the Vivo X50 Pro and X60 Pro+ boasted unique gimbal stabilisation features, they often came up short in other areas, especially considering their premium price tags. With the new Vivo X70 Pro+, however, Vivo seems to have addressed those shortcomings and more, delivering a flagship contender that boasts not only a robust camera system but also impressive performance, a stunning display, and a well-rounded set of features.
This phone, priced at Rs. 79,990 in India, positions itself directly against other heavyweights like the iPhone 13, Samsung S21+, Mi 11 Ultra, and top-end variants of other premium Android flagships. After spending a week with the X70 Pro+, it’s clear that Vivo has taken its game to a new level, offering a compelling contender for anyone searching for a truly premium smartphone experience.
A Refined Design with Premium Touches
The X70 Pro+ ditches the faux leather back of its predecessor, the X60 Pro+, opting instead for a matte glass finish with a sleek metal frame. Available in a single Enigma Black color, the phone exudes premium vibes. While the smooth glass back certainly feels luxurious, it comes with the downside of being quite slippery. Thankfully, Vivo includes a high-quality faux leather case in the box, offering a soft and grippy alternative that adds a touch of texture while keeping the phone secure.
Despite its 8.89mm slimness, the quad-camera module on the back protrudes quite a bit. Weighing in at 213g, it isn’t exactly lightweight but isn’t overly bulky for a premium smartphone. A striking design feature is the large reflective panel next to the camera module, serving as a cosmetic touch that doubles as a mirror for rear-facing selfies.
The X70 Pro+ boasts a large 6.7-inch WQHD+ AMOLED display with curved sides and a Schott Xensation cover glass that resists smudges despite a slight predisposition to fingerprint marks. A significant upgrade from previous models is the introduction of stereo speakers with the earpiece doubling as the second speaker, delivering a more immersive audio experience. Furthermore, the IP68 rating provides robust protection against dust and water, crucial for a high-end device.
Powerful Performance backed by a Robust Processor
Under the hood, the Vivo X70 Pro+ packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ processor, a minor but notable improvement over the Snapdragon 888 found in many other premium Android devices. This upgraded processor boasts a higher 3GHz clock speed and a faster Hexagon 780 AI Engine, enhancing performance across the board. Coupled with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, there’s ample power and storage capacity to handle demanding tasks and games without breaking a sweat. The phone also supports a range of communication standards, including Wi-Fi 6 ac/ax, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC, along with multiple SA and NSA 5G bands, addressing a shortcoming of the X60 Pro+.
Software-wise, the phone runs FunTouch OS 12 based on Android 11. While the highly anticipated Origin OS is yet to arrive in India, the X70 Pro+ does feature a selection of cool-looking widgets including a Clean up & Accelerate function, a Nano music player, basic stickers, a featured album, and a weather widget. These widgets, with their unique skeuomorphic design, offer a tactile and interactive experience that goes beyond the typical Android widgets. For instance, the music player features engaging animations like a CD slotting into a tray, adding a touch of charm to the user interface.
Despite the pre-loaded third-party apps, the software felt incredibly smooth and responsive throughout our review period, with no signs of lag or stuttering, and thankfully, no disruptive promotional notifications.
A Superior Display Meets Powerful Performance
The X70 Pro+ showcases a WQHD+ (3200×1440 pixels) display that delivers exceptional sharpness and brightness, even in direct sunlight. The display boasts a billion colors and a natural color reproduction that makes viewing content a joy. The curved edges enhance the swiping experience and don’t pose any major distractions during content consumption. The display also supports HDR10+, enhancing the viewing experience for compatible content on platforms like YouTube and Amazon Prime, with Netflix certification pending.
The AMOLED panel features a 120Hz peak refresh rate, further contributing to the smooth and responsive feel of the software. This high refresh rate is especially noticeable when gaming, making the experience even more immersive.
Vivo’s Ultra Game mode has undergone a revamp, now boasting a new interface and a suite of gamer-friendly features:
- 4D vibration adds a layer of physical feedback to the gaming experience (though it inexplicably did not work with Call of Duty: Mobile).
- Voice changer provides an option for altering your voice during gameplay.
- Eagle Eye View enhances visibility in darker areas by brightening the game’s visuals.
Playing Call of Duty: Mobile on the X70 Pro+ resulted in a seamless and enjoyable experience, with no lag or stutter, even at Very High graphics quality and Max frame rate. The dual speakers delivered a loud and clear audio experience, further enhancing the immersion. Notably, although the phone only warmed up slightly even during extended gaming sessions, the 4D vibration feature curiously did not work with Call of Duty: Mobile.
Performance benchmarks reflected the phone’s power, showing minor but noticeable differences compared to devices equipped with the Snapdragon 888. The X70 Pro+ achieved a score of 8,16,115 in AnTuTu and 1,112 and 3,621 in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests respectively, slightly surpassing the scores of the iQoo 7 Legend, which managed 8,05,450 in AnTuTu and 1,130 and 3,668 in Geekbench’s tests, demonstrating the performance advantage of the upgraded processor.
Long-lasting Battery Life and Fast Charging
Powered by a 4,500mAh battery, the X70 Pro+ defied expectations, comfortably lasting a day and a half under heavy usage, even with the display refresh rate set to 120Hz. Switching to Auto refresh rate could potentially extend this even further. With regular usage, the battery life consistently left around 40 percent at the end of the day, showcasing its impressive endurance.
Vivo includes a 55W charger in the box, capable of powering the phone from zero to 100 percent in approximately 55 minutes, a respectable charging time for a large-capacity battery. Furthermore, the X70 Pro+ incorporates 50W wireless charging support, but requires Vivo’s own dock for optimal performance. This dock is scheduled to be released in India, available for separate purchase.
Vivo X70 Pro+ Cameras: A Focus on Innovation and Versatility
The X70 Pro+ features a quad-camera setup consisting of:
- 50-megapixel wide-angle camera
- 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with gimbal stabilization
- 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 2X optical zoom
- 8-megapixel telephoto camera with 5X optical zoom
All of the cameras offer autofocus and optical image stabilization (OIS), ensuring high-quality images even in challenging shooting conditions. Selfies are handled by a 32-megapixel front-facing camera.
Vivo’s Professional Imaging Chip V1, a dedicated processing chip, enhances both performance and photography capabilities:
- Frame interpolation, a feature that is touted to contribute to smoother gaming performance, improves the accuracy of brightness and noise reduction for images.
- *Zeiss T coating**, along with software algorithms, minimizes glare and ghosting in low-light scenarios, further improving image quality.
Photos captured indoors and outdoors in daylight demonstrated exceptional clarity and detail, showcasing excellent dynamic range and sharpness. The ultra-wide-angle camera exhibits noticeable barrel distortion at the edges of photos, a common trait among wide-angle lenses. Colors, notably with the Zeiss color mode activated, were true to the real-world scene.
The ultra-wide-angle camera also doubles as a macro camera, producing binned images with impressive detail and clarity.
Zooming in revealed sharp and noise-free images up to 5X optical zoom, exhibiting excellent detail. Beyond that, while the level of detail drops, the 60X digital zoom still delivers usable results, offering a impressive level of flexibility for capturing distant subjects. Notably, the X70 Pro+ successfully maintained color consistency and white balance throughout the entire zoom range, demonstrating its impressive capabilities.
Selfie performance was equally impressive, producing clear and detailed images. Edge detection in portrait mode, whether applied to human subjects or objects, performed exceptionally well, demonstrating the phone’s advanced image recognition abilities. Vivo has integrated various Style Portrait Modes that emulate the aesthetics of classic Zeiss lenses, including Biotar, Planar, Sonnar, and Distagon, for adding a touch of artistic flair to portraits. These modes, which leverage software algorithms, yielded distinct looks that were effective in both daylight and low-light environments.
The camera system’s zoom performance held firm even around sunset, capturing impressive images with minimal noise. In low light, the X70 Pro+ delivered remarkable clarity up to 2X zoom, with some noise appearing at 5X zoom. Engaging Night mode effectively addressed noise issues and enhanced the dynamic range, revealing more detail in dark areas. The *Zeiss T coating mitigated glare from nearby light sources, further contributing to improved image quality. Surprisingly, even at 60X zoom** using Night mode, the results were usable, highlighting the phone’s capabilities in challenging lighting conditions.
Daylight video recording showcased a seamless performance, effortlessly capturing high-quality footage at various resolutions and frame rates. HDR videos delivered exceptional sharpness and dynamic range but were limited to 30fps. Around sunset, areas illuminated with artificial light sources exhibited some flickering, a problem that was absent when HDR was disabled. While low-light detail took a slight hit, stabilization remained impressive, offering a smooth and stable video experience. A subtle shimmering effect appeared when navigating through dimly lit areas. The Super Night mode was less impressive, with the Auto mode producing more appealing results.
A unique feature is the Horizon line stabilization mode, which seamlessly transitions to the ultra-wide-angle camera with its gimbal stabilization. This mode keeps the horizon level while rotating the phone 360 degrees during video recording, making it extraordinarily useful for capturing smooth and steady footage while on the move. This feature is particularly beneficial for recording videos while in a moving vehicle or during running, ensuring a stable and balanced shot.
While conducting the camera review, comparisons were made with the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, a similarly priced premium smartphone. The Vivo X70 Pro+ outperformed the Mi 11 Ultra in most aspects, with the exception of low-light video, where the Mi 11 Ultra captured slightly better detail with less noise.
While the camera interface boasts numerous features, a few aspects could be improved. The zoom controls, while responsive, lack smooth transitions between zoom levels, resulting in abrupt shifts particularly when recording video. The inability to switch from the wide camera to the ultra-wide-angle camera during video recording is another limitation that could be addressed in future updates. The HDR video functionality is restricted to 30fps, regardless of resolution, and gimbal stabilization is limited to 1080p at 30fps, further restricting the video recording capabilities.
Verdict: A Premium Smartphone That Delivers on its Promises
The Vivo X70 Pro+ is a bold and ambitious statement from Vivo. Beyond its focus on camera innovation with features like gimbal stabilization and the V1 imaging chip, the X70 Pro+ exhibits significant strides in performance, design, and features that justify its premium price tag. The phone effortlessly handles demanding tasks, boasts an impressive display, and offers remarkable battery life. The camera system is a standout feature, delivering consistently high-quality images and impressive video capabilities.
While the X70 Pro+ isn’t without its minor flaws, it offers a complete and compelling package that stands out among its competitors. With a powerful blend of performance, cutting-edge camera technology, and a host of desirable features, the X70 Pro+ undeniably earns its place among the elite smartphones in the market. While other brands like Samsung and Apple offer their own premium contenders, Vivo has found a unique niche with its X70 Pro+, offering a level of camera versatility and feature-set that is hard to match.
