Vivo X90 Pro Review: Good Phone, Incredible Camera 

Worth When Reviewed

Not out there within the US

Editor’s notice: We’ll rating this evaluate 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 telephone digital camera of the yr – so it’s honest to say that we’ve been a bit excited for the X90 Professional, which takes issues one step additional with a whopping nice massive one-inch digital camera sensor. 

It’s already given the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely digital camera some stiff competitors, and even this early within the yr there’s an opportunity this could possibly be 2023’s finest telephone for images – effectively, apart 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 standard quick charging and prime show specs you’d anticipate. 

Design & construct 

• Huge, however comfy to carry 
• Premium faux leather-based rear 
• Huge digital camera module and busy rear design 

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

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

I’m a fan of the black vegan leather-based end you’ll discover on the rear of the telephone, 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 ranking ought to preserve the telephone secure from each mud and water, whereas the display is produced from Schott Xensation α – a current rival to the favored Gorilla Glass. 

I additionally like the truth that, regardless of being fairly a big telephone general, it feels comfy and deceptively mild within the hand. I say misleading as a result of it nonetheless weighs a wholesome 215g, however in some way appears to hold that weight effectively. 

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

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

That digital camera stands out of the telephone an excellent half-centimetre, and feels a bit of extra obnoxious for the truth that solely three of the ‘lenses’ are actual – the bottom-right is solely the spot the place a fourth lens would be on the extra highly effective X90 Professional+, which is barely offered in China. The digital camera as an entire might be highly effective sufficient to justify its measurement – extra on that later – however you’ll have to be taught to dwell with its design. 

Display & audio system 

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

The show is likely one of the few areas the place the X90 Professional doesn’t fairly throw all the things on the wall, although it’s in no way a foul display. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

You get a big 6.78in AMOLED panel, with curved edges that preserve 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, but it surely’s a disgrace that Vivo hasn’t used a contemporary LTPO show with totally dynamic refresh fee from 1-120Hz, which might enable the telephone to save lots of battery when that quick refresh isn’t actually wanted. 

1300 nits peak brightness isn’t unhealthy, however once more, you will discover barely higher elsewhere resembling on the Galaxy S23 Extremely when you usually want to make use of your telephone in shiny, direct daylight. 

This are all nitpicks that imply the X90 Professional’s display undoubtedly isn’t the finest round, however remains to be wonderful. It’s shiny, punchy, and engaging, with HDR10+ help for relevant content material. Except display specs are your Mastermind specialty, you’ll discover loads to like right here. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The stereo audio system are a bit of extra underwhelming, which is to say: they’re tremendous. I discover it laborious to get too labored up about telephone audio system both manner, and these are fairly customary: adequate to play tunes in a pinch or take a name on speakerphone, however with some clear limitations. Once more: not the most effective, however adequate. 

Specs & efficiency 

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

Vivo made an uncommon alternative 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 must be a detailed match, although in benchmarks it truly lags a good bit behind 8 Gen 2 telephones just like the Galaxy S23 Extremely or OnePlus 11. On the graphics-heavy GFXBench assessments included beneath, notice that each different telephone included runs at a better decision – so what appear to be robust numbers for the X90 Professional aren’t truly so spectacular. 

In actuality, I’m undecided how a lot any of that issues. The X90 Professional is so exceptionally quick and fluid that no-one may ever accuse this telephone of being sluggish. Critical cellular players 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 also be beneficiant, although it’s maybe a disgrace that there’s no choice to improve this additional – or broaden it with a microSD card. 

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

Digicam & video 

• In all probability the most effective essential digital camera in any telephone 
• Glorious 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 modifications. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

This telephone was at all times going to return right down to its digital camera. The Vivo X80 Professional was 2022’s finest digital camera, and it could take some doing for Vivo to exceed that – but it surely has. 

Let’s get the principle draw back out of the way in which first: there’s no periscopic zoom right here. The primary digital camera 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 disadvantage 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 digital camera, which is powered by the 50Mp Sony IMX989 sensor. This 1in sensor is the most important round proper now, which suggests it may 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 isn’t a telephone I’d quite have in my pocket for images than this. Vivid lights are fastidiously uncovered to minimise glare and not using 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 manner. Different flagships come shut, however none ship fairly the identical impact. 

The sheer sensor measurement additionally means this shoots a bit of extra like a mirrorless and even DSLR digital camera, with a shallower depth of subject. Meaning you get a pure bokeh impact even with out utilizing portrait mode, and images that look extra, effectively, photographic. 

There’s a draw back: the shallow depth-of-field means it’s straightforward to get bits of your topic out of focus, so that you’ll need to work a bit of tougher to border pictures. Nevertheless, learn to use it and also you’ll take images that merely don’t seem like they’ve come from a smartphone. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

I discover the telephone’s default colors a bit of over-saturated, however fortunately a single faucet allows the Zeiss Pure Color mode – the digital camera firm has lengthy collaborated with Vivo on its digital camera {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 choose it. There’s an entire 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 digital camera 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 nearly 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 digital camera – which Vivo markets as a ‘portrait’ lens – fares effectively sufficient at low zoom ranges to cowl most use circumstances, and good stabilisation means it may 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 digital camera in dimmer mild, however colors and crispness are higher than the ultrawide manages in different circumstances, making it a happier substitute. And with a broader depth of subject, it may cowl for the principle shooter when the bokeh isn’t fairly proper, lending a versatility to the entire setup. 

The selfie digital camera 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 anticipate any of the low mild magic you’ll discover from the cameras on the opposite aspect. 

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

Battery & charging 

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

If digital camera 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 telephone that simply lasts a full day of use, and often a good bit longer.  

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

In the case of charging, the 120W charger included with the telephone is about as quick as they arrive. With the telephone’s elective ‘Quick charging’ setting enabled, it restored a powerful 70% of the telephone’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 possibly can technically cost at as much as 50W speeds wirelessly, however solely with Vivo’s official accent, which is offered individually – although it should work tremendous at slower speeds on common Qi chargers. 

Sadly, I’ve so as to add that I’ve discovered the reverse wi-fi charging – which lets you wirelessly cost different units from the telephone – to be totally unreliable and borderline non-functional. Attempting two pairs of earbuds and one other telephone, all start to cost however appear to lose the connection rapidly, solely hardly ever managing to maintain charging. Hopefully that is mounted in an replace, as a result of for now it principally isn’t working. 

Software program & updates 

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

Lastly we get to arguably Vivo’s key weak level in its ongoing makes an attempt to interrupt into Western markets: software program. 

The awfully named Funtouch OS remains to be Vivo’s worldwide Android pores and skin (in China it as a substitute ships the distinct OriginOS), and it’s nonetheless fairly irritating. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

There’s some variation right here to be honest. International variations of the telephone ship filled with bloatware – a lot of which might’t be uninstalled – however as a rule there’s considerably much less of this on official UK and European fashions. 

What doesn’t change is the issue of over-optimisation. Funtouch aggressively manages app networking, battery use, and even permissions within the background, creating issues because it shuts off apps you thought had been working, or blocks notifications.  

Different incompatibilities are tougher to clarify. For some motive the autofill functionality of my password supervisor, 1Password, is not going to work on this telephone. It really works on each different telephone I take a look at, together with the earlier Vivo X80 Professional, however for some motive I can’t autofill a password to save lots of my life on this one. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

One particular enchancment is in long-term help no less than: Vivo is now promising the X90 Professional will obtain three Android model updates (taking it previous this yr’s Android 14 and thru to Android 16) with safety patches over the identical interval. 

That’s not as spectacular a dedication as you’ll get from Samsung, OnePlus, Google, or some others, but it surely’s a step up for Vivo, means you may depend on this telephone to run effectively for no less than a couple of years. 

Worth & availability 

This evaluate of the X90 Professional stays unscored for now exactly as a result of Vivo hasn’t but confirmed how a lot the telephone will price within the UK and Europe – and even when it should go on sale, although we all know it should finally. 

Final yr the X80 Professional began from £1,199/€1,099, and I’d anticipate related once more. That will worth it fairly straight in opposition to rivals just like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely and Apple iPhone 14 Professional Max, however hopefully Vivo finds a option to undercut them barely. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

For the total competitors, take a look at our information to all the most effective telephones proper now, the most effective telephone cameras you will discover, or the most effective Vivo telephones for extra from the model. 

Verdict 

The Vivo X90 Professional is a robust flagship by any measure, with maybe the most effective telephone digital camera you should buy exterior of China – although it’s not with out compromises. 

In all places from the show, to the chipset, to the software program expertise, the X90 Professional is at all times good – and typically nice – however by no means the most effective round. 

That each one modifications with the digital camera, the place Vivo’s telephone is nearly unrivalled, particularly with regards to the completely sensible essential digital camera – by itself undoubtedly the most effective round. The one actual digital camera criticism is that with no periscope lens, this lacks the flexibility of some rivals, together with Samsung’s S23 Extremely. 

Specs 

• 6.78in, 120Hz, 2800 x 1260 AMOLED show 
• MediaTek Dimensity 9200 
• 12GB LPDDR5 RAM 
• 256GB UFS 4.0 storage 
• Digicam: 
  • Vivo V2 ISP 
  • 50Mp f/1.75 essential digital 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 digital camera 
• 4870mAh battery 
• 120W wired charging 
• 50W wi-fi charging 
• 5G/4G 
• Wi-Fi 6 
• Bluetooth 5.3 
• GPS 
• NFC 
• In-display fingerprint sensor 
• IP68 water and mud resistance 
• 164 x 74.5 x 9.3mm 
• 215g 
• Android 13 with Funtouch OS 13