Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
The vivo X50 is vivo's mid-range smartphone with a focus on camera performance. This is the cheaper of the two X50 phones, the other being the vivo X50 Pro that we reviewed recently.
The standard X50 is not too far off from the feature set of the X50 Pro. The major differences between the two phones come down to the choice of chipsets, displays and some aspects of the rear camera system.
vivo X50 • vivo X50 Pro
The vivo X50 features the Snapdragon 730 chipset instead of the Snapdragon 765G, it has a flat instead of a curved display and the rear camera lacks the "gimbal" stabilization and swaps out one of the telephoto lenses for a macro. The rest of the specifications are surprisingly similar, including the main camera sensor on the back.
Vivo X50 specs:
- Body: Aluminum frame, tempered glass front and back; 159.5 x 75.4 x 7.5 mm, 173g;
- Display: 6.56" AMOLED, punch-hole notch, 2376 x 1080px resolution, 398ppi; HDR10+ compliant, DCI-P3 coverage.
- Rear cameras: Main: 48MP, Quad-Bayer filter, 0.8µm pixel size, 25mm equivalent focal length, f/1.6 aperture, PDAF, OIS. Ultrawide angle: 8MP, 1/4.0", 1.12µm, f/2.2, 16mm, AF. Portrait: 13MP f/2.5, 25mm, 2x optical zoom, PDAF. Macro: 5MP, f2.5 fixed focus (1.5cm)
- Video recording: Main - up to 4K@30fps, rest - up to 1080p@30fps. EIS and OIS (where available)
- Front camera: 32MP, 1/2.8", 0.8µm, f/2.5 26mm lens.
- OS/Software: Android 10; Funtouch 10.5.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G: octa-core CPU (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver), Adreno 618 GPU.
- Memory: 8GB of RAM; 128/256GB UFS 2.1 storage.
- Battery: 4,200mAh Li-Po; 33W fast charging.
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; 5G; LTE-A, USB-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0; NFC
- Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader; single down-firing speaker.
This means the X50 would be the more pragmatic option for most buyers not looking for the best feature set. And these are mid-range phones, after all, so balancing price to features and performance is important and it seems the cheaper X50 will be able to do that better.
Today we have a quick hands-on with the device and see if it can hold its own alongside its sibling in this competitive segment.
Unboxing
The vivo X50 has a slightly above average packaging compared to its rivals, who are increasingly leaving things out to cut costs.
The large square box includes the phone, a 33W fast charger, cable, clear silicone case, analog audio adapter, and a pair of pretty decent sounding in-ear earphones. While we would prefer if phones had an audio jack, it's nice that vivo doesn't leave you high and dry and includes the basic necessities inside the packaging.
Design
The vivo X50 is an attractive phone with a premium look and feel. The front of the phone isn't particularly noteworthy, aside from the single hole punch camera in the top left corner. Some of you may have noticed that the vivo X50 does not have the curved display of the vivo X50 Pro, and we prefer it this way even if the phone doesn't look less fancy as a result.
The sides of the phone are made out of aluminum polished to a glossy finish. The right side has the volume and power buttons. The buttons are oddly loose and you can hear them rattle when you shake the phone. It's an odd bit of oversight on an otherwise well-built phone.
Volume and power buttons are a bit wobbly
The top and bottom are a bit more interesting. The top is flattened with a clear plastic plaque that has 'Professional Photography' written on the left. You can very well stand the phone on this edge if you find a flat, level surface.
The bottom is also interesting as it, too, has been flattened. Here, you can find the solo loudspeaker on the phone along with a USB-C 2.0 port and the dual SIM tray. The tray has a rubber gasket even though the phone isn't rated for ingress protection. You can also stand the phone on the bottom edge.
The bottom is as flat as the top
The back is easily the most interesting and attractive side of the vivo X50. Our review unit came in the Frost Blue shade, which features frosted matte glass with a stunning blue-green gradient underneath. The glass has a silky smooth texture that is delightful to the touch and the way the light shines off the back never stops being a joy to look at. We have seen plenty of gradient backs over the last couple of years but the vivo X50 has one of the best we have ever seen.
Situated in the top left corner of the glass back is the all-important camera assembly. It's a quad-camera system that consists of a primary wide, ultra-wide, telephoto and a macro camera. Alongside it is the triple LED strip for flash. The camera doesn't seem to stick out too much but it still makes the phone incredibly wobbly when placed on a flat surface.
The overall fit and finish of the vivo X50 is excellent and the phone reeks of quality. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of any ingress protection. It would also be nice if vivo could tighten up those volume and power buttons. Aside from that, this is a very well designed phone.
Display
The vivo X50 has a 6.56-inch, 2376x1080 resolution AMOLED display. The display supports 90Hz refresh rates but both DRM Info and our custom refresh rate utility reported the display refreshing at a slightly odd 92Hz max frequency.
The screen can be set to 90Hz, 60Hz, or a smart switch mode. The smart switch mode will drop down to 60Hz in certain apps like Maps, Camera, Gallery, Compass, Music, Video, etc. It will also drop down to 60Hz if you don't interact with the screen for a few seconds. When you set the screen to 90Hz, it will still drop down to 60Hz in most of those aforementioned applications but will stay at 90Hz even when idle.
The display has three color presets, Standard, Normal, and Bright. Both Standard and Bright have a cooler white point and oversaturated colors while Normal targets sRGB standard. You can also manually adjust the color temperature on all three presets.
The display on the X50 is largely excellent. The color accuracy on the standard mode is really good, with great saturation and a reasonably close standard white point. The display also gets fairly bright outdoors under sunlight. The only issue with the panel is the viewing angles. The screen gets a very noticeable red color shift when viewed even slightly off-axis. This is most noticeable on light-colored images and is hard to ignore once you see it. It doesn't detract significantly from the quality of the screen but is a downside of this panel.
vivo claims the display supports HDR10+. However, DRM Info only reports HDR10 and HLG support. Meanwhile, both Netflix and Prime Video do not support HDR on the X50. YouTube is the only service that can stream HDR content on this phone.
Software and Performance
Our vivo X50 was running Funtouch OS 10.5 on top of Android 10 with the June security patch at the time of writing at the end of July.
Funtouch OS has come a long way from its early days and is now quite pleasant to use for the most part. For one, there isn't a ton of bloatware installed right out of the box and our review unit was quite clean. Most of the bloatware came from Google itself, with dedicated icons for the Google Assistant, Google Lens, and Google Files cluttering up the app drawer even though there are other ways to access these features.
vivo has its own V-Appstore on the device from where you can download additional apps but as usual, we found it completely useless for anyone outside of China where the Play Store is available. Opening the V-Appstore is also like playing minesweeper, where you are constantly bombarded by pop-ups to install apps and you have to do your best to navigate around this minefield. The only advantage we found to the V-Appstore is that it has a feature that lets you mark and uninstall multiple apps at once, which you can't do from the launcher.
Speaking of launchers, it's rather limited in that you can't do things like having a custom icon pack or much in the way of organizing the app drawer. It's also annoying that vivo chooses to have swipe down from the homescreen be a shortcut for the system-wide search function rather than the notification shade. There's also no way to change this other than downloading a different launcher. An option in the settings to change the default swipe down gesture to notification shade would make things a lot easier, especially since it is fast becoming the default across Android OEMs. Anyone not doing it just sticks out at this point.
Funtouch OS 10.5
The Settings app gets a while getting used to if you are coming from another Android phone brand. As with several other Chinese OEMs, vivo has moved things around but it's nothing you can't figure out after a few days with the phone.
The best reason to go through the Settings app is to just delve through the ocean of customizable options available. You can adjust everything from the animation that your phone plays when it scans your finger, to the face unlock animation, the animation when a charger is plugged in, the animation of the homescreen icons when you unlock your phone and even the direction the display dims or lights up when you lock or unlock your phone.
Features and settings
The phone also lets you set an animation that plays when you receive a notification. It's a ring of light that goes around the edge of the display for every new notification. This can play when the screen is off and also when it's on. You can choose the animation, color, and thickness of the ring and also which applications trigger it with their notifications.
There's also an Ultra Game Mode, which does the usual optimization of resources and notifications when you are playing a game. It also includes other features like a surround sound feature for games, haptic feedback for select games, and a 'Bot Mode' that keeps the game running even if you turn off the screen. There are honestly way too many features here to list and some of them may be of interest to you if you are into mobile gaming.
Ultra Game Mode
The same can be said for the rest of the Settings app, which is chock full of endless features for you to explore. Not all of them will be useful but there should be something here for everyone.
The vivo X50 also includes the gesture-based navigation system that everyone is including these days. However, vivo's implementation is a bit lackluster. There is a small delay every time you have to swipe up to go home and also when you swipe and hold for the app switcher. The gesture mode also has no way to quickly switch to the last used app. The keyboard also tends to go far too low in this mode. This made us want to stick to the on-screen navigation buttons for the duration of testing.
Navigation options
The phone also has a dark mode like most phones these days and you can also choose to have the background completely black or a dark gray using a slider. The dark mode worked fine until we came across the Twitter app, which vivo decided to force its theme on for some reason. The vivo color scheme would override the theme of the app and the app could no longer change it on its own. We didn't find any other examples of this and were curious why vivo thought this was a good idea.
Minor complaints like this aside our experience with Funtouch OS 10 overall was positive. For those who haven't used it in a while, we would suggest trying it out for a while. There's certainly room for improvement but there aren't any serious dealbreakers here and some of the features and customization options might win you over for good.
More features and settings
We reviewed the Indian version, which comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 chipset. Our test sample also had 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage.
In terms of performance, the vivo X50 was above average. A big factor in the phone feeling sprightly most of the time is the 90Hz display, which does make going through basic tasks and applications a breeze. While we can tell the difference between this and something running the Snapdragon 865, on its own the X50 does not feel sluggish. For any non-gamer out there, the performance on offer here would be more than adequate, at least for the foreseeable future.
GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 8
3399 - Realme X50 Pro
3175 - OnePlus Nord
1953 - vivo X50 Pro
1937 - vivo X50
1827 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
1785 - Realme 6 Pro
1666
GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 8
919 - Realme X50 Pro
911 - vivo X50 Pro
636 - OnePlus Nord
607 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
571 - Realme 6 Pro
565 - vivo X50
552
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Realme X50 Pro
60 - OnePlus Nord
34 - vivo X50 Pro
31 - Realme 6 Pro
27 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
26 - vivo X50
24
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 8
46 - Realme X50 Pro
45 - OnePlus Nord
19 - vivo X50 Pro
17 - Realme 6 Pro
16 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro
15 - vivo X50
14
As for gamers, a Snapdragon 730 with its Adreno 618 GPU is probably not the best investment. But we are talking hardcore mobile gamers here; most people tend to play more casual games and the X50 can handle those quite easily.
Camera
The vivo X50 has a quad-camera system on the back that is largely similar to that on the vivo X50 Pro.
For starters, you get the same excellent 48MP f1.6 custom Sony IMX598 sensor. It lacks the 'gimbal' stabilization of the vivo X50 Pro but it still retains a standard OIS system. The ultra-wide is also the same 8MP f2.2 camera, as is the 13MP f2.48 telephoto. The only thing different here is the tiny 5MP f2.48 macro camera right at the bottom, which replaces the periscope camera on the vivo X50 Pro.
The Camera application is a fairly standard affair. At the bottom of the viewfinder is your mode select row, with additional options being placed under More on the right end. You can easily move these around or remove the ones you don't use.
Camera application
Above the viewfinder are options pertaining to the currently selected mode. Normally you'd find the flash, HDR, filters, aspect ratio, and the settings menu here. The HDR button toggles between off and what seems to either be Auto or forced on mode. Even if you turn it off it toggles back on next time you turn on the camera.
On the viewfinder are options to change the zoom level and switch between the different lenses. This is where we believe vivo messed up; the option to change lenses should have just been part of the zoom selector rather than a separate popup menu, at least for the ultra-wide lens. The Lens menu adds another unnecessary step to switch over to the ultra-wide lens and then you have to tap a rather tiny x button to switch back to the main lens.
The Lens menu also houses the Bokeh mode, which is similar to the Portrait mode but lets you adjust the fake background blur by adjusting the fake aperture. This only affects the blur and doesn't change the level of light since the actual aperture is fixed. The odd thing is that while the Bokeh mode only works with the main camera lens, the Portrait mode works with both the wide and telephoto lenses while also offering background blur control.
In terms of video recording, the vivo X50 can record 4K 30p or 1080p 60p video from the main wide lens. The ultra-wide is limited to just 1080p 30p. The telephoto doesn't do video at all and all zooming is done digitally. The camera also has a super stabilized mode, which works on the main wide lens but with an additional bit of crop.
Now for the image quality, in daylight, the main wide camera on the vivo X50 does an excellent job. The images are detailed with good dynamic range, contrast, and white balance. The colors are vibrant, perhaps a touch too vibrant at times, but look pleasing overall. The phone saves the images in the Display P3 color space but the images don't benefit from the extra color range.
Main camera samples
If you want an additional dose of resolution, you can shoot in the full 48MP resolution, which provides a significantly higher level of detail but at the cost of reduced dynamic range as the full-size images aren't processed as comprehensively. They also take a fair bit of time to save. If you want to put in the extra work, you can also shoot in RAW, which also saves full 48MP files. However, the limited dynamic range makes it difficult to get usable files from high contrast scenarios.
Moving on to the ultra-wide camera, the image quality sees a major step down from the main camera. The colors, contrast, and dynamic range are still quite good overall but the level of detail is poor, with soft images that look like they were out of focus, except this sensor has no AF.
Ultra-wide camera samples
The 2x telephoto sits somewhere between the other two cameras. The images are still a bit soft and the 2x magnification isn't an especially noteworthy perspective in terms of either reach or subject isolation but the images are quite usable and if you are going to digitally zoom in further you might as well start from 2x optical rather than 1x.
2x telephoto camera samples
Lastly, we have a macro camera. The vivo X50 actually has two macro modes. There is the standard super macro mode, found under the Lens menu. This uses the ultra-wide camera and lets you reasonably close to your subject. The other is the Fixed Macro mode, which is what uses the fourth 5MP lens.
Macro camera samples
It would be an understatement to say this lens lets you get close to your subject. The subject has to be 1.5cm away from the lens, and when we mean has to, it really has to. This is a fixed focus lens and anything under or beyond 1.5cm is out of focus. This makes this an incredibly niche camera, as most of the time it's not practical to get that close to your subject.
There's also the issue of light; the camera is usually so close to the subject that there is no longer any usable light on the subject as the phone blocks most of it. This further reduces the usability of this lens, as the subject has to be backlit, self-lit, or just generally in really bright conditions and you're willing to deal with your own phone's shadow.
If all of this was worth the effort, then unfortunately that's not the case either. The images lack detail due to the low resolution and there's noticeable pixelation when seen up close. The sensor is just really low quality and the lens likely isn't top-shelf stuff either. So the whole exercise is rather pointless.
Now when it comes to low light performance, the vivo X50 really comes into its own with its 48MP primary camera. This isn't because the standard low light images are any special; they are decent for what it's worth, but that's not how you ideally should be shooting in the dark.
It's the night mode that elevates this camera to another level. It would be fair to say that the vivo X50, like its bigger brother, has one of the best implementations of night mode in the business. The images you get out of it are clean, detailed and natural in terms of color and white balance.
vivo X50 • vivo X50 Night Mode • OnePlus Nord Nightscape • OnePlus 8 Pro Nightscape
All the images above were taken in an extremely dark environment where it was difficult to see the small figurine by eye. All three phones did a decent job of illuminating the subject to the point where it's hard to imagine how dark the scene was. However, the X50 image is brighter, more detailed and also has the best colors of the three phones. It also had an easier time focusing than the other two phones, as the AF system on the X50 is operational even in extremely low light.
The night mode also works on the ultra-wide camera, and it does reasonably well here. It's only being held back by the quality of the sensor on the ultra-wide lens but the images are still quite decent overall, if not at the same level as the wide camera.
We have tons of images from both these cameras and the 2x telephoto in our vivo X50 Pro review that we urge you to check out if you need to see more samples. The same goes for video and front camera, which are also identical on the two phones, aside from the lack of 4K 60p on the vivo X50.
Conclusion
When we reviewed the vivo X50 Pro, we came away really impressed. That phone has a lot going for it, and most of the complaints were nitpicks, aside from the issue with the price.
The vivo X50 is a similar story. There's a lot to love here, including the sleek, beautiful design, great display, relatively clean software with a ton of features and customization, good performance and a largely impressive set of cameras with one of the best low light performance we have seen.
In some ways, the vivo X50 makes us question why even bother with the X50 Pro, considering how similar the two are and with the X50's lower price.
But while the price is lower than the Pro, the X50 is still pricier than most of its rivals. The newly released OnePlus Nord undercuts it comfortably in markets like India, with the most expensive variant of the Nord being a hefty INR 5000 cheaper than the cheapest X50 variant. And then there's Realme, who's out to steal everyone's lunch money with its aggressively priced X3 and X3 SuperZoom, both of which are cheaper than the X50.
So perhaps some price corrections are in order if vivo wants to make its phones stand out. Other than that, however, we don't have a lot to complain about the phone. The vivo X50 is a great, all-round mid-range smartphone that might even be worth the extra cash if you value low light shooting.
Pros
- Sleek, attractive design with premium finish
- Color accurate, high refresh rate display
- Relatively clean and feature-rich UI
- Great camera performance, especially in lowlight
- Fast 33W charging
Cons
- More expensive than rivals
- Unimpressive macro camera
- No 4K60 recording
- No stereo speakers
- No ingress protection
- Loose power and volume buttons
- USB 2.0 data transfer speeds
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