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 X60 Pro was released back in April, and yet, its successor, which we have today for review, isn't just a half-baked refresh, as the short release cycle would suggest. Quite the opposite, actually. The X70 Pro is now offering a similar feature set as the X60 Pro+, and it occupies a different price bracket altogether.
vivo X70 Pro and vivo X60 Pro+
The price hike compared to the X60 Pro seems fair. The new model sports a brighter and more energy-efficient AMOLED screen while retaining the 120Hz refresh rate. A 50MP f/1.8 camera is at the helm of the camera department, along with the familiar 8MP 5x zoom and 12MP 2x zoom telephoto cameras borrowed from the X60 Pro+. The 2x telephoto unit is particularly exciting as it offers a wide f/2.0 aperture.
vivo X70 Pro specs at a glance:
- Body: 158.3x73.2x8.0mm, 183g; Glass front, glass back, aluminum frame.
- Display: 6.56" AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits (peak), 1080x2376px resolution, 19.8:9 aspect ratio, 398ppi.
- Chipset: MediaTek MT6893 Dimensity 1200 5G (6 nm) - International, Exynos 1080 (5 nm) - China: Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) - International, Octa-core (1x2.8 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) - China; Mali-G77 MC9 - International, Mali-G78 MP10 - China.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 11, Funtouch OS 12 (International), OriginOS 1.0 (China).
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, Laser AF, gimbal OIS; Telephoto: 12 MP, f/2.0, 50mm, 1/2.93", 1.22µm, PDAF, 2x optical zoom; Telephoto: 8 MP, f/3.4, 125mm, 1/4.4", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 116˚, 1/3.1", 1.12µm, AF.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.5, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8", 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10+; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4450mAh; Fast charging 44W, Reverse charging.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); Infrared port.
Sadly, the 48MP ultrawide camera has been swapped for a slightly wider, 12MP unit. The good news is that the special Zeiss optics and Zeiss T* lens coating are still around, along with the famous gimbal stabilization on the main camera.
Another important change worth mentioning is the chipset. The X60 Pro runs on the potent Snapdragon 870, while the X70 Pro settles for a Dimensity 1200 worldwide and Exynos 1080 in China. Don't get us wrong, the Dimensity 1200 and Exynos 1080 are both very capable chipsets; the former even being the current top-of-the-line MediaTek silicon.
In addition to the new chipset, the X70 Pro gets quite a few memory options this time around - from 8GB/128GB all the way up to 12GB/512GB. The X60 Pro launched with a 12GB/256GB configuration making the entry barrier a bit higher than usual so bringing a wider memory variety is a good move.
A small bump in the battery capacity, now 4,450 mAh, is more than welcome change too and paired with an upgraded, snappier 44W charging, the device tops-up pretty fast. It can also top-up other devices since it supports reverse wired charging.
vivo X70 Pro and vivo X60 Pro
The X70 Pro is a particularly impressive device as it's built around a 6.56-inch display, it doesn't weigh that much, it's rather thin and carries some serious hardware under the hood. The unique bit is that the phone offers the most versatile camera setup with gimbal OIS, +two telephoto cameras and an ultrawide with AF in such a small package. There aren't many mid-size devices that can give you this much freedom when it comes to shooting.
Now, let's dig deeper and see if the X70 Pro can utilize those cameras and how the new chipset, upgraded display and bigger battery have affected the overall endurance.
Unboxing the vivo X70 Pro
The vivo X70 Pro comes in an elegant, flat box with a thin profile, but it carries many goodies. Aside from the compatible 44W charger and the USB-A to USB-C cable, the package also contains a transparent silicone case.
And since there's no 3.5mm audio jack around, there's a USB-C dongle and a pair of 3.5mm earphones with spare headphone tips of various sizes. Quite the generous package.
Design, ergonomics, connectivity
The V70 Pro's portability is one of its main advantages. By today's standards, a 6.56-inch phone is pretty pocketable, and thanks to the thin, symmetrical bezels around the screen, the phone feels rather compact in hand.
Owning to the curved back, thin frame (7.99mm) and lightweight chassis (183g), the X70 Pro definitely feels quite manageable. Surely, it would still come out as big for people with small hands, but it's objectively pretty compact compared to other handsets - even ones with a similar screen diagonal.
Looking at those dimensions without putting them into context tells only half of the story. The more impressive aspect of the X70 Pro is that it maintains its compact size while packing a versatile camera setup that includes not one, but two zoom cameras, including a full-blown 5x zoom periscope lens, which undoubtedly adds some bulk.
vivo X70 Pro and vivo X70 Pro+
The back of the phone is made of a frosted glass-like finish made of fluorite. Feels premium and smooth, and it's fingerprint resistant, but it's also quite slippery.
It's kind of hard to get over that camera bump. It feels super thick compared to the phone's profile, and it's quite the big, solid piece. A couple of millimeters of width feel wasted just for the flash right next to the camera modules.
The side frame is anodized aluminum, or at least it feels like one as vivo doesn't mention anything about that. But hey, if it makes us wonder, does it really matter?
The volume rocker and the power key on the right are well-positioned right within thumb's reach. By the way, the fingerprint reader could have been just a tad higher for more comfortable reach with the thumb.
The bottom is where you'd find the USB-C connector, the dual SIM card tray (no microSD card slot) and the bottom-firing speaker. Perhaps vivo didn't want to make the top bezel any thicker and went for a virtually invisible earpiece.
The top houses a small plastic-looking piece for better antenna reception, and in a surprising move, we get an IR blaster here, too. There's a dedicated remote control app for that too.
vivo X70 Pro
Although premium-looking and lightweight, the handset has a few missteps. The glass has no advertised scratch-resistance or even a Gorilla Glass alternative, while the X60 Pro used to have Gorilla Glass 6. There's no rated ingress protection either despite the fact that there is a rubber gasket around the SIM tray, and the phone is quite slippery.
Flagship-grade 120Hz OLED
The X70 Pro may not be headlining the series, but it sure does have a solid 6.56-inch display. Now relying on Samsung's more efficient E5 AMOLED process the panel can reach higher brightness and offers increased power efficiency. Note that this E5 AMOLED panel is different from the one used in the Pro+ where the manufacturing process of the TFT matrix is LTPO. This one uses a standard LTPS TFT.
Anyway, it's curved to the sides (which might not be up your alley), and it has a single, centered punch-hole selfie camera design. It runs at 120Hz with a tall 1080 x 2376px resolution. The 240Hz touch response time will be appreciated by gamers.
However, the panel isn't just fast, it's bright too. It's rated at 1300 nits peak brightness, and by that, vivo probably means peak brightness during HDR video playback. After all, it's HDR10+ compliant.
In our tests, with a 75% fill pattern, the screen peaked at the whopping 993 nits in Auto mode. It only got to 457 nits in manual mode with the brightness slider set to maximum but however you look at it, it's a definite upgrade over the X60 Pro.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 457 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 993 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 472 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 818 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 477 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 816 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 516 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 837 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 514 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 939 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 450 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 821 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 440 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 800 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 518 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 735 | ∞ | |
Color accuracy is excellent in the Professional mode achieving an impressive dE2000 of just 1.9 and maximum deviation of 3.9. The default and Bright modes expect a bit exaggerated colors and blue-ish tint on whites and grays. Manual control for color temperature is also available so you can keep the juicy colors and bring down the color temperature a bit.
Refresh rate control isn't ideal, and it's identical to the X60 Pro's. The same 60Hz, 120Hz and Smart Switch modes are available, but when the latter is active, the panel defaults to 60Hz when not touching the display. Sadly, the issue with browsers being limited to 60Hz (vivo's default Browser included) is still persistent. The system would also tone down the refresh rate to 60Hz when browsing the default Gallery, YouTube, Netflix, Google Maps and the Camera app.
Using the 120Hz mode would keep things smooth at all times at the expense of battery life. Idling would still bring down the refresh rate to 60Hz while forcing 120Hz on browsers too. Moreover, the refresh rate menu gives you a couple of toggles that force 120Hz on some apps, which the system detects them running at 60Hz by default. In essence, the 120Hz is perhaps a better auto mode than the so-called Smart Switch.
Battery life
We are happy to report that the vivo X70 Pro offers a massive improvement in battery life compared to its predecessor. Perhaps the more efficient E5 AMOLED panel from Samsung, the new chipset and the small bump in the battery capacity (up 4,450 mAh from 4,200 mAh) have all contributed to the impressive 123h overall endurance score. The screen-on runtimes are particularly impressive, which leads us to believe that the upgraded E5 AMOLED panel is the main contributor to this improvement.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.
None of the X70 Pro's competitors gets close in terms of endurance, even though some of them pack bigger batteries. The 11T Pro, for example, has a 5,000 mAh cell.
Charging speed
The 44W FlashCharge coupled with a 4,450 mAh battery should be pretty fast on paper, and according to our tests, it's decently fast. You can get about 64% of the charge in 30 minutes, while a full charge would take exactly 60 minutes. Put that into context, however, and the X70 Pro falls short of the competition.
30min charging test (from 0%)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9
100% - Xiaomi 11T Pro
100% - vivo X60 Pro+
84% - Xiaomi Mi 11i
69% - vivo X60 Pro
68% - vivo X70 Pro
64% - Asus Zenfone 8
60%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
Lower is better
- Xiaomi 11T Pro
0:21h - OnePlus 9
0:29h - vivo X60 Pro+
0:42h - Xiaomi Mi 11i
0:52h - vivo X60 Pro
0:58h - vivo X70 Pro
1:00h - Asus Zenfone 8
1:28h
In fact, the X60 Pro outpaces the newer X70 Pro despite supporting slower 33W charging. It does have a slightly smaller battery, though. Still, the majority of the competition pumps the batteries faster, with the OnePlus 9 and Xiaomi 11T Pro reaching 100% in less than 30 minutes.
Speaker
We have another flagship vivo on our hands, and it once again misses the stereo speaker setup, although this has become a standard even in the mid-tier class. Pretty much all of the X70 Pro's potential rivals boast a pair of these.
Sadly, loudness has suffered somewhere along with the upgrade from the X60 Pro from -25.5 LUFS down to 27.5 LUFS. However, the latter still earns a "Good" score, even for a single, bottom-firing speaker. To our surprise, the X70 Pro didn't sound as flat as its predecessor. There's certainly not enough bass, and mids are not rich enough. Vocals do sound pretty clear, though, but as you approach maximum volume, the distortion in the highs starts to creep in.
Brand new Funtouch 12 with good old Android 11
Even though vivo is launching the X70 series pretty close to the Android 12 release, they are still running a customized version of Android 11 under the hood. The proprietary software's version has been bumped up to version 12. It's still the Funtouch flavor, as their OriginOS remains exclusive for the Chinese market for now.
Funtouch 12 significantly departs from Funtouch 11's "core values". The stock-ish looking and functioning main UI elements and menus have been substituted with a highly customized and customizable UI. Some of the changes are pretty nifty, too, including the system menus being tailored towards a single-handed use. Some of the menus' content moves to the lower half of the screen when you swipe down, but not all, which is odd.
Main Settings menu
Take the recent apps menu, for example, has one of those nifty features. You can choose between the standard carousel formation and a horizontal tiles layout. The app drawer, although stock-ish looking, has an expandable recommended apps category on the top (most commonly used ones), whereas using the vertical scroller on the right would highlight the apps beginning with the selected letter.
Home screen, recent apps, notification shade
The notification shade has been revamped too, in terms of looks mostly - the quick toggles are now square-shaped (non-customizable), and the accent color around the menus (including the quick toggles icons) is blue, and there's no way to change that either. Applying different themes would only change the icon pack and wallpaper.
The rest of the UI gets plenty of love too. In the Dynamic effects sub-menu, vivo has grouped quite a few customizable aspects of the home screen, lock screen, animation effects, etc. There are even various charging and facial recognition animations.
Dynamic effects
The Ambient light effect gets more granular control with the option to enable it only during a limited time period, or you can choose which apps to trigger it. The always-on display settings are in a different sub-menu, however, but still gives you plenty of options to tinker with, along with a wide selection of animations, clock styles, colors, backgrounds, etc.
Always-on display customizations
To our surprise, there's no way to summon the fingerprint reader icon on a locked screen unless the motion sensor detects even the slightest movement. Single tap doesn't work, whereas the double-tap-to-wake function is buried in the Smart motion menu. However, if you get familiar with the scanner's position, you can just rest your fingertip on top and wait for the unlock. Which, by the way, is snappy and reliable. No issues there.
The Sound menu holds a few pleasant surprises. Just like Samsung, vivo is paying attention to people with hearing problems, and you can calibrate the sound to be heard by elderly people or those with impaired hearing. Additionally, notifications and calls get separate volume sliders. The vibration for some scenarios can be adjusted, and a few good words for the vibration motor are due - it's snappy, strong and... responsive if we can call it that.
Sound options
The previously mentioned Smart motion menu holds a handful of familiar screen-on and screen-off gestures along with some new additions. One of those requires you to wave in front of the screen during an incoming call to answer hands-free. We see this is a pretty cool feature if you can't answer, like when you are cooking for instance.
Smart motion menu
Holding the volume down key can be used to launch an app or do a certain task, although the list of the latter is limited to launching the camera app, turn on/off the torch or start recording audio. The so-called Quick action feature doesn't work when playing music for obvious reasons.
Lastly, there's little something for the gamers. A dedicated Ultra Game Mode is available, and it has it all. Most of the features are about mitigating disturbance during gameplay or letting certain apps display heads-up notifications. One of the most intriguing features that have been around on vivo phones for a while is the ability to turn off the screen and keep the game running in the background. Especially useful for turn-based games or those requiring some sort of "farming" and "grinding".
Ultra Game mode
All in all, the new Funtouch 12 runs great, and you can even make it snappier by disabling most of the animations and speeding up the transition animations. Yes, Funtouch 12 gives you the freedom to do so. However, those that want to use Android as Google intended might not be okay with the colorful iconography and the highly customized system menus and animations.
Performance
The vivo X70 Pro swaps the Snapdragon 870 SoC for MediaTek's top-of-the-line Dimensity 1200 chipset that employs an octa-core CPU and a Mali-G77 MC9 GPU for GPU-intensive tasks. In China, the handset comes with Samsung's Exynos 1080 chip with Mali-G78 MP10. Of course, we have the international unit with MediaTek's solution.
The octa-core CPU consists of one main Cortex-A78 core clocked at 3.0 GHz joined by another cluster of three Cortex-A78 cores running at 2.6 GHz. For less demanding tasks, the chipset relies on a more power-efficient 4x Cortex-A55 cores ticking at 2.0 GHz. The whole chip is based on TSMC's 6nm manufacturing process.
The device we tested holds 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage but other configurations are also available - 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB, and 12GB/512GB. All of them run on the fast UFS 3.1 storage.
We ran the usual benchmarks to see where the X70 Pro stands in its price bracket, and we also included the X60 Pro for reference.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 11i
3641 - OnePlus 9
3629 - Asus Zenfone 8
3604 - vivo X60 Pro
3490 - vivo X70 Pro
2956 - Xiaomi 11T
2834 - OnePlus Nord 2
2792 - Poco X3 Pro
2574
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9
1129 - Asus Zenfone 8
1118 - Xiaomi Mi 11i
1114 - vivo X60 Pro
1034 - vivo X70 Pro
875 - OnePlus Nord 2
814 - Xiaomi 11T
742 - Poco X3 Pro
735
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- Asus Zenfone 8
799738 - Xiaomi Mi 11i
779481 - vivo X60 Pro
720352 - vivo X70 Pro
694499 - OnePlus Nord 2
598022 - Xiaomi 11T
590837
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9
70 - Asus Zenfone 8
69 - Xiaomi 11T
47 - OnePlus Nord 2
46 - vivo X70 Pro
45 - Poco X3 Pro
45
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus Zenfone 8
61 - OnePlus 9
58 - vivo X70 Pro
40 - Xiaomi 11T
40 - Poco X3 Pro
38 - OnePlus Nord 2
38
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Asus Zenfone 8
45 - OnePlus 9
43 - vivo X70 Pro
29 - Xiaomi 11T
29 - Poco X3 Pro
27 - OnePlus Nord 2
26
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9
30 - Asus Zenfone 8
30 - vivo X70 Pro
20 - OnePlus Nord 2
20 - Xiaomi 11T
20 - Poco X3 Pro
18
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 9
5667 - Asus Zenfone 8
5666 - OnePlus Nord 2
4224 - Xiaomi 11T
4172 - vivo X70 Pro
4148 - Poco X3 Pro
3401
Sadly, the X70 Pro is no match for its competitors in terms of raw horsepower. Although the Dimensity 1200 is MediaTek's top-shelf SoC, it struggles to compete against the phones running the flagship Snapdragon 888. In fact, the previous X60 Pro with its Snapdragon 870 performs better in all test scenarios.
We included another Dimensity 1200-powered handsets for reference, and to our surprise, the X70 Pro scored considerably higher in combined and CPU-only synthetic workloads. Perhaps the newer FuntouchOS has something to do about it, but this is just us speculating.
Versatile quad-camera setup
The cameras are the biggest upgrade over the vivo X60 Pro, and we can draw more similarities between the X60 Pro+ and the X70 Pro in this regard. However, the majority of the hardware on the latter differs. The main 50MP camera, for instance, isn't using Samsung's big, 1/1.31" S5KGN1 sensor and instead employs a custom version of Sony's IMX766 imager, which is a tad smaller in size - 1/1.56" and has 1.0µm pixels. The lens provides a wide f/1.8 aperture and gimbal OIS. The unit is aided by Laser AF for faster focusing.
The gimbal OIS has allowed vivo to implement another interesting piece of tech called Pixel Shift. This has been around in the DSLR world for quite some time, and it has first been introduced with the X60 generation of vivo's flagships. We won't be going into much detail but essentially, instead of using interpolation to fill in the blank space between the missing pixels, the gimbal moves the sensor just a little, and the latter takes 8 consecutive RAW shots before stitching them together. The software chooses the best one and extracts the color information from the rest to produce images with superior color accuracy and detail. Perhaps the image below can help you understand that better.
And since the green channel covers about 50% of the image (the human eye is more sensitive to green) while the red and blue channels go up to 25%, the shift of the sensor boosts all of those to 100% once it moves one pixel up, down, left and right.
Moving onto the telephoto cameras - the X70 Pro has two of those covering 125mm and 50mm focal length equivalents. Or, in other words, true 5x and 2x optical zoom. The 5x lossless zoom is achieved through a periscope system, as it's usually the case, as the lens provides an f/3.4 aperture and OIS. The sensor used for the setup is 8MP OmniVision OV08A10, 1/4.4" in size and has 1.0µm pixels. It's the same one used in the X60 Pro+ and X70 Pro+.
The 2x telephoto camera is notable as it has a wide f/2.0 aperture. That's a fairly big number for a telephoto unit. The sensor behind it is Sony's 12MP IMX663 measuring 1/2.93" in diagonal with 1.22µm pixels. Unfortunately, there is no OIS for the 2x telephoto.
The ultrawide camera isn't anything out of the ordinary as it uses a reasonably common Samsung S5K3L6 sensor measuring 1/3.1" in size with 1.12µm pixels. The chip is paired with an f/2.2 lens with 16mm focal length equivalent and offers a 116-degree field of view. Since the camera has AF, too, you can also use it for extreme closeups.
Last but not least, all camera lenses are Zeiss branded and have that special Zeiss T* rated coating that eliminates glare and improves overall photo clarity. Nighttime images should look better, especially the ones with light sources.
The camera sitting inside the punch-hole is the already familiar 32MP Samsung S5KGD1 (1/2.8", 0.8µm pixels) unit with f/2.5 aperture.
Camera menus
No changes (or at least no major ones) were made to the default camera app coming from the X60 series. And that's probably a good thing. This app is a big step forward compared to the previous iterations that were quite confusing. Now all of the toggles you need, 0.6x, 1x, 2x and 5x are on the viewfinder. The Super Macro mode kicks in automatically as you get close enough to the subject but you can always rely on manual switching. The toggle is right next to the so-called hamburger menu that holds a couple of other options and settings.
Default Camera app
The main modes are arranged in carousel formation, and you can switch between them by swiping. The More sub-menu lists the rest of the modes. The Pro mode gives you all the freedom to adjust the autofocus, white balance, shutter speed, ISO and exposure. You can do so on all of the four cameras too. There's helpful information explaining all of the options above in case you are just getting into photography. Shooting in RAW is also an option.
Default Camera app
Among the usual options you'd expect from the general settings menu, there's also an automatic gimbal calibration and a nifty stabilization feedback feature. A small ball appears in the middle of the screen, and you have to keep it centered and still to make sure you are not capturing blurry photos. This only works with the gimbal OIS available between 1x and 1.9x zoom levels using the main camera.
Daylight samples
Main camera
The X70 Pro's flagship camera setup is flagship-grade, and it shoots like one too. The main camera outputs great 12.5MP pictures with just minor issues that need to be ironed out. The first thing we noticed is that sharpness isn't on par with the best in the price class; photos are just a tad less sharp than we would have expected.
Also, exposure metering can be a bit off sometimes, so we suggest shooting more than one or two times per scene. It tends to go for a brighter exposure and can sometimes clip the highlights. Our main suspect is the automatic AI scene detection, which is usually on by default, and we left it on when taking these samples. Additionally, this issue is absent in the full-resolution 50MP mode, where there are no AI enhancements.
12.5MP main camera daylight samples
Even though sharpness isn't excellent, vivo didn't go for overly aggressive sharpening, leaving room for a more natural look. The foliage and trees look authentic and not like they were rendered from the ground up. Speaking of authenticity, we can't describe the colors that way, but they aren't over the top either. Let's say they are punchy, vibrant and are ideal for social media posting without having to edit afterward.
12.5MP main camera daylight samples
Anyway, we found the dynamic range to be wide enough, flagship-worthy even, the amount of resolved detail is impressive, and noise is virtually non-existent. It's hard to spot even in the dark parts of the pictures. However, it does start to creep in in the shadows in generally darker scenes like indoor scenes or shots taken at dusk.
As it's usually the case with un-binned 50MP photos, these ones resolve considerably more detail, but we can't say they are sharper by any means. You also get more noticeable noise and no HDR enhancements (hence a narrower dynamic range). And since the AI scene detection doesn't work in this mode, we didn't notice the exposure inconsistencies we discussed earlier.
50MP main camera daylight samples
2x zoom camera
The 2x telephoto camera produces excellent photos with little room for complaints. The samples we took are detailed, sharp (sometimes sharper than the main camera even), have a wide dynamic range, punchy colors (similar to the main camera's) and without much noise. The latter can be seen only on uniform backgrounds, and you have to look closely.
2x zoom daylight samples
Thanks to the wider aperture, the 2x zoom camera can be used in sub-optimal conditions as well. Surely, sharpness drops, and the noise becomes more apparent, but this is to be expected from pretty much every telephoto unit.
2x zoom daylight samples
5x zoom camera
To our surprise, if the right lighting conditions are met, the periscope camera matches the 2x zoom camera in terms of detail and sharpness. Dynamic range is also pretty good, and we can only see slightly darker shadows, although it's not apparent at first glance. Noise management is once again excellent.
5x zoom daylight samples
The problem with the 5x zoom camera is that it's less sensitive to light. Even the slightest drop in the ambient light results in considerably softer photos and visible noise. Still pretty good for daylight, indoor shooting, though.
5x zoom daylight samples
Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide camera is kind of a combo breaker here as processing looks a bit different than the other three cameras'. Colors are less vibrant, perhaps more close to natural, dynamic range is sensibly narrower, and the samples are visibly softer, and noise can be spotted on homogeneous backgrounds.
Still, it's not far from the competition's ultrawides in most aspects. It resolves plenty of detail, features autofocus for dramatic close-up shots, color fringing towards the edges is minimal, and the lens correction algorithm does an excellent job. We would have appreciated a slightly wider field of view, though.
Ultrawide daylight samples
Macro samples
We are happy to see the AF on the ultrawide camera put into work instead of using inferior dedicated macro cameras. The Super Macro mode kicks in automatically when you get close enough to a subject and produces great shots. They are detailed, sharp and can be usable even if the lighting conditions aren't perfect. Contrast could be a tad better, but the overall quality is miles ahead of the dedicated macro cameras' on other phones.
Macro samples
Low-light samples
Main camera
The low-light samples using the default photo mode are really good. It seems like sharpness isn't the main camera's strongest suit but it sure does offer impressive dynamic range, contrast, well-developed shadows with plenty of detail as well as fine detail around the buildings. Color temperature is on point, too, while noise is well-contained. The same goes for the light sources.
Main camera low-light samples
Speaking of, we aren't sure if the lights and neon signs are looking that good because of the HDR algorithm or the Zeiss' T* lens coating is doing its job. Either way, the HDR's involvement is apparent, and the automatic AI scene detection always prompted us to switch to the dedicated Night mode. However, it always indicated that the software is using some sort of nighttime optimizations, and it always took about a second to capture a photo.
To our surprise, the Night mode-made shots don't look all that different from the default ones. The Night mode isn't overly aggressive with the post-processing, although it takes a couple of seconds to capture a photo. Still, it's one of the fastest Night modes we've used.
Main camera Night mode samples
Anyway, the changes are rather subtle - sharpness is improved only in some darker parts of the image. Shadows are ever so slightly brightened without ruining the natural look of the scenes and don't look over-processed. We like it! There's also a barely noticeable improvement in the street lights, and even the small traces of noise are all cleared up without smearing away fine detail.
At the end of the day, we suggest shooting with the Night mode as it doesn't take too much time to capture all the needed images and still makes slightly better shots.
2x zoom camera
Again, thanks to the rather large f/2.0 aperture, the 2x telephoto produces decent and sharp enough photos. Do keep in mind that due to the lack of OIS, shaky shots happen every now and then. Still, the overall processing is in line with the main camera with accurate color temperature, nice contrast, plenty of fine detail and well-developed shadows.
2x zoom low-light samples: Normal • Night mode
Since the Night mode works with all the cameras, we took 2x zoom Night mode samples as well, but we struggled to find any significant difference. In fact, some of the samples suggest that the default Photo mode outputs sharper images. Perhaps it's best to rely on the standard Photo mode for the 2x zoom shooting at night. This minimizes the possibility of moving unintentionally while the system takes the needed images for stacking.
5x zoom camera
As with all periscope camera systems, the one here struggles after sunset. Images are muddy, noisy and soft. The Night mode can only do so much - it improves contrast and sharpness by a little but not enough to save the scene.
5x zoom low-light samples: Normal • Night mode
Ultrawide camera
We weren't expecting much from the ultrawide camera during the night, but it held up pretty well in our usual nighttime scenes. Dynamic range is understandably narrower; colors are less saturated but still punchy enough. The level of detail is okay, whereas sharpness is surprisingly good. There's a touch of artificial sharpening Introduced by the software without ruining the natural look of the scene.
Ultrawide low-light samples: Normal • Night mode
The Night mode's behavior is similar to that of the 2x zoom camera, meaning the dedicated nighttime mode makes images softer. It's more apparent here with the ultrawide camera, though. And there's no added benefit from the Night mode here either, so keep it off when shooting with the ultrawide unit.
Here's how the primary camera on the vivo X70 Pro stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.
vivo X70 Pro vs. Xiaomi 11T Pro and the OnePlus 9 in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
The software allows you to shoot portraits using all of the cameras (except for the ultrawide, of course), although the 5x zoom camera doesn't produce a faux bokeh effect. In any case, the main and the 2x telephoto cameras are perfectly capable of capturing nice portraits. The main camera resolves a tad more detail and captures the natural hue of the subject's skin tone. The 2x zoom camera tends to render the skin a bit pale at times.
Portrait samples: Main camera • 2x telephoto
Naturally, the 2x zoom camera is more sensitive to sub-optimal lighting conditions, so when the light drops, sharpness suffers, meaning indoor shots may sometimes look considerably softer compared to their counterparts taken with the main camera. The latter stays rather consistent across all lighting conditions. Either way, in both modes, the faux bokeh effect is convincing, it's adjustable, and the edge detection is quite precise.
Selfies
The selfie quality is a bit disappointing, especially for 32MP images. Not to mention the Portrait mode only works sometimes. No matter the mode, however, the samples look soft and a bit noisy at times. Bonus points for the wide dynamic range, accurate color reproduction and the level of detail the selfies offer.
Selfie samples: Normal • Portrait
Video recording
The vivo X70 Pro caps its video recording at 2160p@60fps since the Dimensity 1200 doesn't support 8K capturing. But given the scarcity of 8K-capable playback devices and the rather unsatisfactory 4320p recording offered by most phones, it's not a big miss. So let's start with the standard 2160p@30fps video recording.
Sadly, we've seen better videos from considerably cheaper alternatives. Strange how the stills turned out pretty good while the 4K video just isn't on par with the competition. The first thing to notice is the soft nature of the recording, although the fine detail is there. There's also a prominent lean towards a brighter exposure leaving the buildings and the sky in the distance pale and even clipped. The whole video comes out with poor contrast.
On the other hand, dynamic range, color reproduction and noise control are all on point.
Leaving the 4K toggle would force the main camera to shoot in 2x zoom mode, and it's needless to say that the results are sub-optimal, as you can see for yourself. If you want to shoot using the dedicated 2x telephoto camera, you should switch to 1080p.
The same goes for the 5x zoom. In fact, there's no 5x zoom toggle in 4K mode, which is understandable given that the sensor's resolution isn't enough to produce 2160p videos. In Full HD mode, however, you can use the 5x telephoto lens. The end result isn't impressive, but it's definitely usable. It's sufficiently sharp for a 1080p video, and color reproduction is rather accurate. Dynamic range is narrow, and there's visible noise on uniform backgrounds.
The ultrawide camera's video looks surprisingly similar to the main camera's processing but with a narrower dynamic range. Notice the clipped buildings in the distance and the darker shadows. Understandably, sharpness and detail suffer, which is often the case with ultrawide lenses. Colors do seem accurate, though.
Of course, one of the key selling points of the vivo X70 Pro, and the whole series for that matter, is the gimbal stabilization on the main cameras. This means steady videos and excellent panning capabilities. The company confirmed that the gimbal OIS works in videos and photos. However, the Ultra Steady mode is capped at 1080p, probably because it uses standard EIS or a combination of both, gimbal OIS + electronic stabilization. The latter is highly unlikely, but we can only speculate.
And here's the gimbal-stabilized 4K video for reference. To be frank, we didn't see a significant difference between the Ultra Steady and the standard 4K stabilization, but the latter gives you a much sharper image, so we recommend it over the 1080p-capped Ultra Steady mode.
There's also a dedicated low-light video recording that we tried out. Unfortunately, this mode is also capped at 1080p, but the good news is that it's worth it. Comparing the two videos side by side - the standard 2160p and the 1080p Super Night - we found the latter to produce considerably better results. In fact, it works better than the Night mode for stills.
Although in Full HD resolution, the second video provides a much sharper image quality, more detail in the shadows, noticeably less noise (notice the difference in the sky) and more importantly, the neon signs and lights are crispier. So don't be fooled by the lower resolution, do use the Super Night mode for low-light video recording.
Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the vivo X70 Pro stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.
2160p: vivo X70 Pro vs. Xiaomi 11T Pro and the OnePlus 9 in our Video compare tool
Competition
The vivo X70 Pro offers a set of features that are hard to find in this price range and size too. The versatile and capable camera setup, along with the excellent build and portability, is a hard-to-find feature combo. And since we didn't have official pricing in Europe, we used the Indian price tag to guesstimate. We can expect the device to cost anything between €600 and €700, so we used similarly priced phones for the comparison. As for India, the official starting price is INR 49,990 (around €545). A hefty tag still allows for a lower entry point, unlike the previous X60 Pro, which was only available in the 12GB/256GB variant.
vivo X70 Pro and vivo X70 Pro+
So one of the first competitors to pop up in our search is the recently released and reviewed Xiaomi 11T Pro, which sports a more powerful chipset, Snapdragon 888, a set of stereo speakers and considerably faster charging. The X70 Pro offers a better overall camera experience (except for the video recording part), a brighter screen, longer battery life and more manageable dimensions and weight. Although, the 11T Pro gives you peace of mind with the extra Gorilla Glass Victus and IP53 ingress protection.
A close relative to the 11T Pro offers a comparable feature set for a much lower price of around €540. This, in turn, means that the Mi 11i/Mi 11X holds the same advantages over the X70 Pro.
Xiaomi 11T Pro • Xiaomi Mi 11i • OnePlus 9 • Asus Zenfone 8
Next on the list is the OnePlus 9 - a popular phone that can be found at around €650 from third-party retailers. It is not necessarily the most competitive device in this price range, but it holds several key advantages over the X70 Pro. It's built with Gorilla Glass 5 all-around. It has a superior ultrawide camera and excellent stereo speakers. It charges way quicker and runs faster thanks to the Snapdragon 888 SoC, and the photos coming out of the main camera are arguably better. The wireless charging support and cleaner OxygenOS are nice bonuses that could tip the scale for some potential buyers.
And in case you are reading this review because you are looking for a more manageable device, weight and dimension-wise, the Asus Zenfone 8 should be on your list as well. It's by far one of the best compact solutions on the market, and it goes for a little over €600. It's a full-fledged flagship but skips the telephoto camera for obvious reasons. Clean UI, IP68 certification Gorilla Glass Victus and stereo speakers are all features missing from the X70 Pro's specs sheet.
Verdict
The missing stereo speakers, Gorilla Glass protection, IP certification, proper video recording quality and a true flagship SoC are the things that keep us from giving the X70 Pro an excellent overall score. However, the handset makes up for the lack of those with some unique features that are impossible to find in this price range.
The device has the most versatile camera setup in this segment with no-nonsense sensors. And it does that with a relatively compact body and screen too. Speaking of the screen, the X70 Pro impresses with outstanding brightness and thin bezels all-around. The coating on the back wins bonus points for smoothness and not being a fingerprint magnet.
Although average in battery capacity, the phone managed to overtake the competition in our endurance tests with ease. The gimbal stabilization on the main cam is a nice touch that works well in both video and stills, although you will rarely need it for the latter.
We don't often say this, but the feature set and the real-world use of the device make us look the other way when it comes to raw power. Sure, there are plenty of snappier alternatives out there, but the Dimensity 1200 would be more than enough for most users. Especially when you remember that not many phones can give you this proficient camera setup in a compact package as manageable as this one.
Pros
- Great build with attractive design, lightweight and thin chassis.
- One of the brightest 120Hz OLEDs we've tested with a premium feature set.
- Excellent battery life.
- One of the most versatile and capable camera setups in its price category.
- Unrivaled stabilization thanks to the gimbal OIS system.
- Generous retail package.
Cons
- Sub-par 4K video quality.
- No stereo speakers, not the loudest single speaker either.
- No ingress protection and no wireless charging.
- All direct competitors employ more powerful chipsets.
- The fast charging solution isn't very competitive.
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