Vivo X50 Pro Review - Android

As you probably heard by now, it’s the first smartphone to have gimbal-like stabilization. But how well does this camera feature work? Does it have a practical use or just pure novelty? Moreover, is the rest of the specs and feature any good? We find out in our Vivo X50 Pro review.

Vivo X50 Pro Specs

• Android 10, FunTouch 10.5
• Dual SIM, Dual standby
• 6.56-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 2376 x 1080 pixel resolution, ~398ppi
• 90Hz refresh rate, HDR10+
• 2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G octa-core processor
• 8GB RAM
• Adreno 620 GPU
• 256GB internal storage, non-expandable
• 32-megapixel front camera, f/2.5
• 48-megapixel (f/1.6, PDAF, Gimbal-style OIS) + 8-megapixel (periscope, 5x optical, 60x hybrid, OIS, f/3.4) + 8-megapixel (ultra-wide, macro) + 13-megapixel (portrait, 2x optical) rear cameras, Dual-tone flash
• In-display fingerprint scanner
• AK4377A HiFi chip
• HSPA+, 4G LTE
• 5G
• WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
• Bluetooth 5.1
• Dual-band GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
• NFC
• USB Type-C
• Dimensions: 158.5 x 72.8 x 8mm
• Weight: 181.5g
• Colors: Alpha Grey
• 4,315mAh non-removable battery, 33W fast charging

Design and Build Quality

At first look, the Vivo X50 Pro looks like any other smartphone out there. It has a subtle design on the back that’s available in Alpha Grey, the sole color option.

But upon holding, you’d appreciate how sleek and thin it is despite its average weight of 181.5g and 8mm thickness. This is probably due to its heavily curved edges and the premium aluminum chassis.

The back panel uses a frosted glass material. Although Vivo did not mention if it’s from Corning — even the glass used on the curved screen on the front was not mentioned. But it does come with a pre-applied screen protector and a unique clear case on the box.

You can also spot the slightly unique — although kinda similar to the Galaxy S20 Ultra — layout of the quad cameras on the back, particularly that one large lens on the top. This is for the X50 Pro’s highlight feature, the gimbal-style camera, but more on that later.

On the front, we have the 6.56-inch FHD+ AMOLED curved screen, surrounded by the uniform and almost non-existent bezels. It has a screen protector pre-installed, but it may be having a hard time wrapping the curved screen as bubbles appeared over time.

Instead of the sketchy pop-up camera, the Vivo X50 Pro has a punch-hole for the selfie camera. It’s tucked away in the top left corner so it’s not that distracting.

On the top, we have the noise-canceling microphone and the inconspicuous “Professional Photography” written on an elegant font.

At the bottom, we have the USB Type-C, loudspeaker, built-in mic, and the small hybrid dual SIM slot. Disappointingly, it doesn’t come with a headphone jack. The included earphones isn’t even Type-C either, but it does come with a Type-C to headphone adapter in the box.

The left side is clean, while on the right we have the volume controls and the lock/power switch. The physical buttons feels clicky but a bit wobbly.

Overall, the Vivo X50 Pro is a premium smartphone, and its design and build shows that.

Display and Audio

As said earlier, the Vivo X50 Pro has a 6.56-inch AMOLED screen. It has a 2376 x 1080 pixel resolution, 398ppi, 90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling for improved responsiveness, and HDR10+ and Widevine L1 DRM support. It also has DCI-P3 and sRGB coverage.

The overall display quality is great. Since it’s an OLED panel, it’s no surprise it offers vibrant and contrast-y colors. Plus, it gets really bright for outdoor usage, albeit not the brightest around.

We’re also liking the smooth 90Hz refresh rate, making everything feel really fast. There’s an option in the settings that will allow the device to intelligently switch back to 60Hz depending on what you’re doing to save battery.

Since it’s basically a high-end and an ultra-thin phone, we’re not surprised that Vivo omitted the headphone jack on this one. Although, it’s weird is that the included in-ear headphones is still at 3.5mm. But it does come with a USB Type-C adaptor.

What’s disappointing is the lack of a stereo speaker setup, which should be a requirement for this price. Instead, we have a single bottom-firing speaker with poor sound balance and clarity. Albeit, it does have a loud volume.

Hardware and Performance

The Vivo X50 Pro is powered by a 2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor. It’s one of the best midrange phones in the markets because of its 5G connectivity. But for a sub-Php40,000 smartphone, it’s a disappointing choice, as competing devices already come with a flagship Snapdragon 865 processor.

Still, in our testing, it did provide really fast and seamless performance. Partnered with its 8GB of RAM, 90Hz refresh rate, and 180Hz touch sampling, everything feels really fast and fluid — from browsing the interface, social media browsing, taking pictures, and more.

Vivo X50 Pro Benchmark scores

AnTuTu | GeekBench | 3DMark | PCMark

Gaming was also really great on the X50 Pro. A heavy title like Call of Duty Mobile was playable at high graphics settings with max frame rate. Meanwhile, light but popular titles like Mobile Legends ran at high graphics settings with HFR (High Frame Rate) enabled. Both ran smoothly on our testing.

Mobile Legends Settings on Vivo X50 Pro

A special gaming software is also present in the game, but more on that later.

The Vivo X50 Pro has a 256GB of storage. It should be enough to hold your apps and media. But if you’re planning on taking a lot of pictures and/or videos, you’d be disappointed by the lack of a microSD card for storage expansion.

Software and User Interface

The Vivo X50 Pro is running on Android 10 operating system with Vivo’s revamped Funtouch OS 10.5. We appreciated the feature-packed Funtouch OS 10, but it had a couple of extras that seamed unnecessary, which have been cleaned up on the 10.5 version.

If you’ve used Vivo phones, you’d notice that the new version now has a more normal notification shade and control center. They can now be summoned from the top, instead of the bottom.

Everything feels more Android 10-like. The navigations are similar and the App Drawer is now more straightforward.

Vivo might toned it down a bit, but the new UI on the Vivo X50 Pro is still heavy on customization. Which is no surprise for an Android phone.

You can opt to remove the app drawer for an iOS-like look, home screen layout, icon style, lockscreen poster and style, and the Always-on Display layout. You can also adjust the ambient light effect, which lights up the corners of the screen while it’s off. These are just of the many customizations you can do on the Vivo X50 Pro.

The Vivo X50 Pro also has navigation gesture options, which can be more intuitive to used than the navigation keys if you can get used to it.

It also has accessibility features like S-capture, Smart Split, Smart Motion, and Smart Click that gives you quick access to most-used apps, and other toggles.

If you want a more subtle UI, or just want to conserve battery, you can enable the dark mode. It also works in almost all third-party apps.

The camera app has been greatly improved. It fixes the issues we’ve had before and compliments the killer cameras on the Vivo X50 Pro. Moreover, it uses Google Keyboard out of the box, which is familliar and easy to use.

Lastly, there’s the Ultra Game Mode t