The Chinese brand Vivo enters the Dutch market with three smartphones, of which this Vivo X80 Pro as a top device should make the most impression. You can read whether that works in this Vivo X80 Pro review.
Vivo 80 Pro
Price from € 1099,-
Colors black
OS Android 12 (Funtouch OS)
Screen 6.8″ amoled (3200 x 1440, 120 Hz)
Processor 2.4GHz octa-core (Snapdragon 8 (gen 1))
RAM 12GB
Storage 256GB
Battery 4,700 mAh
Camera 50, 48, 12.8 megapixels (rear), 32 megapixels (front)
Connectivity 5G, bluetooth 5.2, GPS, NFC
Format 16.5 x 7.5 x 0.9 cm
Weight 215 grams
Other splash-proof, infrared, rear-screen fingerprint scanner
Website www.vivo.com
6 Score 60 
- Pros
- Smooth smartphone
- Many camera options
- Display
- Negatives
- Wifi and app shutdown
- bloatware
- Dubious image manipulation
BBK Electronics, like other Chinese smartphone manufacturers, wants to conquer the European market. After the disappearance of Huawei, this market is dominated by Apple and Samsung, who together account for four out of five of all smartphone sales.
Numerous Chinese brands and many more models are fighting hard for the small slice of pie that remains. BBK is flooding the market with brands such as Oppo, OnePlus and Realme, all of which use the same tactic of marketing as many smartphone series as possible. Vivo is the next brand, with the next series. Starting with the Vivo X80 Pro.
With such a marketing tactic it is difficult to stand out in the Netherlands and the device name X80 Pro does not help either. There is nothing to show that Vivo is one of the largest smartphone brands on the Asian market and has been at the cradle of innovations such as the fingerprint scanner behind the screen and the pop-up selfie camera.
Vivo X80 Pro: standout features
However, there are a few striking features of the Vivo X80 Pro. First of all, the suggested retail price of 1100 euros. A negative striking feature, because for that money you also buy the best smartphones from brands that are known to the Dutch public. Again: Samsung and Apple.
The design also stands out, the X80 Pro cannot be missed due to its large size. In particular the back in which a large rectangular mirror surface has been placed, in which a periscope lens camera, the flash and a wallpaper of logos are located. Within that area there is also a circle in which the other cameras are placed. Inside this three extra lenses and an infrared sensor. All those lenses make an impression on the specification list, but that does not say whether the smartphone also photographs well. Before that, something else striking on the smartphone: a Zeiss logo.
Until now, Zeiss always worked with Nokia, but the brand has now entered into a partnership with Vivo. Not that Zeiss makes the lenses. The brand helps with the (software) adjustment of this. And the Zeiss brand name is of course also a bit of marketing. Other Chinese manufacturers have entered into similar partnerships, with varying degrees of success. For example, Huawei made fantastic cameras with Leica. The Hasselblad logo on OnePlus and Oppo smartphones has not led to impressive camera performance so far.
Finally, there are a few more details, which are both small and striking. Vivo has not freed up space for a memory card slot or audio port. But for an infrared port. There is also a fast charger in the box, which does its job quite quickly thanks to 80 watts.
X80 Pro: design and screen
Despite the size, the X80 Pro is still reasonably handy because the weight is not too bad. The weight is placed a bit higher because of all the camera violence on board. The curved edges on the sides also provide a pleasant grip, although the curved screen edge can cause unintentional screen touches.
The screen itself has a clear image display and a color reproduction that seems a bit more color-true than many other smartphone screens. For others it may look a bit paler. Furthermore, the image is sharp (1440p) and smooth running thanks to a dynamic refresh rate of 120 hertz.
There is a screen protector over the screen as standard, which is nice. But what is most striking is the speed at which the fingerprint scanner below the screen responds. Almost as fast as a physical fingerprint scanner and moreover, it almost always unlocks successfully.
Speed
Not only the fingerprint scanner and charger do their job at lightning speed. Everything on the device runs like a charm. The screen in combination with a lot of computing power and software optimization ensure that all apps you use look and work smoothly.
The X80 Pro has enough muscles on board for that. Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 (Gen 1) chipset, which also supports Wi-Fi 6 (not 6E) and 5G, along with 12GB of RAM. There is 256GB of available storage. Basically what you can expect from a smartphone in this price range.
The battery life is again somewhat unremarkable. Depending on your use, the battery lasts about a day with heavy use, and one and a half with normal use. Charging can be done via the fast charger or wirelessly.
Android 12 with Funtouch OS
There are some notable quirks in the software area. What is it with Chinese telephone makers? Vivo also has a hand in leaving the Android base in a worse state with its skin. Vivo’s Funtouch OS skin adds bloatware from Vivo apps to Facebook and a nasty virus scanner in the completely unnecessary iManager app.
It gets crazier. In the settings there is the ‘beautiful face video recognition’ function. A possibility to make your face appear artificially more beautiful during video calling. It manipulates the image of, for example, WhatsApp video calling. The image manipulation is done on the device before the image is passed on to the video calling app. A disgraceful and harmful feature, especially for the mental health of (young) users. Inquiries with Vivo about this function remained unanswered for the time being.
Update: statement from Vivo added at the bottom of this review.
Strange things are also happening in the background. For example, during the test period, the Wi-Fi connection was invariably switched off (probably to save battery life). Also, apps that run in the background are invariably closed. Nice for the battery life and speed, but disastrous for the stability and operation of apps. For example, apps cannot always send notifications when you receive a new message, for example, or sports apps do not record your route via GPS because they are closed.
The support is also not what you may expect. The Vivo X80 Pro will receive three Android version updates and three years of security updates. That is too short for a smartphone and much too short for a smartphone of 1,100 euros. Vivo would like to compete in price with Samsung and Apple, without taking the support responsibility. This is an important point where Vivo’s smartphone falls short.
cameras. All. Lots of cameras.
As described earlier in this review: the Vivo X80 Pro impresses on the specification list with its abundance of cameras and the Zeiss logo. But more important is how the cameras perform in practice. The Vivo X80 Pro is equipped at the rear with a periscope zoom camera, a regular zoom, a wide-angle camera and of course the primary camera lens.
All those lenses offer plenty of options and the app also includes photo modes. Here too, my neck hairs are standing on end of the function that automatically removes moles in recordings. Fortunately, this is turned off by default. The selfie function of the Vivo smartphone adds all kinds of questionable edits. For example, pores are smoothed and the skin whiter to better meet a twisted beauty ideal from another culture.
The cameras certainly don’t perform badly. The primary and telephoto cameras deal best with difficult light and color. Followed by the wide angle lens. The periscope lens does sacrifice a lot on detail and color, but with a zoom level of up to 60x it is quite a nice feature to have with you. Only when you zoom in so deeply do you notice that the stabilization cannot handle this. It is difficult to take your photo due to movement.
When backlighting becomes very bright or the environment is dark, you will notice the difference compared to Apple, Google and Samsung. Unfortunately, Vivo does not manage to align the camera control with these brands to find a connection. Despite the collaboration with Zeiss.
With enough light, the cameras (with all zoom levels) can take beautiful pictures.
In backlight, you notice that the camera has trouble capturing color.
Alternatives to the Vivo X80 Pro
It seems unlikely that Vivo will gain brand awareness in the Netherlands with this Vivo X80 Pro. For the same price you can buy a smartphone from the Samsung Galaxy S22 series or from the iPhone 13 series, and these smartphones are all much better choices. Also the cheapest versions.
As an asset, the Vivo X80 Pro has a beautiful screen and smooth operation. But that can also be said of a Pixel 6, Nothing Phone(1) or Galaxy A52. Smartphones that all cost about half the suggested retail price of this Vivo X80 Pro. And phones that I would rather recommend even regardless of the price.
Conclusion: Buy Vivo X80 Pro?
The Vivo 80 Pro stands out for the wrong things. The price is remarkably high. The software and support provide an experience unworthy of even a budget phone, and the image manipulation of the cameras horrifies me. It completely overshadows the fact that the screen is quite nice, the smartphone is fast and all the cameras have a lot of options; but do not measure up to those of Samsung, Google or Apple. All in all, not an impressive start for the Vivo brand in the Netherlands.
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