Review Verdict: the collaboration between vivo and ZEISS is more relevant than ever on the X80 Pro, combining both hardware and software to deliver the best possible imaging performance you can get on a premium flagship phone in the Philippines. 

Pros

• Laudable battery life for a flagship phone
• Well-utilized camera hardware and software
• Large and fast in-display fingerprint scanner
• Very good camera performance

Cons

• A bit on the heavy side
• FunTouchOS is not ideal for games
• Considerable amount of pre-installed bloatware

 

vivo X80 Pro Review Philippines Specs

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor
• 12GB RAM
• 256GB UFS 3.1 storage
• 6.78-inch Quad HD+ LTPO3 AMOLED display, 120hz refresh rate, 1000hz touch response rate, 10-bit color
• 50-megapixel f/1.8 ISOCELL GNV main camera with OIS and PDAF, 48-megapixel f/2.2 IMX598 ultra-wide-angle camera, 12-megapixel f/2.0 IMX663 telephoto with PDAF and 2x optical zoom, 8-megapixel periscope camera with 5x optical zoom, ZEISS T* anti-reflective coating, vivo V1+ ISP
• 32-megapixel f/2.45 selfie camera
• LTE, 4G, 5G
• WiFi, Bluetooth 5.1
• In-display fingerprint scanner, IP68 rating, HiFi audio, stereo speakers
• 4700mAh battery
• 80w wired charging, 50w wireless charging
• Android 12, FunTouchOS

After being quiet for several months in the premium segment, vivo takes on the premium flagship space once again with the arrival of the X80 Pro in the Philippines. The new phone is the top-end offering of vivo that leverages heavily on the brand’s collaboration with German lens maker Zeiss, and it shows. If you’re looking for a really good-looking phone with excellent optics, it looks like the X80 Pro is the phone to beat in the Philippines.

Design

The X80 Pro has the biggest camera bumps we have seen on a smartphone so far. The humongous camera module is necessary for housing the large sensors used for the X80 Pro’s main and ultra-wide-angle cameras, along with the extra space needed to fit in the periscope module.

The right side of the camera module only has an LED flash, and its mirror gloss finish can double as a mirror in case you feel like using the main or ultra-wide-angle camera for selfies.

The rest of the back panel comes with a sandblasted finish that’s similar to the OnePlus 10 Pro. We like how high-end phones are veering away from mirror gloss finishes and go for either a sandblasted or a matte finish–both of which do a great job in repelling annoying smudges. The sandblasted finish feels more durable too, and we think that adds up to the X80 Pro’s weight.

Speaking of weight, the X80 Pro weighs 215g, and it is heavier than most premium flagship phones in the market save for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Its heavyweight stature aside, the phone feels great in the hand – it feels incredibly well made, and the additional heft gives the phone a nice heft all things considered.

Like previous X-series models, you still get that cheeky “professional photography” branding on top, while the power and volume controls are on the right side. At the bottom, you have a loudspeaker, USB-C port, and SIM Card tray.

Display and speakers

While the X80 Pro appears to use the same 6.78-inch curved WQHD+ AMOLED panel found on the X70 Pro+, the X80 Pro uses a newer LTPO3 panel that maximizes the power efficiency of the display. It has qualities you’d expect on a flagship panel: support for 1 billion colors, a high 1500nits maximum brightness, and support for HDR10+ content.

The X80 Pro meets our standards as far as flagship displays are concerned with the main display being incredibly bright, allowing users to enjoy videos even under direct sunlight.

The stereo speakers are just as great as the display. They have great audio fidelity despite their size, and you can keep the volume at around 70% and appreciate the clear mids and highs it has to offer.

The display also has an in-display fingerprint scanner, but the X80 Pro uses a newer version that has double the coverage of current in-display scanners. Aside from the usual one fingerprint recognition, the X80 Pro also has an option to let it recognize two fingerprints at the same time for added security.

vivo has been a pioneer for in-display fingerprint scanners since the X20 series, and the X80 Pro has the latest and best iteration to date.

Cameras

The main star of the show is the X80 Pro’s cameras. You get a comprehensive rear camera setup that consists of a large 1/1.31-inch, 50-megapixel ISOCELL GNV main camera, 48-megapixel IMX598 ultra-wide-angle camera, 12-megapixel 2x telephoto camera, and an 8-megapixel 5x periscope camera. Aside from the impressive setup, you get ZEISS’ T* coating on all lenses and vivo’s V1+ ISP helping out in handling post-processing.

One of the new additions to the X80 Pro’s slew of camera features is ZEISS natural, which tones down the colors to give you a more natural look that’s akin to mirrorless cameras. vivo is one of the few brands that opt to not oversaturate images and video in post-processing, and it does result in a better-looking image.

In general, the X80 Pro’s cameras deliver consistent performance regardless of lighting conditions, staying true to vivo and ZEISS’ promise of delivering masterpiece-level imaging.

ZEISS even has its own input with the X80 Pro’s video features, and these include a cinematic mode that lets you shoot at 24FPS with a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. This feature allows for maximizing the X80 Pro’s cameras by adding clean bokeh effects (and more) with video.

Given its hardware capabilities, the X80 Pro can also shoot 8K video and shoot HDR video at 4K as well.

Smartphones have been partnering with top imaging and camera brands lately, and vivo’s partnership with ZEISS has the best execution we have seen to date.

Internals and Battery Life

Like any 2022 flagship, the X80 Pro gets a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor that’s paired with 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. While it is not the latest processor from Qualcomm with the recent announcement of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 provides enough muscle for most tasks.

While vivo did not opt to underclock the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the X80 Pro (like what we encountered on the OnePlus 10 Pro), we noticed differences in its scores for PCMark, which we suspect is due to FunTouchOS’ aggressive nature in prioritizing battery life, gives it an appearance of not being as dominant in gaming compared to other flagships in the market.

Data obtained from Gamebench shows that the X80 Pro was more unstable than the OnePlus 10 Pro with Genshin Impact even with the latter’s performance mode turned off. As for other titles, the X80 Pro ran Apex Legends Mobile flawlessly, while it performed great in running Asphalt 9 with high graphics and 60FPS enabled.

Similar to what we encountered with the Find X5 Pro, the X80 Pro does come with a considerable amount of bloatware pre-installed–with some being uninstallable. We wished that vivo chose to keep the bloat on its FunTouchOS overlay to a minimum, similar to the MIUI implementation on the Xiaomi 12 Pro.

The X80 Pro has a 4700mAh battery inside it, which is a tad smaller than those found on other premium flagship phones. However, we managed to get a decent battery life of 14 hours 35 minutes in PCMark’s battery benchmark test despite running the display at Quad HD 120hz.

This makes the X80 Pro one of the better Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered phones out there in terms of battery efficiency, closely matching the battery life score we got on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Topping up the 4700mAh battery can be done either via 80w wired charging or 50w wireless charging, with the former allowing you to top up the battery from flat to 100% in under an hour.

Using vivo’s 50w wireless charger, we manage to top up the X80 Pro wirelessly from 5% to 60% in 30 minutes. That’s very fast for wireless charging speeds and is arguably the fastest wireless charger that’s officially available in the Philippines.

Wrap up and Conclusions

vivo is a brand you least expect to be competitive in the premium flagship segment in the Philippines, yet our review of the X80 Pro shows that it ticks all the checkboxes on what people expect on a top-tier phone. The X80 Pro’s biggest strength lies in how it maximizes the partnership between vivo and ZEISS for both camera hardware and software.

vivo X80 Pro Review Philippines Price

The X80 Pro has an official SRP of Php 59,999 and is available for pre-order from June 10 to June 17. Those pre-ordering via Shopee, Lazada, and the vivo Online store from June 9 to 17 will get the TWS Voguard earbuds, 50w wireless charger, and a neck massager with their purchase, while those who will pre-order offline will get a premium Bluetooth speaker and additional 6 months warranty.