Review Verdict: The addition of a 2x telephoto camera and Zeiss co-engineering makes the V30 Pro the most feature-packed V series phone that vivo has sold in the Philippines. Its camera features make the V30 Pro an X series model in all but name.
Pros
- Great performance across all four cameras
- Excellent video stabilization for a mid-range device
Cons
- Still a single-speaker setup
- Heats up with prolonged gaming
vivo brings back the Pro models under the V series to the Philippines once again with the V30 Pro. This time around, the V30 Pro gets a very relevant upgrade with the addition of a portrait camera and Zeiss co-engineering. With a rather steep asking price, are the upgrades on the V30 Pro justified?
vivo V30 Pro Review Philippines: Design
The V30 Pro looks practically similar to the standard V30, down to the texture of its back panel for the Petals White colorway. The only way you can distinguish the V30 Pro from its standard sibling is with its camera module, where you have Zeiss branding and an additional telephoto camera.
This makes the V30 Pro the first V series model to have Zeiss co-engineering. However, unlike the X series, the V30 Pro does not have Zeiss’ T* coating, so the co-engineering done with it is mostly with the camera and post-processing algorithm.
Save for that key difference, you still get the updated Aura Light 3.0, along with a slim 7.5mm body that packs a 5000mAh battery inside. The button and port layout are the same as the standard V30 as well. You do get an IP54 rating with the V30 Pro, making it resistant to accidental water splashes.
vivo V30 Pro Review Philippines: Display and Speakers
The V30 Pro has the same display you’d find on the standard V30 as well, which is a 6.78-inch 120hz curved AMOLED display with a 1.5k resolution. We generally liked the display of the standard V30, and the same applies to the V30 Pro as well.
You get the same set of features like support for Widevine L1 and HDR10 content, and the same complaint as well with its single speaker setup. The V30 Pro is the most expensive phone to still have a single speaker, and we wish that vivo could give its V series phones a stereo speaker setup in the future.
vivo V30 Pro Review Philippines: Cameras
The V30 Pro boasts four 50-megapixel cameras all in all. The selfie and ultra-wide cameras use an ISOCELL JN1 sensor, while the main camera uses an IMX920 sensor that’s physically bigger than most sensors used by mid-range phones. Rounding up the package is an IMX816 sensor for the portrait camera.
All four cameras benefit from Zeiss co-engineering, which includes exclusive Zeiss bokeh filters and Zeiss natural color. The former can be used for portrait mode, where you can use four of Zeiss’ iconic lens designs, along with two additional options for a more cinematic look.
Like our experience with the standard V30, you are getting an excellent performance with the ultra-wide camera on the V30 Pro. What makes it better is the option to choose Zeiss natural color, which gives a more neutral color rendition compared to the default color option of the V30 Pro.
The V30 Pro’s ultra-wide is also better than the one on the standard V30 (despite using the same sensor) in low-light shooting, which can be credited to the Dimensity 8200’s ISP.
The V30 Pro is the first phone in the V series to have a 2x telephoto camera, which is useful not just for portraits but also for extra reach with travel photography. Like the V30 Pro’s other 2 cameras, the 2x telephoto camera performs well even in low-light, further making the V30 Pro have a versatile camera setup.
What makes the V30 Pro interesting is that you can shoot up to 4K60 video across all four cameras–which you’d not find on any mid-range phone in the market. The catch with shooting at 4K60 is the lack of EIS, so you’re better off shooting at 4K30 if you want stable handheld shots.
Just like the standard V30 (and V29 and V27), the V30 Pro is a stellar performer when it comes to selfies with its 50-megapixel ISOCELL JN1 camera. Compared to other phones we’ve tried, vivo’s V series has the best selfie camera performance in the mid-range segment.
vivo V30 Pro Review Philippines: Internals and Battery Life
Powering the V30 Pro is a Dimensity 8200 processor that’s paired with 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage. It is the most powerful setup we’ve seen on a V series phone, and is the first time that vivo is using UFS 3.1 and LPDDR5 as well–previous V series phones are limited to UFS 2.2 storage and LPDDR4X RAM.
We’re familiar with the Dimensity 8200 (and other processors under the same line), and it’s proven to be one of the best mid-range chips that MediaTek has produced in a while. What makes the Dimensity 8×00 series great is that they can go head-to-head with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 series chips–all at a lower price point.
While the V30 Pro can handle gaming, the phone tends to heat up fast–and that’s expected since the V30 Pro is a thin phone and does not have enough room for a robust thermal management system to sustain heavy gaming sessions. Don’t get us wrong: the V30 Pro is perfectly fine for gaming, it’s just that you’ll need an external cooler for better performance during heavy gaming sessions.
Like the standard V30, the V30 Pro also has a 5000mAh battery inside that supports 80w charging. We managed to do 14 hours and 40 minutes in PCMark’s battery benchmark test, and that’s a good figure considering how thin the V30 Pro is–and how it manages to pack a 5000mAh battery inside.
vivo V30 Pro Review Philippines: Wrap-up and Conclusions
Beyond having a more powerful set of internals, the V30 Pro is a worthy high-end option compared to the standard V30 with its camera setup that benefits from Zeiss co-engineering. Aside from getting Zeiss’ natural color science and exclusive bokeh filters, the V30 Pro is a rare mid-range device that offers 4K video recording (up to 60FPS no less) across all of its cameras, making it a versatile phone for content creation.
vivo V30 Pro Review Philippines: Price
The V30 Pro is priced at Php 34,999.
