Review Verdict: Aside from improvements with the Aura Light and processor of choice, the biggest improvement on the vivo V30 is with its ultra-wide camera, which is the best in its class for a mid-range device. However, vivo didn’t maximize the opportunity by limiting the ultra-wide camera to only Full HD video. 

Pros

• One of the best ultra-wide cameras in its class
• Excellent OIS on the main camera
• Great processor choice

Cons

• Only a single speaker setup
• 4K video not available on the ultra-wide camera

 

After being teased for a month, the V30 series has finally arrived in the Philippines. The standard V30 gets substantial improvements beyond vivo’s trademark Aura Light, making it the proper upgrade from the excellent V27. Despite not having Zeiss branding like the Pro model, is the V30 just as good?

 

vivo V30 Review Philippines: Design

The V30 has roughly the same dimensions as the V29 at 7.5mm thick, making it one of the thinnest phones in the market. What’s impressive with the V30 is that vivo managed to increase the battery capacity to 5000mAh, which is a feat considering how thin it is. The V30’s camera module has been redesigned, with the lower half being home to a brighter and bigger Aura Light LED flash. Like the V29, you only get two cameras on the V30–that’s fine with us, especially since there are no filler cameras to be found here.

Our review unit comes in Petals Blue colorway, which has a paper-like texture and a finish that mimics flower petals. We love this back panel finish over the glossy, color-changing ones used on previous V-series phones. The paper-like texture adds a good grip to the V30 when holding it and is practically immune to smudges.

The button and port layout remains the same since the V27, and that includes retaining the same single speaker setup—which we find frustrating considering its Php 25k asking price and the fact that the competition already offers a stereo speaker setup.

 

vivo V30 Review Philippines: Display and Speakers

The V30 retains the same panel used on the V29, which is a 6.78-inch 120hz curved AMOLED display with a 1.5k resolution. Aside from supporting Widevine L1, the V30 also supports HDR10, which lets you watch HDR videos natively for you to appreciate the added dynamic range.

Just like what we pointed out in the design part of the V30, our big complaint is that you only get a single speaker setup. We find it frustrating that vivo has yet to give stereo speakers to the V series considering that it’s already a standard feature on the majority of mid-range phones.

 

vivo V30 Review Philippines: Cameras

The V30 gets upgrades with the rear cameras, as you now have two 50-megapixel sensors: an ISOCELL JN1 for the ultra-wide camera and an OV50E sensor for the main camera. Both have autofocus, while the main camera has OIS and EIS like previous V series models.

The OV50E sensor used on the main camera is slightly larger than the IMX766V used on the V27 and V29, and overall image quality is generally good. Its 2x digital zoom is still great, and the V30 performs well in low-light shooting.

The ultra-wide camera is the biggest improvement on the V30. Armed with a bigger resolution and autofocus, ultra-wide photos shot by the V30 is crisp and sharp even in low-light, complementing the excellent performance of the main camera. Aside from being refreshing to see a mid-range phone that uses an ultra-wide camera that’s not an 8-megapixel sensor, the V30 has one of the best ultra-wide cameras in its class.

When it comes to video, the V30 retains the same excellent 4K video recording for both the main camera and selfie camera—with the main camera having excellent OIS performance especially when shooting handheld. We’re baffled, however, why the ultra-wide camera cannot shoot 4K video despite using an all-new sensor. We suspect vivo overlooked this, and we expect them to add 4K video recording using the ultra-wide camera soon.

The V series is one of the best mid-range phones when it comes to selfies, and the same can be said with the V30’s use of a 50-megapixel ISOCELL JN1 sensor with eye tracking autofocus. New to the V30 is a 0.8x selfie mode, which gives you a wider FoV that’s ideal for taking group selfies.

 

vivo V30 Review Philippines: Internals and Battery Life

While you still get 12GB RAM and up to 256GB storage on the V30, the biggest upgrade is its use of a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor, which is more powerful than the Dimensity 7200 and Snapdragon 778G used on the V27 and V29 respectively. This new Snapdragon 7 series processor provides better performance gains especially when it comes to its GPU.

Aside from being very smooth in multitasking, the V30 handled games like a champ. we were using the V30 to slay enemies and bosses in Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, and the phone handled both demanding title very well while setting the graphics to high and enabling 60FPS mode. The V30 barely became warm after 30 minutes of gameplay, which is impressive considering how thin it is.

Despite its slim 7.5mm profile, the V30 manages to pack a 5000mAh battery inside. We got 15 hours and 17 minutes in PCMark’s battery benchmark test, which is around an hour better than the V29 thanks to the additional 400mAh in capacity. Like the V29, you get the same 80w charging solution, which can fully charge the battery in under an hour.

 

vivo V30 Review Philippines: Wrap-up and Conclusions

We think that the vivo V30 is the proper upgrade to the V27 we have been waiting for. Aside from a more powerful processor with the use of a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, the biggest upgrade on the V30 is with the ultra-wide camera, which is one of the best ultra-wide shooters we’ve seen on a mid-range phone in a while. Despite not being perfect–4K being lacking with the otherwise great ultra-wide camera, and vivo’s insistence on sticking to a single speaker for its V-series phones–the V30 is another solid mid-range option in the Philippines if you prioritize both style and cameras.

 

vivo V30 Review Philippines: Price

The V30 is priced at Php 24,999 for the 12GB/256GB model and Php 27,999 for the 12GB/512GB model.