Vivo X5Pro Review – Premium Looks Come at a Premium

Smartphone Review | TelecomDrive.com

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo has launched its flagship product – the 4G enabled X5Pro some time back and is priced at INR 27,980 in India. Even though it looks similar to X5Max, the X5Pro smartphone comes with rounded edges, a completely different and unique back, and a smaller 5.2-inch screen. The screen size is quite pleasantly good to hold and delivers excellent quality display.

This smartphone’s super AMOLED display is a real delight. It delivers sharp, detailed and truly vibrant colors that look refreshing. There is no doubt that this smartphone carries one of the best full-HD displays that we have seen on recent smartphones.

However, if you look at the design part of this smartphone, one can clearly see that Vivo X5Pro borrows a lot of design inspiration from the iconic Apple iPhone 6. Whether it is its curved edges or its overall look – there is a deliberate attempt to make the X5Pro look as close to the iPhone 6 as possible.

There is no doubt that the Vivo X5Pro carries a special impact with its easy to hold body and, well-designed body. Its slim metal-and-glass profile is ideal to provide a unique aesthetic appeal to this smartphone.

Specifications and software capabilities

Vivo X5Pro comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 which has carved its own niche in the sub – 20,000 category of smartphones. That is why we feel that this smartphone is overpriced at INR 27,980.

This smartphone features dual-SIM connectivity with the second SIM slot doubling up as the microSD slot. This has a 13-megapixel primary camera capable of shooting full-HD video; and an 8-megapixel front camera. However, on the downside, we found the smartphone to be overheating when we shot pictures at a quick succession.

This smartphone comes with 16GB of internal storage (expandable with a microSD card of up to 128GB), 2GB of RAM, and a 2,450mAh battery. The Vivo X5Pro runs on Android 5.0 with Vivo’s very own FunTouch OS skin on top.

Performance

The Vivo X5Pro smartphone is a pleasure to work with, thanks to the unique experience delivered with the help of FunTouch OS. Apps load and run well, and we did not experience any lag in performance in day-to-day performance issues during our review-time with the device. All of our test videos, ran comfortably without any hitches. The new Furious 7 racing Game ran smoothly as well, although we did note that it did cause the back side of the phone to heat up considerably.

Battery life of this smartphone is just about average as well. Call quality was decent enough, as was network reception in this smartphone. Wi-Fi reception was good as well, however, there were times when the phone was not able to pick up a Wi-Fi signal if there were too many obstructions.

Camera Quality

The Vivo X5Pro retains Vivo's usual camera app where a user do not have access to too many manual settings, however there are modes such as HDR, Panorama and Night that can come in handy if you look for making your pictures interesting.

When we tested the camera, it has delivered good quality shots, however you really need to work on getting the right settings to get the right quality of picture. And hence, it is just about okay for a 13-megapixel camera.

When it comes to picture quality - colors were largely accurate, although we felt that sharpness was lacking in some of the test shots we took. It's an acceptable camera, but when we look at the price, today you can get better performance from a smartphone that costs less money.

Final Verdict

The Vivo X5Pro is definitely a good-looking smartphone that does an impressive job of delivering a power packed performance to its users. However, we have a problem with the price of the X5Pro being too high when compared to other low priced devices with similar specks.

Vivo might get away with a high pricing in its home turf China, but it must realize that in India, it will be regarded as a Chinese brand and hence it needs to position its pricing accordingly.