Vivo's V-series just got a serious upgrade with the arrival of the V30 Pro. It brings the highly acclaimed Zeiss colour science from the flagship X100 series down to a more affordable price point.
But, can it truly replicate the flagship experience?
Vivo V30 Pro Camera Review
The Vivo V30 Pro has four 50MP camera sensors. Out of these, three are situated at the back, a main, ultrawide and 2x telephoto. The front camera is also 50MP.
Do note that there is no T* anti-glare coating on the V30 Pro like that on the X100 series.
The Zeiss colour science is available with the Natural colour profile in the camera app, so that’s what I have used to gauge the camera performance.
Please watch the video to see camera samples.
Since portraits are the highlight of this camera system. let’s focus on the 50mm 2x telephoto lens first.
The level of detail captured by this sensor in daylight is extremely impressive. However, even with portraits, there is no oversharpening and the skin tones are well represented.
Low-light portraits benefit from two exclusives. The first is the Zeiss portrait filters which add distinct light flares to your shots. The second is the bigger square-shaped Aura light.
It automatically adjusts to lighting conditions. It gets brighter for distant subjects and softer for close-ups. It even adapts to warm or cool ambient light by changing its colour temperature.
The Aura Light properly exposes your face without ruining the ambience of the scene, and it is a smart piece of engineering.
The main IMX920 sensor is also an impressive performer. It captures a lot of detail and gets the contrast right. However, I would have liked a slightly superior dynamic range.
Low-light photos have well-contained highlights and are devoid of noise.
You can shoot well-detailed videos with the main sensor, but for some strange reason, stabilisation does not work at 4K 60 fps.
Also, you only get manual controls for photos and not videos. A missed opportunity on a camera-focused smartphone.
Moving on to the ultrawide camera, it works well white taking outdoor shots in sunlight.
But, the photos are soft around the corners, and the dynamic range is not very impressive. On the flip side, you can also use this sensor to take some high-quality macro shots.
The selfie camera impresses with its neutral skin tones and impressive dynamic range. You can also use Zeiss portrait effects on selfie portraits as well.
This phone also allows you to take 4K 60fps videos with the front camera.
Vivo V30 Pro Design & Utility
While overall, the V30 Pro retains the curvy and slim aesthetic of its predecessors, there are a few very interesting new things here.
For starters, it is just 7.45mm thick despite having a large 5,000mAh battery. Now that’s quite a significant design feat. It also weighs just 188g which adds to its great in-hand feel.
Then, this new Zeiss-branded camera island also deserves a mention. Unlike many 2024 smartphones which have oversized camera cutouts for visual impact, the V30 Pro takes a rather subtle approach. In fact, if you’re old enough to remember, it looks a bit like the Pixel 4.
Below the camera island is an equally sized housing for the flash and the bigger Aura light.
This colourway on our review dice is called Andaman Blue, and it has these nice 3D particles inspired by ocean waves from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
As for the construction, the frame of this device remains constructed out of plastic, and that might not go well with everyone. The back panel is glass, but it does not get Schott Xensation Alpha protection like the display does.
The V30 Pro also boats an optical fingerprint rear which worked fast and accurately in my experience.
It also gets an IP54 rating for dust and splash resistance, although it is fair to expect a more robust rating on an upper midrange smartphone in 2024.
Unfortunately, the V30 Pro sticks with a single, bottom-firing speaker, once again forgoing a stereo setup.
The reason, Vivo claims, is that its average customer is more concerned with the loudness and clarity of the speaker than stereo sound.
Vivo V30 Pro Display
The Vivo V30 Pro boasts a premium 6.78-inch curved AMOLED display with a resolution of 1.5K. It offers 10-bit colour depth, HDR10+, and a refresh rate of 120Hz.
A key area of improvement over the V29 Pro is the brightness. This display has a local high brightness of an impressive 1200 nits, so it is easily usable on a bright sunny day. Its peak brightness while viewing HDR content reaches up to 2,800 nits.
Vivo V30 Pro Performance & Software
This is the third time that Vivo is using the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 chipset on this smartphone series - the V29 Pro and V27 Pro also had the same chip.
That’s not a bad thing if you ask me. This is a camera-centric smartphone, so the latest cutting-edge processor isn’t something you should be looking for here.
Also, the Dimensity 8200 remains a very potent SoC despite its age, and an Antutu score of 9.7 lakh proves that.
Still, do not buy this smartphone for prolonged gaming sessions, since you can get more powerful hardware for a similar price.
Vivo has included a decently sized 3002mm² vapour chamber on this smartphone, but that’s more for keeping it cool during long filming sessions.
On the software front, things remain familiar. Funtouch OS 14 offers a user interface that, despite some quirks, easily grows on you.
The quirks include a fair amount of system app notifications and a handful of pre-installed apps. Thankfully, all of these can be disabled.
Overall, UI performance and fluidity on the V30 Pro are quite good. The only minor gripe is the processing time for Zeiss portraits, which can take a bit longer than you might expect.
The V30 Pro offers up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB UFS 3.1 storage options. However, this higher-spec variant carries a ₹5,000 premium over the base 8/256GB variant, which is pretty hard to justify.
Vivo V30 Pro Battery life
The 5,000mAh battery on this smartphone is a decent jump from its predecessors.
And since the Dimensity 8200 is an efficient chipset, what you get here is solid battery endurance. You can expect around 8 hours of screen time with mixed usage.
The V30 Pro supports 80W fast charging and comes bundled with a compatible adaptor as well. You can fully charge it from 0 in around 40 minutes.
But, it is completely reasonable to expect 120W charging on this smartphone since the cheaper iQOO Neo 9 Pro supports it.
Vivo V30 Pro Review
The Vivo V30 Pro starts at ₹41,999 in India, which will raise some eyebrows.
Look, Vivo surely knows what value-for-money is. Its flagship X100 series offers pretty great value for the kind of kit on offer.
Not just that, Vivo’s sub-brand iQOO has consistently been spinning some crazy value-for-money smartphones.
So, I was expecting Vivo to be a little more aggressive with the V30 Pro’s pricing.
However, since this is primarily an offline market smartphone, it should not be hard to get a good deal on it at your local phone shop.
Ultimately, this is the best camera phone for photography in the ₹45,000 segment. If that’s what you want, the V30 Pro is worth a serious look.
Also watch: iQOO Neo 9 Pro review
