Vivo X100 Pro review: This 2024 flagship is a camera powerhouse

Vivo bought rather a lot proper with the X90 Pro, and it’s persevering with that momentum with the X100 collection. The X100 Pro has the identical broad design, however that is the place the similarities finish — you get a brand new AMOLED panel that goes as much as 3,000 nits, MediaTek’s Dimensity 9300 is an unimaginable cell chipset that goes up towards one of the best that Qualcomm has to supply, and there is a bigger battery.The largest improve is across the cameras, with Vivo providing a trio of 50MP cameras that will simply be among the many greatest you may discover at the moment. The software program has a recent coat of paint as properly, and the gadget will get long-term updates. Vivo is basically preempting its rivals by rolling out its 2024 flagship globally forward of the likes of the OnePlus 12, Xiaomi 14, and Galaxy S24 Ultra, so let’s check out what you are getting with the X100 Pro, and whether or not it measures up in real-world use.Vivo X100 Pro: Specs, worth, and launch date(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Vivo unveiled the X100 collection in China in November 2023, and launched the gadgets globally on December 15. There are two fashions within the collection — the X100 and X100 Pro — and there is not an entire lot completely different between the 2. Both gadgets function the identical 6.7-inch AMOLED panel and the identical Dimensity 9300 platform, and have an identical designs. The X100 Pro comes with a 1-inch important digital camera alongside a 50MP zoom lens that goes as much as 4.3x optical zoom, with the X100 utilizing a 50MP 1/1.49-inch digital camera and a 64MP zoom module that does 3x. Both gadgets use the identical 50MP wide-angle lens.The X100 Pro has a bigger 5400mAh battery, however you get 100W charging — the X100 has a 5000mAh battery with 120W charging tech. Both gadgets are actually accessible in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, they usually’re launching in India on January 4.Swipe to scroll horizontallyCategoryVivo X100 ProOSFuntouch 14 primarily based on Android 14Display6.78-inch 120Hz LTPO AMOLED, 2800×1260, HDR10+, 3000 nits ChipsetMediatek Dimensity 9300, Immortalis-G720, 4nmRAM12GB/16GB LPDDR5XStorage256GB/512GB/1TB UFS 4.0Rear digital camera 150MP f/1.8 23mm, 1/0.98-inch sensor, OIS, 4K at 60fpsRear digital camera 250MP f/2.0 15mm wide-angle, 1/2.76-inch sensor, autofocusRear digital camera 350MP f/2.5 100mm 4.3x telephoto, 1/2-inch sensor, OISFront digital camera32MP f/2.0Ingress protectionIP68 mud and water resistanceConnectivityWi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, Sub-6 5GSecurityIn-screen optical fingerprintAudioUSB-C, stereo sound, 24-bit/192kHzBattery5400mAh battery, 100W charging, 50W wi-fi chargingDimensions164.1 x 75.3 x 9.1mmColorsAsteroid Black, Startrail BlueVivo X100 Pro: Design(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Vivo hasn’t modified the design an excessive amount of from the X90 Pro, so that you get a big slab of a telephone with an enormous digital camera island on the again. If something, the digital camera housing is even bigger than final 12 months, and it dominates the eye on the again — very like anchovies on a pizza. There’s a stainless-steel ring that encircles the digital camera housing, and there is Zeiss branding within the center.The again of the telephone appears to be like good due to the round digital camera island, and in contrast to final 12 months, you aren’t getting a garish metallic band that runs throughout the width of the gadget (fortunately). There’s nonetheless the Xtreme Imagination tagline emblazoned beneath the digital camera island, however you’ll be able to simply disguise that away with a case. Another change is the supplies, with Vivo going again to a glass again this time round — there is no vegan leather-based choice. The again has a silky end, and whereas it is not as good because the leather-backed X90 Pro, it’s higher than a shiny coating.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)There are two shade variants this time round — Asteroid Black and Startrail Blue — and the latter is the extra attention-grabbing of the 2. I’m utilizing the black variant, and it is not fairly as evocative because the blue model, which is impressed by the Milky Way and has a singular design on the again. The gadget itself is nice to carry and use, and whereas it’s on the heavier facet at 225g, Vivo nailed the load distribution.You additionally get a dual-curved design, however the curvature is minimal, and there is sufficient thickness across the mid-frame to carry the gadget with none points in any respect — this hasn’t all the time been the case with just a few telephones I utilized in 2023. The telephone makes use of a stainless-steel mid-frame as properly, and the positioning of the buttons hasn’t modified; the facility and quantity buttons are on the appropriate, you get the USB-C port and SIM card tray on the backside, and there is an IR blaster up high.Image 1 of 4(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)What’s attention-grabbing concerning the X100 Pro is that it would not wobble when sitting on a flat floor, and that is right down to the gargantuan digital camera housing. That mentioned, my solely quibble with the design is that the in-screen fingerprint module sits too near the underside of the display, making it awkward to entry when utilizing the telephone one-handed. I had the identical problem with the iQOO 12 as properly, and as Vivo is utilizing the identical panel on each telephones, the placement of the module was unchanged as properly.To spherical issues off, you get IP68 mud and water resistance, just like the X90 collection. Overall, Vivo did not alter the design language an excessive amount of over final 12 months, however the bigger digital camera housing mixed with the refined tweaks to the design make the X100 Pro that rather more distinctive.Vivo X100 Pro: Display(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Vivo retained the identical 6.78-inch display dimension as final 12 months, however the X100 Pro makes use of a brand-new panel sourced from BOE. The huge differentiator right here is that it goes as much as 3,000 nits in HDR content material, a sizeable achievement. You get the standard options that you simply’d need in a flagship, together with an LTPO AMOLED panel, 2160Hz PWM dimming that is designed to be simple on the eyes, and 120Hz refresh. The refresh dynamically scales primarily based on the content material you are viewing, and I had no points on this space.The X100 Pro has tiny bezels on all sides, and the curvature of the display is not a hindrance in day by day use. Colors are nice out of the field, and you’ll tweak the colour steadiness, change the display decision (between 2400×1080 and 2800×1260) and use a slew of AI-backed options that increase shade vibrancy in YouTube and Netflix.Image 1 of two(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)As you’d think about, the X100 Pro has terrific colours and distinction ranges, and streaming HDR content material is completely satisfying on the gadget. It additionally does an awesome job with gaming, and fortunately, you are not restricted to 60fps — if a recreation permits you to plat at 120fps, you are able to do simply that on the gadget.Other than that, you get the standard set of options; the always-on mode has loads of customizability, and you’ll arrange your personal types. Onboard sound is excellent too, and also you get serviceable stereo sound whereas taking part in video games and streaming content material. Of course, there may be distortion at increased volumes, however that is the case with most telephones.While the display dimension hasn’t modified, the elevated brightness and shade constancy makes the X100 Pro that rather more satisfying. Vivo did all the appropriate issues on this space, and I’m excited to see what different manufacturers do with this panel.Vivo X100 Pro: Performance and battery(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Vivo converted to MediaTek on its high-end telephones final 12 months, and the X100 Pro sees the introduction of the Dimensity 9300. There’s loads of pleasure across the Dimensity 9300 because it makes use of a customized core configuration that is completely different to absolutely anything else on this class. Essentially, you get 4 massive Cortex X4 cores which might be joined by 4 Cortex A720 cores that deal with a lot of the day-to-day duties.Going this route means the Dimensity 9300 has a noticeable benefit over the likes of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in multi-core workloads. I assumed there can be elevated battery utilization as the standard A520 effectivity cores are lacking right here, however that hasn’t been the case; the A720 cores are clocked at 2.0GHz, and within the two weeks I used the telephone, the facility draw was on par with the iQOO 12, in order that’s a very good signal. Basically, the X100 Pro ought to maintain its personal towards one of the best Android telephones on this regard. Swipe to scroll horizontallyCategoryVivo X100 ProiQOO 12iPhone 15 Pro MaxCrossMark (Overall) 117713241401Productivity121613021404Creativity114313201573Responsiveness11861404984Geekbench 6 (single-core)222025522950Geekbench 6 (multi-core)7258695273813DMark Wild Life Extreme (rating)4610432936483DMark Wild Life Extreme (FPS)27.6025.9221.93DMark Solar Bay (rating)7600804250243DMark Solar Bay (FPS)28.932.3319.1The Dimensity 9300 is excellent in day by day use, and I did not see any points in any respect with efficiency; the X100 Pro is among the many quickest telephones accessible at the moment, and it dealt with demanding video games in addition to multi-tasking with out breaking a sweat. The solely space the place there is a noticeable distinction over Qualcomm-powered gadgets is throttling; working the identical recreation on the X100 Pro and iQOO 12 confirmed that the Dimensity 9300 had an inclination to throttle somewhat earlier, and it bought barely hotter as properly.Vivo is not altering issues an excessive amount of by way of storage variants; the bottom mannequin of the X100 Pro comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage, and people variants go as much as 16GB/1TB. That mentioned, we’ll have to attend and see if the 1TB mannequin turns into accessible in most world markets.There is not something lacking on the connectivity facet of issues both, with the X100 Pro that includes world 5G connectivity over Sub-6 bands, a Wi-Fi 7 modem that is designed to take full benefit of multi-Gigabit networks, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, twin band GPS, and AptX HD codecs. The vibration motor is superb as properly, and it delivers granular suggestions in day by day use.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)Most manufacturers used an ordinary 5000mAh battery over the past three days, however we’re seeing that change in 2024, with 5400mAh items beginning to turn into the norm. Just just like the iQOO 12, the X100 Pro makes use of a 5400mAh battery that sees two 2700mAh cells, and it goes as much as 100W and 50W wirelessly. Battery life is excellent, and I simply bought as much as two days of use persistently with the gadget. Even with heavy use, I managed a day and a half earlier than charging the gadget, and there is completely no battery nervousness on the gadget.Even although the X100 Pro goes as much as 100W, Vivo bundles its 120W charger within the field. A full cost takes simply over 32 minutes, and you’ll simply get to the 50% mark in simply over 12 minutes. The solely draw back is that the charger is cumbersome, however the truth that you get one within the field in any respect is a giant deal lately.Vivo X100 Pro: Cameras(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The X100 Pro continues Vivo’s heritage of providing robust cameras, and this time, there are appreciable upgrades on provide. The telephone has a 50MP Sony IMX989 important digital camera with a 1-inch sensor, and it is joined by a 50MP wide-angle with autofocus, and a 50MP zoom lens with 4.3x optical zoom. The entrance 32MP module is unchanged, and it nonetheless solely does 1080p video.Vivo touts a brand new stabilization system that makes a distinction when capturing the zoom lens or taking macro photographs, and the principle digital camera has Zeiss’s T* coating that is designed to scale back reflexivity significantly. You additionally get a customized V3 imaging chip that allows Cinematic Portrait movies at 4K and delivers pure pores and skin tone segmentation, and the 6nm design is 30% extra power environment friendly than final 12 months.The digital camera interface is an identical to the X90 collection, and also you get all of the capturing modes in a ribbon on the backside, with toggles for the varied lenses, Google Lens, flash, magnificence results, and macro mode. Similar to what Xiaomi and different Chinese producers provide on their telephones, Vivo has a slew of customized results that leverage Zeiss’s lenses.Image 1 of 10(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)Coming to sunlight photographs, the X100 Pro does a terrific job outside and indoors, with resultant pictures providing nice dynamic vary and shade vibrancy. There’s no seen noise ranges, colours aren’t overly saturated, and foliage is rendered precisely. The important digital camera does extremely properly in low-light conditions as properly, delivering photographs with good particulars and minimal noise.It does a very good job in eventualities the place there’s little to no seen mild, and the evening mode undoubtedly is useful. What I like is the pure bokeh when taking photographs of close by objects, and the X100 Pro does an awesome job on this regard. The wide-angle lens holds up properly, and whereas there have been cases the place the colour steadiness was somewhat off at instances, these points had been rectified with a software program replace.The telephoto lens is without doubt one of the greatest you may discover on any gadget at the moment, and it delivers detailed photographs at a 4.3x zoom degree with no noticeable loss in high quality. It does a terrific job in low-light scenes as properly, and you will get respectable photographs as much as 10x with out an excessive amount of of a trouble. In an analogous vein, the telephone takes unimaginable portrait photographs, and you’ll select between a number of focal lengths and results.With 4 focal lengths to select from — 24mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 100mm — the X100 Pro affords probably the most versatile digital camera packages accessible at the moment, and the auxiliary lenses do a standout job in most eventualities. All three cameras can shoot 4K video at 60fps as properly, and the built-in stabilization is among the many greatest on Android. On the entire, the X100 Pro has what it takes to go up towards the likes of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Pixel 8 Pro. Vivo X100 Pro: Software(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)The largest problem with utilizing Vivo telephones up to now was the software program, and fortunately, the model has made constructive strides on this space over the past 12 months. The X100 Pro runs Funtouch OS 14 primarily based on Android 14 out of the field, and it has a cleaner UI together with loads of customizability. But what I like greatest is that there is much less bloatware than earlier years.You do not get a lot in the way in which of Material You influences apart from the dynamic shade picker, however that in itself makes loads of distinction to the interface, and offers it loads of vibrancy. Considering the interface was a poor imitation of iOS even till just a few years in the past, this can be a fairly huge turnaround, and Vivo deserves loads of credit score.(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)There’s nonetheless loads of customization accessible, whether or not you wish to arrange always-on types, change the look of the overview menu, tweak house display transitions, arrange lighting results, and so forth. Vivo bundles Google’s dialer and Android Messages out of the field, and the notification pane has two massive tiles that may be personalized alongside smaller tiles.The interface is optimized to reap the benefits of the highly effective {hardware}, and it’s easy in day by day use. On the entire, I like what Vivo did right here, and the UI is a particular enchancment from earlier variations. On that notice, Vivo ensures 4 platform updates, so the X100 Pro will get long-term updates on par with its speedy rivals.Vivo X100 Pro: The competitors(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)If you just like the look of the X100 Pro however need one thing that is extra value-focused, chances are you’ll wish to take into account the iQOO 12. You principally get the identical software program, similar AMOLED panel that goes as much as 3,000 nits, and it is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. I additionally just like the design fairly a bit, and the 5400mAh battery means you need not plug it in in the course of the day. The cameras are a lot better than final 12 months, however it is not on the identical degree because the X100 Pro. That mentioned, the iQOO 12 is far more reasonably priced.Then there’s the OnePlus 12. The gadget is but to make its world debut, however it additionally has loads of similarities to the X100 Pro — which is affordable as each manufacturers are owned by BBK — and I’m excited to check out its cameras. In an analogous vein, the Xiaomi 14 is debuting globally in Q1 2024, and it additionally has cameras that ought to maintain up properly towards the X100 Pro.Vivo X100 Pro: Should you purchase it?(Image credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)You can purchase this if:You desire a telephone that may take superb photographs and moviesYou want one of the best {hardware} accessible on Android proper nowYou need one of many brightest screens on any gadgetYou want all-day battery and ultra-fast charging techYou should not purchase this if:You take loads of movies with the selfie digital cameraYou want well timed software program updatesUltimately, the X100 Pro is Vivo’s greatest effort but, and it’s a terrific showcase for 2024. The telephone has appreciable upgrades in key areas over the X90 Pro, together with a considerably brighter AMOLED display that is a delight to make use of, sooner internals, bigger battery that lasts longer, and a lot better cameras with refined tweaks to the tuning that make the X100 Pro maintain up towards one of the best Android telephones.I additionally just like the route Vivo is taking with regard to its software program efforts, and the newest iteration of Funtouch OS appears to be like clear and trendy, has loads of customizability, and fewer bloatware than ever earlier than. Honestly, I can not consider many negatives right here, and in the event you’re in a rustic the place Vivo formally sells the X100 Pro, it’s best to take into account selecting it up.