vivo X60 Pro Review By Alex Hong

Hey there, Alex here. I was actually quite impressed with the vivo X50 Pro when I reviewed it last year, so I was looking forward to the X60 Pro. Now that I’ve spent a bit of time with it, let’s talk about its pros and cons, and whether it’s any good. First of all, apart from a few minor differences, the look and feel of the phone is very similar to the X50 Pro. It’s relatively slim and light, well built, and feels great in my hand. The matte finish on the rear glass panel feels really smooth and premium, and this new Shimmer Blue colour looks amazing.

It is also nice that there is a pre-installed screen protector on the phone and a full set of accessories in the box. However, it is a little disappointing that there is still no IP rating, considering that there are even mid range devices with that feature these days. On the front of the phone, I’m still not a fan of curved edges, but it does seem a little less curved compared to the X50 Pro, and I like that the camera cutout is now in the middle. Anyway, it’s a great looking display with nice colours, decent enough brightness for outdoor use, and a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s a more traditional high refresh rate display in the sense that it only switches between 60 or 120Hz, even if you select the smart switch option.

This is a good option for those who want better battery life, and apps like Twitter, Instagram, and FaceBook do run at 120Hz. But unfortunately a few of the apps that I regularly use, including web browsers are the ones limited to just 60Hz. So if you really want to enjoy that higher refresh rate all the time, the only option is to keep it at 120Hz and live with slightly poorer battery life. Hopefully this is something that they can change with software updates. Anyway the optical fingerprint sensor under the display works reliably for me, but I do wish that the position of the sensor was a little easier to reach.

It’s rather unfortunate that we still don’t get stereo speakers here, especially considering the price of the phone. It is able to get pretty loud, but it sounds a bit tinny. For those who still use wired earphones, the X60 Pro is just using the built in DAC from Qualcomm’s SoC, unlike the X50 Pro which is using an AKM DAC. But I don’t think it’s a big deal since it still sounds pretty decent to me, and a dongle with a better DAC is pretty inexpensive these days. When it comes to specifications, the X60 Pro is packing the Snapdragon 870 chipset, with faster storage and more RAM compared to its predecessor.

While it’s not as fast as the 888, the 870 is still slightly faster compared to last year’s flagship chipset, the 865, and way better than the mid range 765G that is in the X50 Pro. Apart from playing Genshin Impact at the highest graphics settings, it will probably be more than fast enough for most users. I actually find that the device doesn’t seem to warm up quite as easily compared to the 888, which is a nice bonus. The X60 Pro comes with a 4200mAh battery, which is slightly smaller compared to X50 Pro, so I do feel like battery life is not quite as good, especially since it has a higher screen refresh rate. It’s still decent enough for a day of moderate usage, but folks with heavier usage will probably need to top up the battery before the end of the day.

There is still no wireless charging here, but at least the 33W fast charging can fully charge the phone in just over an hour. The X60 Pro is running the latest version of FuntouchOS based on Android 11, and in terms of look and feel, I think it’s a pretty big improvement over previous versions. It’s responsive, and the design looks more cohesive. For the most part, it’s a pretty decent user experience with a decent amount of customisation options and features. But there is definitely still room for improvements.

For example, it’s still missing quite a few basic customisation options like changing grid layout or turning off Google Discover, it’s still quite aggressive at killing background apps, and it’s unable to quickly switch apps when using gesture navigation. Anyway, I think it’s a great starting point for vivo. Hopefully they will keep improving their software experience and keep their promise of providing 3 years of software updates for the phone. I’m sure that from the Zeiss partnership and branding, you can tell that camera performance is the main selling point of the phone. Like on the X50 Pro, it has a unique gimbal stabilisation system on the main camera, which is better than the usual optical image stabilisation.

For photos, it’s not really that useful in good lighting since shutter speed is usually pretty fast, but it works well at reducing camera shake in low light especially when using Night mode, so lowlight performance here is really good. Shots in good lighting look great as well with nice looking colours and image processing. The auto HDR works well, autofocus is reliable, and it even has a sports mode that can be used for capturing moving subjects by using a faster shutter speed and less image processing. The ultra wide angle camera looks decent in good lighting, and in low light, night mode works relatively well. It works as a macro camera too which is nice.

The telephoto camera looks just okay, but 2X optical zoom isn’t really that useful to me. In terms of video quality, the stabilisation does look pretty good which is to be expected, but video quality itself is just okay. I do want to mention that the gimbal stabilisation does work really well in lowlight since electronic stabilisation normally isn’t as effective in those lighting conditions. The front camera performs really well as expected from a vivo device, and is able to capture decent looking shots even in low light. Overall, I think camera performance is pretty good, especially for the main rear camera and the front facing camera.

But I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that we no longer get a periscope telephoto camera. Anyway, if you’re interested, just check out the link in the video description below, and you can see everything I took with the phone at original resolution. At a recommended retail price of 1199 Singapore dollars, the X60 Pro is 100 dollars more expensive compared to the X50 Pro. That’s a reasonable increase in price considering that we are getting a huge performance boost, better main camera performance, and faster screen refresh rate. I’m guessing that the increment isn’t higher because they removed a few features on the phone, but those features are not really deal breakers for me.

To me the main concern is still the lack of an IP rating and stereo speakers. At this price point, I think it should have those features. That said, if those features are not as important to you, the X60 Pro is still a solid device. The screen looks great, the design is attractive, and camera performance is really good. It is still a device that I have really enjoyed using.

So if price isn’t an issue for you, or you are able to get a better deal, it’s still a phone that is worth your consideration. Thanks for watching this video, and see you guys on the next one.

Source : Alex Hong