Vivo’s newly launched X80 in Bangladesh has been getting a lot of attention lately for its great camera performance.
While that’s a great plus, how does the rest of the phone stack up?
The phone comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. It is available in Cosmic Black, priced at Tk76,990.
Aesthetics
The smartphones made by Vivo are very good-looking. The brand can make a consumer fall in love with its devices at first glance.
That being said, Vivo X80 is no different in terms of beauty. Available in the Cosmic Black, the phone has this dark grey finish with a pitch black camera unit.
Vivo X80 is designed well and has all the elements you would expect from a flagship smartphone, even though we are considering it as an upper mid-ranger.
The X80 has a big display with curved edges on both sides. The metal frame of the X80 gives it a premium look and feel.
The power and volume buttons of the phone are located on the right. The buttons are also made out of metal, which provides a solid feel and clicky feedback when pressed.
Vivo X80 has a SIM tray slot, USB Type-C port, primary microphone, and loudspeaker at the bottom.
It does not have a headphone jack however, even though the phone does not have any IP rating, which the previous generation Vivo X70 Pro did not have either.
The Vivo X80 Pro however does have an IP68 rating but that model is not available in Bangladesh as of now.
The top of the Vivo X80 has an infrared emitter (IR blaster) and a secondary microphone, meaning that the phone can be used as a remote.
On the back, the camera module is huge and occupies over one-third of the rear panel.
One good thing about this camera module is that it does not make the phone wobble when placed on a flat surface. This module has three camera sensors, laser autofocus hardware, and a dual-LED flash.
The back panel of the X80 is made from glass with anti-glare matte finishing. This finish helps the phone resist fingerprints easily.
Vivo also provides a case in the box which has a faux-leather finish.
The phone is 165 x 75.2 mm in dimensions and weights 206 grams, leaning slightly on the heavier side. It will be heavily noticeable while using the phone in one hand. However, the weight distribution is really good meaning one can use it for long hours without feeling the weight.
Display
Vivo X80 comes with a 6.78 inches E5 AMOLED display that supports 120Hz. With a peak brightness of 1500 nits, Vivo literally outshines many other devices in this price segment.
The phone's display offers beautiful colours with great touch response and haptic feedback.
The display is large enough to watch movies and shows, and smooth enough to endlessly scroll on social media feeds thanks to that 120Hz support.
Performance
Vivo X80 is rocked with a 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset.
Before you go all haywire on Vivo for using a MediaTek chipset instead of the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, you should know that this particular Dimensity 9000 chipset from MediaTek not only scored more than Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the AnTuTu benchmark, but also scored higher than Apple’s latest A15 Bionic chipset.
Apple definitely has its perks here. iOS is very friendly to the battery and A15 Bionic’s CPU and Battery performance are slightly better than Dimensity 9000, even though it scores less in AnTuTu.
Any game you can name, PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, Mobile Legends, Asphalt 9, will be playable with the Dimensity 9000 chipset with no lag whatsoever. MediaTek has come a long way and the Dimensity 9000 chipset is living proof of that.
The chipset is also tremendously battery-efficient due to it being built on a 4nm architecture.
Camera
Vivo X80 sports a triple camera setup. The primary camera on the back is a 50MP sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS) support. There is also a 12MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zooming capability and another 12MP ultrawide lens.
Vivo’s X-series smartphones always perform well when it comes to cameras. However, Vivo X80 lacks the gimbal stabilization system which is present in the Vivo X80 Pro's portrait camera.
The Vivo X80's camera app features the Zeiss Portrait styles and Zeiss Cinematic Video Bokeh modes that simulate an anamorphic lens style in the output, according to Gadgets360.
Vivo has also added a Zeiss T* coating on the camera lenses to help reduce ghosting and lens flares. For selfies, the Vivo X80 uses a 32-megapixel front camera.
The camera app is very user-friendly. Switching between the different shooting modes and cameras is very easy.
Vivo X80 also has a toggle for Zeiss Natural colour rendering which changes the colour profile of the output. The X80 watermark is enabled by default like many other phones. You are, however, just a few taps away from removing it.
Daylight camera performance was very good and the photos provided good dynamic range. Objects at a distance in landscape shots were recognisable and had adequate detail.
The colours looked slightly punchy by default. But enabling the Zeiss Natural Colour, the output gets closer to the actual scene.
While the ultra-wide camera offers a wider field of view, it also makes the colour tones a bit warmer. But unlike many other photos captured using the ultrawide lens, photos did not appear too distorted around the edges of the frame.
That being said, the output did not have the same quality as the primary camera either.
Close-up shots were crisp and photos taken with the Portrait mode enabled had good edge detection.
The portrait mode comes with multiple portrait styles from Zeiss. Without a macro camera on the back, Vivo X80 automatically switches to the ultra-wide-angle camera for macros when the phone is close enough to a subject.
Macro shots were well detailed, thanks to the 12-megapixel resolution. I liked this use of the ultrawide lens and I think other companies should do this with their mid-range devices rather than providing low-quality macro lenses that mostly fail to capture usable images.
The low-light performance of the Vivo X80 was also impressive. With some patience, maybe for three to four seconds, you will be able to get better shots during the night.
The selfie camera also performed well, capturing detailed images with nice edge detection.
Video recording on Vivo X80 maxes out at 4K on the primary camera and 1080p on the selfie camera. No complaints here.
Battery
Vivo X80 comes with a 4500 mAh battery, which also supports 80 Watts charging.
Nowadays, charging speed matters and it’s good to see that Vivo made the charging speed almost double (it was 44 W in X70 Pro) within a year.
In general, the phone should take around 40 minutes to fully charge from zero to 100 percent. The screen on time is decent, around 7-8 hours and with moderate usage, the phone will last a day and a half with some battery left.
Verdict
Will I recommend Vivo X80? I will. But there’s a catch.
In Bangladesh, we are attracted to certain brands when we cross a certain budget. Around this Vivo X80 price range, you also have a Samsung phone (A73). If you ask general consumers which one they prefer, most of them will say A73, even though Vivo X80 is a far better phone than the A73.
With more and more smartphone companies entering the country and providing amazing specs at lower prices, I believe we should start looking outside of brand loyalty.
If money is no object then the iPhones or the latest Samsung flagship phone is your best bet. But if you want a good phone under a hundred thousand, then check out the Vivo X80 that can rival them both in many aspects.
