Vivo V15 Pro Review

The budget smartphone space is very competitive in India, though many would feel the devices in this segment have started to look the same. However, many would feel that the mid-premium segment is where we are seeing a fair share of innovative devices. Vivo’s latest V15 Pro is one such device as it sports a newer motorised or pop-up selfie camera.

Vivo V15 Pro Price In India Starts From INR 22,311 The best price of Vivo V15 Pro is Rs. 22,311 in Paytm, which is 8% less than the cost of Vivo V15 Pro in Amazon INR 23,990.This Mobile Phones is available in 128GB variant.Vivo V15 Pro is available in Topaz Blue, Ruby Red colour across various online stores in India.

V15 Pro comes in a subtle white box advertising the smartphone itself. The box includes the phone with power adapter, protective case, charging cable, SIM ejector tool and most importantly the box includes In-ear Headphones.

All the stuff you will be getting in the box:

– Vivo V15 Pro

– In-Ear Headphones

– Quick Start Guide

– MicroUSB Cable

– 18Watt Power Adapter

– SIM Ejector

– Protective Case

Quick look at the device’s specs:

– Display: 6.39-inch Super AMOLED, 2340 x 1080px 

– CPU & GPU: Octa-Core Snapdragon 675, Adreno 612

– RAM & Storage: 6GB/8GB, 128GB

– Rear Camera: 48MP(12MP effective) f/1.8, 8MP f/2.2, 5MP f/2.4

– Selfie Camera: 32MP f/2.0

– Battery: 3700 mAh

– OTHER FEATURES: Pop-Up selfie camera, In-Display Fingerprint sensor

Considering the price, Vivo certainly hasn’t held back on design, and the motorised pop-up camera takes centre stage here. Positioned at the top-right-hand edge, it removes the need for a notch or an in-display camera by stowing itself away from sight within the body of the device and springing into action when you open an app that requires the front-facing camera. 

It also pops out when you press the power button if you’ve enabled face unlock.Interestingly, the pop-up module houses not only the selfie camera but also the triple rear camera array, a design decision that causes a slight bulge on the rear of the phone. That, in turn, means the phone doesn’t lie flat when laid on a desk and rocks with every tap to the right-hand edge of the display.

The phone’’s design is otherwise beautiful. The gradient blue finish at the back looks great – diagonal lines sit under the glass panel and refract the light as you tilt the phone back and forth. It’s certainly an eye-catching sight, but not quite as visually appealing as the Honor View 20, which has a dramatic laser-etched “V” on the rear panel that seems to come alive as it moves.

Vivo thankfully opts to keep the 3.5mm headphone jack in place and includes a dedicated Google Assistant/Search button on the left edge, which can also be disabled.

The Vivo V15 Pro has a 2.5D, 6.39-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080px and a pixel density of 401PPI. The display of the device also houses the in-display fingerprint scanner. The display of the device is surrounded by very thin bezels with no obtrusions like a notch or a hole-punch. The device has a screen protector on the display pre-installed out of the box.It’s plenty bright and easy to read outdoors.

The Vivo V15 Pro runs on the recently announced Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC. The chipset has an Octa-core CPU featuring an 11nm architecture which is combined with the Adreno 612 GPU. The CPU consists of eight Kryo 460 cores and has a clock speed of up to 2.0GHz.

It runs on Android 9 Pie OS out of the box with the company’s FunTouch OS on top. It has Adreno 612 graphics, which makes it easy to play games on the phone. It comes with Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, and compass sensors. For gamers, the phone comes with a Game Mode 5.0. You can enjoy e-m-sports like a pro by entering Competition Mode, and use the Dual-Turbo mode to increase smooth gameplay.

The user interface, which in Vivo V15 Pro’s case is the FunTouch OS 9 based on Android 9 Pie can’t be called as the most user-friendly. However, Vivo has made it much better than it used to be earlier. We still remember the FunTouch OS 2.0 based on Android 4.4.4 in the Vivo X5 Max that launched back in December 2014. Since then, the FunTouch OS has come a rather long way and through several iterations it is as refined as it gets. 

All the features are there that a user needs in a handset in a handset in the particular segment except for one thing – uniqueness. Although the UI has improved drastically over the years, it appears the same as the ones used in Oppo and  even Xiaomi, ditching uniqueness.

The Vivo V15 Pro has a triple rear camera setup, which comprises of a 48MP f/1.8 sensor combined with an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide sensor and a 5MP f/2.4 depth sensor for portrait mode. The selfie camera is housed in the pop-up slider on the top of the device and has a 32MP f/2.0 sensor. The smartphone can also capture 4K videos at 30fps from the rear camera and 1080p videos at 30fps from the front camera.

The V15 Pro has a 32MP selfie camera which pops up from the top and takes bright and clear images. It has a triple rear camera setup with 48MP wide-angle camera, 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 5MP depth-sensing camera. The phone’s camera features an LED flash, HDR, and panorama. The front 32 MP selfie camera can fully elevate in just .46 seconds. It has impressive beautification feature which clicks beautiful selfies. You can make your face look slimmer and skin smoother, as well as add different portrait lighting effects while clicking pictures. With the Vivo V15 Pro clicking perfect selfies is just a breeze. You also get your favourite photography features like AI Body Shaping to AI Portrait Lighting. 

The phone‘s triple rear camera set up includes a 16MP primary sensor with an f/1.78 lens, an 8MP secondary sensor with a 120-degree super wide-angle f/2.2 lens, and a 2MP tertiary sensor with f/2.4 lens. The 32MP selfie camera with f/2.0 lens clicks picture perfect images.

The Vivo V15 Pro is powered by a 3700 mAh battery which supports fast charging via the bottom mounted MicroUSB port. The device also supports Vivo’s proprietary dual engine fast charging of up to 18W with the bundled charger.

The battery easily lasts for a day with moderate to heavy usage, which is decent while mostly watching videos online, browsed social media and listening to music in addition to making calls and messaging.The phone can charge to 24% power in just 15 minutes of charging. It has a microUSB 2.0 port.

The V15 Pro retains a 3.5mm headset jack for those who still need this. There is no USB Type-C port, instead, it uses a micro-USB port for charging, which is not good to see in a 2019 phone.

The in-display fingerprint sensor is accurate and worked well during my review period. The scanner needs you to press hard on the display to recognise the fingerprint, which a little extra effort compared to when using a physical fingerprint sensor.