Vivo X60 Pro Plus Review – Exceptional Design and DSLR-Like Camera

Vivo rolled out Vivo X50 Pro Plus last year and it was a big success with camera and performance being one of the key selling points. Cut to now, we have the Vivo X60 Pro Plus in our hands waiting for the history of the flagship devices to be rewritten. It squeezes in a second-generation gimbal stabilization support and ZEISS branding along with even larger camera modules, a powerful processor, a dual-curved Super AMOLED display, and more.

Check Out: Recycle Your Old Phone, Get Rewarded!

I tested the device for around 10 days for the sake of reviewing it and to be honest, the phone is impressive in many verticals. No doubt Vivo did a great job with Vivo X60 Pro Plus and here’s everything that I know so far. This hands-on review would let you ascertain if you should buy it or not although the final decision can be subjective.

The Vivo X60 series is seriously impressive and Vivo X60 Pro Plus (or Vivo X60 Pro+) is sitting on top of the lineup with the best-in-class specifications. The device is available in India in a single trim i.e. 256GB+12GB at Rs 69,990/-. Clad in the Emperor Blue colour variant, the device is available with and without exchange offers. Flipkart India is offering up to Rs 19,500/- off while Amazon India is offering up to Rs 19,000/- off on eligible devices.

There are other offers including No Cost EMI, Rs 3,000/- off on HDFC Bank Cards6, 10 per cent off on using BoB Mastercard Debit Card for first-time transactions on either of the e-commerce websites. The lowest price tag of Vivo X60 Pro Plus so far is Rs 68,990/- on Amazon India without any offers/discounts on it.

With one of the most exciting box packaging in the form of a gift box that you get to see with the Vivo X60 Pro Plus, the contents inside the box remain as it is.

Before we talk in detail about the Vivo X60 Pro Plus let’s see what the on-paper specs look like?

• Display: 16.66 cm (6.56 inch) Full HD+ 3D Curved AMOLED Display, 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
• Storage: 12GB/256GB
• Software: Funtouch OS 11.1 (Based on Android 11)
• Rear cameras: 50MP + 48MP + 32MP + 8MP
• Front Camera: 32MP
• Battery: 4200 mAh, 55W FlashCharge
• Weight: 191g
• Dimensions: 158.59 x 73.35 x 9.10 mm

Once you hold the Vivo X60 Pro Plus in your hands, no doubt you would ever mistake it for any other flagship phone. The back is not glass but rather a classy-looking faux leather that is smudges and fingerprint-proof and looks like a charm. The leatherback does look premium clad in an Emperor Blue colour variant although it looks more grey than blue.

Vivo X60 Pro Plus uses a metal frame between a glass front and a faux leather back which has a concave mould to it. The rear has a humongous camera continent (because the island is not the project adjective here), with two giant camera sensors followed by two little ones. You will see a ZEISS T6 branding on the top of the camera island highlighting the anti-glare coat on the ultrawide snapper attached to a gimbal stabilization rig that works like a charm as well.

Both the front and the back panel merge in a curve on the metal frame that makes it appear slimmer than it is. Having a giant camera on one side does possess a wobbling issue so everything you keep your phone on a flat surface and tap on the left side of the screen, you will see the phone rocking up and down. In fact, having a phone case that comes in the retail box won’t help so mind if you can try a slightly thicker phone case with a cutout for the rear camera.

Also Check: Sell Your Old Phone in 60 Seconds From Home

The display is curved as well and with thin bezels, chin, and forehead thanks to its flagship status. You will find a knurled textured power button on the left with volume rockers while a USB Type-C port, a single loudspeaker, a primary mic, and a Dual SIM Card slot at the bottom. There’s another mic on top and there’s “Professional Photography” which doesn’t smack you on the face so chill.

Well, you are a giant behemoth of a display with Vivo X60 Pro Plus at 6.5-inch FHD+ AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh rate. For one, Vivo could have gone with a QHD display as you get with the OnePlus 9 Pro also at the same price.

Check Out: Affordable Doorstep Mobile Screen Repair

Coming back to X60 Pro Plus, colour reproduction on the same is accurate in most cases. The Standard colour mode has a bit of blue shift that you can adjust by sliding it to mid-warm temperature. The Bright mode is extra colourful while the Professional mode gave me the best experience with its adherence to DCI-P3 colour space.

The display manages to reckon up to 816 its brightness on auto while the peak brightness is 477 nits. Now, the auto-brightness is enough to let you view the display even in the harshest daylight. Additionally, it falls right behind Galax S21+ approx 890 nits. The display is able to dip down to 2.0 nits without illuminate blacks which is the point of an OLED panel and that is where X60 Pro Plus shines.

The phone supports a 120Hz variable refresh rate. You can either set it to 60Hz or Always ON 120Hz or select “Smart Switch” which dynamic toggles between 60Hz and 120Hz. As you might have guessed, there’s no 60Hz here. Also, the phone tends to have varied refresh rates for tasks you would such as video playback is locked at 60Hz but you can browse video players and apps at 120Hz. Similarly, the browser is locked at 60Hz always while on social media apps, the UI is always on 120Hz, and so on. To be honest, I would have liked more of 120Hz than the 60Hz I am getting with X60 Pro Plus.

Finally, the display supports HDR10+ and luckily, I was able to play the HDR content on YouTube and Netflix but Amazon Prime Video curtails it to HD somehow. This may or may not affect your viewing experience although it would for the masses.

Using Vivo X60 Pro Plus is a breeze as its Snapdragon 888 silicone paired with 256GB UFS 3.1 storage and 12GB LPDDR5 RAM does everything quickly and without any jitters. At no time I felt the phone lagged or hung even for a second so no matter if you are multitasking with apps or playing any graphics-intensive game, it can talk it all.

I played Call of Duty: Mobile for some time and I loved the wholesome experience put forth by the giant display, higher refresh rate, and the underlying processor that handles the game like a piece of cake. There were some instances of frame drops when playing Genshin Impact although that’s not a big deal at least for now.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Full Review – Best Camera Phone of 2021

As you know, Android devices have issues with RAM management. Well, the Vivo X60 Pro Plus does have 12 gigs of it plus, it allocates 3GB of Virtual RAM from the internal storage which theoretically allows it to open and cache more apps and do a lot of things than you can imagine.

When tested on Geekbench 5, Vivo X60 Pro Plus scores 3,749 points on its multi-core test which puts it ahead of Asus ROG Phone 5 (3710 points) and OnePLus 9 Pro (3636 points) among others. Similar standing was recorded on single-core test with 1143-points while OP 9 Pro had 1126 points and ROG Phone 5 scores 1110 points which are basically similar.

Thanks to the faux leather back, it doesn’t get warm but unfortunately, the front glass and the metal frame do get warm and it should take some time to cool off.

Vivo X60 Pro Plus runs on Android 11-powered FuntouchOS 11 out-of-the-box. It includes all the features such as Bubbles, a built-in screen recorder, better permission handling, Ambient Light, a tonne of bloatware, and more.

Vivo X60 Pro Plus has a busy camera continent at the back housing four ginormous sensors with effective zoom ranges of 14mm to 125mm and of course, there’s an almighty gimbal at your disposal strapped on a 48MP ultrawide snapper while the primary 50MP snapper is left with an OIS only. Then, you get an 8MP periscope telephoto sensor with 2x optical and a 32MP telephoto sensor with 5x optical zoom on-board.

First up, daylight photography on Vivo X60 Pro Plus. It goes without saying that X60 Pro Plus competes head-on with the likes of Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra with its impeccable camera rig. The primary sensor can capture all details, crisp, and with sharpness with its default state. Noise is minimal and even if you point at the sky, the camera does capture all the details and shadows properly.

The 8MP tele with 2x zoom does a great job too capturing shots that have high dynamic range, minimal noise, and adequate details in the shots. Use the periscope 5x telephoto to go even further and it is better than a few shots by Galaxy S21 Ultra. Of course, you can yank it to 30x digital zoom or so and still snag a brilliant shot without any issues.

Finally, the ultrawide snapper is a real deal with gimbal stabilization 2.0 attached to it. All the details, sharpness, textures are on point and since it is an ultrawide snapper, you get a wider field of view to glimpse at. Switch to High-resolution mode and you can still capture images that have finer details, fine diagonal patterns, and more without any issue although there’s some increase in noise, but it goes without saying, as you pump up the resolutions, you can expect some offsetting elements that may or may not be noticeable to the masses.

Low light photography has been greatly enhanced on Vivo X60 Pro Plus and I were blown away by how it compares with two of the finest flagship phones out there – Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Turn on the night mode and you will get a beast up processing under the hood. You can expect images that are vibrant, detailed with excellent dynamic range, and vivid colours to name a few.

Of course, the night mode does a great job here but you know, there are some instances where it could have shots that are slightly inferior to its rivals but go both ways. I was blown away with the number of details the cameras were able to take pictures at night time and that goes upwards of 5x optical zoom as well.

Check out the selfies using the 32MP sensor mounted in a punch-hole cut-out at the centre. It captures images retaining all details and balanced lighting even in challenging lighting conditions. The dynamic range is optimum and the colours are accurate as well. Subject detection on X60 Pro Plus is on point as well.

Talking about the video recording where the gimbal works best, Vivo X60 Pro Plus does a great job capturing videos at up to 8K resolution.

Videos at 8K resolution at 2x zoom look a bit sharpened and have a bitrate of 105MB. Videos at 4K30 with 50Mbps are absolutely detailed and sharp and colours are a bit warmer than real life. The ultrawide camera can take 4K30 videos full of details although with some noticeable noise. You get standard stabilizations with all sensors across all resolutions. The Ultra Stable ode kicks in at 1080p@60fps which is phenomenal as well. It irons out shakiness captured on a video while running as well so a year, it is pretty insane.

With a 4,200 mAh battery, the Vivo X60 Pro Plus battery is just a tad bit smaller than its predecessor although brings a much faster charging support onboard. I tested the device with multiple apps running in the background and foreground, videos and camera tests, and more. With that, I could say that Vivo X60 Pro Plus will last for a day even on heavy usage. Switch to a mix of light to moderate usage and you could take the battery to the next day as well. Turn off the smart refresh rate and lock it at 60Hz and that’s where the device will give an improved battery life for sure.

Read More: Affordable Mobile Battery Replacement at Doorstep

Unfortunately, we don’t get wireless charging support which isn’t a concern since X60 Pro Plus already has a 55W fast charging tech. However, having wireless charging support would have made it stand from around its competitors that support the feature. In any case, charging at 55W juices the battery from 0 to 100 per cent in about 45 to 50 minutes so that’s pretty impressive.

Vivo X60 Pro Plus might have one of the best specs out there on a flagship device but it lacks some features. One of them is a stereo speaker which is missing. Rather, you get a mono bottom-firing loudspeaker which is quite designed with a -27.6 LUFS rating on a loudness scale. This puts X60 Pro Plus lag just behind Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G (-25.8 LUFS), and Xiaomi Mi 11 (-24.2 LUFS).

Overall, the sound quality is good and made for podcasts, sparkles at high frequencies although you don’t get an immersive sound experience here. That’s something you have to take into consideration.

Vivo X60 Pro Plus is a flagship smartphone and the connectivity features will be in line with the price as well. The device supports Wi-Fi 6 dual-band, Bluetooth v5.2 with LE, A2DP, and aptX HD; NFC, a USB Type-C 2.0 port, and there’s NavIC, Galileo, Glonass, BDS, and A-GPS support as well.

The in-display fingerprint scanner on-board Vivo X60 Pro Plus is reliably fast. It takes just a fraction of a second and the phone will unlock and at a higher accuracy rate as well. The facial recognition system which is something you get with every smartphone nowadays is equally reliable as well.

Pros

• Powerful processor
• Gimbal camera support & OIS
• Full-configured AMOLED panel
• 55W Fast-Charging support
• Up to 60x Super Zoom
• 5G connectivity

Cons

• Absence of 3.5mm audio jack
• No wireless charging
• No IP rating