Specs
| CPU | MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G (6 nm) |
| Memory | 12 + 256GB |
| Display | 6.56’’ FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED (1300 nits peak brightness) |
| Camera | 50MP wide angle, 8MP 5x optical periscope telephoto, 12MP 2x optical telephoto 12MP ultra-wide angle lens 32MP front-facing camera |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.2,USB Type-C 2.0, 5G, Up to WiFi 6, Dual Nano SIM |
| OS | Funtouch OS 12 (Android 11) |
| Battery | 4450 mAh with 44W charging |
| Available Colors | Cosmic Black, Aurora Dawn |
| Retail Price | RM 3,299 (12GB) |
The Works
“The mattest finish in the wild west “
The X70 Pro follows suit to the X series design language, being quite thin and of decent weight. The back has a very metallic matte finish, smooth as hell. Its no very common to see a contrast between design and feel, so I render this to be a unique experience. The rest of the device has extreme curvatures, so it can get quite slippery to get a hold of, so I do advise using the provided silicon case for a better grip. I have to say though, as smooth and slippery as it presents itself, the X70 Pro seriously feels premium.
The rest of the frame is thin, following the same finish as the back. It blends well with the curved display. I am quite pleased at how great this phone looks and feels. The 6.56″ form factor is just right for my hands, giving me a much needed break from the 6.7’s and even 7’s I had to use this year alone.
The main screen is a 6.56″ AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s the usual FHD+ resolution with a high refresh rate capability. You can toggle between 60Hz – 120Hz and if you’re lazy, just use Smart Switch so that the phone can determine for you based on what you’re doing. The screen is covered by a uniform thin black bezel and a small hole-punched center for the selfie cam.
In terms of display quality, the Vivo X70 Pro is way above just being decent. I mean, as a camera focused phone, it should be a competent choice to give a color accurate panel to represent all the photos and footage anyone would be taking on this device.
Color reproduction depends on the mode you set in the settings. It’s simple and straightforward with 3 modes to choose from : Standard, Professional and Bright. Out of the 3, I love Professional the most, being able to faithfully produce an impressive dE2000 of just 1.9 and maximum deviation of 3.9. Bright is just a more vivid version of default, which pretty much adds more saturation. That would not be in favor for the tone sensitive so just stick to professional. You can adjust the color temperature using the slider below the settings to suit your preferences.
Top performance for videos and gaming
The X70 Pro uses a custom vivo-specific Dimensity 1200 chipset that features an enhanced ISP and APU for better image processing. Paired with 12GB of RAM and a fixed 256GB of storage, Funtouch OS 12 felt incredibly smooth and light. The only thing I didn’t appreciate is the large amount of pre-installed partner apps that I only see as bloatware. It took 10 minutes to filter through what I don’t use and have it all uninstalled.
The 4450 mAh battery takes minutes over hour to charge from flat using the provided charger and cable. It manages a busy day’s use easily with enough blanace to bring your over to the next afternoon. The power brick charges incredibly fast for the first 20 minutes, providing up to 50%, and when it reaches 90%, it begins to slow down (as expected, standard practice) for safety and longevity. If you’re in a hurry, give it just 30 minutes and you’ll have enough to conquer the day and more.
I put the X70 Pro through my usual game regime and was pleasantly caught off guard at how efficient it was when it came to high-refresh rate gaming. About an hour of Genshin, the phone stayed faithfully in the 40-50 FPS range, which did a lot better than some Snapdragon 888 devices we had. This proves to show that it’s not all about raw power and its accompanying potential. Everything bogs down to efficiency and thermals. The heat generated from gaming on the X70 was well distributed around the device. There were no specific heat spots and it didn’t feel uncomfortable when held.
Of Gimbals, ZEISS Portraits and more
This is why you’re here. The X70 Pro’s strength. The cameras, co-engineered with ZEISS. What a rapsheet. All rear camera systems come with ZEISS T* coating thats efficient in fighting ghosting and flares from aggressive reflections. The sensors are customed by Sony according to vivo specifications and when I heard about it from the first time I knew I had to test it to the max. Combined with the custom ISP, APU and these sensors, my expectations were at an all time high.
The main shooter is a large custom 50MP sensor from Sony (IMX766V). Images were crisp, well defined and balanced. The dynamic range is extended in common scenarios, such as urban shots where you can see how the skies don’t get overexposed even when you lock-on the focus.
In terms of texture and noise, we see a stark improvement over the X50 Pro and X60, with the X70 Pro having more definition with lesser noise. This consistency also extends to Night Shots, but with just a little bit more noise and ghosting.
The 12MP Ultrawide takes shots that are on-par with this year’s standards, capturing good detail but occasionally falls short in lens distortion and colors. Objects like cars can look a little stretched out of place. If you’re taking it for a nature shoot, it would probably fare better, but be prepared to add saturation to compensate for the washed out image.
The zoom sensors really earn their stripes here. They take excellent shots acceptable drops in sharpness and with some noise. The dynamic range was impressively wide, complementing the impressively wide aperture as well. Both 2x and 5x were on par with each other in terms of image quality, with the 5x producing a slightly darker image with some soft spots every now and then.
Shots at that zoom range would start to be shaky, and most camera phones would begin to start shooting blurry shots. On the X70 Pro, you’ll be able to shoot sharp images even if you’re slightly on the move.
Both the telephotos (2x and the periscope) did a mighty fine job, capturing plenty of detail with the right amount of exposure. For shots on these sensors to do magic, always make sure you lock your focus / exposure on top of having a steady hand, as these kinds of zooms tend to ghost your subject from even the slightest movement.
Portraits are a highlight for the X70 Pro. Both main and 2x cameras are able to capture portraits with incredible detail and tones. I’ve never seen a phone perform this well that’s an Android for these kinds of shots! The focus hunts really fast and taking a good snap would take at most 1.5 seconds
The strange bit is that the lenses don’t shoot consistently in terms of overall quality. The main camera probably shoots the best here, no matter the lighting condition. The 2x suffers from a lot of softness and noise compared to the main, especially in not-so-ideal lighting conditions.
Either way though, the bokeh’s were creamy natural and most importantly adjustable. If you’re a serial Instagrammer you’d be pleased with the outcome.
Finally a camera phone whose sensors are all USEFUL
The Vivo X70 Pro is more camera than phone, and I love saying that. It’s a classy flagship with enough shooting power to leave your prosumer back home. While it would still lose out to full-frame cameras and some high-end DSLR’s, the device shows an even more promising future thanks to actually working gimbals and custom camera sensors with matching chipset. The only thing Vivo needs to work on now would be that the sensor setup needs to have more color uniformity in the future. I still dislike the fact that if I wanted more colourful and sharper images I would need to pull out the high-megapixel mode and crop to the spot I wanted to shoot.
Performance for gaming is solid with great heat dissipation and the only drawback I seem to not get over is the fact that it takes over an hour to fully charge even at 44W.
I may love the device but I believe I can speak on behalf of all Malaysians that it is not worth RM 3299. It’s a huge price jump from the X70 but spec-sheet wise not really. I feel it’s only worth RM 2799 – 2899 at best. That would make it directly in line to be phone of the year.
My praises for the Vivo X70 Pro easily translates to a Gold Award for it. A well deserved win for Team Vivo.
