I’ve had my share of reservations about Vivo as a premium smartphone model – though it makes undeniably aggressive telephones. The cause – each time Vivo makes a good cellphone, manufacturers with higher viewers notion resembling OnePlus appear to all the time be a step forward in a technique or one other. Nevertheless, this 12 months, the premium Vivo X60 is right here. It nonetheless faces OnePlus as its largest rival, with the OnePlus 9R within the sub-Rs 40,000 section. Interestingly, the Vivo X60, the bottom variant within the sequence, makes for essentially the most attention-grabbing of the lot – a lot that I’ve already really helpful it to at the very least two of my friends.
So, a fast specs roundup: you get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC, with two variants – 8GB + 128GB for Rs 37,999 and 12GB + 256GB for Rs 41,999, therefore under-cutting the OnePlus 9R by Rs 2,000. There’s a 6.56-inch AMOLED show with 19.8:9 side ratio and 120Hz refresh fee. The triple rear digital camera setup with Zeiss optics consists of a 48MP main unit with f/1.79 lens, a 13MP telephoto unit with 2x optical zoom and f/2.46 lens, and a 13MP ultrawide unit with f/2.2 lens. This will get a host of software program optimisations, too. There’s a 32MP entrance digital camera, a 4,300mAh battery with 33W quick charging, 7.36mm thickness, 176g physique weight, Android 11, 5G connectivity and an in-display fingerprint sensor, amongst different normal fare.
How cohesively do these come collectively within the Vivo X60? Here’s what it is advisable know.
Performance: Adequate for nearly everybody
Even although the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is the flagship chipset of the 12 months, the Snapdragon 870 is just about pretty much as good as one. As a consequence, the Vivo X60 performs just about the way in which you’d anticipate a flagship cellphone to. Everyday apps load easily, with no delay barring split-second splash screens that’s more and more a part of app UIs, than a illustration of efficiency gaffes that they as soon as represented. Every common service resembling e-mail, social media, music and video streaming, GPS navigation, cloud storage drives and paperwork load with none hint of a hiccup, regardless of the heavier than optimum customized interface, Vivo’s FunTouch OS.
Multi-tasking, resembling working a spreadsheet from Google Sheets alongside shifting by means of a music streaming app, works completely easily and with out a trace of a stutter. The smoothness of efficiency is much more obvious with the show refresh fee set to 120Hz, the place the smoothness of multitasking turns into obvious. This makes a huge distinction in on a regular basis utilization, which justifies the Vivo X60 being marketed as a premium system. Its benchmark scores are additionally practically at par with Snapdragon 888 telephones – close to sufficient for customers to not be bothered concerning the distinction between the 2.
On the gaming entrance too, the Vivo X60 does rather well. Most video games load with none display screen tearing or stutters, and each Call of Duty Mobile and Formula 1 might run on the X60 with out stuttering or dropping frames. However, because of the quick body fee, there have been body drops that I might be aware after one steady hour of play. Another space the place any efficiency stutters have been seen was video manufacturing – this consists of recording a full HD, 60fps video with Vivo’s 5-axis “super” optical stabilisation turned on, and subsequently enhancing the footage on a cell video enhancing app. The latter was additionally utilized with a number of results together with color grading and movement tweaks.
The Vivo X60 confirmed body drops when taking part in Pokemon Go, whereas rendering and exporting the above talked about video as a 1-minute, full HD, 60fps film file. However, even with these body drops, at no level was the X60 insufferable to make use of, or confirmed lags that have been too many to harass a person no finish. Recording movies with the stabiliser mode turned on, for clips greater than 60 seconds in size, additionally results in the cellphone changing into uncomfortably scorching, and also you would want to chill it off for transient, 30-second intervals to make all the pieces operating functionally. Interestingly, Vivo seems to be managing its gaming efficiency higher, for the reason that X60 doesn’t warmth up that quick even in lengthy gaming periods.
Display and interface: Very nicely balanced, however software program’s a blended bag
The AMOLED panel on the X60 doesn’t get the flamboyant, dual-edge curves, and albeit, you don’t notably miss it a lot. The one factor that you just do miss, although, is a easy edge – extra on this within the ergonomics part beneath. As for the display screen, there’s hardly a lot to complain about. The Vivo X60 makes use of a tried and examined AMOLED panel that’s programmed for barely warm-biased impartial colors upon boot. Users can tweak this by way of the software program at a later stage, if want be.
Peak brightness is nice sufficient for many viewing situations, however I personally discovered daylight legibility to be a contact on the dimmer finish. This received’t notably prohibit you from, say, studying an article if you’re ready below the solar, however you’ll at the very least have to squint a bit. Apart from this, the 120Hz AMOLED show is just about all the pieces you can anticipate – contact response is sufficient, and the automated brightness adjustment is nice sufficient to sense a gentle supply round you to proactively tweak the show.
The software program, I personally really feel, is a little bit of a blended bag. While there’s little doubt that Vivo has improved a lot over the previous few years, the Vivo X60’s FunTouch OS is a shade missing in finesse, in addition to in software program ergonomics. The total icon and menu designs nonetheless have room for enchancment to be thought of among the many finest, and Vivo’s reshuffled menus and notification codecs considerably really feel like customisation for customisation’s sake – nothing greater than a advertising and marketing mandate of kinds. Thankfully, the Vivo X60 doesn’t include bloatware, which is what saves it the blushes.
Camera: Very extremely recommendable for each pictures and movies
What is actually recommendable and spectacular is the general digital camera efficiency of the Vivo X60. Ironically, whereas I discovered the remainder of the software program expertise to be considerably of a letdown, the digital camera customisations are the precise reverse – useful and positively helpful. In phrases of pictures, the Vivo X60 produces very clear colors that shouldn’t have chromatic aberrations resembling misproduced shades – even with HDR mode turned on and whereas capturing vibrant topics. This color stability efficiency is additional mixed with Vivo’s AI Scene Optimisation mode and different nifty options as a devoted Slow Shutter mode (which is a entire lotta enjoyable to mess around with), and devoted Astro and Supermoon modes as nicely.
Left: Portrait mode, AI Scene Optimisation; Right: Slow shutter, OIS, AI Scene Optimisation. (Image: Shouvik Das/News18.com)
The Vivo X60’s AI optimiser is nice at sectional brightness adjustment in pictures. For occasion, it makes precise distinction if you shoot topics with a very shiny background, adjusting the shadows and dynamic vary of the foreground very nicely, whereas additionally sustaining lowered however optimum brightness within the background, in addition to textures and particulars. This can work rather well in, say, capturing a portrait silhouette within the solar. total particulars are acceptable for common, on a regular basis social media utilization, however there are tremendous optical artifacts at occasions – particularly in low gentle situations. This in all probability stems from Vivo’s tendency to cut back shutter speeds with a view to enhance the general brightness of frames, however might be counter-productive. This is just about the one level of precise inconsistency in a digital camera that’s, in any other case, very constant and dependable.
Vivo additionally seems to considerably over-soften sharp edges in a bid to cut back picture noise. Coarse grains are not often retained, and tremendous noise discount is barely extra aggressive than optimum, due to this fact lowering the obvious advantages of Zeiss branded lenses on the X60. However, transfer on to movies, and the X60 appears to carry out even higher – you stand up to 60fps in 4K, which is trade normal for premium and flagship telephones (barring the 120fps-wielding OnePlus 9/9 Pro). General stabilisation of movies on the X60 is fairly first rate – even with out the gimbal stabilisation mode that the X60 Pro and Pro+ include.
There isn’t any interpolation or notable rolling shutter artifacts, so fortunately, you’ll be able to file 60fps movies and break them down into 30fps gradual movement segments. Video photographs additionally retain first rate dynamic vary and good color accuracy, which is nice. Unfortunately, there seems to be a bug the place in case you use the two.35:1 Cinemascope mode, attempting to lock give attention to the topic freezes the digital camera app. This is definitely a bug that Vivo will doubtless repair in future, however for now, it may be surprisingly limiting for these critical about their movies. From the general high quality standpoint, although, the Vivo X60 is greater than sufficient, and fares very nicely in color, total particulars and dynamic vary.
Design and ergonomics: Super modern, good to carry however not very sturdy
With the X60, Vivo has tried to maintain its bezels as uniform because it might. The consequence are chin bezels that on first look look minimal and modern. Despite a 6.5-inch show, the X60 nonetheless feels straightforward to grip because of it being tremendous slim and light-weight by current premium smartphone requirements. The ‘midnight black’ variant of the X60 that we’ve with us is the slimmest of all X60 telephones, with 7.36mm thickness and 176g weight. In a means, the X60 reminds us that one can have all of the requisite options of a modern-day premium cellphone, and never make it extraordinarily cumbersome. For the design staff, that is a huge win.
It displays very positively on the ergonomics of the Vivo X60 as nicely. The smartphone is simple to grip and doesn’t really feel unwieldy if in case you have smaller palms or put on tight trousers (due to this fact having smaller and narrower pockets). However, Vivo disappointingly breaks the continuity of design with bevelled edges, the place the rear panel, the show and the aspect edges don’t easily fuse on the sides. For this comfort, you’d must pay a further Rs 12,000 and purchase the X60 Pro. Ironically, it’s this – and never the dearth of gimbal stabilisation or wider aperture lenses on the rear digital camera – that makes you surprise in case you actually ought to spend the additional bucks and improve to the Pro.
I’m additionally fairly keen on Vivo’s rear digital camera module design. It doesn’t look unnecessarily pretentious by labelling it with AI and different such scorching key phrases. On total phrases, the one factor that I want is that the aspect edges have been smoother and simpler to grip, which might have made the X60 pretty much as good as another premium telephones available in the market.
Battery life: Good sufficient for common utilization, not for energy customers
The 4,300mAh battery pack on the X60 shouldn’t be a monster per se, and I might simply put on it right down to battery-saver-mode ranges inside eight hours on the common work day. Even utilizing it mildly as a secondary cellphone, the place the X60 was largely stored for music streaming, social media, video games and a health tracker pairing, the X60 might wind down inside a day and a half, which isn’t nice per se. However, its 33W quick charging is a boon, and the bundled charger that it comes with affords greater than sufficient quick charging speeds. As a main system and with common utilization with none important gaming or video streaming, the Vivo X60 is nice sufficient for a complete work day’s utilization – however it definitely isn’t any battery large that gadgets such because the Samsung Galaxy F62 are.
Verdict: Definitely recommendable as a strong total smartphone
On total phrases, the Vivo X60 is a very, very likeable smartphone. It seems good, may be very straightforward to grip and function with one hand, affords wonderful total efficiency, and superb cameras in addition. Its quirks embody a unusually disrupted edge design that doesn’t sit nicely with the remainder of the cellphone’s ergonomics, tremendous optical constancy shortcomings with the digital camera, a tendency to warmth up in steady gaming and video recording, a software program expertise that clearly has room for enchancment, and sub-optimal battery life. Even with these factors at hand, the Vivo X60 is a strong total smartphone that you just received’t remorse shopping for. I’ve really helpful the X60 as a smartphone price shopping for, however right here’s the catch – regardless of providing all the pieces, the X60 continues to be up in opposition to a steep competitor.
You see, even with out the Hasselblad branded digital camera, the OnePlus 9R affords a smoother grip, higher software program and higher battery life. While the latter’s digital camera efficiency is probably not pretty much as good, all the pieces else that’s on provide with the X60 are additionally provided by the OnePlus 9R. Given that the probabilities of you utilizing your cellphone for cell filmmaking are slimmer than you utilizing it for all the pieces else, the OnePlus 9R could be a extra mature option to make. That, although, additionally signifies that in case you do need higher cameras, the Vivo X60 ought to definitely be on the high of your selections on the Rs 40,000 value level.
Read all of the Latest News and Breaking News right here
