The vivo X50 Pro 5G is the latest entry into vivo’s X-series of smartphones. The X-Series is known for its focus on photography but vivo has decided to place an emphasis on video stabilization. And for good reason, the X50 Pro is the world’s first phone with a gimbal stabilisation system. This new innovation puts the device in a unique position ahead of its competition still reliant on OIS and EIS alone.
In Malaysia, the vivo X50 Pro 5G retails for at RM3,199, priced slightly higher than the X50 5G but do the specs justify the price tag?
Design
With a 6.56 inch display, the phone is still pretty big. The size of the phone isn’t too off putting though, as the exterior’s matte finish and its thin profile more than make up for its bigger size. The phone also has a glass back and does not stain fingerprints easily, making it feel more premium. The Pro comes in light and dark blue colours. Although under certain lighting youll find the matte finish gives even the blue an even darker tone as you see in my picture above.
The fingerprint display is within the screen and fairly fast, responsive and accurate.
The X50 Pro also comes with a curved screen but personally, I find this feature more annoying than appealing. The feature is relatively unobtrusive during everyday usage but problems come when users try to skip forward in videos or click on buttons that are at the very edge of the screen.
The phone’s display which is a 6.56-inch Full 1080P HD resolution is sharp and gets suitably bright when outside. The 90Hz refresh rate does the job but there’s no hiding the fact that it is not flagship grade.
Other less than stellar features include the conspicuous absence of the 3.5 mm headphone jack now common in 2020 flagships. There is also no Micro SD slot which means so much for expandable storage.
Camera
Now for the phone’s biggest selling point – its camera.
The star attraction here is the 48MP Gimbal-like camera system which also contains Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS). The X50 Pro is the first phone to contain a gimbal camera which is technology most commonly used to stabilise cameras. The gimbal will work to reduce shaking during filming, increase the rotation angle and enhance low-light areas.
In practice, there isn’t much difference between the video stabilisation on an iPhone 11 and X50 Pro. Both phones captured stable video footage but the X50’s ultra stable mode definitely sets itself apart, managing video stabilisation even while I was running upstairs.
Testing #vivoX50Series X50 Pro Gimbal Stabilisation system and anti – shake software pic.twitter.com/Pw9ILWM4oY
— LiveAtPC.com (@liveatpcdotcom) August 10, 2020
Smart zoom is another nifty tool the camera offers and allows for automatic zoom ins with focus. I didn’t find it useful in my day-to-day but I would certainly check it out if that’s what you are into.
In terms of photography, the vivo X50 Pro has a 48MP main camera with an f/1.6 aperture, a 120-degree 8MP super wide and a 13MP ‘bokeh’ camera. The 8MP sensor with a periscope lens allows for up t0 5x telescopic and 60x digital. On the front, there’s a 32MP camera for selfies.
In practice, the photos taken on the camera were really good, albeit maybe more saturated than some might like. I personally do not mind it but I can see how iPhone users may not like it, instead opting for more natural pictures.
Night Mode on the phone was also pretty nice and brightens up the environment incredibly but the same problem of over saturation persists. The wait time of 4 seconds for processing of the shots can also be a bit annoying.
The X50 Pro also has 5x Optical zoom and allows for users to zoom in all the way up to 60x. The quality of shots taken will take a hit as zooming increases.
The ultra-wide lens, although workable, does not perform to flagship standards with the details in pictures coming out muddled and imprecise.
Selfies are also reasonable but slightly overdone as the AI beautification software has a tendency to wash out the face. You see this AI beautification in Portrait mode as well. Having to go out of my way to switch off the software can also be an annoying exercise as it is on the camera by default.
Performance
Performance wise, there isn’t really much to complain about. The device is quick and snappy with commands,the Snapdragon 765G processor showing itself more than capable of keeping up with my daily usage. That being said, the processor is still mid-tier, below that of Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 865. The 8GB RAM definitely made a difference and added to performance quality.
Experience
The phone runs the latest Funtouch OS 10.5 which is a huge improvement and pretty much clean stock Android. You still have bits of vivo bloatware here and there but nothing crazy. I found the OS more or less painless.
The X50 Pro also contains 5G modem capability, putting it ahead of other flagships such as the Apple iPhone 11. Whether you can harness that 5G power in Malaysia is another question though.
Wireless charging and water, dust resistance is missing so gotta deduct some points there, especially when this is a flagship device we are talking about.
The phone comes with a 4315mAh battery paired with 33W vivo Flashcharge support and it pretty much does its job. I browsed social media, went on high battery use apps such as Spotify and Netflix and the phone did manage to still last me the entire day through so no complaints there.
Final Thoughts
The vivo X50 Pro is a good, affordable lower-range flagship smartphone, albeit with some limitations. The camera stabilisation system, the design and the battery life make it a really remarkable phone to get your hands on, especially considering prices of other flagships in a similar range from Apple and Samsung will put you back rm5,000+.
If however, you would like a more rounded flagship device which would generally include an IP 68 rating and a flagship processor for great performance then, you would be out of luck.
The RM3,199 price tag is reasonable considering what you are getting and I would not be surprised to see many opting for this lower priced option for a flagship device.
- Reviewed by Radhika
