Vivo V20 Pro Review: A Sleek Smartphone With Dual Selfie Camera as Its Forte

Vivo is one solid player in the mid-range segment. Its V20 series has a few models catering to this segment. The latest model to have joined the V20 series is the Vivo V20 Pro, which is basically a souped-up version of the Vivo V20, with a more powerful SoC and an additional selfie camera.

The selfie camera prowess, in particular, is quite commendable as it won the best selfie smartphone of the year 2020 award from Gadget Diary. It also comes with an attractive design. Vivo claims the Vivo V20 Pro is the slimmest 5G smartphone in its segment. That aside, the Vivo V20 Pro has a good battery life and a bright and vivid display.  

It is priced at INR29,990, and with this price tag, the Vivo V20 Pro becomes the direct competitor to the OnePlus Nord. But does the phone do justice to its price tag? And also offers itself as a preferable alternative to the OnePlus Nord? In this review, we have tried to find out these answers. Read on.

Design, display, and build quality 

Design-wise, the Vivo V20 Pro looks similar to the Vivo V20, however, with more enhancements. Arguably, it is one of the best-looking smartphones in the sub-INR30K price bracket.

It has a sleek design with lightweight built, plus the color scheme (Midnight Jazz and Sunset Melody) looks quite intriguing. As per Vivo, the V20 Pro is the sleekest 5G smartphone currently available in the market. It measures 158.82mm x 74.20mm x 7.39mm in dimension and weighs mere 170 grams.

Because of its thinness and lightweight design, it is convenient to carry around and easy to handle even with one hand despite a big screen. The phone feels sturdy, protected by Gorilla Glass 5, and is not so much of a fingerprint magnet as well.

At the back, the frosted matte finish and dual-step, as well as a dual-tone camera module, exudes quite a class. The front is, however, not as appealing as the back. The dual selfie camera setup comes with a thick notch. If there had been a punch-hole design, the front of the phone would have looked more attractive. One more peculiarity is the slightly raised screen, instead of being flush-fitted in most of the modern phones these days. 

The Vivo V20 Pro is built around a 6.44-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution and Schott’s Xensation Up cover glass. It works well, and even without a fast refresh rate, runs smoothly. The display appears bright and rich in colors. At the same time, it has HDR10 support. It also has a fingerprint scanner underneath the display, which works really fast.

Performance and software  

The Vivo V20 Pro is powered by a fairly powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G system alongside 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The phone comes in one configuration only. It is 5G capable, but its unavailability in India makes this feature redundant.

Details aside, the performance is quite impressive irrespective of what is thrown at it. It loads emails, messages, social apps, notes, and music apps and runs videos without any fuss. Multitasking doesn’t seem to be a problem at all.

About gaming, it is not a very potent device; nonetheless, it delivers a good user experience. For example, Call of Duty at high settings results in some frame drops, but it works fine at medium graphic settings.

The Vivo V20 Pro runs Funtouch OS based on Android 11. Whether it is about changing the animations for charging, face recognition, etc., or blocking calls and messages, there is a range of shortcuts and customization options. However, the skin looks congested and is bloatware-heavy, but, thankfully, those can be uninstalled.

Camera performance

The camera is the all-important feature of the Vivo V20 Pro. The triple rear camera module is headed by a 64MP primary sensor paired with an 8MP wide-angle sensor and a 2MP monochrome sensor. The front that the company lays much emphasis on has a dual selfie camera setup, wielding a 44MP primary sensor and an 8MP ultra-wide selfie sensor.

The phone is equipped with Portrait Mode, Night Mode, Time-Lapse, Slo-Mo, and other features. The camera app is straightforward, and shuffling through the sensors is quick and easy. The 8MP ultra-wide sensor doubles as a macro lens.

The image processing appears better in the V20 Pro compared to the Vivo V20. The photos taken in daylight are rich in colors and details. At the same time, they are good in contrast as well as well-balanced in exposure. However, the lack of a depth sensor is felt in indoor portrait shots. The low-light performance is not exceptional, but decent.

The Vivo V20 Pro is a winner when it comes to selfie cameras. The addition of an extra 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera is meant for fitting more people and background into the selfie images. The images look realistic with natural skin tone, less over-sharpened facial feature, and an immaculate subject and background separation in portrait selfies. The focus is always right due to the Vivo’s Eye Autofocusing technology. The Night Mode also works remarkably well. Overall, the Vivo V20 offers a compelling camera experience, especially in terms of selfies.

Battery and audio performance

Vivo has stuck to the 4,000mAh battery, which is the same as the one found in the Vivo V20 for the obvious reason that the Vivo V20 Pro is one of the slimmest phones. However, due to software optimization, the battery sails you through a full workday with ease.

The phone is bundled with a 33W fast charger, which ensures a 30 percent charge in 15 minutes and a full 100 percent charge in a shade below one hour. Taking these things into account, we can say the battery life is not bad, but nothing exceptional, either.

About the audio, the sleek design also prevents fitting stereo speakers inside the Vivo V20 Pro. However, it comes with a mono speaker, which is loud and offers decent output for watching videos. No latency issue if you are using headphones.

Pros:

• Sleek design
• FHD+ AMOLED display
• Capable chipset
• 8GB RAM
• Segment-best selfie camera
• Decent battery mileage

Cons:

• Only 60Hz refresh rate
• No 3.5mm headphone jack

Verdict

The Vivo V20 Pro isn’t perfect, but it is a good all-round smartphone with so many things going for it. The phone comes with an FHD+ AMOLED screen, a great dual selfie camera, a smart processor with 5G capability, and a decent battery.

Nevertheless, it lacks a high refresh rate screen and light and fluid user Interface compared to its competitor OnePlus Nord. On the other hand, the Vivo V20 Pro has an edge in terms of design and cameras.

If you prefer a good looking smartphone with great cameras and have a budget set under INR30K, then the Vivo V20 Pro is a good option for you.