Vivo V20 Pro 5G quick review: Great looks, optics and more at solid price

Vivo is seen pushing the limits on the mid-range smartphone range and the latest V20 Pro is a testament to its commitment to remain competitive. Vivo V20 Pro is a toned-down version of the X50 series, bringing the goodness of the flagship variants in a budget-friendly package. Launched at Rs 29,990, the V20 Pro makes a compelling statement we are exploring in this quick review.

Vivo V20 Pro is available in India through online and offline channels with some attractive offers. But we're here to talk about the phone, and whether it makes sense to buy it. Before we get to that, here's a quick rundown of specs:

Display: 6.44-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 128GB

Main camera: 64MP GW1 + 8MP f/2.2 + 2MP monochrome

Selfie: 44MP f/2.0 + 8MP 105-degree wide

Battery: 4,000mAh with 33W FlashCharge

OS: Android 10-based FunTouch 11

Add-ons: 5G, 4G LTE, In-display fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C port and more

Vivo V20 Pro 5G: Quick review

For the brief time we've been spending with the Vivo V20 Pro, it has impressed us on many fronts. The first thing anyone would notice is the design. Vivo boasts the V20 Pro is the slimmest 5G phone and rightly so. It's impressive how Vivo has managed to deliver excellence with its V20 Pro at such competitive price range.

With incredible sleekness, Vivo V20 Pro manages to offer a comfortable in-hand feel. It's easy to hold and makes single-hand use a breeze despite its fairly large display. The frosted glass back looks stunning. The curved aluminium frame makes it easy to hold and it is surprisingly non-slippery.

The rear camera module, which takes after its premium siblings, is different and doesn't follow the herd. But one might feel the triple sensor setup is a downgrade as opposed to the standard offering of four cameras in this price range. But Vivo doesn't let you miss out on anything. There are dual sensors on the front, which are great for selfies and there are certain modes that are suited for vlogs. We took a few shots to get a fair idea of how it performs, since the setup is similar to that of Vivo V20, and it looks nearly identical.

Overall, the pictures come out great, has an excellent dynamic range in well-lit scenes with near-natural colours without unnecessary exposure and saturation. The portraits are great, with accurate edge detection and the wide-angle shots deliver dramatic results, good enough to impress. We'll let the pictures do the talking for now, before we dive deeper into the cameras.

Naturally, AMOLED panel made the viewing of the photos lively on the V20 Pro. But it's much more suited for binge-watching your favourite shows on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. The display is bright and has rich colours, enough to make you appreciate the beauty of those natural hues.

While we are still testing the performance of the V20 Pro, we do have some inputs on the software. Few good things are the customisations in the always-on display, themes, and animations for not just fingerprint unlock, but also for charging, USB, face unlock and the very cool ambient light effect.

But none of it is going to take the attention away from the plenty of pre-loaded apps - right from DailyHunt to PhonePe and more. Some might use it, but not all of them would. If needed, we can always download them. Quite frankly, we are hoping V20 Pro receives OriginOS when it arrives in India. We noticed some lags at the time of unlocking the phone with the loop wallpapers, but it wasn't a frequent occurrence. But turning it off makes the unlocking smoother. We will be putting the phone through a stress test to see how it holds up.

Finally, the Vivo V20 Pro offers a 4,000mAh battery with 33W FlashCharge, which is going to be a great add-on. Fast charging should become a standard anything above 30W is a welcoming change. Given the battery size, we expect the phone to last a whole day with mixed usage.

Conclusion

Vivo V20 Pro is easily one of the best-looking phones in its price range. The display is great, the cameras hold up pretty well and the rest of the features are working well in sync to impress users. It competes against the mighty OnePlus Nord, which is going to be a close call for buyers and we are going to have an answer to which phone excels in the full review. Stay tuned for updates.