Overshadowed by the launch occasion for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely and its extra reasonably priced siblings, Vivo introduced the worldwide launch of the Vivo X90 and X90 Professional in early February. We would not blame you when you did not take discover of this handset — in spite of everything, it is yet one more Android cellphone that will not make its solution to the US, similar to the Xiaomi 13 Professional hasn’t.
There are some things that make the Vivo X90 Professional particular and price looking at, although. For starters, it is one of some telephones that includes Mediatek’s top-of-the-line Dimensity 9200 processor, and it even comes with its personal show and imaging co-processor, the Vivo V2. Much more fascinating is the sensor utilized in its main digicam, Sony’s sizzling one-inch IMX989, the most important accessible in smartphones but.
Mixed with Vivo’s and Zeiss’s imaging prowess, the Vivo X90 Professional is a pictures beast that has us craving for the IMX989 in additional merchandise; we are able to solely dream that the Google Pixel 8 and eight Professional will choose it up after they launch.
- SoC: MediaTek Dimensity 9200
- Show: 6.78″ 120Hz OLED, 1260×2800, Q9
- RAM: 12GB
- Storage: 256GB
- Battery: 4870mAh
- Ports: USB Kind-C
- Working System: Funtouch OS 13 (Android 13)
- Entrance digicam: 32MP
- Rear cameras: 50MP main (OIS, f/1.75), 50MP portrait (f/1.6), 12MP wide-angle (f/2.0)
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, 5G
- Dimensions: 164 x 74 x 9mm
- Colours: Vegan Leather-based Legendary Black
- Weight: 215g
- Charging: 120W wired, 50W wi-fi
- IP Ranking: IP68 mud and water resistance
- Unimaginable main digicam
- Stunning and distinctive design that matches properly in your fingers
- Costs from 0 to 100 in half-hour
- Buggy software program
- {Hardware} regressions in comparison with predecessor
- Much less versatile digicam setup than predecessor
Value and Availability
The largest caveat of the Vivo X90 Professional is that it isn’t accessible within the US until you are prepared to import it. The X90 Professional is formally solely accessible in Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Thailand, and Malaysia. In Europe, the Vivo X90 Professional can be accessible in various international locations, together with Germany, with availability anticipated by the tip of March 2023. In Malaysia, the Vivo X90 Professional is 5,000 Malaysian Ringgit, which is about $1,110 or €1,050 — proper up there with Samsung, Apple, and Google’s premium choices.
The mannequin we’re reviewing right here is the worldwide model, which is the one to think about if you wish to import it. In response to Kimovil, the X90 Professional is suitable with US service bands, though your service might have extra blocks in place for {hardware} not formally offered within the US.
Design and show
The Vivo X90 Professional’s design manages to face out from the gang. It is accessible in a black or purple vegan leather-based end on the again, which I wasn’t initially satisfied was a good suggestion. Nonetheless, the again is unquestionably one of many least fingerprint-y I’ve ever skilled, and it gives a greater grip than a glass end ever might. You will additionally immediately discover the massive spherical digicam array on the high, making the Vivo X90 Professional appear to be the legendary Nokia Lumia 1020. (Is it a digicam or a smartphone?)
The design offers an evenly curved back and front expertise, with a severely curved display that the remainder of the business is transferring away from. If you happen to’re in search of a cellphone with a big display that’s nonetheless simple sufficient to grip in a single hand, then the X90 Professional isn’t essentially a foul factor. The show is a 6.78-inch 120Hz OLED display able to as much as 2800×1260 pixels, with 1080p by default.
The curved display is not with out disadvantages. As an illustration, it catches gentle reflections much more simply than flat screens, and it loses a little bit of its colour accuracy on the perimeters if you take a look at it top-down. It additionally makes some interface parts more durable to succeed in in just a few apps and web sites with buttons to date to the aspect that they are on the curved a part of the show.
The Vivo X90 Professional’s {hardware} design may be stunning, however there are some parts that I simply do not perceive. For instance, a small glass or plastic divider slightly below the digicam bump separates the underside of the cellphone from the highest. It comes with a cheesy “Xtreme Creativeness — Vivo Zeiss Co-engineered” slogan in essentially the most horrible handwriting font conceivable. The slogan will get much more unbearable if you notice the Zeiss brand already has a distinguished spot to the digicam’s proper. The divider can be the only house on the again that collects fingerprints like loopy.
Total although, the textured leather-based again and the curved display obtain what they got down to do: make the cellphone slim and straightforward to carry on to. That is the least concern I’ve felt about dropping a cellphone with no case in a very long time.
{Hardware} and battery life
Mediatek’s flagship Dimensity 9200 processor is undeniably the centerpiece of the Vivo X90 Professional, and it is accompanied by the corporate’s customized V2 imaging chip. The chip is liable for taking some load off the Mediatek processor within the video and photograph processing division and in driving the show. There’s additionally 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
The Vivo X90 Professional’s greatest function might be its quick charging, and it gives a suitable charger proper within the field. At 120W, the X90 Professional may give you a full cost in lower than half-hour, which we are able to verify primarily based on our assessments. Due to its dual-battery structure consisting of two small batteries, the cellphone does not get unreasonably sizzling within the course of, both. If you happen to’re nonetheless involved about longevity, an non-obligatory toggle in Settings enables you to flip off quick charging. If you happen to get a suitable wi-fi charger, it’s also possible to go as much as 50W right here.
As soon as topped up, the battery is sweet for a day after which some in the case of blended on a regular basis utilization equivalent to music and video streaming, bits of navigation, and quite a lot of scrolling and browsing the online. The one factor missing is the comparatively poor standby battery life, which is shocking given how aggressively the cellphone kills duties within the background.
In comparison with its predecessor, the Vivo X80 Professional, there are just a few regressions. Vivo opted for an optical fingerprint sensor somewhat than Qualcomm’s spectacular third-generation 3D Sonic Max sensor that the corporate used on final yr’s mannequin. Aside from not blinding you with a vibrant gentle at evening (which optical sensors should do to establish fingers), the sensor additionally had just a few good tips up its sleeve, like the choice to launch user-selectable apps if you contact sure elements of it. It additionally supplied a one-tap enrollment, which the optical sensor sadly does not. That mentioned, the optical sensor within the Vivo X90 Professional is not unhealthy — it is dependable and quick, and that is crucial factor.
Aside from this, we’re additionally a pixel discount, with the Vivo X80 Professional providing a 3200 x 1440 show whereas the X90 Professional sticks with 2800 x 1260. Vivo claims this downgrade is a fault of market analysis. However truthfully, you will be hard-pressed to see a distinction on screens as small as these.
Software program and efficiency
The Vivo X90 Professional’s Funtouch OS 13 (primarily based on Android 13) aggressively kills background duties when not in use, resulting in unintended habits. It is annoying sufficient when this kills and reloads an article I used to be studying in Chrome or when Sync, my favourite Reddit app, throws me all the way in which again to the highest of a thread I used to be following mere minutes in the past. What’s worse is that this additionally applies to navigation apps. For instance, somewhat than preserving your present route in reminiscence, a number of navigation apps will restart to their residence screens whereas determining when to vary or the place my cease is.
These points will be mounted by setting apps to Do not prohibit background energy utilization within the battery system Settings, however it is a workaround you should not should take care of on a cellphone with 12GB of RAM and a 4,700mAh battery that may be totally charged in half-hour.
One other annoyance is Funtouch OS’s preliminary refusal to work with my password supervisor’s autofill capabilities. I attempted organising each Bitwarden and 1Password with Android’s native autofill possibility, however after a couple of minutes, the choice to make use of autofill would disappear. As soon as I re-enabled autofill in Settings, it could work once more, however it would not stick for quite a lot of minutes. This drawback additionally affected Bitwarden’s legacy accessibility autofill possibility, which was inexplicably turned off by the system after a couple of minutes. After I confronted Vivo with the difficulty, the corporate really useful setting Bitwarden to the Do not prohibit background energy utilization possibility. As soon as I did that, each Android autofill and the accessibility service began working.
Vivo, severely, you may’t count on the vast majority of your prospects to fiddle together with your OS lengthy sufficient to identify one thing like this. Most individuals will simply assume the app or cellphone is damaged.
A fast look at Do not kill my app reveals that Vivo is not the one and even the worst offender in the case of killing background companies. Nonetheless, I have not run into every other cellphone that outright breaks autofill until you flip on some seemingly unrelated possibility in Settings.
I additionally bumped into some efficiency points. Regardless of the exorbitant quantity of RAM and a top-of-the-line processor, the cellphone would typically inexplicably decelerate and barely react to enter. I made a display recording of 1 such occasion, the place tapping a hyperlink or hitting an icon can be adopted by seconds of ready earlier than the cellphone reacts. When the Vivo X90 Professional is not struggling via this drawback, it is decently quick and responsive. The Mediatek flagship processor and the display with the quick refresh charge make it fly, however be ready for these inexplicable slowdowns.
With these large issues out of the way in which, Funtouch OS is okay. It gives Materials You theming for residence display icons, the system interface, and apps, as all Android 13 telephones ought to. It additionally does not change a lot about Android only for the sake of being totally different. If you swap from Samsung or Google, you should not have problem navigating the interface. The UI can be clearly associated to Oppo’s Shade OS, on condition that Vivo is a part of the identical BBK Electronics empire. This makes switching between Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus, and iQOO telephones simple.
There are additionally some neat additions in Funtouch OS that I’d like to see in additional Android telephones. For instance, you may clone some apps and log into a number of accounts directly; there’s a helpful three-finger gesture to start out split-screen multitasking; and there are fairly just a few customization choices past Materials You.
Cameras
Let’s transfer on to essentially the most fascinating a part of this cellphone: The digicam. Vivo and German pictures skilled Zeiss collaborated intently to create the digicam system. You will discover these cameras on the again: Sony’s glorious 50MP IMX989 with a 1-inch large sensor, one other 50MP IMX758 portrait lens that provides a 2x optical zoom in comparison with the first one, and a 12MP wide-angle digicam. On the entrance, you will discover a 32MP selfie shooter in a centered punch gap. Nonetheless, in distinction to the X80 Professional, the cellphone does not provide a periscope digicam or any zoom digicam past 2x.
If you first begin with the digicam, you will run into just a few issues. By default, the software program will add a watermark to your photographs, ensuring everybody you share photographs with is aware of that you just took them with the Vivo X90 Professional. You may flip this off in Settings, however it ought to be off by default. If you get began with portrait mode or with selfies, you also needs to disable the wonder mode that the digicam suggests you utilize. In any other case, you will find yourself with unrealistic smoother-than-life faces that set a false magnificence customary. Personally, I’d additionally disable mirrored selfies in Settings, however that is a matter of style.
With that out of the way in which, the digicam makes for an amazing expertise. The most effective half is the Zero Shutter Lag, which does precisely what you assume it could. In distinction to many rivals — together with the Galaxy S23 Extremely — the Vivo X90 Professional is able to capturing photographs the second you faucet the shutter button, making you assured that you just will not miss that one second that you just wish to seize. This solely works with ample gentle, although. For darker scenes, the digicam must seize some further gentle after you hit the shutter button, which is to be anticipated.
The 1-inch main sensor makes it attainable to create way more professional-looking pictures. It has a pure depth-of-field impact that blurs the background, permitting for beautiful photographs. The portrait digicam is equally nice, although if you use it in portrait mode, it is assisted by software program bokeh somewhat than relying solely on {hardware}. Each of those cameras provide optical picture stabilization that is seen to the bare eye. If you rigorously transfer the cellphone up and down whereas utilizing the digicam, you will see the lenses attempting to even out the actions.
One factor is much more important: The Vivo X90 Professional is the primary cellphone digicam I really feel can confidently substitute my DSLR for product pictures. Due to its large sensor and the pure bokeh, it gives the impression I count on to see from product pictures for Android Police. In a fast mock photoshoot of the iPhone 13 and a few extra pictures I used for our Honor Magic Vs evaluate, you would be hard-pressed to note that these are any totally different from the standard we normally try to supply.
Evening mode is one other energy of the Vivo X90 Professional. Like what Google did when it upgraded seize velocity between the Google Pixel 6 and the Pixel 7, the Vivo X90 is blazing quick at capturing gentle in impossibly darkish scenes. You need to use the cellphone’s devoted evening mode to seize ever-so-slightly extra gentle or the usual pictures possibility, which gives some automated compensation for unhealthy lighting. On high of that, Vivo gives some further smarts, equivalent to an evening sports activities mode that prioritizes fast and blur-free capturing over extreme noise discount.
Handheld astrophotography is one other intriguing function enabled by the V2 chip, the unimaginable OIS, and the Sony IMX989 sensor. Relatively than having to prop up your cellphone towards an object or put it on a stand, you may merely activate astrophotography mode and shoot the evening sky, leading to a usable photograph. As a metropolis dweller, this was considerably onerous for me to check correctly, because of gentle air pollution, however the photographs I took had been promising and positively not attainable to recreate this rapidly on different telephones.
Town sky is extremely vibrant and, thus a foul instance of how good astrophotography will be
There are additionally a ton of additional modes that may hold you entertained for a very long time. In portrait mode, you may swap between varied Zeiss-provided bokeh results that emulate totally different bodily lens shapes. In common Picture mode, you may shuffle via auto HDR and the non-obligatory Zeiss Pure Shade possibility. The Pure Shade possibility ought to offer you extra pure, lifelike colours somewhat than Vivo’s default vivid and vibrant colour science.
Left: Vivo’s customary colour science; Proper: Zeiss’s colour science
On high of those choices, a wonderful built-in Professional mode enables you to manually tweak shutter velocity, ISO, focus, white steadiness, and EV, in addition to choose your most well-liked lens. You can too use a high-resolution mode, an extended publicity mode for varied shot alternatives, a tilt-shift lens imitation that offers you miniature-like pictures, double publicity to make use of each the back and front digicam in a single image, and extra.
Contemplating this nice expertise, it is a bummer that the X90 Professional does not provide a correct zoom lens past the 2x portrait lens. The corporate tells me that in market analysis, folks didn’t care about zoom as a lot, which I discover onerous to imagine. More often than not, I am in a state of affairs the place I might prefer to be nearer to a topic or object I am photographing, and a zoom lens just like the 5x on the Pixel 7 Professional or the 10x one on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely offers that versatility.
1st and third: Vivo X80 Professional at 5x zoom; 2nd and 4th: Vivo X90 Professional at 5x zoom
That is notably a bummer when you think about that the Vivo X90 Professional’s predecessor, the Vivo X80 Professional, supplied a way more succesful 5x zoom lens. When placing footage side-by-side, you are sure to see the shortage of particulars in shorts from the Vivo X90 Professional instantly. If Vivo included a succesful zoom lens with this cellphone, it could be my go-to digicam for nearly all the pieces. That is much more infuriating when contemplating that the China-exclusive Vivo X90 Professional Plus gives a 3.5x periscope zoom digicam.
For an in-depth take a look at the Vivo X90 Professional’s digicam capabilities, take a scroll via the gallery beneath (and sure, you may see the default watermark within the first picture that you shouldn’t overlook to show off within the digicam settings very first thing):
Competitors
If you happen to’re unwilling to import the Vivo X90 Professional (which we do not advocate), you are most likely questioning what comes closest within the US. Sadly, the Sony IMX989 that wows me a lot is unfortunately not accessible in any telephones within the nation proper now, so when you’re in search of that precise identical {hardware} configuration, you are out of luck.
There are nonetheless comparable flagship telephones that you just would possibly wish to take into account for nice photographs as an alternative. The primary that involves thoughts is the Google Pixel 7 Professional, with which I’ve already in contrast the Vivo X90 Professional. Due to Google’s glorious post-processing algorithm and a flexible lens setup consisting of a succesful main lens paired with an excellent ultra-wide and an amazing 5x telephoto zoom digicam, you must be capable of simply level and shoot in nearly any circumstance. That mentioned, the Pixel 7 Professional does not provide a Professional mode and, thus, does not have a lot management over photographs past a brightness and colour temperature slider.
If you happen to’re in search of a digicam system that’s equally versatile however comes with extra guide controls, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely may be an excellent different. It comes with a quad-camera setup consisting of a 200MP main, a 12MP ultra-wide, a 10MP 3x zoom lens, and a 10MP 10x zoom lens. This offers you an amazing digicam for many circumstances, and due to Samsung’s new Digicam Assistant, you may tweak your photographs as you want them proper as you shoot.
The Xiaomi 13 Professional comes closest to the Vivo X90 Professional when it comes to digicam (it has the IMX989 sensor), however it’s one other certainly one of these nice Android telephones you may’t get within the US.
Do you have to purchase it?
You can purchase the Vivo X90 Professional when you worth an amazing digicam over all the pieces else (and when you do not stay within the US, to keep away from importing it). The Sony IMX989, Vivo, and Zeiss’s post-processing do wonders, creating photographs with pure bokeh that nearly look like taken with DSLR cameras. In fact, there are nonetheless bodily constraints which can be onerous to beat, however the photographs get as shut as they’ll on any smartphone proper now.
Sadly, the Vivo X90 Professional makes lots of the identical errors as its predecessors and different Oppo sub-brand merchandise. The aggressive software program kills background duties means too quick until you grant exemptions on a per-app foundation, making me query why 12GB of RAM is even essential on this cellphone. This does not even translate into an exceptional battery life, which I discovered considerably nice. That mentioned, the 120W charging velocity is one thing you get used to means too rapidly, permitting me to completely cost it throughout breakfast each morning.
If you would like a nice-looking flagship with an unimaginable digicam and charging at ludicrous speeds — and also you’re okay with all of the software program points I described — the Vivo X90 Professional is an effective alternative.
