Vivo V20 Pro 5G Review

The price range between INR 20k and INR 30K has always been Vivo’s stronghold, but this year the competition is quite stiff. A few months after the company brought in V20, and it is now back with Vivo V20 Pro that employs a better 5G chipset and will compete against the likes of OnePlus Nord, Pixel 4a, and Samsung Galaxy M51.

Vivo V20 Pro unboxing

• Vivo V20 Pro

• 33W FlashCharge adaptor

• USB cable (Type-A to C)

• Protective case

• Pre-installed screen protector

• Basic earphones

• 3.5mm audio jack to Type-C connector

Design and Build Quality

Vivo V20 Pro has a similar design to the Vivo V20, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s a delightfully slim phone that’s very comfortable to handle.

The back is flat Gorilla Glass 5 and a curved polycarbonate side frame runs along the edges. The camera array at the back follows Vivo’s layered design that makes the hump feel a little less incongruous.

On the front, the phone brings back a broad notch, which we don’t particularly mind but it may feel regressive to some. The screen has reasonably narrow bezels and is shielded by Schott Xtension Glass. The fingerprint sensor under the screen is extremely fast and responsive.

The power button and volume rocker on the left edge are easily accessible. The slim profile comes at a price – Vivo couldn’t make room for an SD card slot or the 3.5mm audio jack.

Once again the Sunset Melody color feels a little too vibrant for our personal taste, but there is the more subdued Midnight Jazz option as well.

Display Quality

The Vivo V20 Pro employs a 6.44-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display that elicits mixed feelings. The display supports wide color gamut and is HDR compliant. Outdoor visibility is also quite decent.

There are three color profiles to choose between, but the default one works best for us. It’s hard to say what standard the other two profiles target. In the normal profile, whites feel unnaturally warm. The bright profile is similar to the standard mode. Overall, this is a pleasant screen that will work well for most people.

Since this is an OLED panel, blacks are inky and the dark theme feels more appealing. Vivo also adds several appealing Always-on mode customizations in the Funtouch OS 11. The handset supports HD streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime out of the box.

Performance and Software

Below Rs 30,000 price tag, there three phones which have 5G support including Vivo V20 Pro 5G, OnePlus Nord and Motorola G 5G. From those three phones, Motorola G 5G is the cheapest 5G phone you can get in India but this phone also has some cons as it’s cheapest out of all.

Talking about Vivo V20 Pro 5G, the phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC and it’s running on Funtouch OS 11-based on Android 10. Funtouch OS use to be complicated in the past but with the new update, the OS feels more like stock UI but still, it’s not good has Oxygen OS or Google’s Stock UI.

Like the design, UI depends on a user by user, so if you don’t like Funtouch OS then it’s better to go with OnePlus Nord but if you’re okay with Funtouch OS and if you can pay three thousand more for the good camera then Vivo V20 Pro 5G could be a good option.

Snapdragon 765G is a powerful processor, so there won’t be any problem while playing games or using the phone for social media. Also, keep in mind, the phone has only 60Hz screen refresh rate, the phone won’t be smooth as OnePlus Nord which has 90hz screen refresh rate.

Bottom line is, Vivo V20 Pro 5G has powerful SoC which can run all the game from Play Store without any problem. Don’t worry about performance but in the end, it all depend on whether you like Funtouch OS or not?

Cameras

Vivo V20 Pro banks upon Samsung GW1 64MP as primary camera sensor with f/1.89 aperture lens. The primary camera is assisted by 8MP wide-angle camera that also serves as a macro sensor, and as a depth sensor for portraits. The third sensor is a 2MP mono camera.

So basically not much has changed since the V20 in terms of camera hardware, but we noticed an improvement in camera performance which could perhaps be attributed to the use or better Snapdragon 765G chipset.

The primary highlight is still the 44MP eye-AF selfie camera and this time it’s paired with another wide-angle shooter. Vivo intends to market this to content creators and the front camera is loaded with fun features. The selfie quality is quite good, actually. And if you will be making short videos, the Eye AF(which tracks your eyes) should come in very handy.

The Vivo V20 Pro lets users shoot 4K videos from front camera, shoot from both front and rear cameras simultaneously, and also shoot Slo-mo videos.

Now, let’s talk about the rear camera. The still photography performance is quite impressive for a mid-ranger. The camera takes impressive images outdoors in proper lighting.

Lowlight camera performance is again really good for a mid-range phone. Details are retained well and the camera can handle tricky lighting rather well. Night mode is quite effective while capturing dark scenes and even with indoor photography. As with other mid-range and flagship Vivo phones this year, this one too has night filters that can be used to change the color of the sky while using Night mode.

The Ultrawide camera shoots 108-degree wide images after distortion correction. Quality is strictly mediocre. The good thing is that this sensor has AF that can be used to focus on close objects. The same sensor can also be used to shoot macro shots, but it can still get very close to subjects

4K Videos we shot on the Vivo V20 turned out great. Dynamic range is wide, contrast is high, and there are plenty of details. The Ultra steady mode can be used to effectively. stabilize 1080p footage

Battery Life

The phone has small 4,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support and yes, the 33W charger is included in the box. The battery will last for day but you have to charge the phone at around 6PM everyday.

Battery life also depend on daily use, so if someone play games for six hours then battery will come around 0% very quickly.

Audio and Call Quality

Vivo V20 Pro 5G has an only single bottom-firing speaker which is not that great, so if you don’t use earphone much and rely on smartphone speakers then you have to start using TWS earbuds as this phone doesn’t have 3.5mm audio jack. The phone has two noise-cancellation microphones, one on the top and second in on the bottom.

There won’t be any kind problem in calling, ever at a crowned place, another person on the call will able to hear you clearly. In short, speakers are not the best but there nothing to worry about call quality.

Vivo V20 Pro 5G: Conclusion

Vivo V20 Pro 5G has powerful Snapdragon 765G SoC and great camera setup but the phone is priced at Rs 29,999 which is a bit for what Vivo is offering. Now if you want powerful performance and great camera setup then Vivo V20 Pro 5G is the best option but if you want better user experience and okay with good camera setup then it’s better to get OnePlus Nord at Rs 26,999.

Vivo V20 Pro 5G Pros and Cons

Pros

• Powerful Snapdragon 765G SoC

• Solid Build

• 5G Support

• Great camera setup

• 33W fast charging

Cons

• No 3.5mm Audio Jack

• Huge Display Notch

• 60Hz screen refresh rate

• No NFC

• Bit Overpriced

• Average Sound Quality