In the flagship smartphone market, dominated by 2-3 big players, several handset makers are looking to carve out a space for themselves.
While some companies are launching flagship level devices without the frills at a slightly reasonable price than the competition, other manufacturers are taking a different approach.
Such companies are launching phones that are on the same playing field as the most valued flagship smartphone companies, but are offering more in terms of features and innovation.
The Vivo X100 smartphone was launched in India on January 4. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
Vivo is one of the companies taking the second approach. The company launched its Vivo X100 series in India on January 4, with sale starting on January 11.
The Vivo X100 comes with an improved AMOLED screen, packs a triple rear camera setup with an intriguing portrait mode and is powered by the latest Mediatek Dimensity 9300 chipset. We have been testing the Stargaze Blue variant of the phone for over 10 days now.
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Design
The Vivo X100 features a curved screen and glass back with a smooth finish. The back of the screen is protected by Fluorite AG Glass Back Panel. The sides of the device are protected by aerospace-grade stainless steel that is sturdy and screams premium.
The phone features a huge camera module on the back encircled with a metal ring. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The phone distinguishes itself from other devices in true Vivo X series fashion with a huge camera module on the back encircled with a metal ring.
Ever since we held the device for the first time, we were mighty impressed with not only the classy aesthetics that personifies elegance and resonates a premium feel, but also with the in-hand feel of the device that is sturdy.
However, the phone is a bit slippery, so we recommend you to either use the free case that ships with the device or buy one.
The volume rocker and the home button are located on the right hand side of the phone. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
At 206 grams, the phone is not lightweight, at least on paper. However, the curved screen in combination with the slightly rounded back and the texture of the same, amount to a pretty solid and comfortable experience while holding the device. The phone measures around 8.49mm in thickness.
The phone measures around 8.49mm in thickness. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The top of the screen is home to the selfie sensor. Both the volume rocker and the home button are located on the right hand side of the phone and the left hand side of the phone is clean without any buttons.
The SIM tray, downward facing speaker and the charging port are all located on the button end of the phone. The phone features IP68 certification for improved water and dust resistance.
Display and speakers
The Vivo X100 features a curved FHD+ 6.78 inch(1260 x 2800 pixels) AMOLED screen with support for 3000 nits peak brightness and 120Hz screen refresh rate. The device packs a LTPO panel and this allows it to automatically switch between different refresh rates based on what you are doing.
The handset allows you to choose between standard (default), professional and bright screen colour modes. While the Pro mode showcases relatively natural colours, the Bright mode displays saturated and vivid visuals(we decided to use this mode).
The Standard colour profile lies somewhere in the middle; showcasing vivid colours though a tad bit less than the Bright mode in some scenarios.
The Vivo X100 features a curved FHD+ 6.78 inch(1260 x 2800 pixels) AMOLED screen with support for 3000 nits peak brightness. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The screen is bright, offers adequate saturation and pleasing levels of contrast. Watching videos on streaming platforms such as Netflix and locally stored videos was a pleasant experience, thanks to the gorgeous screen which possesses the ability to display inky blacks and rich colours.
The phone also supports HDR 10+ on supported platforms. Scrolling through social media feeds was incredibly smooth thanks to the fast refresh rate support. The device packs stereo speakers that offer ample loudness but are average in terms of audio tuning.
Cameras
The Vivo X100 packs a triple rear camera setup headlined by a 50MP primary sensor with f/1.57 aperture and OIS. Other cameras on the back include a 64MP 3X periscope telephoto shooter with f/2.57 aperture and a 50MP ultrawide shooter with f/2.0 aperture.
The Vivo X100 packs a triple rear camera setup. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The device also packs a 32MP front facing camera for your selfie and video calling needs. The phone features Vivo’s custom V2 image chip ensuring improved camera processing.
Photos
Images shot with the primary camera are incredibly detailed and sharp when there is ample light available in the scene. The sensor captures flagship-grade images even when lighting is not ideal, offering clean and bright images with good image processing.
The sensor captures flagship-grade images even when lighting is not ideal. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The phone automatically switches to Night Mode in low light conditions in addition to the ability to manually turn it on.
The phone automatically switches to Night Mode in low light conditions in addition to the ability to manually turn it on. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The Telephoto sensor is pretty adept at capturing clear images in good lighting. Pictures shot at 3X and 5X were surprisingly detailed. Even at 10X, you get good quality images with competent details.
Even at 10X, the device can capture clean images with competent details. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The phone allows you to zoom in up to 100x but we wouldn’t recommend you to zoom in more than 50X/60X. The ultrawide sensor, while only offering a slightly wider field of view than the primary shooter, is pretty competent in various lighting conditions.
However, images shot in ideal lighting are better than the ones captured in extreme low lighting scenes, which can turn out to be a tad bit too soft.
The ultrawide sensor is pretty competent in various lighting conditions. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The Vivo X100 offers one of the best cameras we have tested across price ranges. The colour science is extremely well tuned offering similar looking images across different sensors.
The Vivo X100 comes with a feature rich Portrait mode. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The device also packs a feature rich Portrait mode offering high-quality portraits with different styles and focal lengths. It supports portrait focal lengths of 24mm(1x), 35mm (1.5x),50mm (2.2x), 85mm (3.7x) and 100mm (4.3x) thanks to some software magic. Users can also manually adjust the amount of background blur they wish to instill in images.
You get access to unique ZEISS Style Bokeh styles such as Distagon, B-Speed, Biotar, Planar, and Sonnar which have different background bokeh/blur effects.
The phone packs unique ZEISS Style Bokeh styles which offer different background bokeh/blur effects. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
Additionally, the phone also comes with various presets that make use of the supported focal length along with varying portrait bokeh styles and colour processing, to click images in different conditions. Users can access this option under the Portrait lens package and read about the various styles, to click suitable images.
The portrait mode in itself is so comprehensive which will surely appeal to the photographer in you. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The portrait mode in itself is so comprehensive which will surely appeal to the photographer in you. We were impressed with the range and quality of the Portrait shots across lighting conditions,
The device also features a high-quality Macro mode that captures some of the best Macro shots you can get on a phone today. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The device also features a high-quality Macro mode that captures some of the best Macro shots you can get on a phone today.
If we had to nit-pick over the quality of the rear facing cameras, the phone can at times have lens flaring issues, when there are bright light sources in scenes which are dimly lit.
The phone can at times have a lens flaring issue | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
As for selfies, the device does a fine job capturing them albeit with a little extra skin smoothening.
Videos
As for video, the device can shoot videos up to 4K@60 FPS via all the rear cameras and the quality is impressive. You also get a night mode video feature which actually produces pretty usable clips when lighting is pretty scarce.
The Vivo X100 also packs a Cinematic portrait video feature that shoots clips akin to a Mirrorless camera or a DSLR, and is pretty comparable to a recent iPhone’s Cinematic Video feature.
There is an Ultra Stabilization feature that can be used to shoot videos when you are unable to keep the phone steady. The feature works well but the max quality is capped at 1080p @60FPS.
As for the selfie video performance, users can shoot videos up to 1080p at 60 FPS. While selfie videos shot outdoors in good lighting conditions offer competent details, low lighting performance is average.
Performance
While there are a number of flagship devices with high-end chipsets that are available in the market today, few of them offer a bug free experience on a day-to-day basis. While such high-end devices may be snappy at first glance and may offer competent gaming performance, they lack the consistency in terms of offering a lag free experience every time.
The Vivo X100, while not perfect, is pretty well tuned and we did not not face any such bag or unnecessary lag due to incohesive tuning between the chipset and the software.
The Vivo X100 is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 9300 chipset and packs up to 16GB RAM. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The Vivo X100 is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 9300 chipset and packs up to 16GB RAM and 512GB. The phone also features the custom V2 chipset which improves imaging performance.
The device is a beast in terms of raw power like most of its contemporaries and can handle anything you throw at it without breaking a sweat. Running games such as Genshin impact and COD: Mobile at high settings was just a day in the park for the phone. However, this feat is nothing that other flagship handsets can’t achieve.
What we really liked about the Vivo X100 is the consistency of performance. In our two week long testing, the phone performed admirably well and we can’t recall any incident when the screen froze, an app crashed unexpectedly, or the device restarted without warning.
This was the first time that we felt that a Mediatek chipset not only matches up to the Snapdragon range of SoCs, but also beats it in some scenarios in addition to outdoing its rival in terms of raw benchmarks.
Even if you are not a gamer, the device is extremely adept at handling your day-to-day tasks with utmost competency free of any unwanted bugs. From browsing the web to scrolling through instagram feeds to using photo editing apps, the phone had us impressed.
While there have been some reports of the device getting a tad bit too warm, we did not face any such issue. However, it is important to note that in the chilly weather conditions of December and January, the phone has not had any major tough conditions to work under. We will need to see how the phone performs in the blistering heat of the summer to judge this aspect better.
Software
The Vivo X100 runs on Android 14 with Funtouch OS 14 on top. While the software is not the cleanest, you get a ton of features. Navigating between different screens on the home screen and scrolling through the app drawer was extremely smooth with no unnecessary delays or bugs.
While cleaner than before, you still get some preinstalled apps such as V-Appstore and vivoCloud. However, we did not find these to be much of an interference.
While Vivo is not known for offering the best software experience, we were impressed with the sheer number of features offered by the OS.
For instance, you get a feature to clone apps and use two accounts of the same app, on one device. Unlike third party apps that offer the same ability but are annoyingly buggy, this feature is baked into the X100 and works incredibly well.
The device also comes with other handy features such as app encryption for setting up a password to access apps, and an App hiding’ feature that conceals the selected apps from view. These features work flawlessly and we can definitely see the merit in such privacy based tools.
Battery
The Vivo X100 packs a 5000mAh battery and features 120W fast charging. The phone takes close to 25 mins to charge from 0-100 percent.
The phone should last you an entire working day provided you don’t conduct hours long photography expeditions. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
The phone should last you an entire working day provided you don’t conduct hours long photography expeditions and don’t use the device for extended gaming sessions.
Verdict
The Vivo X100 packs an attractive design, gorgeous display, competent software features and acceptable battery life. However, the cameras are the real star of the show blowing much of its competition in water and also proving to be one of the best camera smartphones we have tested across price segments.
The cameras on the Vivo X100 are the real star of the show. | Photo Credit: Varun Krishan
If you are in the market looking for a high-end flagship smartphone with one of the best camera setups and do not wish to spend more for the Pro variant, the Vivo X100 could be the smartphone for you.
