The Vivo X200 Pro is one of the phones I’ve been looking forward to. This is Vivo’s brand new flagship smartphone, which puts a great focus on the cameras. In other words, it’s a camera-centric smartphone. The Vivo X100 Ultra is still considered to be one of the best camera smartphones around, and the Vivo X100 Pro is also in that category. We’re here to review the Vivo X200 Pro and see if not only its cameras are up to par, but whether the device itself is as good as expected.
This handset does differ in a number of ways from its predecessor. It also comes with a slightly smaller, but newer main camera sensor than both the Vivo X100 Pro and Vivo X100 Ultra. That makes things even more interesting. We’ll kick things off with the design section, and take things from there. There’s plenty to talk about here, so let’s not waste any more time, let’s get to it!
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Hardware / Design
The Vivo X200 Pro is made out of metal and glass. Vivo opted for aluminum for the device’s frame. The device is also IP68 and IP69K certified for water and dust resistance. This is not a rugged device by any means, so please keep that in mind. The phone’s frame is rounded towards the edges, for comfort’s sake, and both its front and back glass curves a bit towards the edges too, which helps with the in-hand comfort. Vivo, and many other OEMs, have a name for this rounded glass, it’s ‘quad micro-curved’. The display is not curved, only the glass on top of it, and only towards the very edges. It’s actually a great balance between completely flat and curved displays. Your finger never gets caught on a side frame or anything like that.
The bezels around the display are thin and uniform
You’ll also notice that there is a centered display camera hole here, up top. The bezels around the display are very thin, and uniform too. The screen-to-body ratio is over 90% on this phone, which says a lot. The power/lock button sits on the right-hand side, and so do the volume up and down buttons. The volume rocker is placed above the power/lock button, by the way. There are no other, additional buttons included on the device. A SIM card tray sits on the bottom, along with the Type-C charging port.
If we flip the phone over, you’ll see a large camera oreo on the back. It has three cameras on the inside, and an LED flash too. That camera oreo does protrude on the back quite a bit, and it has an interesting pattern around it. Many people have complaints about such protruding camera modules, but I actually like this one, quite a bit. Why? Well, not only does it look great, but it serves as a great point to anchor your finger while holding the phone.
It’s a large phone, but it feels good to hold and use
The Vivo X200 Pro does feel like a premium product in the hand, very much so. At slightly over 220 grams it does have heft to it, but it’s not too heavy by any means. Its design and thin bezels make you think like it’s smaller than it is, which is deceiving. It’s a rather large phone, but very well designed, which helps a lot. You still have that gorgeous 6.78-inch display on the front, but the footprint does not feel as large as you may think.
The device is slippery, which is to be expected with this build, but not as slippery like some of its competitors. Rounded glass and matte sides do help out with that. Overall, the design is great, in my humble opinion, and the buttons are quite clicky too. You will not find an IR blaster on this device, in case you were wondering.
Vivo does include a case in the retail box
Is the case included in the retail box? Yes, it is, and it’s always nice to see. Vivo includes a regular silicone/gel case in the box. That’s plenty for many people, and for others, it’s plenty of protection before they get something else they like. Some companies include borderline useless hard plastic cases, which is not the case here. This silicone case does offer plenty of grip for what it is, so that won’t be a problem either. I forgot to mention that the case is see-through, so there’s that. There is some protection for the camera on the back, and the corners are also well protected.
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Display
The Vivo X200 Pro features a large 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 2800 x 1260. That panel is flat, but it has a ‘quad micro-curved’ display on top of it. In other words, the glass on top of the display is curved at the very edges, on all sides. The display aspect ratio here is 20:9, while the screen-to-body ratio is slightly above 90%. Speaking of which, the bezels around the display are very thin, and they’re also uniform on top of that. The display here is very immersive, and it does offer an adaptive refresh rate too. The refresh rate can go from 1 to 120Hz here, as needed. This panel can also project up to 1 billion colors and supports both HDR10+ content and Dolby Vision.
Its display has all the bells and whistles
Yes, the panel is also immensely bright on top of all that. It can theoretically get up to 4,500 nits of brightness at its peak. The Armor Glass is here to protect the display, and a screen protector also comes pre-installed on the display. This panel is also certified as a ZEISS Master Color Display and offers high-frequency PWM dimming of 2,160Hz. Smart Eye Protection Mode 3.0, Anti-Fatigue Brightness Adjustment 2.0, and Night Eye Protection Mode 2.0 are all a part of the package. Vivo did its best to make this display provide accurate colors, while also protecting your eyes at the same time.
It’s a quad micro-curved display
I have to say that I really enjoyed, and am still enjoying this display. It’s a top-tier display in every way, shape, and form. Not only is it vivid, and has excellent touch response, but the viewing angles are also great. The display is more than sharp enough for its size, and the blacks are as deep as you’d expect them to be on a top-tier AMOLED panel. Considering that this is a quad micro-curved display, swiping around is a joy too. The edges are mildly curved, just enough to make the display a joy to use, and avoid getting your finger caught on the edge of the phone or anything of the sort. The display itself is flat, and there’s no distortion on the sides or anything of the sort.
High-frequency PWM dimming is also a part of the package
I also have a friend who is very sensitive to screen flickering, displays that don’t have high-frequency PWM dimming cause considerable headaches for him. So it’s great that Vivo thought of that, and included high-frequency PWM dimming here. That’s what every single flagship out there should have, in my humble opinion. There’s really nothing I can complain about when it comes to this panel.
You do have some additional options in the settings to play around with, you can tune it just the way you like. I didn’t touch any of those, as the default settings were just right for me. I’d prefer it if Vivo went with the under-display camera here, but that’s not something that many OEMs are ready to do, and it does impact the quality of the selfie camera. I had to think of something as a negative here, so… I’m grasping at straws. This display is outstanding, it’s as simple as that.
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Performance
Vivo opted for MediaTek’s most powerful chipset for this handset, a brand new one at that. The Vivo X200 Pro was one of the first smartphones that was announced with MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 processor. Some people were somewhat skeptical about the choice of a chip, but… there was no reason for that, not at all. This is a flagship chip in every way, shape, and form, and can go head-to-head with the Snapdragon 8 Elite without a problem. If you have any reservations about this phone because of the processor that fuels it, do not.
Day-to-day performance is outstanding
Let’s talk about day-to-day performance first. That is not an issue whatsoever. In fact, this is one of the smoothest-performing smartphones that I’ve ever used. Everything is very snappy, and Vivo adapted this 120Hz display to its Funtouch OS. Buttery smooth are the right words to explain how well this works, regardless of what you’re doing on the phone. Jumping between apps is not a problem whatsoever, and neither is multitasking. Split screen works really well, and the same goes for mini apps aka running apps in mini windows. I did not experience lag at all during my usage of the phone. There is a frame skipped here and there as it is on every phone, but that’s something that you won’t even notice. Lag is nowhere to be found. I don’t have a single complaint in terms of general performance.
Gaming is not really an issue either, quite the contrary
What about gaming? Well, it’s basically the same as for general performance. Everything runs really well, even the most demanding games. The 3D Mark test that we did may indicate something else entirely, but benchmarks don’t reveal the full story, we’ll talk about that later on. I’ve played Genshin Impact on the phone, along with Subway Surfers, along with COD Mobile, and Warzone Mobile.
All of those games ran without a problem on the phone. I even tuned everything up all the way, and only Warzone Mobile was an issue at times, but that’s this phone’s fault, but the game itself. It’s in shambles at the moment, and even on Snapdragon 8 Elite phones it has issues, so… there’s that. Check out the images below to see the phone’s gaming hub that you can access while you’re in a game. Gaming overall was a great experience on the Vivo X200 Pro.
Benchmarks
We usually do two very different benchmarks when reviewing smartphones. The first one is Geekbench, which is well-known to most of you. It tests how powerful the SoC is, essentially. Single-core and multi-core performance is tested. The other is the Wild Life Extreme Stress Test from the 3D Mark app. That test puts a huge strain on the phone, running heavy graphical tests 20 times over. Every phone heats up quite a bit during it, but it does simulate rather heavy use of a device.
The stability during those 20 loops was not the best on the Vivo X200 Pro. That is not all that unusual when it comes to flagship SoCs, but in this case, it really doesn’t mean much. In daily performance, this chip performed admirably, to say the least. So, don’t pay much attention to this, as this phone didn’t even get too hot at any point, or anything like that.
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Battery
Vivo opted to include a 6,000mAh battery inside of this phone. That is a silicon carbon battery, by the way, which allowed Vivo to include such high capacity without risking space inside of the phone. Based on the battery capacity alone I expected good battery life, but it was even better than expected. The phone did great in our battery drain test, and it also lasted quite a bit in day-to-day use. You can find our battery drain test results at the very end of this section if you’re interested in that.
The Vivo X200 Pro did a fantastic job in our battery drain test
In the battery drain test, the Vivo X200 Pro did almost as well as the OPPO Find X8 Pro, and that is commendable. In daily use, I was able to get truly high screen-on-time results. Not many people will be able to drain its battery life in a day, not at all. I was pushing myself to use the phone as much as possible, and even with considerable camera use, and some gaming thrown into the mix, the phone managed to pull out 8 hours of screen-on-time and still had over 35% left in the tank. That was on my third day of use. The first day was a bit odd, but I always disregard the first charge cycle. All the other days were outstanding, I was not able to come close to draining this phone’s battery.
The battery life is fantastic to say the least
My last day of use before writing this section was yesterday, and I didn’t play any games, but I did use the phone for a ton of other stuff, including image processing, taking pictures, browsing, plenty of messaging and emails, and so on. I had around 7 and a half hours of screen-on-time with 40% left in the tank, at almost 10 hours of screen-on-time the phone was at 9%. Those are outstanding results in my book. Granted, I did not spend a lot of time on 5G during my use, but I did not notice considerable drain when I was on a mobile network, not at all. That was one of MediaTek’s major pain points in the past, especially when it comes to their flagship chips.
This phone charges extremely fast and supports wireless charging too
The Vivo X200 Pro supports both wired and wireless charging, and also reverse wired charging on top of that. So you can technically use it as a power bank of sorts, at least for your earbuds or something like that. In any case, it took me 45 minutes to fully charge the phone. I was able to reach a 74% charge level in half an hour. Needless to say, this is plenty fast for pretty much anyone. Not many smartphones in the market support faster charging than this. I was unable to test 30W wireless charging as I don’t have Vivo’s wireless charger that I’m able to use at full speed.
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Camera
The Vivo X200 Pro is a flagship smartphone, and many would say a camera-centric smartphone. In all honesty, its cameras are the aspect I was looking forward to most going into this review. The expectations were high, and I have to say that the Vivo X200 Pro did not disappoint. This is easily one of the best camera smartphones on the market, if not the best one. It is certainly the best one I’ve used, and that’s saying a lot. Let’s take it from the top, though, there’s a lot to talk about here, that’s for sure. Let’s get camera specs out of the way first, as Vivo made an interesting change there.
It has a slightly smaller, but newer sensor than the Vivo X100 Ultra
The Vivo X100 Ultra, which launched earlier this year, came with the 1-inch Sony IMX989 main camera sensor. The one included inside the Vivo X200 Pro is a bit smaller, but newer. I was skeptical when it comes to this change, but I’m glad to say there was no reason for that. Vivo used a 50-megapixel Sony LYT-818 sensor here, which is a successor to the LYT-808 used in the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus Open. That is a 1/1.28-inch sensor, but both Sony and Vivo insist that it’s not only on par with the IMX989, but even better in some ways. We’re looking at an f/1.57 aperture lens here, and 1.22um pixel size (2.44um after pixel binning). OIS is included, as is PDAF support, and the phone can record 4K content at 120 fps.
The second camera on the back is a 50-megapixel camera which uses the ISOCELL JN1 sensor. That is a 1/2.76-inch camera sensor, and there’s an f/2.0 aperture lens on top of it. This is easily the least impressive sensor out of the three on the back. It does have PDAF support, though. The third camera is a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto unit with the ISOCELL HP9 sensor. That is a 1/1.4-inch sensor with an f/2.67 aperture, OIS and multi-directional PDAF. It is a great sensor, and a fantastic choice for the periscope telephoto camera. It is also used as a macro camera here. That sensor is also quite familiar, as the Vivo X100 Ultra used the same one. It surely proved its worth there. On top of all that, ZEISS optics are used here, with the T* coating.
After over 900 photos taken with the phone, I’m impressed
I snapped over 900 pictures with this smartphone before writing about its cameras. You’ll see a portion of them across three galleries below this section. I’ve mostly shot 0.6x, 1x, 3.7x, and 10x photos, but also went very well above 10x zoom with the periscope telephoto camera. The 0.6x is the ultrawide preset for the ultrawide snapper, while the 3.7x is the preset for the optical telephoto snaps. The 10x preset is the last one offered in the camera UI. All three cameras did a really good job, though the main and periscope telephoto shooter are clearly better than the ultrawide one. The sheer quality of the snaps offered is… outstanding, in lack of a better word.
There are five camera zoom presets in the viewfinder 0.6x, 1x, 2x, 3.7x, and 10x. They all have additional presets when you tap on them more than once, except the 0.6x (ultrawide) level. 1x goes to 1.2x and 1.5x. 2x goes to 2.2x, while 3.7x goes to 7.4x. 10x has a ton of additional presets, raising the ante in terms of zoom. So, 1x is the equivalent of a 23mm lens, while 1.2x equates to a 28mm lens, and 1.5x is a 35mm lens level, and so on. All that info is included in the viewfinder, and these shortcuts are very useful. Some other companies do the same thing, but all of them should use them, to be quite honest. The UI in general is great.
There are several image styles you can choose from
Before we get down to talking about the image quality itself, let’s just say that there are also several presets for image styles. You can choose between Vivid, Textured and Natural (ZEISS). People who love that classic ZEISS look will go for that preset, but most of you should opt for the Vivid option. That is the default option, and for a good reason. It does the best job of providing outstanding-looking photos which do pop, but don’t push things overboard in terms of sharpening nor saturation. That’s the preset that I opted for too, not only because it’s the default one, and it’s the preset used in the images provided as samples below.
The images from the main camera look outstanding in both day and night. They’re extremely well-balanced, with just the right amount of pop to them. The saturation is not pushed overboard, nor will you notice excessive sharpening anywhere. The phone also handles HDR situations with ease. There’s plenty of detail in the shots from the main camera, and a decent level of bokeh when needed. During nighttime, the phone does a fantastic job of balancing images, and it also managed to capture them very fast. Even in some more darker areas the phone didn’t require more than a second to capture a photo. Needless to say, that’s great to see.
The shutter speed during the day is extremely fast. Yes, you can capture fast-moving objects if you want, and there’s even a special feature inside the camera for that, if it’s something more extreme. It’s also worth noting that the T* coating does its job perfectly, shooting street lights or lights of any kind in low-light conditions is a piece of cake, the phone balances out such shots with ease, without glare.
I used the periscope telephoto camera the most, it also doubles as a macro shooter
The periscope telephoto camera is the camera I used the most, and the one I’ll likely keep using the most. 3.7x and 7.4x photos were outstanding, and even 10x shots are really good. The difference is, of course, visible, but the level of quality this phone can provide from 10x shots is high, even in low light, actually. I also capture plenty of macro photos with that camera, and they turned out great, yes, even in low-light environments.
Christmas time is ideal for taking such photos, and I have some examples for you below. I pushed this camera up to 50x, 60x, and it did a decent job, one of the best I’ve seen to date, if not the best. I tried shooting above that, but nobody should, to be quite honest, and you probably won’t need to go as high. There’s plenty of detail in shots from this camera, and I’m not surprised, the sensor Vivo used is great.
The ultrawide camera is the least impressive one, but it’s still good
The ultrawide camera did a good job, but it cannot measure up to the main and periscope telephoto ones, not at all. While the first two cameras I’ve talked about have managed to keep the same color levels across all scenes, basically, the ultrawide camera was not. It did, like half the time, but images from that camera were often a bit darker and a bit warmer than the images from the other two sensors. The detail levels were high, but not to the level of the main and periscope telephoto cameras. That is especially visible in low-light environments.
Even video recording is really good, but I wouldn’t go over 4K 60 FPS if I were you, as that is peak performance you’ll get. I really liked the results from fullHD 60 FPS and 4K 30 FPS, those are the optimal options here. The stabilization is good, and the quality is on par with most other flagships. It’s not the best video recording performance, though, but it’s excellent still. Overall, the Vivo X200 Pro cameras did a fantastic job. This is one of my favorite camera smartphones to date, no question. I simply love Vivo’s processing, and the level of image quality this smartphone offers makes it difficult to ignore, to say the least.
Main camera samples:
Ultrawide camera samples:
Periscope telephoto camera samples (3.7x, 10x & beyond):
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Software
The Vivo X200 Pro comes with Android 15 out of the box. On top of it, you’ll find Vivo’s software for global markets, Funtouch OS 15. In China, the same phone comes with OriginOS 5. Our is a global variant, though, so Funtouch OS 15 it is. Vivo has been doing a great job with its custom Android skin for a while now, and this version is no exception. I had high expectations, and they were met, without a problem. I managed to spot only one bug during my use, and that’s something that Vivo can easily fix in an upcoming update. Everything else was excellent.
First and foremost, Funtouch does look different than stock Android, but it still keeps that minimalistic approach to UI design. That’s something many people prefer, me included. There are no major differences to stock Android in terms of general functionality, so you’ll feel right at home here, it won’t require a major adjustment. You can still set up a swipe on the home screen to activate search or pull down the notification tray, you still have access to your notifications and quick toggles as you have elsewhere, and so on. You can also choose whether you want to use the app drawer or not, and so on.
Funtouch OS 15 offers plenty of customization, though not as much as some competitors
There’s a decent amount of customization here. Truth be said, not as much as some of the competitors, but there’s enough of it. You can manipulate the size and shape of icons on the home screen, have some options regarding grid sizes, you can also access themes, and so on. There’s also the Always-On Display (AOD) option, and it works really well. AOD is not trying to complicate things, it’s as simple as it gets, and that’s what most people will prefer regardless. Vivo did a great job.
What about bloatware? Well, I wouldn’t say that there’s much bloatware here as you can remove most of the unwanted apps. So once you get through that, you’re good to go. Even though even if you leave them be, they’ll stay out of your way. Apps like Agoda, EasyShare, Game Center, iManager, Lazada, and some others come pre-installed. Most of them are uninstallable, while some are System apps, and you have to keep them around. It was a non-issue for me, though. I simply deleted most of them and that’s it.
Vivo’s Android software is thoroughly optimized
Vivo did an outstanding job with optimizing Funtouch OS 15. The animations are outstanding, and there’s even an option in the settings to remove them completely, which makes the phone as fast as lighting. The OS is very smooth at all times, and the 120Hz refresh rate of the display is utilized with care. The content glides nicely on the screen when you swipe, and it’s very sensitive to the intensity of your swipe. In other words, the display feels very responsive here, or should I say Funtouch OS 15.
During my usage, I only stumbled upon a bug with scrollable screenshots. That feature did not work for me in some apps, while it did in others. That’s pretty much it. I had no issue with push notifications or anything of the sort. Vivo even did a great job with making the notification cards look nice, and I even prefer the smaller font of everything by default. If you want to enlarge it, however, that’s also doable easily via the settings. Funtouch OS 15 is easily one of my favorite Android skins. All that Vivo has to do at this point is add some more customization options, such as third-party icon support, scrollable widgets, and that sort of thing. Everything else is spot on.
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Audio
There are stereo speakers included inside the Vivo X200 Pro. The phone has bottom-firing and top-firing speakers, and they’re well-balanced. You’ll get a balanced sound when using these speakers, one side does not overpower the other. The loudness here is also really good, on par with many other flagship-grade smartphones out there. The sound is clean and sharp, though not too sharp, and there’s no distortion that I was able to notice, perhaps at the very highest volume settings, but it’s barely noticeable. The highs and mids are excellent, while the low spectrum is nothing to scoff at either. There was not too much bass or anything of the sort, everything is well-balanced.
What you will not find here is an audio jack. You can take advantage of the phone’s Type-C port in case you need to connect your headphones via a wire, however. Otherwise, the phone comes with Bluetooth 5.4 support with all the codecs you’d expect to be included, including LHDC 5 which not many smartphones have these days. All in all, the Vivo X200 Pro is well-equipped in the audio department, no complaints here. It has all the bells and whistles you’d expect out of a flagship smartphone.
Vivo X200 Pro Review: Should you buy it?
Is the Vivo X200 Pro the right phone for you? Well, that’s for you to figure out, of course, what I can say is that this is an outstanding smartphone, one of the best I’ve ever used. It has one of the best and best-performing camera setups on the market. On top of that, the performance is top-notch, as is the battery life, while the phone also charges really fast. Wireless charging is included, as is an outstanding display, and so on. There’s really not much to complain about when it comes to this phone. You can find some details that you’d like to be different, but as a whole, the Vivo X200 Pro is an outstanding phone. In my opinion, it’s definitely worth your hard-earned cash.
You should buy the Vivo X200 Pro if you:
- Need an outstanding camera setup, one of the best around
- Want a big, bright & beautiful display
- Need a phone that is really difficult to bog down, performance-wise
- Don’t want to charge your phone in the middle of the day
- Require your phone to have fast charging, both wired & wireless
- Appreciate good-sounding speakers
- Need your phone to have water and dust resistance
You shouldn’t buy the Vivo X200 Pro if you:
- Don’t like slippery devices
- Want a compact phone
- Are on a tight budget
