Vivo V25 Pro has been announced in the Indian market. And the device retails in the country at a starting price of Rs 35,999. Competing in the budget flagship space. The handset faces stiff competition from Realme GT Neo3 (Review). OnePlus 10R (Review) and more. Interestingly, Vivo has, again and again, created a brouhaha. Over the cameras and design of its V series smartphones. This time, though, the company is bringing a curved 3D AMOLED display into the mix. So, is the Vivo V25 Pro worth the hype? Let’s find out in this detailed review.
Judgment
Vivo has definitely nailed the design and display aspects of the V25 Pro. At the same time, the company has also thrown decent performance and battery life into the mix. But, the handset’s sluggish low-light photography chops. and mono speaker setup may discourage some buyers from investing in the phone.
A cursory glance at the design of the V25 Pro tells me that the device is built to impress. Few phones, if any, sell for the price of the V25 Pro with a curved front display. Personally, I prefer a clean and flat front panel as it feels more ergonomic for day to day use. But, there’s no denying that the V25 Pro’s narrow 3D curved screen looks stunning. The smartphone’s color-changing matte-finish glass back and its stylishly crafted. Rectangular camera housing also add to the V25 Pro’s mystique.
For I/O, a single speaker unit, a USB Type-C port, and a dual-SIM slot are on the bottom edge of the V25 Pro. The volume rocker and power buttons occupy positions on the left side. While the right side is clutter-free. All in all, the V25 Pro is a looker, and the device punches above its weight in the design department.
Vivo V25 Pro’s viewing experience is also in line with competing devices. The handset’s 6.5-inch, FHD+, curved display is virtually bezel-less. And offers a ton of screen real-estate. The panel is of the AMOLED variety and offers a 6,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Deep blacks and even accentuates the colors on the screen. Leading to vibrant colors that look impressive to say the least. Vivo claims the panel covers 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut. And the screen can also relay HD and HDR10+ media from OTT services like Netflix, which is great.
The company did not specify the brightness level of the display. But the clarity of the screen did not decrease in sunny outdoor conditions. And, for those interested in a little mobile gaming. The V25 Pro’s display offers a touch sampling rate of 300Hz for ultra-low latency. The refresh rate can dynamically change between 60Hz and 120Hz when needed. And the panel’s punch-hole camera doesn’t get in the way when viewing content on the fly.
Camera-wise, the phone has an OIS-enabled 64MP primary. Shooter with an 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro sensors. Vivo has equipped the phone with several low-light photography features. that look impressive on paper. These include OIS Super Night Portrait, Real-Time Extreme Night Vision. OIS Night Mode and more. Surprisingly, the device clicks stellar photos after sunset. And the smartphone’s main camera exhibits good exposure control. And extracts enough detail from a given scene. There are some issues, of course, and the sensor introduces a bit of lens flare into images. That said, the same is solved with a dedicated Night Mode utility.
Daylight photography is good although. The sensor’s output can be a bit oversaturated at times. On the bright side, details are churned out reasonably well. And exposure levels don’t crush highlights either. Shadows tend to be a bit darker due to which, the image looks a bit contrasty. The ultra-wide shooter also produces images that are acceptable. But, the 2MP macro shooter has a lot of room for improvement.
All this to say, the V25 Pro packs in a satisfying optical apparatus. That performs admirably in a well-lit environment. The same goes for the smartphone’s 32MP selfie camera. Which takes shots with good facial details and accurate skin tones. Moreover, the sensor exposes the background very well, which is great.
The Vivo V25 Pro ships with the Dimension 1300 SoC. Which can comfortably handle workloads and juggle some apps in memory as well. Regardless, the devices that compete with the V25 Pro are running. More powerful hardware under their hoods. In fact, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870. And MediaTek’s Dimensity 8100 platforms are common in smartphones retailing below Rs 40,000. Needless to say, while the V25 Pro performs well, the device may not be competitive as the device ages.
Regardless, let’s take a closer look at the phone’s performance chops. Starting with the synthetic test, the V25 Pro turned in a good score. That was just shy of the 700,000 point mark on the Antutu benchmark. Geekbench 5’s multi-core result, but, was also limited to a respectable 2,520 points. To my dismay, the phone lacks a robust thermal design. And the device throttles to 68 percent of its peak performance in the CPU Throttle benchmark. For gaming, buyers eyeing the set can run BGMI at Extreme (60fps) frame rates. But only when the graphics are set to the ‘smooth’ preset. Also, Vivo offers up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM. Which can be further expanded using the smartphone’s Virtual Swap feature. For storage purposes, buyers opting for the phone will get 256GB of non-expandable, UFS 3.1 storage.
As good as the V25 Pro’s display is, the device’s mono speaker setup leaves something to be desired. When watching videos and movies on the fly. That said, I have no complaints about the smartphone’s snappy in-display fingerprint sensor. As for 5G, the Vivo V25 Pro supports the hardware to use the service. As the Indian telecom infrastructure is upgraded. Software-wise, the device boots FunTouchOS 12 based on Android 12. You can read our Vivo X80 Pro review to know more. About the interface but to cut a long story short, the interface is flush. But offers a healthy assortment of customization features. With bloatware.
Running, the phone packs a 4,830mAh cell that can fast charge at 66W. The device lasted a little over a day of normal use, and during my work with the phone. I averaged about seven hours of screen time per day. For anyone curious, my usage consists of watching a few episodes of The Sandman on Netflix. An hour-long BGMI session, and a bit of Facebook browsing. At the end of the day, I usually had about 35 percent battery in the tank, which is great. And, if you’re low on juice, the phone can fully charge in about an hour.
Final verdict
Pricing the Vivo V25 Pro can be a bit difficult. On the one hand, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better-looking phone in the budget flagship space. But, the choice of processor along with the handset’s mono speaker setup hurts the device. Regardless, the V25 Pro looks the part of a premium product and also offers a gorgeous, curved display. Add to that the device’s long-lasting battery backup. And the V25 Pro is a worthy option to consider in the flagship-killer space.
