vivo India recently introduced its two latest smartphones under the vivo V30 Series – the vivo V30 and vivo V30 Pro. The vivo V30 is the tone-down variant of the V30 Pro and is the successor to last year’s vivo V29. Features and highlights include a color-changing back, IP54 dust, and water-resistant design, Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SoC, 60° curved AMOLED 120 Hz display, 50 MP OIS camera, 50 MP autofocus selfie camera, 50 MP ultra-wide-angle camera, 80W fast charging, and more. Here’s what we have to share about the new smartphone in our vivo V30 review.
Design, Display, & Build Quality
On the design front, the vivo V30 flaunts its impressive 3D curve design and ergonomics with a sleek and slim form factor (7.45 mm) and a color-changing AG glass back. The back changes its color when exposed to ultraviolet light and this is something rare you will see on some vivo smartphones like vivo V27 and the vivo Y100.
The phone uses an IP54-rated dust and water-resistant design and comes in three colorways – Classic Black, Peacock Green, and Andaman Blue. The design appears to be solid and highly premium for the segment and is also slimmer than most smartphones in its class.
vivo V30 uses a similar photochromic technology we saw on the vivo V27, the color changes from light to dark under sunlight or any light exposure for a few seconds, The area where the light is exposed turns dark and slowly recovers its original state.
The front side includes a 6.78-inch 60° curved AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, and up to 2800 nits peak brightness. The AMOLED display offers curved edges and high brightness with a smooth 120 Hz refresh rate.
Moving to the bottom of the smartphone, you get a USB Type-C port, a microphone, and a loudspeaker (no second speaker for stereo effect). No 3.5mm audio jack for earphones/headphones is available, you have to use a Type-C to 3.5mm converter (not provided in the box).
Moving to the top side, you can see a Professional Photography label and another microphone. You get a power key and volume control on the right while nothing is on the right side. The 5G SIM tray offers dual 5G SIM connectivity with dual 5G standby and support for VoLTE, but microSD card support.
Software, User Interface, & Features
The vivo V30 (and the vivo V30 Pro), runs on the new Android 14 platform out-of-the-box with the latest vivo’s FunTouch OS 14 interface. With the new Android, the V30 packs a bunch of the latest features from the OS while adding more to it from its FunTouch OS 14 perks. The Android security patch on the phone is dated as of 1st January 2024.
vivo India guarantees a substantial software support window for the V30, promising a minimum of 2 generations of Android OS upgrades and 3 years of security updates. With this, you can at least expect to receive upgrades to Android 15, and 16 along with security updates for 3 years.
The new FunTouch OS 14 is fast, optimized, and improved over its predecessors. The vivo V30 performs smoothly and offers a lightweight UI experience, the 120 Hz refresh rate, swift processor, and optimized software are integral parts to achieve a smooth software experience.
Aside from all the stock Android 14 features, the FunTouch OS also enhances user experiences by offering additional features, customizations, optimizations, security, and more. The new version introduces improvements and a host of customizations and features compared to its predecessors.
The FunTouch OS 14 offers the ability to customize the lock screen, UI color, dynamic effects, and always-on display, aside from using gestures, ultra game mode, and various other built-in functionalities. Some pre-installed apps come with the phone which you can remove, apps such as Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, PhonePe, LinkedIn, Netflix, and apps from vivo are present on the phone.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
The vivo V30 equips a fast 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 octa-core SoC delivering exceptional performance in the segment. The SoC consists of eight cores based on an ARM Cortex CPU with a 1 + 3 + 4 CPU configuration. The 1x ARM Cortex-A715 is a high-performance core clocked at 2.63 GHz, the 3x ARM Cortex-A715 cores are performance cores clocked at 2.4 GHz, and the remaining 4x ARM Cortex-A510 cores are power efficient cores clocked at 1.8 GHz.
Furthermore, the SoC is paired with Adreno 720 GPU for gaming and graphics-related tasks, up to 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage. It comes in three RAM and storage options – 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage base model, 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage as the mid-variant, and 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage as the top model.
The Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is a close competitor of the MediaTek Dimensity 8200, you can expect a smooth performance overall with this spec, it also includes a faster LPDDR5 type RAM and UFS 3.1 type storage in the segment. For gaming, you get Adreno 720 GPU which is far more capable for gaming in high settings. If you are into gaming, you will get a very good gaming performance with this GPU.
The storage cannot be expanded via a microSD card, but uses the Extended RAM 3.0 feature, allowing the RAM to be expanded up to 12 GB virtually, although the system intelligently allocates virtual RAM based on resource requirements.
Cameras
Undoubtedly, the vivo V30 stands out with its camera specs and traits. Cameras include a triple setup on the rear side with a 50 MP primary VCS camera with f/1.88 aperture, 1.55-inch sensor size, and support for OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). The other two cameras include a 50 MP f/2.0 ultra-wide-angle 119° FOV camera, and a 2 MP portrait camera all with dual soft LED flash. The front side has a stunning 50 MP selfie camera with autofocus for group selfies and video calls. The smartphone offers a total of three 50 MP cameras, one at the front, and two at the back, and an Aura Light LED ring.
The camera app comes with modes such as High resolution, Pano, Documents, Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Supermoon, Astro, Pro, Snapshot, Food, Live Photo, Night, Portrait, Photo, Video, Micro Movie, Dual View for the rear side, and High resolution, Live Photo, Night, Portrait, Photo, Video, Micro Movie, Dual View for the front selfie camera. It can capture 4K videos at 30 fps and slow motion up to 240 fps (720p)/120 fps (1080p).
The cameras deliver exceptional results capturing vivid images, crisp and detailed quality including selfies for a great photography experience. The main 1.55-inch 50 MP camera, even though doesn’t integrate Carl ZEISS optics like its sibling (vivo V30 Pro), is capable of capturing among the best shots in its class, especially portraits. The ultra-wide and macro lenses offer versatility, allowing users to snap pretty much reasonable details.
vivo V30 Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
The vivo V30 packs a 5,000 mAh battery and even comes slimmer at a 7.45 mm design. It also has rapid charging speeds at 80W FlashCharge that charge the battery fully 100% in about 48 minutes which means you can expect it to charge 50% in ~20 minutes. With that said, the vivo V30 is among the fastest-charging smartphones in its category with its 80W rapid charging.
The company says the battery has a 4-year life span retaining the battery at least 80% of its capacity after 1,600 complete charge cycles. Expect the battery to last up to 2 days depending on your usage patterns, the vivo V30 can deliver as much as 6.8 hours of gaming (PUBG), 13 hours of browsing on Instagram, and 16 hours of video streaming on YouTube.
Verdict
The vivo V30 stands out as a challenging contender in the segment offering a blend of superior performance (Snapdragon 7 Gen 3), exceptional camera capabilities, and ultra-slim color-changing premium design. In addition, it has a stunning 120 Hz curved AMOLED display, 80W fast charging, and a bunch of FunTouch OS perks with Android 14 features. Overall, the vivo V30 is a great choice for those with a budget over ₹30,000 and is a worthy companion who seek a camera-centric smartphone with premium design and features in the segment.
vivo X100 Where To Buy
The price for the vivo V30 starts at ₹33,999 for the 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant, ₹35,999 for the 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage variant), and ₹37,999 for the 12 GB + 256 GB storage variant. The smartphone will be available from 14th March 2024 on vivo.com/in and other online and offline retail stores. Launch offers include up to 10% instant discount with bank offers, no-cost EMI for up to 8 months, and an additional ₹4,000 off on exchange.
