After a long time, vivo has finally added new smartphones in its X series, the vivo X50 is perhaps the successor to the vivo X21 launched two years back in India. vivo, however, has launched vivo X27 globally which didn’t release in the country, hence, after vivo X21, the company directly launched the vivo X50 in India.
Alongside the vivo X50, vivo also launched the vivo X50 Pro in its X50 series in India, albeit there’s a third variant too, the vivo X50 Pro+ which is a flagship smartphone with Snapdragon 865 and it isn’t launched in India yet. The vivo X50 is an upper mid-range smartphone with 48 MP quad cameras and Snapdragon 730. Here’s what you need to know about the vivo X50 in its review
vivo X50 Specifications
- Display: 6.56-inch E3 AMOLED Display, Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2376 pixels), HDR10+, 90 Hz refresh rate
- Software: FunTouch OS 10.5, Android 10
- CPU: 7 nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G SoC
- GPU: Adreno 618
- Memory: 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM
- Storage: 128 GB OR 256 GB UFS 2.1
- Main Camera: Quad Cameras (48 MP + 13 MP + 8 MP + 5 MP)
- 48 MP Sony IMX598 sensor with f/1.6 aperture + 8 MP 120° ultra-wide lens with f/2.2 aperture + 13 MP portrait bokeh camera with f/2.48 aperture + 8 MP periscope camera with f/3.4 aperture for 5x optical, 10x hybrid and 60x digital zoom
- Selfie Camera: 32 MP with f/2.48 aperture
- Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, USB Type-C, A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS
- Others: on-screen fingerprint scanner, Hi-Res audio, 3 microphones for audio zoom
- Battery: 4,200 mAh, 33W fast charging
- Price: ₹34,990 (8 GB + 128 GB), ₹37,990 (8 GB + 256 GB)
- Availability: From 24th July via online and offline stores
Design, Display, & Build
The vivo X50 grabs instant attention with its elegant design. On the design front, the vivo boasts a neat and sleek design, the back is covered with a frosted glass alongside the quad-camera module on the top-left corner.
Digging more into the design, you see a tiny cut-out in the corner for the selfie camera. vivo uses a punch-hole camera design which is the on-going smartphone trend. The screen cut-out uses a 32 MP selfie camera and the lower half of the screen has an in-display fingerprint scanner for securing the phone. The sides are metallic and the phone is sandwiched between scratch-proof glass, the overall construction of the phone is strong and very precise.
The display you get is a 6.56-inch E3 AMOLED screen with Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2376 pixels) and a 90 Hz refresh rate. The upper variant, vivo X50 Pro uses a curved screen whereas the vivo X50 has a flat-screen.
The bottom side has a USB Type-C port, a dual SIM tray, loudspeakers, and a microphone, the phone lacks a microSD card slot, hence the storage cannot be expanded using a microSD card. The top side has another microphone while the left side is empty. The right side houses a power key and volume keys.
Software & User Interface
When it comes to the software, vivo has put new software on the phone, the FunTouch OS version 10.5 is a new interface by vivo and it’s much more improved. The Funtouch OS 10.5 can be found over the top of Google’s Android 10 OS and it turns out to be smooth and fast.
There’s the new look of FunTouch OS as you can see, you will also find various customizations on the phone including the Home screen, lock screen, and amazing live wallpapers.
In addition to that, you can tweak the Dynamic Effects on the phone which deals with the animation effects. It includes Ambient light effects, Fingerprint icon animation, Charging animation, Insert USB animation, and more.
You do get bloatware or some pre-installed apps on the phone which you can remove while there are apps by vivo (V-Appstore, Browser, Weather, vivo.com, vivoCloud, EasyShare, and more) that resides on the phone can’t be removed from the system.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
The vivo X series has a total of three smartphones, the vivo X50 Pro+, vivo X50 Pro, and the vivo X50. Among all three, the chips that powers the devices are different. The vivo X50 equips a Snapdragon 730 SoC, and not the 730G while its Pro variant is powered by the faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC with support for 5G. The phone that’s not been released in the country, vivo X50 Pro+, offers a flagship chip Snapdragon 765 SoC.
Alongside the CPU, the phone has Adreno 618 GPU for graphics-intensive tasks and packs an 8 GB LPDDR4X RAM with up to 256 GB internal storage. If we compare the smartphones in this price range with the vivo X50, it’s quite behind in terms of performance, although the Snapdragon 730 handles the apps and games just as good. Take a look at the benchmarks we performed on the vivo X50.
Gaming won’t be a problem with the Adreno 618 (Snapdragon 730), however, the Snapdragon 730G has slightly overclocked GPU. But when it comes to gaming and spending Rs 35 grand on a phone, you have more options with better overall performance, you have the iQOO 3, realme X3 SuperZoom, Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro, and more.
The phone is focused more on its photography traits than the flagship-grade performance, even the vivo X50 Pro that costs about Rs 50 grand has an upper midrange CPU, the Snapdragon 765, and not the flagship Snapdragon 865 whereas the OnePlus 8 5G is much cheaper with better CPU.
Cameras
Moving to the cameras, the vivo X50 packs a 48 MP main sensor using Sony’s IMX598, a secondary camera with 8 MP ultra-wide 120-degree lens, 13 MP portrait lens or you can say depth camera, and 5 MP macro sensor for close-up shots. The front side has a 32 MP selfie camera in a cut-out design.
The camera interface is updated along with its new FunTouch OS software, it’s very much identical to what we saw in the iQOO 3 5G using the iQOO UI. You get a bunch of modes in the camera with the new ones being the Motion Snapshot, Movie Camera, Ultra stable, and Fixed Macro, whereas the other modes include Super Wide-angle video, filter video, 48 MP, Pro, Pano, Live Photo, Slo-mo, Time-lapse, AR Stickers, Jovi Vision, and Doc modes.
So far, the vivo X50 has performed well with its cameras, although a few camera issues such as the object focusing isn’t perfect in the portrait mode, the overall quality was satisfactory, you can see the samples we added below. The vivo X50 misses out the 60X zoom periscope lens as well as the 5-axis gimbal OIS features as seen on its upper variants.
A new feature on the phone offers motion photography which captures the shots by motion detection. It helps you take motion shots, then the clarity of the photo is further enhanced with the Motion Deblur algorithm to reduce any residual blur.
Another tremendous feature you see is the Motion Camera, the Motion AF Tracking tracks faces when eyes cannot be detected, and when faces too cannot be detected, it tracks the body to maintain focus. By default, it tracks the subject taking up the biggest proportion of the frame, delivering superior results, even for inanimate objects.
The Portraits come out excellent, each camera on the vivo X50 has its own functionality and it worked out well. It lacks the 4K video at 60fps on its camera which might be a deal-breaker for some. You still got the Ultra stable video and Ultra Wide-angle video features.
vivo X50 Camera Samples
Battery Life
The 4,200 mAh battery on the vivo X50 with 33W fast charging is definitely one essential trait and competes with its rivals even though the capacity is a little less as you see. Vivo’s Funtouch OS is much improved here, the battery lasts all day long without a sweat and the power-efficient CPU helps the battery to run longer while being powerful enough to handle daily-driver apps.
Charging the phone can take anywhere between 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes from 0 to 100% full charge. It has 33W Flashcharge 2.0 technology which is comparable to the OPPO’s Reno 3 Pro in the segment.
Verdict
The vivo X50 does impress us with its elegant design, solid build quality, and the quad cameras feature set. Comparing with the cameras in this segment, the overall quality of the camera is solid, the camera is on par with the competition and offers more camera features for a photography enthusiast. Its pro variant, the Vivo X50 Pro offers a built-in gimbal that is truly innovative, it acts as a stabilizer for the main camera whereas the Vivo X50 is stuck with the EIS only.
The Vivo X50 is priced at ₹34,990 for the 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and comes with a Snapdragon 730 SoC. For those who are looking for raw performance, you can opt smartphones with the flagship chip inside – iQOO 3 or realme X3 SuperZoom for a little less price. Despite not using the flagship chip, the vivo X50 still dazzles with its design and finish, its crisp 90 Hz AMOLED display, and the photography traits, not to mention it has a 33W fast charging.
Strength
- Elegant Glass Finish Design
- Solid Build Quality
- 90 Hz Crisp AMOLED Display
- Portraits Turn Out To Be Exceptionally Good
- Backed Up With Camera Traits
- 33W Fast Charging
Weakness
- Snapdragon 765 SoC would be at least better at this price
- No 4K At 60 FPS
- No MicroSD Card Support
