vivo X60 Pro review: Camera rivals Samsung and iPhone

A new phone has just landed in Australia that has proven it can compete with tech giants Apple and Samsung thanks to its “impressive” camera.

REVIEW

The latest vivo smartphone, the vivo X60 Pro, has just hit shelves here in Australia.

This is their flagship photography-focused smartphone featuring an exciting collaboration with ZEISS but can vivo compete with the tech giants?

Unboxing

Out of the box the phone doesn’t look very different from last year’s model, the vivo X50 Pro, but I love that they’ve kept the design.

I’m a fan of the phone’s incredibly thin and sleek look and the back of the device has a matt finish that keeps fingerprints away without being slippery, which is rare.

It’s honestly one of the better smartphone designs on the market while also being lightweight and still looking like a premium smartphone.

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Elly Awesome reviews the vivo X60 Pro

A matt frosted hard phone case is included in the box along with wired earphones (yay!). The earphones come with extra ear tips and also have the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack connection.

Though the only port on the vivo X60 Pro is USB-C so vivo included a 3.5mm headphone jack to USB-C adaptor, which is awesome. And lastly, rather obviously, you get a USB-C charging cable and power brick.

Display and specs

Underneath the 6.56” curved AMOLED display, the vivo X60 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 870 processor with 12GB of Ram, 256GB storage and a 4200mAh battery.

The size of this phone feels ‘just right’ in the hand and with the screen’s impressive brightness, viewing angles and 120Hz refresh rate, the user experience is excellent and scrolling is super smooth.

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The vivo X60 Pro is a good size and has a bright screen.

The only real difference in vivo’s X60 Pro compared to your average Android smartphone would be that the phone is running its own OS called Funtouch OS 11.1, which is based on Android 11.

Cameras

The camera’s are especially exciting on this phone as it’s the first vivo smartphone to be co-engineered with ZEISS, who specialise in optical technology.

It’s likely you’d know ZEISS from it’s frequent logo appearances on professional cameras, such as Sony.

And I was surprised to find that the camera tech in this phone really did make a difference in the quality of the videos and photos it could produce.

The phone has four cameras in total – a 48MP wide, 13MP telephoto and 13MP ultra-wide on the back and a 32MP wide angle front. The 48MP camera is by far my favourite as it’s on a gimbal double-ball suspension mount to allow for gimbal-like steady video recordings.

Through my tests, even compared to popular phone brands, I was impressed with it’s smooth video recordings.

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The phone’s camera has some cool features.

There’s also a special ZEISS Biotar Portrait Style which allows you to take professional looking portrait photos with a swirly bokeh effect which is often only made possible through old vintage camera lenses. This is a sought-after ‘swirly blurred background’ visual effect which I’ve seen making a resurgence lately, especially in different TV series coming out of Hollywood.

Overall all of the cameras did a great job, which was especially impressive as sometimes lesser known smartphone brands are sub-par in the camera department.

But is it worth it?

So why go vivo when there are so many other phones on the market? Well, the phone is pretty up to par with your typical premium android smartphone, though I was disappointed that X60 Pro doesn’t have stereo speakers or wireless charging. It’s also lacking an IP rating (waterproofing or dust proofing) but I can forgive that.

If you’re particularly fond of quirky photography and videography tools though, the vivo X60 Pro is a phone you should definitely take a look at. The ability to carry a phone in your pocket that can mimic an old vintage style film camera and conversely record incredibly new-age stable video is not just a gimmick – it’s awesome.

For the creative types, or documenters, who are always taking photos and videos this might be a great alternative to carrying around a larger camera.

Vivo might be a lesser known brand in Australia, but they’re still breaking into the market and it’s worth noting that they’re well known in our neighbouring countries. At $1099 I think the phone is priced a little steep, making it a tricky decision as a first pick for a smartphone, but it’s cameras can certainly stack up next to Apple’s and Samsung’s, which is impressive.

Elly Awesome is an Aussie tech and lifestyle vlogger | @ellyawwesome | YouTube