Vivo X70 Pro Review: Thin, Light and Absolutely Gorgeous!

Before we get into the review, I do have to talk about how unfortunate it is that Vivo will not be bringing the X70 Pro Plus into Singapore. The Vivo X70 Pro that we have for this review isn't a bad phone by any means, but it's using the Dimensity 1200 chipset, which, while good, still isn't as well-known as a Snapdragon processor.

The phone looks really beautiful though. The unit we have is the Aurora Dawn colourway, which has a soft-touch coating on the rear that shimmers and changes colour from purple to blue to yellow. It's definitely one of the nicer phones to hold in the hand thanks to the textured back. It's also incredibly light at around 183g, which almost makes it feel like a toy after using heavier phones like an iPhone 13 Pro Max, but the curved edges are much more comfortable in the hand.

As for the screen, it's a 6.56-inch AMOLED display that's vibrant and can get very bright at 1300 nits max brightness, meaning there's no problem with viewing content even in bright daylight. The screen also has a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling or playing games buttery smooth, and HDR10+ support means HDR content like shows on Netflix look superb on the phone.

There's an under-display fingerprint reader, although I must say the location of the reader is a bit puzzling. It's quite close to the bottom of the phone, which nobody would really expect out of an under-display fingerprint reader. It definitely took me some time to get used to the low placement, but the reader was fast and responsive; unlocking the phone was really snappy.

Let's talk about specs. Under the hood, there's the MediaTek Dimensity 1200-vivo chipset mentioned earlier, and the model we have on hand for the review comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, although Vivo has their Extended RAM feature similar to Oppo's Memory Expansion Technology which can allow for the phone to use regular storage space as RAM, up to 4GB.

So theoretically, there's a possible 16GB of RAM on the Vivo X70 Pro, although it's likely that the extra 4GB of RAM wouldn't be as fast. Nevertheless, I didn't notice the phone ever really needing that extra RAM, with the maximum usage hovering around 8GB at the max on most days. Testing with Geekbench though, we got a single-core score of 852 and a multi-core score of 2759. Both scores aren't the highest of course, but the single-core score performed better than the Samsung Galaxy S20+, Note 20 Ultra and more.

Regardless, the phone was snappy and apps opened fast, even if I kept over 10+ apps open in the background.

There's also support for 5G, which is certainly nice, but it's something that we've come to expect out of even mid-range phones in this day and age.

Moving on to the cameras though, the Vivo X70 series is continuing the brand's aspiration of creating one of the world's best mobile photography experiences, and it's clear to see that they're serious about it thanks to their collaboration with Zeiss. Not only are the lenses made in partnership with Zeiss, but there's also even a new Zeiss T* coating that is intended to reduce lens flare, ghosting and the likes.

As for the camera array, it's composed of a 50MP main camera that has Vivo's gimbal tech, a 12MP portrait camera, a 12MP wide-angle camera and an 8MP periscope camera. On the front, there's a 32MP front camera for selfies.

Photos are generally clear and pretty detailed, although you do get plenty of post-processing and saturation added. Certain times, I was even a bit miffed by the auto HDR since I thought it didn't quite capture the vibe I was going for. Take, for example, the two photos above. I wanted to capture the sky as the sun was setting. The photo taken with the X70 Pro (left) is still nice, but I would have preferred not to have the greenery exposed properly. The photo that was taken with the iPhone 13 Pro Max (right) actually felt more like what I wanted to capture, with the foliage purposely underexposed to let the focus of the photo be on the sky.

That being said, I did think the X70 Pro shined better in low light conditions. Here are two photos taken at exactly the same time, 7:07pm, and the photo from the X70 Pro (left) is much crisper and brighter than the one taken with the iPhone 13 Pro Max (right).

It's not always the case though, as evidenced by this other photo. I personally felt the one taken with the iPhone 13 Pro Max (right) had a bit more pop and 3D-ness to the sign, while the one taken with the X70 Pro (left) felt a bit flatter and less contrasty.

In ultra-low light conditions though, I was absolutely blown away by the X70 Pro. Sure, it did take a while to snap the photo so it might not be ideal for human subjects since we tend to move and introduce motion blur into the photo, but if the phone can be placed on a stable surface, night shots can definitely be very well lit up.

Overall, it's a pretty decent showing from the cameras and I think the gimbal stabilisation tech has definitely been improved over the years.

Credit: Vivo

When it comes to battery life, the X70 Pro is pretty decent. It's rocking a 4,450mAh battery that's capable of 44W fast charging and Vivo even includes that 44W fast charger right out of the box, which is nice since you don't need to purchase a separate brick.

The Vivo X70 series 5G will be available in Singapore from 4 December 2021 onwards at major telcos, Vivo's official store on Lazada, Shopee, consumer electronics and IT stores, authorised retailers and Vivo's flagship store at Causeway Point.

The recommended retail price for the Vivo X70 and Vivo X70 Pro is S$949 and S$1,199 respectively. For a limited time, people who purchase the Vivo X70 series 5G phones through official platforms will receive a free gift. Purchasers of the Vivo X70 Pro will receive a free pair of Vivo TWS 2 ANC earbuds worth S$149, and purchase of the Vivo X70 will receive a pair of Vivo TWS 2e earbuds worth S$99.