Putting the Gimbal system to the test: vivo X50 Pro review

Smartphones giving focus to its cameras has been an emerging trend over the years with companies trying out different configurations: in the notch, pop-up style, and tossing in up to four cameras for the rear. vivo intends to continuously stay innovating, with vivo Malaysia officially launching the gimbal camera system in the X50 series in the country. We got a vivo X50 Pro to try out, so let’s get to it.

The X50 Pro gives off a premium aura from the box itself: the dark blue printed box, then the wrapping for the phone contained inside… the Alpha Grey version gives it an elegant feel. After the vivo NEX 3, it’s yet another phone from vivo having a design in a class of its own. It has a curved screen design, with a matte finish on the glass back to reduce fingerprint marks. It weighs roughly 180g with a thickness of 8mm.

The quad camera setup on the back has a little unconventional arrangement. The upper left corner houses the cameras in like a double-story design, with the main camera, followed by the bokeh and wide-angle camera then the periscope lens. We’ll share the camera shots below.

The right side houses the volume and power button, while the bottom has the SIM slot and speakers, as well as the Type-C charging port.

As for the screen, the X50 Pro looks really wide thanks to its dual-curve design, giving it that premium look, enhanced with the slim bezels. To be more specific, the X50 Pro has a Super AMOLED 6.5 inch screen with 2376 x 1080 resolution and 92% screen to body ratio. The AMOLED panel is able to provide vibrant colours with accurate colours, so enjoy your videos from Youtube to Netflix! The screen also boasts a 90Hz refresh rate, something that’s slowly become the standard.

WIth Funtouch OS, there are certain changes compared to vanilla Android, with support for dark mode and theme customizations, but also font styles, modes for screen colours including that for eye care, and many more. As with many premium flagships, the X50 Pro also has an in-display fingerprint sensor which is closer to the bottom half of the phone, with face unlock available.

In brief, the X50 Pro carries a 765G Snapdragon processor, 256GB on-board storage and 8GB RAM. You can check the Antutu benchmark below for an idea of its performance:

For audio, it utilizes the AK4377A audio chip. The volume is quite low, but on turning it up makes the audio quality less than stellar, so you’d likely prefer to use earphones instead. You can get a pair of TWS Neo earphones that are designed to match with the X50 Pro, sold separately at RM359. It has a 14.2mm Moving-Coil Unit that can produce louder sound, and a bio-fiber composite diaphragm to improve the quality. The earphones come with noise cancelling to ensure clearer sound, along with a variety of smart controls to activate as needed.

Game on

While the camera is probably the X50 Pro’s main draw, it still handles games pretty well. It’s smooth and has no lag, which we put to the test with PUBG Mobile. At the highest settings, the phone performs well across 4 hours, heating up slightly over that period. The grip is somewhat uncomfortable, since there’s no jack for the headphones, so you’ll need a Type-C OTG connector.

The X50 Pro also comes with the standard Ultra Game Mode to restrict calls and notifications so that you can wholly focus on your game. There’s an Esports Mode as well for PUBG Mobile to further enhance graphics and touch sensitivity for your games.

Shot focus!

The vivo X50 Pro’s theme is “photography, redefined”. It boasts the first gimbal function in a smartphone, which stabilizes the camera up to three times better than conventional OIS stabilizers. The main camera is a special Sony IMX598 48MP with f/1.6, with a secondary 13MP f/2.46 portrait sensor, the third being the 8MP f/3.4 5X periscope zoom lens – with 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 60x zoom – and the last one is an ultrawide angle 8MP f/2.2 sensor at 120 degree and supports macro photography up to 2.5cm to the lens. Indeed, these are some of the most comprehensive array of cameras you can get on a smartphone for this year.

Now, for an individual camera breakdown:

MAIN CAMERA

As befitting its main camera status, it’s a highly satisfactory camera, though it does have some issues with colour saturation when it’s set on auto. It’s recommended to manually adjust the settings for some great shots with the X50 Pro. When it comes to modes like close-ups, or portrait modes, the photos turn out really well, capturing the subject as intended. It also has 60x zoom for those really distant shots.

GIMBAL

This is the main selling point for the vivo X50 Pro, to give you better stabilization technology. It’s still not perfect, but it’s nevertheless a robust system, working fine with light shakes and your video won’t be too wobbly, so congrats to vivo! It has room for improvement and polish, for the best stabilization yet.

OTHER CAMERA FEATURES

• Pro Sports Mode Motion AF Tracking
  • Pick an object in frame and set your focus on it, keeping your subject perfectly centered at all times. It also has 3D Voice Tracking so it can follow your subject’s voice from whichever direction
• Extreme Night Vision
  • On top of an already robust night mode camera, AI algorithms helps remove noise and automatically kicks in when there is minimal light, to help you capture anything in the depths of the dark
• Astro Mode
  • Turn on Super Night Portrait to capture your best night time selfie, or Astro Mode for the stars in the sky
• Wide Angle
  • For those clear, wide shots

Battery life

The 4315 mAh battery on the X50 Pro is pretty decent, and even has 33W FlashCharge 2.0 to ensure you don’t run out of battery. With just light use, like scrolling through Facebook or using the camera, the battery can last almost three days. If you’re an avid gamer, then it’ll be just about a day instead, so it depends on your usage. With fast charging, you can get a full battery in roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes, so you’ll always stay powered up.

Verdict

With 5G support, the base vivo X50 is priced at RM2399, while the X50 Pro is at RM3199, If you’re looking for a phone for gaming, you’re probably better off with a more dedicated smartphone since after all, the X50 series is geared towards photography in specific for the shutterbugs. For camera fiends and vloggers, the X50 Pro is a perfectly good investment, and it looks stylish to boot!

Join Us!