vivo’s
camera-focused X-series is back with a bang – and a more premium standing. The
new vivo X30 and X30 Pro feature Samsung chipsets with an integrated 5G modem,
a first in the industry, even before Samsung did it.
The
two models are almost the same phone, the major difference is that the Pro has
a 5x periscope camera. It shoots 12MP photos at a native focal length of 135mm,
but digital zoom can go up to 60x magnification (and there’s a dedicated mode
for photos of the Moon).
A
defining feature of the X30 camera setup is the 50mm portrait camera. It has a
high resolution 32MP sensor and a bright f/2.0 aperture. Taking a page out of
Sony’s handbook, the autofocus locks onto the eyes of your subjects and will
track them as they move. There’s a bokeh feature too, naturally. Note that since the 50mm portrait cam on
the non-Pro model is its only zoom camera, it tops out at 2x optical and 20x
digital zoom.
The
main camera of both phones packs a 64MP sensor and a 26.4mm lens with f/1.8
aperture. The Super Night mode can stack 12-16 photos to reduce the noise in
the dark. There’s also “Hyper HDR”, which specializes in shooting against the
sun or bright lights at night. Then
there’s the 8MP ultrawide-angle camera, 16mm or 108° (after perspective
correction), which takes 8MP photos. Finally, the 32MP selfie camera lives in a
tiny punch hole, a hair under 3mm in diameter.
vivo
calls the 6.44” Super AMOLED panel “XDR display”. It boasts 800 nits of
brightness, going up to a maximum of 1,200 nits local brightness. The panel has
1,080 x 2,400 resolution. The
vivo X30 and X30 Pro are powered by the Exynos 980 chipset. It features two
Cortex-A77 cores (which promise a 20% performance boost over the A76), plus six
A55 cores. The CPU and the Mali-G76 MP5 GPU are hooked up to a heat pipe to
keep them running cool.
The
most interesting part of this chipset is the integrated 5G modem. It can
deliver speeds up to 3.55Gbps (combining 4G and 5G). The “Multi-Turbo 2.5”
feature will switch over to 4G or 5G if the Wi-Fi network is slow to ensure
things download as fast as possible. Both
phones feed off a 4,350mAh battery, which supports 33W Flash Charge through the
USB-C port. There’s also a dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack.
The
two phones come out in China later this month. The vivo X30 Pro comes out first
(December 24) and will cost CNY 4,000 for the 8/128GB model and CNY 4,300 for
the 8/256GB option. The
vivo X30 will be available only in 8/128GB configuration at first, starting on
December 28 at a price of CNY 3,300. There’s an 8/256GB version in the cards
targeting CNY 3,600. Note
that the phones run Funtouch OS 10 out of the box, after the Jovi rebrand was
canceled. Anyway, the latest Funtouch is based on Android 9, here’s a quick
introduction.
