vivo X50: A great smartphone for camera enthusiasts [Full review]

Is this the X you’ve been looking for?

The X50 is the latest smartphone from Vivo, claiming to be the company’s “Professional Photography Flagship.” This smartphone indeed has a powerful camera that boasts excellent night photography and stabilized motion photos. Besides the camera, the phone’s main specifications include a Snapdragon 765G processor, 8GB+128G/8G+256G of RAM depending on the model chosen, 33W vivo FlashCharge for quick charging, and a 4200mAh battery. Other welcome features of the Vivo X50 include an In-Display Fingerprint Scanner and Facial Recognition for added security.

Design and build: My favorite so far

In terms of the phone’s exterior, it’s available in Frost Blue and Glaze Black colorways. Whichever color you choose, both options have an attractive Dual Tone Step effect which highlights the build of the phone. To contrast the flashiness at the back, the phone’s ‘Flat Ultra O’ 6.56-inch crystalline screen is composed of AG Matte Glass. This is my favorite design as it’s my favorite color and it’s really pleasing to the eye. 

The actual dimensions of the phone are a sizable 159.54mm x 75.39mm, while it weighs just 174 grams. The smooth metal frame and finishing enhance the slim profile. Other exterior features include a volume adjuster and power button on the sides of the phone, while the bottom of the phone includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, Type C port, speaker and card tray for two nano-SIM cards. 

Camera: Flagship camera for a midrange smartphone

As mentioned earlier, the main highlight of the Vivo X50 is its camera. The technical specifications of the camera include a 48 megapixel main camera with Sony IMX598 sensor and optical stabilization, 13 megapixel bokeh, 8 megapixel super wide-angle with 120-degree field of view, and 5 megapixel macro cameras. It has a 20x Digital Zoom, and an OIS + EIS stabilizer for taking pictures of moving subjects. It comes with various photography modes like Extreme Night Vision, Astro Mode, Super Night HDR, Pro Sports Mode, Motion AF Tracking, and Instant Vlog. 

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On the front of the phone is a 32-megapixel selfie camera. It captures high quality selfies during the day. Pictures taken with unfavorable lighting were decent but heavy on the AI beautification.

Under the hood

Processor: Good enough

In terms of performance, the Snapdragon 765G processor paired with 8GM RAM and 128GB storage. It’s adequate enough for most applications and tasks, including more demanding games like Fortnite, Mobile Legends and Asphalt 9. Overall, the graphics when gaming looked sharp and the gameplay was smooth with its 90Hz refresh rate. 

It had these scores from 3D Mark and Geekbench

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Operating System 

The X50 runs on Funtouch OS 10.5. You can choose from a lot of dynamic effects in your settings, create your own short cuts on your home page, and it has a lot of pre-installed apps. To name a few it has vivo.com, vivocloud, kids mode, and google mobile services. These pre-installed apps may consume an amount of storage but at least these can be uninstalled, except for the vivo-owned applications.

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It also has Ultra Game Mode that lets you block any notifications, lock the screen’s brightness, improve visual effects and so on. 

Battery

The X50’s battery is dependable enough for a whole day of regular usage, including gaming or streaming. When out of battery, the phone takes around 50-70 minutes for a full charge using the phone’s 33-watt flash charger 

Verdict

The vivo X50 has an impressive camera even if it doesn’t have the same features as the X50 pro but this makes it a lot cheaper and affordable because it retails at P25,999. It’s actually still a bit more expensive compared to its competitors especially since its processor is just par for the course.

If you’re a camera lover or you just love taking photos, this is the X you might be looking for. 😉