Vivo V20 Pro Review: The Perfect Mid-Range Phone

Despite the harsher competition from budget-friendly premium smartphones, the mid-ranges still hold a firm standing on the market, to which Vivo V20 Pro can attest.

With companies going either for the look or the quality, Vivo decides to offer both to a certain extent. Plus, the phone features 5G to make sure that you are future-proof.

Vivo V20 Pro Price

Vivo V20 Pro price in India is Rs. 29,990 for the option with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.

Vivo V20 Pro Design

The matte-finished multi-colored back of the Vivo V20 Pro will surely attract attention and fingerprints.

With a 7.4mm thickness, this is by far one of the thinnest phones anyone can lay eyes on. It weighs 170g thus being the lightest handset when it comes to phones under Rs 30,000.

With the power the Vivo V20 Pro offers, it strikes a perfect balance between how the phone performs and how much it costs.

However, there aren’t without drawbacks. The slim form factor prevents Vivo from adding a few handy features, like a headphone jack, stereo speakers, and a bigger battery.

Vivo V20 Pro Display

Vivo V20 Pro features an FHD+ OLED display measuring 6.44 inches. The brightness is decent and the colors are vibrant. Even at odd angles, there isn’t much color-shifting. Legibility is good under sunlight too.

On the front, the two selfie cameras aren’t very intrusive and the fingerprint reader is fast.

While Vivo announces that Vivo V20 Pro supports HDR, the phone actually doesn’t let you stream in HDR 10+ like OnePlus. So this means users will have to make do with Full HD.

Vivo V20 Pro Software

The next part of our Vivo V20 Pro review is about the software. Except for Pixel phones that have Android 11 out of the box. Vivo is by far the only mid-range phone that isn’t a Pixel that has the latest version of Android.

With all of Android 11’s new features onboard, it almost looks like vanilla Android, except for traces of FuntouchOS scattering all over the place and makes everything looks messy.

The overall experience is a bit inconsistent and inconvenient, unlike what you have with stock Android or OxygenOS of OnePlus. You will still see a handful of Vivo apps, including Video, Notes, Browser, and Music. If you hate the current UX, let’s put your hope on the upcoming Origin OS for a more consistent feel.

However, everything is still butter smooth despite the mix of Android 11 and FuntouchOS, so the best we can say is that there is still room for improvement in Vivo V20 Pro software, and the experience is acceptable, not a total disaster.

Vivo V20 Pro Performance

The star of the Vivo V20 Pro specs sheet is the processor, which is a mid-range one, instead of a budget option.

As you can see from our review of software performance, the chipset enables a smooth performance but that isn’t all, gaming hits a sweet spot too. Call of Duty: Mobile runs at ‘Very High’ setting for both frame rate and graphics.

Heating isn’t a problem thanks to Vivo’s vapor cooling system that the company manages to squeeze into such a small form factor. Asphalt 9 Legends can run at ‘High Quality’ without a glitch so we are confident to say that the Vivo V20 Pro can handle 3D games with ease.

Vivo V20 Pro Camera

If you take lots of portraits, the Vivo V20 Pro is the best you can get at this price point. Pictures taken indoors as well as in daylight look sharp but are still a little saturated. The focus works well in most cases and since Vivo focuses on the eyes, you will have decent portraits regardless of your photography skills.

Landscape shots are detailed as long as you can put up with the level of saturation. The AI camera also tends to lower the darkness of shadow to create a greater contrast so sometimes, you may get a bit frustrated with what it delivers.

Things change when you use Vivo V20 Pro to shoot in low light. The phone tends to overexpose shots. This situation calls for the Night mode, which does a great job maintaining the sharpness.

Video caps at 4K, 30fps. Another option is 1080p at 60fps. No matter which setting you pick, the outcome is stable and has a steady bitrate.

Vivo V20 Pro Battery Life

The phone can survive for 9 hours screen-on time and manage to hold up for a whole day despite the small 4,000 mAh battery.

Vivo has nailed the software optimizations when it comes to preserving battery life and the lack of a high refresh rate contributes to the overall battery life.

Users can feel comfortable playing graphics-demanding games at the highest setting possible without worrying about the phone running out of juice.

And when you finally need to charge, Vivo’s 33 W fast charger can top up the phone in a bit more than an hour, from 0% to 100%.

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