Where most smartphone companies with their increasingly confusing and ever-lengthening naming conventions aren’t doing humanity any favours, Vivo has a rather grounded approach to that. The company has a neatly arranged smartphone lineup, with alphabets that actually give you a clue into the phones’ specifications. The V series, for example, is all about the “ultimate selfie experience,” and browsing the company’s product catalogue I could see many of the phones sport high-res front cameras.
The Vivo V27 Pro is a part of that lineup as is obvious from its name, and therefore it’s no surprise that it features a 50MP front camera. But the phone differs from its fellow brethren in that it’s possibly the first V series phone with a flagship chip. Exactly what that translates to for the regular user is something I’ll be exploring with this review.
What’s good
Design and display
The Vivo V27 Pro has a 6.78-inch display, which is slightly larger than the ‘industry standard’ 6.7-inch screen size. That may not seem like much on paper but I could immediately tell the difference coming from the 6.7-inch Oppo Reno 8T 5G I previously reviewed.
Bezels? What are those? (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
People may not always like curved displays because screen protectors that fit properly are harder to come by and because they’re prone to accidental touches. But I’m all for them. Aside from the wow factor, they’re actually useful – the Vivo V27 Pro is very manageable despite its size owing to the reduced width.
Of course, it would’ve been unforgivable had Vivo cheaped out on the display quality in order to make room (monetarily speaking) for the curves. The brand is aware of that and has shipped the device with an excellent 120Hz panel with poppy colours and great sunlight legibility. The default config should be fine as is but saturation can be turned up with the “Bright” screen colours option.
The Vivo V27 Pro is light-blue under less sunlight (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
Circling back to grip… the Vivo V27 Pro has a textured, fingerprint-resistant back that’s less slippery than plain glass. The phone is also quite light at 182g, meaning no wrist pains with extended usage. The colour-changing back adds a nice, blingy touch, although it takes bright sunlight exposure to kick in.
Performance
MediaTek’s Dimensity 8200 chipset sits a notch below the flagship Dimensity 9000, but is considered a flagship nonetheless. Games like PUBG: New State and Call of Duty Mobile could be played at maximum settings and I encountered no frame drops or heating issues. Vivo’s V series isn’t about gaming, but fair to say, this phone could be billed as a gaming phone.
While Geekbench scores are impressive, the phone does throttle under stress. I didn’t feel that negatively impacting gameplay though (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
Day-to-day usage is a joy as well as the phone doesn’t lag or stutter at all. FuntouchOS is as well-optimised as Android skins can get and apps launch quickly and scroll perfectly well.
Software
The phone boots into Android 13 out of the box (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
Vivo is a BBK Electronics subsidiary, and BBK phones have grown to embrace the stock Android look of late. But among Oppo’s ColorOS, OnePlus’s OxygenOS, and Vivo’s FuntouchOS, I can confidently say that the lattermost is the closest to the experience you get on the Google Pixels, which I am a fan of. Icons are round by default and the quick settings panel has got a very stock Android 11 feel to it. You’ll be loving how everything’s put together if vanilla Android is your cup of tea.
Cameras
The cameras are perhaps my favourite aspect of this device. Now I’m no pro photographer, so I prefer the device taking the wheel, which is something the Vivo V27 Pro does. As an example, switching to the front camera automatically turns on Portrait mode. I was sceptical about this behaviour initially but all doubts were laid to rest as soon as I clicked my first photo. The 50MP selfie shots are highly detailed regardless of the lighting condition and Portrait blurring is faultless no matter the background.
Background blurring is commendable and looks impressively natural (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
The rear cameras are just as impressive. Smartphone cameras have gotten to a point where daylight shots turn out Instagram-worthy on almost every device. The 50MP primary rear camera captures crisp images under bright lighting conditions, so no complaints there.
Almost every sample embedded in this article has been shot with Natural colour turned on, and that mode true to its word, churns out images surprisingly close to what the eye sees.
Details are preserved even when you crop in (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
The HDR kicked in with this shot, better exposing the somewhat darker background (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
AI detected food and immediately turned up saturation for an Instagram-worthy shot (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
Portrait Mode’s Wedding filter in action (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
But where that sensor really shines is in night photography. The Sony IMX766V unit consistently nailed the detail, colours, and dynamic range in every scenario. It had gotten to a point where I would snap a single photo and quickly pocket the device and move on without even checking out the shot – I was that confident in the camera’s abilities.
This shot turned out so good that I posted it on my socials (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
Everything in this shot is exactly the same as what my eyes saw (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
Even the 8MP ultrawide camera fetches you excellent output (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
What’s not good
My single greatest annoyance with this device is the lack of stereo speakers. The single bottom-firing unit is decent but the lack of a secondary speaker really crushes the audio range.
The haptics experience is nowhere close to what you’d expect from a nearly Rs 40k phone with a flagship processor. It’s buzzy, felt unrefined, and I was forced to keep it off for the keyboard.
For some reason, several pre-installed apps and even certain downloaded apps default to 60Hz. Digging through the Settings I did find a way to set them back to 120Hz but this isn’t very ideal.
While I absolutely loved the design of the front of the phone, the rear didn’t carry that kind of appeal. The camera module is extended unnecessarily resulting in a lot of empty space, making it look comical. I’m also not sure why the top of the phone has “PROFESSIONAL PORTRAIT” embezzled across it. Specs like these are best left written on the box.
Verdict
The camera module and back panel have the same shade of blue in indoor lighting (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/Indian Express)
So does the Vivo V27 Pro deserve your pocket? Frankly, there is very little to dislike about this device. The cameras are stellar, the performance is excellent, FuntouchOS is delightful, and everything works as it should. The colour-changing back also sets the phone apart from others in its price segment. Get it if these things matter to you.
My only advice would be to go for the non-Pro variant instead if you’re on a tighter budget as it’s the same beast for Rs 5,000 less (Rs 32,999), with the only difference being a slightly weaker processor. I highly doubt this difference would be noticeable in day-to-day usage. But if you’re unimpressed and performance is your top priority, then the OnePlus 11R will make for an excellent alternative for just Rs 2,000 more.
