Vivo V30 Pro Review: A Midranger With Flagship Tendencies

Something else bound to catch your eye is the LED flash module encased in a section surrounded by what Vivo calls the Aura light, which we’ll discuss later. Zeiss’s branding is apparent on the camera housing, which looks a tad out of place in my view. Perhaps Zeiss needs to make a more design-friendly logo for use on the rear panels of smartphones.

Elsewhere, the V30 Pro is extremely thin— at just 7.45mm, it’s actually Vivo’s slimmest phone with a 5,000mAh battery.

Hardware

Performance

Thanks to MediaTek’s Dimensity 8200 processor, the V30 Pro has enough performance to scream through any task, putting some other mid-range chipsets to shame. Paired with 12GB of RAM and the extra 12GB of virtual memory enabled, the Vivo 30 Pro multitasks like a pro. Gaming is also excellent, with more than a few hours of Call of Duty Mobile being played with graphics on high.

The AMOLED display has curved edges, a 1260 x 2800 resolution, a 60-120Hz refresh rate, and can up to 2800 nits during HDR10 playback (yes, it has the proper Widevine DRM certification). Frankly, it’s one of the better mid-range displays I’ve experienced. Sure, the edges aren’t as subtle as you might see on other phones, but they make the phone more comfortable to hold.

The sound could be better, however. Vivo saw fit only to equip the V30 Pro with a single speaker. The speaker has decent sound quality, although it can be dampened if your hand covers the audio chamber.

Battery

Given its thinness, I was genuinely surprised when I discovered that Vivo had somehow squeezed in a 5,000mAh battery in the V30 Pro. Thanks to the excellent power efficiency of the Dimensity 8200, they could have gotten away with a smaller capacity, but I’m happy they didn’t. Getting a full day’s usage, however it was used without any power-saving measures enabled, is always appreciated.

Topping up the battery is nice and quick as well, thanks to the 80W charging, which achieved 0-100% in a little under 46 minutes. Sure, there’s no wireless charging, but with the speed of the wired charging and the V30 Pro’s price point, one could argue it isn’t necessary.

Software

Vivo’s Funtouch OS 14 is based on Android 14 and offers a bunch of customization options. It’s a similar experience to the one I had with the IQOO 12 a few weeks back, so it was pretty familiar. Vivo has included an unhealthy helping of bloatware in the software experience, which now includes “Hot Apps” and a bunch of games you’ll never want to play. Luckily, as with the IQOO 12, it can all be uninstalled. Thankfully.

Otherwise, Vivo offers a pair of OS upgrades for the V30 Pro along with three years of security patches. While this is better than some brands that barely offer a single OS upgrade, it’s not as good as Samsung or even Poco’s commitment to software support for its X6 Pro.

Cameras

The V30 Pro’s four 50MP sensors don’t disappoint in the photography department. The rear panel houses three of them, including a primary, ultra-wide, and portrait lens. The inclusion of Zeiss know-how is a first for the V-series of smartphones, benefitting from exclusive photo styles and color tuning.

As is almost always the case, the primary camera gives the best rewards, although that’s not because the others aren’t good. The main 50MP camera takes pictures with minimal noise and motion blur, and I’m always thankful for the reliability of saving the results. It’s a hangover from an experience with a Pixel phone back in the day.

As you can see from the images below, the ultra-wide lens is great for snapping landscape shots, and the portrait lens doubles as a very capable macro lens that shames those nasty 2MP macro sensors.

The Aura light is more useful than the traditional flash, but I wouldn’t advise using it. Still, its ability to be dimmed so it doesn’t blind the person you are taking a photo of is a bonus.

The front-facing, or rather, selfie camera’s 50MP sensor can take group selfies thanks to its wider-than-normal FOV. It uses autofocus to produce excellent image quality regardless of the subject. It’s certainly as good as or even better than some flagship smartphones. There’s a good amount of bokeh, and the images are excellent to belabor a point.

Conclusion

As you’ve read, there’s little to criticize the V30 Pro besides something it has in common with phones from Vivo, Realme, Poco, and other brands. It’s not being released in the US or the UK, making it rather challenging to get hold of unless you go via a third-party seller. I would also like Vivo to commit to OS upgrades and security updates for four and five years, respectively, as the V30 Pro isn’t an entry-level smartphone.

And that’s a shame. The V30 Pro is excellent in most regards, and at roughly $550, it would be a good competitor for the OnePlus 12R and even the Pixel 7a in the US and UK. With cameras capable of flagship-quality images, super-fast charging, power to burn, and a unique 3D finish on its back panel, the Vivo V30 knocks it out of the park. There’s a smattering of bloatware to contend with, but it’s all easily uninstallable, so it’s hardly a dealbreaker.

If you live in a region where the V30 Pro has been released, it offers far more bang for your buck than similarly priced rivals.