Vivo X300 Pro Delivers The Ideal Camera Upgrades And A Refined Software Push | Tech News

Vivo X300 series brings some notable upgrades but with a significant price hike

Vivo X-series has grown leaps and bounds in the last few years and safe to say it all started with the X100 series a few years back. The X300 series is now out and Vivo is showing off its Zeiss Optics credentials with a dynamic camera setup that has evolved to become one of the best in the market. The company has focused on the basics, heard the feedback from its consumers and worked on making a polished product that delivers on almost all fronts. 

We saw this with the X Fold 5 earlier this year and now it is looking to replicate the formula with the X300 series where our focus is on the premium X300 Pro model. We’re ending the year with a chance to test the new X300 Pro version and here’s what we found out. 

Going Premium 

Vivo X300 Pro costs much more than the X200 Pro but the brand has made sure you get the premium elements with the new product. The glass panel at the back, the flat panel on the side with the frame and even with a heavier build, the X300 Pro goes for refined changes that somehow just works.

When you go through the actual numbers, the X200 Pro at 8.2mm and 228 grams is the heavier of the two, whereas the X300 Pro comes at 8mm and weighs 226 grams. 

These changes are marginal but you do feel the difference, especially now that the curves have been replaced with a flatter frame. Having this change means the in-hand grip and feel is much better and more comfortable than before. You also have IP68 and IP69 ratings, same as the X200 Pro so that durability is not an issue. 

The Flat Year

The X300 Pro goes for the flat panel which adds a different viewing element to the device. We’ve talked about the change in the grip with this change but the flatter display with the same screen size as the X200 Pro means you see much clearer.

The LTPO AMOLED display gets 1B colours and the deep blacks give it a rich experience. 

The use of Armor glass has been questioned but Vivo has managed to show its worth and not relying on the Gorillas for its displays.

The brightness of up to 4,500 nits means you can easily use the phone outdoors under harsh light without any issue. 

The Real Hardware Push 

Vivo’s X-series phones have never lacked in power and once again the X300 series opts for the latest available MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage which we get in India. 

This hardware is quite powerful and the raw benchmarks put it just a shade below the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 version. The overall real time performance is also reliable and you will get most of the regular tasks handled easily. 

Even gaming is part of that setup, however, the chipset does have throttling issues which it most likely does to keep the device cool. This is where gaming needs sustained performance and 3D Mark scores with the frame rates suggest this is not the most ideal device for that. That doesn’t mean it cannot run games, but there are other reliable options available on that front. Maybe a firmware update could help sort out these issues, which we feel Vivo can manage well. 

Enter The OriginOS 

Vivo is finally bringing the OriginOS platform for its devices outside of China, and the X300 series is the first to get it out of the box in India. The new OS feels a lot more fluid and the tone of the animations allow you to experience a smoother operating system compared to the outgoing Funtouch OS which felt quite dated by now. 

This is not the exact replica of the Chinese ROM but the global OriginOS 6 version has covered up most of the bases, including the Origin Island, a private space to secure important files, better lockscreen widget customisations, multi-device connectivity and better effects for the notification centre. 

Having said that, you still have quite a few apps pre-loaded that can be deleted but not warranted for a premium device. 

The Camera Show 

But the star of the X300 Pro show is once again the cameras that offer versatility, dynamism without denting its quality. The 50MP wide main with OIS sensor and the ultra wide angle lens clubbed with the 200MP telephoto lens OIS support show the gulf in quality that you get from images in the premium market. The sensors have been upgraded on the X300 Pro and the results were obviously going to show its impact. 

The main sensor captures some dynamic and crisp images in both daylight and low light conditions. The details are sharp and you get some really delightful pictures. 

The 200MP telephoto lens does make people look clearer and the close up shots have the details that you need. Even the close portraits of objects have the right white balance and the crisp touch. The 50MP ultra wide is no slouch either but the lack of OIS means the low light imaging takes a hit. The new 50MP front selfie camera is also a welcome upgrade and it seems Vivo has used its selfie expertise to make this work really well and the skin details are retained with the natural tones. 

Not One To Struggle 

The Indian variant of the X300 Pro packs a large 6,510mAh battery with 90W wired fast and 40W wireless charging speeds supported. The battery tests give you a clear picture of its endurance and like many other phones launched in recent months, the silicon carbon grade battery allows the device to handle the load for well over a day on moderate use. 

Even the heavy users can easily make the phone run for 24 hours on a single charge. And once you run out of juice, the bundled 90W adapter gives you 100 per cent fuel in less than an hour. This is not the fastest charging speed in the segment these days but still better than 30W or 50W support. 

Vivo X300 Pro builds on the positives of the X200 Pro and manages to upgrade the cameras by some distance. The extender camera kit is a nice addition but we didn’t get to test the unit so can’t talk about its quality. The use of OriginOS has been long awaited and now we can be less critical of Vivo for its software push, having said that, the pre-loaded apps need to go away from this range. 

The battery life is also good for most people, but it is the cameras where the X300 Pro does well yet again. Even the selfies have gotten better which is a welcome sign. All said and done, the X300 Pro is a solid offering that does pinch a bit with the Rs 1,09,999 price tag but still hard to doubt its credentials in the segment.

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