Vivo started off as a camera-centric smartphone brand and the legacy continues to date. Its new age smartphones, however, go beyond imaging experience with novel design languages, interesting colour themes, screens of high refresh rate, swift performance, and fast charging capabilities. Moreover, there has been constant efforts on improving the interface experience by the Chinese smartphone maker.
Case in point is the recently launched Vivo V27 Pro. From thin-and-light form factor to colour changing back cover (review unit: magic blue colour) and swift performance, this smartphone packs a punch in a slender design. The smartphone is comfortable to hold and operate and it is among the few phones in its segment that you can use without the case or cover. It is because the phone’s glass back panel has a matte finish with smooth texture. It feels good in hands and is resistant to fingerprints and smudges, thus keeps the sheen intact after extended usage.
Lifting the aesthetics is the two-side curved 6.78-inch 10-bit AMOLED screen of 120Hz refresh rate. The curvature on the sides of the front and the back glasses leaves thin space for the plastic frame that holds them together. Therefore, the phone feels thinner than it actually is. Aesthetics aside, the screen is bright, vivid, and responsive. It feels natural to use with gesture navigation. Curved screens are notorious for registering accidental touches, but it is not the case here. One thing, however, that holds back the otherwise good screen is off the mark colour accuracy.
Coming to the imaging experience, there is quite a bit to like about the Vivo V27 Pro. Portrait is on focus here and the smartphone impresses every time you click on the shutter button. There are portrait styles and beauty mode integrated in the portrait mode to add zing to the experience. With portrait styles and beauty features enabled, the end result looks synthetic but good. The add-ons can be disabled for natural portraits, which look as good and detailed. The smartphone does not have a dedicated telephoto lens, but it can do 2x portraits from the primary sensor with minimal degradation in quality – especially in good light conditions.
For low-light, there is a specific style that enables flash light and adds artificial flares in the frame. Like other styles, the end result in this mode looks heavily processed but good.
Unlike other smartphones, irrespective of price band, the novel portrait experience extends to a 50MP autofocus front camera. There are, however, different portrait styles here. The beauty-related features are, however, similar.
Portraits aside, the Vivo V27 Pro primary 50-megapixel camera sensor with optical image stabilisation is good in capturing fine details, punchy colours, and wide dynamic range. Shutter speed is on the slow side, especially in low-light conditions, but you still get stable shots as long as there is no fast moving object in the frame. The 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera is good, but struggles in low-light conditions. The macro camera is there for novelty and it delivers usable quality results only in daylight condition.
The imaging experience, considering the phone’s mid-range pricing, is good. But the camera interface leaves one asking for more. Not that it is bad or lacks any feature, but it seems tuned for a different audience. I liked it in the iQOO Neo 7 5G (review) because the interface with yellow accented icons suited the performance-centric (gaming) personality of the smartphone.
Speaking of performance, the Vivo V27 Pro packs a surprise. From smooth user interface transitions to quick app loading time, the smartphone impresses with swift performance. It handles daily routine tasks with ease and shows no weakness while handling power-and-graphic intensive tasks. It is as good for gaming with no visible lag or drop in performance after extended usage. Complementing the performance is the Funtouch OS 13 interface, which is based on Android 13 operating system. It is not perfect, but the inconsistencies are mostly cosmetic and may get fixed with future software updates.
Keeping the show going is the 4,600 mAh battery, which is good for a day use. Pushing the phone to its limit by playing graphic intensive games and constantly using the camera for photos and videos drains the battery quickly, but fret not because the phone comes with a 66W fast charger that takes about an hour to refill the completely drained battery.
Verdict
The Vivo V27 Pro is a camera-centric smartphone with strengths all across. It has an interesting colour changing design, bright and responsive screen, novel imaging-related features, and swift performance. At Rs 37,999 onwards, the Vivo V27 Pro is worth considering if you are in the market looking for a smartphone that packs a punch in a slender form factor.
