Best ZEISS Phone? – vivo V30 Pro 5G Review

I’ve spent a whole month daily driving vivo’s latest device on and off and here’s what I think about it. This is my vivo V30 Pro 5G review.

The V30 Pro 5 is vivo’s recently launched portrait master phone. It’s been a while since it was launched already, but I wanted to see how it performs long-term, hence this late review. But before we get straight to my opinions about the device, let’s start with what it comes with out-of-the-box.

What’s Inside the Box

Along with the phone itself, it also comes with the usual accessories. This includes a quick start guide, warranty booklet, USB Type A to Type C cable, and its charger or power brick. And like most vivo phones, it also comes with a free clear case. You can check my unboxing and first impression video below.

Design and Build Quality

The variant that we have is the Petals White colorway. As the name suggests, the back really looks like petals of a white flower. It feels a bit like plastic, but it’s not noticeable at first glance. It also looks like it’s textured, but it’s really smooth to the touch. It still looks very elegant though. What adds to its elegance is its thinness. It’s only around 7.6 mm of thickness. Even with the free clear case on, it still looks and feels very thin.

Though it’s thin, it does have some heft to it. The weight actually gives me confidence on its durability and build quality. Buttons also feels durable and not mushy at all. Lastly, its display is protected by Schott α glass. I’m not really sure how strong it is compared to Kunlun or Gorilla glass, but the screen does seem durable enough.

AMOLED Display

Speaking of the screen, the device sports a 6.67-inch AMOLED display which provides clear, crisp images with bright and vibrant colors. It also has thin bezels and curved sides which adds to the viewing experience, as well as making it comfortable to hold.

With support of up to 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, the display is pleasing to the eyes whether browsing the internet, watching a video, or playing games. It enables the screen to be buttery smooth, and power efficient when needed.

Battery Life and Charging

While having the device as my daily driver to write this vivo V30 Pro 5G review, I found its battery life to be quite impressive. I lasted more than a day on my normal use, even going up to 2 days. On heavy usage, it had enough juice to last you until you get home and recharge.

Recharging the device is also a breeze thanks to its 80W FlashCharge support. It can be charged from 0% to 100% in less than an hour. This is very handy when you are in need of a quick recharge.

Performance and Gaming

Though power efficient, it doesn’t hold back on its performance. Powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 8200, the V30 Pro 5G delivers exceptional performance for daily use. It can handle multiple tasks all day, thanks to its 12GB RAM with an additional 12GB Dynamic RAM. It also has a huge 512GB internal storage for all your files. Though it has a big storage capacity, it does not, however, have the option for external storage. But I think 512GB is plenty enough. Instead of a MicroSD card slot, vivo has opted for a dual SIM slot.

For gaming, it runs smooth with no issues. I’ve tried playing Solo Leveling: Arise on it at high settings. It was a great gaming experience. Visuals were crisp and smooth, and I didn’t experience any lag and stutters whatsoever. It does feel hot over long gaming sessions, even with its case. I would assume that the heat would be worst on a more demanding game.

Other than the heat when gaming, it performs exceptionally well. If you are interested about its benchmark scores, you can check them out below.

• PCMark Work 3.0 = 11,705
• PCMark Storage 2.0 = 31,493
• 3DMark Wild Life = 6,607
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme = 1,180
• 3DMark Steel Nomad Light = 674

Audio Quality

One thing I don’t like about the device though is its underwhelming audio quality. It’s not actually bad, but it’s not that great either. With the amazing quality of its display, I was expecting it to be paired with amazing audio as well. I wished it had at least stereo speakers in addition to its cinematic viewing experience. It only has a single-firing speaker at the bottom. It produces a pretty balanced audio, and can get go up to 150% volume. It’s loud enough to fill a large room though. But in comparison to its competition, it is noticeable that the quality is lacking. If you love listening to music though, better do it with wireless buds.

User Experience

The V30 Pro 5G runs in Funtouch OS 14, which is based on Android 14. It offers smooth and snappy UI experience. It also offers a few customizations to personalize your experience. Aside from themes and icons, you can also change the charging animation, fingerprint icon animation, as well as face recognition animation.

It does come with a ton of bloatware out-of-the-box though. You can uninstall them, but there are a lot that it’s very inconvenience to get rid of them one by one. Another annoying experience about the device is some of the notifications form vivo’s native apps. I’ve always said this about vivo devices, vivo should just do away with them.

Camera Quality

Saving the best for last for this vivo V30 Pro 5G review is the camera quality. Its cameras are the devices number one selling point, they even marketed it as the Portrait Expert. And to fortify its status, the cameras as co-engineered with ZEISS. It features a triple camera setup at the rear. It’s composed of a 50MP Sony IMX920 main shooter, 50MP ultra-wide, and another 50MP macro lens. For the front, it also has a 50MP selfie cam.

Picture Quality is excellent. As one would expect, they capture amazing details and sharpness with great color accuracy. The device is perfect for both casual shooters and photography enthusiast. It’s easy user-friendly, and produces high-quality images with ease. Having both an ultra-wide and telephoto lens is a plus. This helps the shooter adapt to any environment and scenario. Though not really an optical zoom lens, the digital zoom is quite decent. It loses a bit of detail, but still looks good compared to other devices’ digital zoom.

Below are some sample shots I took with the vivo V30 Pro 5G.

Aura Light Portrait 3.0

The feature that stood out the most is the upgraded Aura Light Portrait 3.0. It’s a diffused flash that helps light the subject. It is paired with vivo’s algorithm to produce well-lit image with accurate skin tones. The last time I checked out a vivo device with Aura Light was the vivo V27e, you can check out my review of it on the link below.

What’s better about this version of the Aura Light is that we can now control the color temperature. This means we can control the light more to make skin tones look better or to balance the overall lighting. We can also just leave it at auto and the device will just adjust it to balance the color temperature. Below are some sample shots with and without Aura Light Portrait 3.0.

vivo V30 Pro 5G Specifications

Verdict

The vivo V30 Pro 5G definitely has amazing camera capabilities, true to the ZIESS name. It can capture amazing photos, whether you’re a photography enthusiast or a complete beginner. It can also be perfect for content creators to capture near perfect photos for posting, or even videos. Aside from having amazing cameras, it also has internals capable of handling multiple apps. This makes it a great device for multitasking. And it certainly served me well as a daily driver for over a month while writing this vivo V30 Pro 5g review. The biggest con though is it’s a bit on the pricier side. But in my opinion, its amazing cameras is totally worth the high price tag.

If you are interested in getting the vivo V30 Pro 5G, you can get if for PHP 34,999. It’s a bit on the pricier side, but I think the camera quality alone is worth it. You score the device at vivo concept stores and retailers nationwide, as well as online on Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop. Links below.