Vivo launched a phone that is similar to the NEX we saw last year which was a flagship device, The Vivo V15 Pro has most features are identical to NEX but it comes with a lesser price. The company seems to aim the phone in the upper midrange segment, it lies under Rs 30,000 price bracket. The feature list includes a popup selfie camera, notchless display, in-display fingerprint scanner, Super AMOLED display, triple cameras, dual-engine fast charging, and more. Here’s our Vivo V15 Pro review.
What’s in the box
- Vivo V15 Pro
- Micro USB Cable
- Charger (9V, 2A)
- Protective Case
- User Manuals & Warranty Information
- SIM Tray Ejector
Here’s the unboxing video of the Vivo V15 Pro.
Vivo V15 Pro Specifications
- Display: 6.39-inch Super AMOLED Ultra FullView Display, Full HD+ resolution (2340 x 1080 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio
- Software: Funtouch OS 9 based on Android 9.0 Pie
- Fingerprint Scanner | Face Unlock: Yes, under the screen, Yes
- CPU: Up to 2.0 GHz octa-core Kryo 460 processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC, 11nm
- GPU: Adreno 612
- Memory: 6 GB RAM, LPDDR4X
- Storage: 128 GB internal, up to 256 GB external via microSD card (dedicated)
- Main Camera: Triple cameras, 48 MP (f/1.8 aperture, 0.8 μm pixels, 12 MP output) + 8 MP AI Super Wide-Angle (120-degrees) + 5 MP (depth sensor) with AI Body Shaping, AI Portrait Lighting, Super Night Mode, and dual-tone LED flash
- Selfie Camera (popup): 32 MP, popup, AI Face Beauty
- Other: Competition Mode, Dual-Turbo, Smart Button, Jovi Image Recognizer
- Colors: Topaz Blue, Ruby Red
- Battery: 3,700 mAh with Dual-Engine Fast Charging
- Price: ₹28,990
- Availability: Amazon India, Sale starts from 6th March 2019
Design, Build, & Ergonomics
Turning on the phone and you will see a neat display without notches, it has an ultra-full view display with minimum bezels and curved edges. It has a 6.39-inch screen with Full HD+ resolution and uses a Super AMOLED panel.
The Vivo V15 Pro uses a glass-finish design with gradient look on the rear side. On the back of the phone, there you will see beautiful glass finish ‘Spectrum Ripple Design’ that flaunts a textured pattern all over giving the phone an attractive look.
The top side has an opening for the selfie camera, it pops out from the top when in front camera mode. You can see a tri-camera setup at the back. there are a total of four cameras onboard, three on the back and one that pops out from the top.
You will notice there’s no physical fingerprint scanner on the phone, it features an in-display fingerprint scanner that unlocks the phone by putting your thumb (or finger) on the screen where the area glows.
The sides offer a 3.5 mm port for earphones/headphones on top alongside a microphone and the opening for the popup camera. What’s disappointing is the old micro USB port which the company could have replaced with a USB Type-C port instead.
The left side offers a dual SIM tray supporting two 4G SIM slots and dual VoLTE feature. Thanks to the triple slot tray, the phone has a dedicated microSD card slot that expands up to 256 GB. The Vivo V15 Pro also comes with an added Smart key just below the SIM tray for waking up the Google Assistant.
Display
The V15 Pro sports a 6.39-inch Super AMOLED Ultra FullView display with no notch on the screen. Vivo brings something new to the table, the Vivo V15 Pro doesn’t come with a notch, this is where Vivo V15 Pro stands out since most Androids are stuck with a notched display.
Speaking more of the display, it offers a resolution of Full HD+ and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It has a whopping 91.64% screen-to-body ratio and an almost bezel-less design. It uses an AMOLED panel and the quality of this display is great compared to the IPS displays in the segment.
As usual, the FunTouch OS doesn’t offer you much options in the display, you can enable the eye protection, color temperature, and the third party aspect ratio for full screen compatibility.
Software & User Interface
On the software side, the Vivo V15 Pro leads with Android Pie out-of-the-box while many phones are still stuck with the Oreo. It is layered with the new FunTouch OS 9 customized interface that looks similar to the one on iPhones.
Anyways, there’s no major change in the software, you get the dedicated assistant key that opens the Google Assistant as well as the Google Lens integration in the camera. The software is also optimized for the new notchless screen resolution and some AI camera upgrades.
The bloatware is present as usual but can be removed or disabled if not required. Other features include gesture-based navigation, Face Unlock, App Clone, Motorbike mode, Auto Shazam, and more. For more details on the FunTouch OS, refer to our past Vivo phones software section in the reviews.
The fingerprint scanner isn’t fast as you unlock with a physical scanner, but it’s handy since it’s on the screen. The Face Unlock is super fast, as fast as a blink of an eye, but anyone with a photo of your face can unlock the device.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
Vivo puts an upper midrange chip in the V15 Pro, this is the first smartphone launched in India to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC. The Snapdragon 675 is faster than the Snapdragon 660 found on the Vivo V11 Pro and other similar phones.
Digging more into the specs, the chip consists of eight Kryo 460 cores clocked up to 2.0 GHz laced 6 GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128 GB internal storage with a microSD card expansion slot.
Vivo V15 Pro Key Specifications
- Display: 6.39-inch Super AMOLED Ultra FullView Display, Full HD+ resolution (2340 x 1080 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio
- Software: Funtouch OS 9 based on Android 9.0 Pie
- CPU: Up to 2.0 GHz octa-core Kryo 460 processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC, 11nm
- GPU: Adreno 612
- Memory: 6 GB RAM, LPDDR4X
- Storage: 128 GB internal, up to 256 GB external via microSD card (dedicated)
- Battery: 3,700 mAh with Dual-Engine Fast Charging
Benchmarks on the phone are way better than the Vivo V11 Pro, the performance of the phone is impeccable. Take a look at the benchmarks we performed on the phone.
The Vivo V15 Pro uses Adreno 612 GPU and gaming won’t be an issue if you are a moderate gamer. Most games would run on high settings, we tried PUBG on high graphics and it was smooth without any lags. Also, the full screen makes a better gaming experience as compared to the notched phones.
The phone heats a little no load, long hours of gaming and video recording when using the camera makes the devices slightly hot, not too hot to handle.
Cameras
Talking about the cameras, the Vivo V15 Pro equips with 3 + 1 cameras, the rear side has triple cameras while the front has a popup selfie camera that comes out from the top on the phone. The elevating camera is indeed new for many of us, it was first seen on the Vivo NEX.
The front camera is a whopping 32 MP and it’s world’s first phone to have a 32 MP camera on the front side. Flipping the phone reveals a triple camera setup of the left, 48 MP + 8 MP + 5 MP making it a camera-centric phone.
The 48 MP with f/1.8 aperture is the primary sensor utilizing the quad-pixel technology, it uses 4-in-1 pixel technology to deliver 12 MP photos with a pixel size of 1.6 μm. Another camera i.e. 8 MP uses a wide-angle lens with 120-degree FOV whereas the remaining 5 MP is actually a depth sensor that helps adding the bokeh effects in the photos when taking portraits.
The camera interface has plenty of features, AI Beauty, Portrait bokeh, Portrait light effect, Wide angle mode, Night mode, AR Stickers, Pro mode, and so on. The triple cameras make it a camera-centric device. The quality of the camera is exceptionally commendable, the camera captures details, the edge detection is good, the overall quality does fairly a great job.
Here are some shots that we took from the Vivo V15 Pro camera.
Vivo V15 Pro Camera Samples
Vivo V15 Pro Selfies – 32 MP Camera
Battery Runtime & Charging
Speaking of the battery and charging, the phone packs a 3,700 mAh capacity battery with support for Dual-Engine fast charging technology. The one thing that keeps me bugging is the USB port which isn’t Type-C, that looks old school now, although it doesn’t affect the charging speeds.
The battery can more than a day on moderate use, our test suggests that it can last up to 1.5 days depending upon the usage. You can still make it to the second day if you are using it less often, we got 1 day and 16 hours of battery life on average use. The overall battery life experience on the Vivo V15 Pro is decent.
Charging the phone takes around 90 minutes to charge fully which is fast, however, there are phones exist that can charge the battery in an hour or so. Nevertheless, it’s still considered faster than many phones, Vivo V15 Pro is ahead in its class in terms of charging.
Verdict
The Vivo V15 Pro has impressed with its features, the popup camera is a standout feature in addition to its fullscreen notchless design. It also comes with a great AMOLED display, reliable triple cameras, and an in-display fingerprint scanner which makes it an overall better device in the segment, not to mention it has a solid performance. If you are looking for a phone with a complete package under Rs 30,000, the Vivo V15 Pro is recommended.
Strength
- Super AMOLED Display
- Full Screen Notchless Design | Popup Selfie Camera
- In-Display Fingerprint Scanner
- Mind-Boggling Selfies
- Reliable Triple Cameras | 48MP Shots | Wide Angle Shots | Bokeh Photos
- Fast Performer | Snapdragon 675
- Dual Engine Super Fast Charging (9V, 2A)
- Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box
- MicroSD Support
Weakness
- No USB Type-C