Vivo’s V29 Professional, which was launched final 12 months in India, was a reasonably good smartphone on paper and in real-world use as nicely. Its successor, the brand new Vivo V30 Professional, additionally has a couple of new methods up its sleeves with some attention-grabbing Zeiss-branded cameras. The trio of 50-megapixel cameras declare to supply some attention-grabbing portrait images options referred to as ‘Zeiss Type Bokehs’ that intention to imitate high-end Zeiss digital camera lenses. The model has additionally pressured the inclusion of Zeiss-branded cameras, which, for the very first time, can be found on a V collection smartphone. However all these fancy digital camera options include an above-average mid-premium price ticket. After totally testing out this cellphone, let’s discover out if it is worthy of its price ticket and the way nicely it stacks up towards the competitors.
Vivo V30 Professional Evaluate: Value in India
The Vivo V30 Professional is offered in two variants: one with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which is priced at Rs. 41,999 and one other with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, priced at Rs. 46,999. It is available in two color choices, Andaman Blue and Traditional Black, in India, in contrast to the worldwide variant, which is offered in 4 color choices. The smartphone competes with the OnePlus 12R, Samsung’s Galaxy S23 FE and the Nothing Telephone 2.
The Vivo V30 Professional comes with an 80W adaptor
Vivo V30 Professional Evaluate: Design
We acquired the Andaman Blue color choice, and this variant has a shiny glass rear panel, which, in response to the model, resembles the emerald waters of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The shiny floor is fast to draw fingerprints, however this brilliant colourway doesn’t spotlight them as a lot as a darker shade would. The smartphone would not look very totally different from its predecessor. There’s a squared-off aura mild on the again under the digital camera module, in contrast to the round aura mild on the V29 Professional.
The raised digital camera module would not protrude by a lot, so the smartphone doesn’t wobble when positioned on flat surfaces like a desk. It makes use of a three-camera setup on the rear that’s aligned in a rounded sq. with the newly added Zeiss branding.
The smartphone doesn’t wobble on the desk as a lot because of the broad digital camera module
The silver-coloured Vivo branding is on the backside of the rear panel. The ability and quantity buttons are on the fitting of the curved chrome body. The speaker grille, microphone, USB Kind-C port, and SIM slot are on the backside.
I additionally tried the Traditional Black color choice. It feels a bit extra premium and sports activities a shimmery black glass again panel that doesn’t entice fingerprints. Nonetheless, I appreciated the Andaman Blue colourway.
The smartphone has a premium in-hand really feel, and the curved glass sandwich design gives good grip. It weighs 188 grams, which could be very mild for a smartphone with a 5,000mAh battery and a glass rear panel. At simply 7.45 mm, this can be a very slim smartphone.
The bezels on the left and proper sides of the Vivo V30 Professional are nearly non-existent because it makes use of a curved-edge show that blends with the curved sides of the body.
The smartphone gives an IP54 certification for mud and water resistance. Whereas it’s good to see Vivo supply this ranking, it’s fairly primary so far as IP scores go. Different smartphones, each at and under this value level, supply a lot better safety from the weather. Xiaomi’s Redmi Notice 13 Professional+, which we lately reviewed, gives an IP68 ranking at Rs. 31,999.
Vivo V30 Professional Evaluate: Specs and software program
The smartphone comes outfitted with the 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 8200 5G SoC, which is a barely dated processor (launched in 2022) that competes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SoC accessible in some mid-range smartphones priced between Rs. 25,000 to Rs 30,000. The Vivo V30 Professional gives a most of 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and as much as 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It makes use of a dual-nano sim card tray to accommodate two 5G sim playing cards however doesn’t have house for a microSD card.
Different options embody Bluetooth 5.3 and a USB 2.0 Kind-C port for charging the system and information transfers. The Vivo V30 Professional is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that may be charged utilizing the offered 80W charging adapter.
Vivo V30 Professional will get two main OS updates and three years of safety patches, in response to the model
On the software program entrance, it runs on Funtouch OS 14 World, which is predicated on Android 14. The interface is kind of clean throughout the board, but it surely nonetheless has a few pre-installed apps; not all of those will be uninstalled. Vivo guarantees two OS upgrades and three years of safety patches for the Vivo V30 Professional.
The Vivo V30 Professional makes use of an in-display fingerprint sensor, which works effective more often than not. Nonetheless, I didn’t discover it dependable, because it couldn’t recognise my registered fingerprint a number of instances throughout the evaluate interval. It additionally randomly triggers contained in the pocket every now and then.
Vivo V30 Professional Evaluate: Efficiency
In our benchmark testing, the Vivo V30 Professional delivers mid-range efficiency in sure areas and delivers respectable outcomes. Nonetheless, it falls horribly brief when in comparison with different gadgets at this value level, such because the OnePlus 12R. It scored 9,58,187 factors in AnTuTu, which is barely greater than its predecessor, however for Geekbench 6, it scored 979 factors in single-core and three,931 factors in multi-core checks, which is barely lower than the Vivo V29 Professional.
Gaming on the Vivo V30 Professional is respectable. I performed Asphalt 9: Legends, which ran easily, and the smartphone didn’t lag whereas doing so. It helps the 60 FPS mode and performs the sport lag-free with Excessive-High quality visible high quality chosen. Name of Responsibility: Cellular labored easily and I did not discover any body drops with the Excessive graphics settings turned on. Nonetheless, with Very Excessive graphics high quality and most body charge, the sport does lag a bit of, and it is not a clean expertise. The smartphone didn’t get very heat throughout the gameplay both.
The Vivo V30 Professional didn’t overheat whereas gaming
The 6.78-inch full-HD+ curved-edge AMOLED panel gives a 120Hz refresh charge and a claimed peak brightness of as much as 2,800 nits. By default, the show produces good colors that are not overly saturated. It will get fairly brilliant open air however the colors get washed out when viewing the show in direct daylight. The smartphone has a single down-firing speaker that’s loud sufficient, however the lack of a second speaker is disappointing at this value level.
The show is HDR10+ licensed
The 5,000mAh battery carried out nicely in our battery video loop check. It ran for 19 hours and 10 minutes, which is nice and a bit of higher than its predecessor. In our charging check, the smartphone charged to 71 % in half-hour and accomplished the cost in 60 minutes utilizing the offered 80W charging adaptor.
Vivo V30 Professional Evaluate: Cameras
The Vivo V30 Professional is a camera-centric smartphone that comes outfitted with fairly a couple of helpful options. It has three rear-facing cameras, together with a 50-megapixel (Sony IMX920) main digital camera with an f/1.9 aperture and optical picture stabilisation (OIS), a 50-megapixel (Sony IMX816) f/1.9 telephoto digital camera with 2x optical zoom and one other 50-megapixel ultrawide digital camera. The cellphone has a 50-megapixel digital camera with an f/2.0 aperture and autofocus for selfies.
The 50-megapixel main digital camera captures very detailed photographs in daylight with good dynamic vary. It produces photographs that are not overly saturated and do not look over-processed, both. I discovered the seize velocity to be a bit sluggish, it takes a few milliseconds to click on a photograph at instances, particularly with HDR photographs.
Photographs shot utilizing the first digital camera in brilliant daylight have loads of element (faucet picture to increase)
The 50-megapixel telephoto is nice for daylight pictures. It maintains the identical color tones as the first digital camera and produces photographs with good particulars within the highlights and shadows. Nonetheless, it processes the pictures a bit extra, so that they usually come out softer than the first digital camera regardless of having the identical decision. There may be additionally an choice to click on photographs at 4x zoom, however the photographs at this level are very smooth and solely usable typically.
Vivo V30 Professional telephoto digital camera pattern. (faucet picture to increase)
The ultrawide digital camera makes use of the identical 50-megapixel decision, but it surely produces photographs in a wholly totally different trend. The color scheme would not match that of the opposite two cameras, the pictures come out softer, and also you solely get good pictures when there’s loads of mild.
The ultrawide digital camera has a special color scheme when in comparison with the opposite two cameras (faucet picture to increase)
The 50-megapixel front-facing digital camera handles harsh lighting conditions nicely, however there will likely be some cases the place the pictures are inclined to have ramped-up shadows, particularly with the backlit pictures.
Entrance going through digital camera clicks photographs which might be wealthy in distinction and have barely greater saturation ranges (faucet to increase)
Earlier than discussing this smartphone’s low-light capabilities, let’s talk about Vivo’s Zeiss partnership.
Zeiss and Vivo have partnered for the X collection of smartphones for fairly a very long time, however that is the primary time that the 2 manufacturers have collaborated for a V collection smartphone on the Vivo V30 Professional and never the vanilla V30. This time it isn’t completely the identical factor, for the X collection, Vivo has the Zeiss emblem and the enduring T emblem printed across the digital camera module which signifies that the digital camera has not solely been co-engineered with Zeiss but in addition makes use of the T coating.
The smartphone sports activities a three-camera setup on the rear
This isn’t the case for the Vivo V30 Professional; it solely has the Zeiss emblem with out the T* signal, and as confirmed by the model, the lenses would not have the coating.
So what this implies is that the Vivo V30 Professional does have the Zeiss lens emulators throughout the digital camera app when you click on portraits however the outcomes is not going to be pretty much as good as those shot on a X collection smartphone.
Portraits shot with Zeiss filter, with out aura mild (left), with aura mild (proper) (faucet to increase)
I did mess around with these filters (referred to as Zeiss Type Bokehs) and it’s a good addition for a mid-range smartphone. I attempted these out with the brand new aura mild and managed fairly good portraits. The aura mild can accommodate the color temperature in accordance with the lighting setting routinely or one can manually modify it too.
Low-light images on the Vivo V30 Professional is a blended bag. The first digital camera clicks visually gorgeous photographs regardless of no mild being within the body. I shot some photographs in pitch darkness, and the digital camera nonetheless managed to carry up the colors with good particulars in them. Regardless of the smartphone taking longer to shoot at nighttime, I did not get blurry photographs, due to OIS being current on this one.
Photographs shot with evening mode take barely longer to click on. Shot with main digital camera (faucet to increase)
The telephoto digital camera pictures aren’t excellent in pitch darkness, however they produce good photographs with scenes which have some mild in them. The saturation ranges are respectable, however the photographs do look over-processed and are softer than regular. The identical is the story for the ultrawide digital camera as nicely. The photographs taken with it are softer and don’t preserve the identical color scheme, which generally is a bummer.
The front-facing digital camera works nicely in low mild. It retains an honest look all through the body and doesn’t flip evening to day by overexposing it. Focus is one thing that it struggles with typically.
The Vivo V30 Professional can shoot movies at as much as 4K 60fps on all three rear cameras and the entrance digital camera as nicely. That is the place OIS shines for the movies shot utilizing the first digital camera. I shot a number of movies by the first digital camera and the outcomes have been fairly spectacular. The digital camera handles harsh daylight nicely and showcases good dynamic vary. Taking pictures on the go has gotten higher for the reason that Vivo V29 Professional, the smartphone doesn’t battle with transferring pictures as a lot and the stabilisation is kind of good. Outcomes from the telephoto and the ultrawide digital camera are additionally spectacular. Surprisingly, the three rear cameras handle to keep up an analogous color tone for movies. In low mild, the cameras do battle and you will note various noise in your pictures, particularly for the telephoto and the ultrawide digital camera.
The 50-megapixel front-facing digital camera shoots respectable sufficient movies that come out in harsh lighting situations however typically misses focus. The low-light video on this one is hit and miss. There have been cases the place I ended up with a washed-up shot that wasn’t very helpful. Typically, it produced movies that had fairly good particulars in them and have been well-lit as nicely.
Vivo V30 Professional Evaluate: Verdict
The Vivo V30 Professional is just not an enormous bounce from its predecessor, the Vivo V29 Professional. When it comes to consumer expertise and digital camera efficiency, Vivo gives solely incremental upgrades, like barely sooner charging with longer battery life. Then, there are a couple of new digital camera options, just like the inclusion of Zeiss Type Bokehs (or filters) on a V collection smartphone, that may entice a shopper who loves taking pictures portrait photographs.
Sadly, the cellphone misses out on some key options present in different smartphones at this value level, like a greater official IP ranking for mud and water resistance and the brand new AI options that the majority producers are focussing on in 2024. It is also utilizing a slightly dated processor, which is not precisely champion with regards to efficiency given its premium price ticket, which begins from Rs. 41,999.
Surprisingly, this isn’t precisely an issue. Vivo principally trades efficiency for higher digital camera {hardware} and options (a few of which have trickled down from its top-end Vivo X collection gadgets). Merely put, it is a smartphone that is targeted on images and won’t cater to avid gamers or energy customers.
In case you are in search of one thing extra highly effective at this value level, the OnePlus 12R (Evaluate), which gives a lot better uncooked efficiency with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. In case you are any individual who wants AI options and an official IP ranking, the Pixel 7a (Evaluate) additionally retails on the identical value but in addition gives higher software program (with quick updates) and really dependable digital camera efficiency.
