Vivo V15 Pro review - An impressive mid-range camera phone

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Taking selfies has become a fairly daily routine and it is enormously popular on social media. In addition to photography techniques, a good selfie camera plays a part in taking insta-worthy photos that will get you lots of likes.

Speaking about selfie phones, Vivo has recently launched the Vivo V15 Pro. Inspired by the Vivo Nex, the V15 Pro is their first mid-range phone with a whopping 32MP pop-up selfie camera. Priced at RM1799, the pop-up selfie camera also supposedly works smoother and sturdier than the Nex with its improved mechanism. But is that enough to make it stand out in the market? Read on to find out more.

 

Design – Stylish and comfortable to hold

Available in Topaz Blue and Coral Red, the V15 Pro has a visually striking design that will make some heads turn. The review unit that we have is in Topaz Blue with a stylish colour gradient. Upon a closer look, the rear is textured and reflects mesmerizing shades at different angles which makes it look even more stunning.

The device comes with curved glass on the back with rounded corners which sit quite nicely in hand. It comes in the right size for most women’s hands and is compact enough to carry around without feeling the strain on your palm. However, it is a bit too slippery to hold without a cover.

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The Vivo V15 Pro measures 157.3 x 74.7 x 8.2 mm and weighs 185g. Thanks to the pop-up selfie camera, the V15 Pro offers a no-notch full view and slimmer bezels which bears a 91.64% screen-to-body ratio

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You will see a slight bulge on the rear of the phone and that’s the rear camera. The V15 Pro gets a triple camera setup consisting of a primary sensor, ultra-wide angle and depth sensor along with LED flash. The vivo logo is placed at the bottom

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On the right side are the volume rocker and power button while a customizable smart button is on the left. The smart button has up to three different functions via a single press, a double press or a long press. Above the smart button is a dedicated MicroSD tray

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The dual nano-sim tray and Micro USB port are placed at the bottom left, while the 3.5mm audio jack is at the top with the pop-up camera

Overall, I would say that the V15 pro is very stylish. The 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen with punchy colours and sharpness that was beyond our expectations, it works pretty well even if the phone is used under bright sunlight. Without a notch, nothing distracts you from visual content and watching videos is definitely an immersive experience! 

For a minimalist who gets bored with the normal black or white, it is definitely a great option to consider. However, it is prone to fingerprints and smudges. Without a case, be ready to wipe it every now and then. 

 

Tech Spec and Features – Mid-range specs, but flagship camera

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The V15 Pro is equipped with a Snapdragon 675 chipset and 6GB of RAM. Generally, 128GB worth of space should be good enough for most smartphone users but you can always add on a microSD card for additional storage needs, up to 256GB. It's also powered by a 3700mAh battery and has an 18W fast charging technology. 

Camera wise, the phone comes with a triple rear camera setup with 48MP (primary sensor) + 8MP (AI ultra-wide angle lens) + 5MP (depth sensor). It is said that the device adopted 4-in-1 pixel technology, supports A1 super night mode, backlight mode, HDR, A1 face beauty, AI body shaping and 120° super wide angles. Sounds like what all a modern selfie smartphone should need!

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The triple rear camera module

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The camera UI for the front (left) and back (right) 

Then for selfies, there is a 32MP camera sensor sitting under the pop-up camera module. In addition to AI face beauty, it supports AR sticker and AI filters. It has a speedy facial unlock even in low light or dark environments and quite secure as the device refuses to unlock with eyes closed. Well, not everyone is a fan of Face ID, but the in-display fingerprint reader works equally fast and is perfectly fine even with a wet and sweaty finger.

There is also a digital assistant called Jovi, but mainly still revolves around the Google Assistant so it still hasn't changed much from the last time we saw it on previous vivo phone models. The AI image recognition on the rear camera detects and identifies objects inside the frame, provides information like name, pricing, location and some other details. As far as identifying objects is concerned, the search results are a bit off. Besides AI image recognition, Jovi features a range of AI features such as AI photography, AI scene recognition and an AI button.

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Jovi in action

 

Performance – Battery performance is beyond expectation

As a mid-range phone, it showed pretty good results with a score of 180501 on the Antutu benchmark test, whereas the 3DMark scores around 1000 and the Vulkan API scores 1160. Quite impressive, and it gets better with Game Assist for a nice gaming experience, this is because it features all the common tools such as background calls, black floating previews, bot mode, auto reject calls, display easy touch and game picture-in-picture. Thumbs up for uninterrupted mobile gaming moments anymore!

The 3700mAh battery can run easily over a day without using a power bank. However, the charging speed is somewhat slower than expected (since it has an 18W fast charger) which takes nearly 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete charging from 26% to 100%. So please remember to charge your phone before you dash out the door without a charger.

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AnTuTu score

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Sling Shot test scores from 3DMark

In terms of gaming performance, the V15 Pro performed decently while playing Arena of Valor. The gameplay was rather smooth with no frame drops even when it was running on HDR graphics setting. After about 20 minutes of gameplay with auto-brightness adjustment, the battery drained only 4% which is quite impressive.

Playing for long periods of time didn’t even come close to heating up the phone for a wonderful gaming experience. Of course, it's a different story on a more intense graphics game like Honkai Impact 3, which drains the battery more and the graphics can be slightly laggy. But the overall gaming experience was satisfactory.

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Game Assist toolbar can be slid from the left

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Ah...AoV, miss this game

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Honkai Impact 3 can be quite blurry and pixelated sometimes, but the battery only dropped 4% after 20 minutes of gameplay 

It’s time the look at the camera test! I personally appreciate the AI beauty and AI body shaping tools, as it makes me look fabulous from head to toe in both photos and videos. It is convenient enough to post to social media without having to edit it! However, the downside is that the photos aren't as sharp when captured in low light conditions.

Thankfully, the night mode greatly improves brightness and clarity which takes only 2-5 seconds to process. It should be noted that the shutter speed setting and brightness adjustment are not allowed for night scene shooting. In low brightness, I would suggest using professional mode or normal mode. Overall, the V15 Pro delivers a pretty good photo quality. It’s even better if night mode is applicable to selfie low light conditions to get rid of the noisy and grainy results. Check out the photo samples below!

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Crisp and clear, as long as there is light

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Mhmm, ain't complete without a food photo

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This is a macro shot of a miniature motorcycle

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The texture details on the papers are not bad

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Using the phone's ultra wide-angle lens

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Selfie!

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Night photography in normal mode

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Night mode turned on

 

Conclusion – An affordable mid-range phone with pop-up selfie camera

If you are a photography enthusiast, the V15 Pro is a decent mid-range option with a long-lasting battery. So there’s no need to worry about the battery running out while taking photos outside. The tech specs are also great for general use with reasonably good gaming performance.

On the other hand, the HONOR View 20 is another pretty good choice and retails for RM1999. It does not come with a wide angle lens and a pop-up camera., though, and another alternative is the Huawei Nova 4, priced at RM1899. Well, if you can afford them it is really just a matter of personal preference which you choose.

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