The Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Vivo, has been popular for its innovations. It always surprises us with its pioneering features setting new benchmarks. The company was the first one who introduced in-display fingerprint sensor and not to forget Vivo is the first company who came up with the innovative idea of pop up selfie camera. Setting a level higher the company introduced Vivo V17 Pro in India that comes with a dual elevating selfie camera. The pop-up camera has 32megapixel + 8megapixel sensors. Before we begin to dwell in deeper, let us tell you that for the review we received Midnight Ocean Black colour. We have been using this new handset for more than a month now so there are lots of things, which we will discuss in the review. Read on to know more about the smartphone:

Design and Display

The moment you open the phone you will notice Vivo V17 Pro comes with a 6.44-inch full-HD+ display. When held in our hands the phone was much heavier than other smartphones that we reviewed earlier. Majorly because of the large battery and bigger pop-up selfie cams. Also, the device dons’ an all-glass body, which adds to the weight. Vivo V17 Pro is available in two beautiful colour options, Midnight Ocean Black and Glacier Ice White, and for the review, as we said, we got our hands on Midnight Ocean Black variant. It has a hint of blueish grey and black finish that makes it look more appealing to the eyes sporting a Gorilla Glass 6 protection on the back along with an AI-enabled quad-camera set up horizontally placed. There is a Vivo logo engraved at the bottom-most part, too. The design is spick-and-span. While on the front there is a full-screen display, which is best suited for streaming videos and playing games. It features a 6.44-inch full-HD+ 1,080×2,440 pixels Super AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and for the protection the company has applied Schott Xensation UP, which made us a little dismayed as it attracted so many scratches within a month of use. So we suggest you use it cleverly or set screen protection on it. Otherwise, the screen of the Vivo V17 Pro looked bright and clear indoors as well as outdoors. But during bright direct sunlight, it was hard to read or watch videos so we had to pull the brightness level to maximum. Vivo usually comes up with innovative technologies to lure customers in the market. This time the company has included dual pop up selfie camera that includes a 32-megapixel and an 8-megapixel shooter. The motorized camera also accommodates a moonlight selfie light and an earpiece grille. But the camera details will be covered further in detail. The display has sleek bezels and a slightly visible chin with a thicker bezel. Despite having a large screen, we did not come across any problem using the phone with one hand, as all the buttons were within the reach. On the right-side panel, there is a volume rocker and a power button while on the left side there is a dedicated button to enable Google voice assistance service and Vivo’s Jovi assistant that can be customised as per the user’s preference. At the bottom, there is a port for USB-Type-C charging, microphone and a SIM card slot.

Performance and Cameras

Vivo V17 Pro powers the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC paired with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage. But in this price segment, we expected slightly better hardware as there are other smartphones in the market which are cheaper and come with Snapdragon 712 or higher. So when it comes to performance the overall experience of using the handset was decent despite the SD 675. During our review, we did not come across any lags even after prolonged PUBG sessions. It was treated to binge-watching movies, YouTube videos or TV shows for long hours. It handled day to day tasks easily and also browsing the internet, social media accounts, swapping between the apps and chatting was absolutely wonderful. Moving on to the software part, Vivo V17 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie with FuntouchOS 9.1 on top. Vivo’s custom OS Funtouch comes with a lot of bloatware that makes it a bit messed up while leaving us a bit confused. The in-display fingerprint sensor on the device worked well for us it was fast as well as accurate and you hardly need the face to unlock feature to unlock the phone. There are some useful features like Ultra Power saving mode, Motorbike mode as well as Game Booster, which we quite liked. Now on to another important part is the battery Vivo V17 Pro comes with a 4,100mAh battery that is supported by 18W fast charging technology. The battery life was good enough as it lasted for a day but needs to be charged before you go to sleep. In case your usage is not super heavy, then it might last you more than a day. On the whole, the performance of the phone was good but considering the processor at this price point is kind of a downer. Moving to the camera performance, which is the most highlighted feature of the V17 Pro. So let’s first talk about the selfie camera. How many of you think do we really need a phone with a dual pop up selfie camera? We certainly think they are needed if you want vibrant with depth selfies. Here we get twin elevating cameras with the 32-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel super-wide-angle camera along with a Moonlight flash placed between both the camera lenses. The results here were erratic, some were favourable and some not during daylight. But we got satisfactory results when we clicked the pictures under the low light conditions. The second 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle sensor offers 105-degrees of the field of view. This comes handy when you want to show more of the background or when you are you have a larger number of people to be covered in one frame. Yes, groupie pics are child’s play for this smartphone. Let’s jump over to the rear cameras, Vivo V17 Pro features a quad-camera set up consisting of an 8-megapixel super wide-angle camera, 48-megapixel super clarity camera, third a 2-megapixel depth camera and lastly a 13-megapixel telephoto 2x lens. The device clicked amazing pictures with the rear setup. The daylight photography pictures were clear and sharp. Over that, when we used the phone’s camera under low light conditions it delivered natural-looking pictures with good details. We also got satisfactory results when we clicked the macro shots.  The results here were fine, detailed and portrayed natural-looking colours.  

VERDICT

Vivo launched V17 Pro with a price tag of Rs 29,990 but currently, it is being sold at Rs 27,990 via e-commerce website Flipkart. We think this price is a bit on the higher side as there are so many rivals in the market which are selling devices with a bigger battery, better processor as well as better front camera capabilities at a lower price point. But if you are attracted to motorised dual selfie cameras and wanted a phone to flaunt in office or college with the latest technology then you can go for the Vivo V17 Pro.  We were quite impressed with it fast as well as accurate biometrics, too. PROS Good battery life Fast Biometrics Excellent design CONS Full of Bloatware The processor could have been better For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also stay up to date using the Gadget Bridge Android App.