Vivo V23 Pro 5G is a mid-range smartphone that focuses solely on laser design. In addition to being really thin and light, it also introduces a color-changing rear panel as a unique selling point of the product line. What it also delivers is a notable leap in price, much higher than Vivo V20 Pro 5G that it was successful. The Vivo V23 Pro 5G offered mid-range hardware but at Rs. 38,990, priced closer to devices with much better specs.
With V25 ProVivo has made some subtle changes to the design, but has added some much-needed improvements when it comes to battery life and cameras. So are these improvements worth the asking price, and will the Vivo V25 Pro succeed in offering something different?
Vivo V25 Pro 5G price in India
Vivo V25 Pro 5G comes in two variants. There’s the base variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage priced at Rs. 35,999 and the second variant with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is available for Rs. 39,999. I received the 12GB RAM variant with the Sailing Blue finish. The phone also comes in a matte black called Pure Black, with no color change.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G Design
Vivo V25 Pro 5G has a design that reminds me of its predecessor, the V23 Pro 5G. However, the new phone is not thin and is a bit stout at 8.62mm thick. The chrome-finished middle frame is made of polycarbonate with a glossy texture and is prone to fingerprints. However, it does give extra grip to the slippery glass back. The edges of the mid-frame are curved with the edge-to-edge curved display, and the back blends seamlessly into the mid-frame, giving the phone a very premium feel.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G’s edge-to-edge curved screen is a rarity among mid-range smartphones
The color-changing rear panel of last year’s model certainly caught everyone’s attention, but the trend has caught on precisely. The only other phone I’ve reviewed that offers this feature is Realme 9 Pro + 5Gbut I did not a fan of color choice. With the Vivo V25 Pro 5G, the color-changing trick is hard to come by, mainly because of the more subtle transitions that go from lighter blues to darker hues. It doesn’t have as strong an impact as yellow to green the transition of Vivo V23 Pro 5Gso most users might not even notice that this feature exists.
Tricks aside, the V25 Pro 5G has no IP rating, nor does wireless charging. The rear camera module retains the same metal frame from the V23 Pro, but has been redesigned with a glass panel to accommodate the slightly altered imaging system. The 6.56-inch full-HD+ pOLED display has thin and uniform bezels around bends on the left and right sides, giving the phone a premium look.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G specifications and software
Vivo V25 Pro 5G features MediaTek’s 1300 Density SoC. Chipsets are commonly found in mid-range smartphones and are also available in OnePlus Nord 2T 5G and Oppo Reno 8 5G. The phone uses LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 memory, but does not offer memory expansion. Communication standards include support for several 5G bands, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and support for common satellite navigation systems.
The phone is powered by a 4,830mAh battery and comes with an 80W charger in the box. Other contents of the box include a USB Type-C to Type-A cable and a transparent TPU carrying case. The phone does not support NFC and the charging speed is limited to 66W.
The novelty of the color-changing back began to disappear after last year’s Vivo V23 Pro 5G
Vivo V25 Pro 5G runs Vivo’s Funtouch OS 12 operating system based on Android 12. Everything has that signature Vivo feel and this also applies to the superior customization options that this operating system offers. . Vivo has added a new palette picker that allows users to choose between a preset base color or a multi-color theme, based on the wallpaper applied. While the UI color changes in the Settings app and the keyboard, the widget’s color cannot be changed and requires a system restart to take effect.
Keeping in mind its premium price, I was surprised to see so many apps pre-installed on the smartphone. Thankfully, most of these can be uninstalled. Spam notifications are also a problem. While I see notifications from the usual suspects, it’s a bit of a shock to see so many notifications (news, promotions, etc) from the native browser app, even though I’ve never used it since. Open the smartphone box.
I feel the software experience is something Vivo needs to do, more than that, given the price of this smartphone. Upgrading to Android 13 will hopefully pull these annoying notifications away.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G Performance
Software performance on Vivo V25 Pro 5G is quite smooth. I did not experience lag or stutter when multitasking and everything worked smoothly thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate screen. The pOLED display is bright outdoors but produces heavily saturated colors at the default ‘Standard’ screen color setting. The curves on the sides of the screen are not too redundant, so it is not distracting when watching movies or playing games in full screen.
Finally, Vivo has removed the outdated-looking screen notch that appeared even on last year’s V23 Pro 5G. Now there’s a punch hole for the selfie camera that doesn’t interfere with the viewing experience. There’s no stereo speaker setup, and a single bottom-firing speaker sounds a bit tinny and distorted at high volumes. The phone’s display is HDR10+ certified, and content displays as expected.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G’s anti-glare glass back did a great job of resisting fingerprints
For benchmarks, the Vivo V25 Pro performs on par with the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G but falls a bit short when it comes to devices like Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G and iQoo Neo 6, both are equipped with high-end hardware. The phone scored 7,04,304 points in AnTuTu, 678 and 2,770 points respectively in Geekbench’s multi-point and single-point tests.
Gaming performance is quite good on Vivo V25 Pro 5G. Most games run smoothly at default settings and do so without heating up the phone. I tried Call of Duty: Mobile and the phone managed to run the game smoothly at the ‘Very High’ frame rate and graphics settings. The phone’s frame rate priority mode helps make the game appear smoother, but it comes at the expense of the resolution, which is downscaled to achieve that steady frame rate.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G has a vivid 120Hz pOLED display
The Vivo V25 Pro 5G performs much better than the thinner V23 Pro 5G when it comes to battery life. That was my major concern with the previous model, and I’m happy to say that the V25 Pro performs much better, easily lasting a full day with heavy use. This includes an hour of gaming, some photography, and a few hours of streaming, in addition to the usual work-related texting and scrolling through social networking apps. Loop test.
Despite packing an 80W charger in the box, Vivo limits the charge to 66W, which is fast enough to take the phone from a dead battery to 100 percent in an hour’s time.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G Camera
Vivo V25 Pro 5G has three rear cameras. There’s a 64-megapixel main camera with OIS, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 2-megapixel fixed-focus macro camera. Selfies are handled by a 32-megapixel front-facing camera with autofocus.
In daylight, photos look a bit sharp but have good detail and dynamic range. Colors are oversaturated and almost appear as if a filter has been applied to them. Photos taken from the ultra-wide-angle camera look soft with lots of barrel distortion and purple fringing. They are also quite low in detail.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G daytime camera model. Top to bottom: Main camera, super wide angle camera, selfie camera (Portrait mode) (tap to see full size)
Portrait photos taken outdoors with the rear camera are sharp, but blurry when taken indoors. Selfies look a bit overexposed, but selfie portraits have blurred backgrounds in brighter shooting situations. The results from the best macro camera are overexposed and quite difficult to focus on.
In low-light situations, photos taken in auto mode had average detail in well-lit scenes. Night Mode manages a clearer picture with reduced noise and slightly improved dynamic range, but also seems a bit softer. Overall, low-light shots are inconsistent, and this varies considerably from scene to scene, depending on the available light. Photos from the ultra-wide-angle camera lack detail with blurred textures.
Vivo V25 Pro 5G low-light camera model. Top to bottom: Auto mode (Main camera), Night mode (Main camera) (tap to see full size)
Videos captured by the V25 Pro 5G are of average quality but show good dynamic range in daylight. At the same time, recorded videos, like photographs, appear oversaturated. Footage at 1080p has a lot of cropped frames, which translates into better stabilization. Videos shot at 4K 30fps have the best quality with wider frames but dreamlike effects. The phone also shoots HDR video in a variety of resolutions, but is limited to 30fps. Results are not so great with some flickering and extra noise. Low-light video is at its best on average, and Night mode doesn’t make much of a difference in low-light scenes.
Identify
The big question with the V25 Pro 5G is, why does Vivo still charge a premium for it? If it’s features like color changing backs or curved screens, I’m not sure how many buyers are actually willing to pay a premium for such things. I feel Vivo really needs to rethink pricing and strategy for its V series, up to V20 Pro, very attractive. Surprisingly, OnePlus has managed to make better hardware choices and eliminate consistent camera performance from it Nord 2T 5G, priced much lower starting at Rs. 28,999. In short, there is nothing really special other than the edge-to-edge curved screen that makes Vivo V25 Pro 5G stand out. And then there’s the competition.
Smartphones like Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G (Review) and iQoo Neo 6 5G (Review) run around the V25 Pro in terms of raw performance. There are even Realme 9 Pro + 5G (Review) (from Rs 24,999) offers excellent value and Nothing Phone 1 (Review) (from Rs. 32,999) offers premium features like wireless charging and an official IP52 rating.
Despite some solid improvements over its predecessor, the Vivo V25 Pro 5G is still hard to recommend when you have great alternatives in this segment.
