The Vivo V23 5G (Review) that was launched at the beginning of the year is easily one of our favorite mid-range phone this year which never fails to impress us with it’s remarkable camera and performance despite costing less than halve the price of a flagship phone. As such, I had pretty high expectation when Vivo unveiled the new Vivo V25 Pro 5G in the local market last month.
On paper, the V25 Pro certainly looks promising. However, does it actually has what it takes to stand out from the crowded smartphone market? Let’s find out from our Vivo V25 Pro 5G review!
Design & Display
The Vivo V25 Pro 5G catches our eyes in many aspects but what left me the deepest impression is perhaps the design of the smartphone. It comes with a sleek and stylish design which sets the phone apart from other similarly-looking smartphones in the market, giving it an unique identity.
The review unit sent to me features a Surfing Blue colorway which possess some sort of color-shifting property as it uses a UV reactive coating that changes from light blue to darker shades of blue when exposed to sunlight or any other UV light source. Of course, this is a temporary effect which last only around 10 minutes before it returns to the original color.
While there’s no doubt that the Surfing Blue colorway looks lovely and fanciful, some may prefer the Starlight Black version which looks slightly more understated but yet elegant. But unlike the former, the Starlight Black variant doesn’t change color under the influence of UV light.
Like any other V series smartphones, the V25 Pro features a slender build measuring just 8.62mm in terms of thickness. This makes it nice and easy to hold and use with one hand even for those with smaller hands. Most importantly, the adoption of a glass back also adds an extra premium touch to the overall handling experience.
Over on the front side, the Vivo V25 Pro 5G retains the same 6.56” curved display which now has a less intrusive, centered punch-hole cutout instead of the trapezium-shaped notch that we saw on the V23 Pro.
Speaking of the display, it’s a high-end AMOLED panel which looks vibrant and sharp with an effective resolution of 2,376 x 1,080 pixels (FHD+). Paired with an ultra-fast 120Hz refresh rate, scrolling and navigation felt extremely smooth on the device as well.
As usual, the HDR10+ certified front display also supports a wide DCI-P3 color gamut coverage which ensures a high-quality viewing experience with excellent color reproduction. Likewise, it can also get really bright thanks to it’s impressive peak brightness that goes up to 1,300 nits which allows the screen to remain visible even when you’re using the phone directly under the sun.
Performance
Under the hood, the Vivo V25 Pro 5G is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 1300 mobile platform which offers a slight performance boost over the Dimensity 1200 chipset used in the preceding model.
In day-to-day usage, the Dimensity 1300 chipset never fail to impress with a blazing fast performance which not only makes multi-tasking felt like a breeze on the device, but also offers a lag-free gaming experience even on graphics-intensive game titles like PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legend.
More impressively, I hardly encounter any heating issue after long gaming sessions despite the lack of dedicated cooling system that we normally see among gaming-centric smartphones such as the ROG Phone 6 (Review). This is definitely important as it helps to eliminate the risk of thermal throttling which would otherwise lead to inconsistent frame rate.
Coming to the memory side of things, the Vivo V25 Pro 5G is offered in a single configuration featuring 12GB RAM and 256GB onboard storage which is certainly more than sufficient for majority of the users.
Cameras
Photography on the Vivo V25 Pro 5G is handled by a triple-camera system lead by a 64 megapixels main camera along with a pair of 8 megapixels ultra-wide and a 2 megapixels macro camera.
Regardless of lighting conditions, the V25 Pro 5G is able to capture flattering photos with excellent dynamic range and aplenty details that are actually comparable to other expensive flagship models in most instances.
Likewise, color reproductions are also on point thanks to the adoption of a high-quality Samsung ISOCELL GW1 imaging sensor. This is further helped by it’s advanced AI processing which enhances color reproduction, allowing photos to look natural and pleasant.
Besides taking standard photos, the main camera is also useful for taking close-up photos of floras and faunas via it’s 2x digital zoom feature which actually performs much better than the 2 megapixels macro camera in terms of sharpness and dynamic range.
For low-light photography, the V25 Pro 5G is also backed by a reliable night mode feature that does an applaudable job in reducing image noise and improving shadow details – just like what we normally expect from Vivo smartphones. Also, the presence of OIS stabilization certainly makes it easier to capture sharp-looking photos even if your hand happens to shake a little during the shooting process.
As for those who love to take landscape photography, the V25 Pro’s 8MP ultra-wide camera is able to capture some pretty decent photos even though it uses a slightly downgraded sensor. However, it does suffers a little under low-light condition where image noise is slightly more noticeable.
Battery & Charging
Under normal usage, the Vivo V25 Pro’s 4,830mAh battery is able to last through the day with around 20 to 30% battery remaining before I head to bed. In fact, I was able to get slightly more than 1.5 days’ worth of battery life on days when I uses the phone sparingly.
While battery life is certainly promising on the V25 Pro 5G, the main highlight actually lies in it’s 66W blazing-fast charging speed which is able to achieve a full charge in slightly more than an hour. Just in case you’re wondering why the charging time appears to be longer than the V23 Pro 5G – that’s because Vivo has upped the battery capacity of the V25 Pro 5G from 4,300mAh to 4,830mAh this time round.
Once again, the V25 Pro 5G lacks wireless charging support which is admittedly a nice-to-have feature onboard, but definitely not a deal breaker.
Verdict
The Vivo V25 Pro 5G is no doubt one of the best smartphone under $1,000 which is capable of delivering a premium smartphone experience despite costing halve the price of a flagship phone. For just $849, you not only get a phone with great cameras that makes it an ideal device for content creation, but also a phone with amazing display and performance that are able to handle all your entertainment needs.
In Singapore, the Vivo V25 Pro 5G will be available in both Starlight Black and Surfing Blue colorways. Those who’re interested can purchase the phone through major telcos including M1, Singtel, StarHub, vivo official stores on Lazada and Shopee, consumer electronic stores including Best Denki, Challenger, Courts, Gain City and Harvey Norman, and vivo’s Concept Store at Bugis Junction, Causeway Point, and NEX.
