vivo V30 Pro Review: A capable camera phone with caveats

The design of the vivo V30 Pro is very different from its predecessor, the V29 Pro. The cameras are now in a single module and below that is the famous Aura Light — which is squared off this time — housing the flash.

(Image: Pihu Yadav)

At 7.5mm thick, this is vivo’s slimmest V series smartphone to date, and extremely comfortable to hold and use. The Classic Black variant that I received has a brushed satin finish, making the smartphone a bit slippery but also nice to hold. I have been using it without a case — thought it comes with the phone — because of how it feels in my hand and I have no complaints so far.

As someone who has developed a liking towards smaller smartphones lately, the 6.78-inch display also does not feel too big because of the curved edges. It does give way to accidental touches, especially when you’re trying to fiddle your way through single-hand usage. The FHD+ AMOLED panel itself is quite bright, clear and smooth with a 120 Hz refresh rate.

The only thing that put me off — and it’s not exactly about the display — was the placement of the fingerprint reader.

The fingerprint reader on the vivo V30 Pro is extremely close to the bottom. (Image: Pihu Yadav)

The sensor is too close to the bottom, which is way lower than what I’m used to and it is a bit of an inconvenience since that’s not where my thumb would naturally rest. But it is extremely fast and accurate.

The camera department is where vivo has been focusing most of its magic lately. The smartphone maker brought its Zeiss partnership on the V series camera for the first time with the V30 Pro. While all three 50MP sensors on the back are Sony, they do have the six Zeiss Portrait styles. That means that the device uses software processing to produce images, especially portraits, that look like they were taken on a Zeiss lens.

(Image: Pihu Yadav)

The photos turn out beautiful and professional. All you have to do is point, pick the portrait style of your choice and shoot — the phone does everything else for you. Even in dim light, the cameras do not disappoint and the Aura Light is a cherry on top.

(Image: Pihu Yadav)

It automatically adjusts to make sure your face isn’t washed with dark colours. At first, I genuinely thought, this was a gimmick, but it’s a feature that can beat a lot of smartphone cameras in this range, maybe even the more expensive ones.

The only slight issue with the portraits is the object selection and edge-detection. It’s not very obvious but sometimes, it does show that the bokeh in the background is image processing and not natural.

(Image: Pihu Yadav)

While it has been established in 2024 that this is what is going on, it’s still a little off-putting. The way I have tried to work around it is to tone down the bokeh intensity so that the difference does not seem that big.

The front camera is also equally good, even in dim light conditions.

The V30 Pro is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 5G chipset, which is a little older but does not disappoint. In my day-to-day usage, I did not see any lags or hangs or even any heating up. The unit mentioned in this review is the 12GB+512GB variant, with 12GB of extended virtual RAM as well. It handles all everyday tasks pretty well.

The battery on it is 5,000mAh, the largest yet on a V series smartphone from vivo. It has lasted me a whole day — from 9 am to 2 am, if it is feeling generous — with still some juice left. The 80W charger that comes in the box also helps me charge the smartphone back to 100% in well under an hour. With the V30 Pro, vivo also claims a four-year life span for the battery life. Meaning that the battery health will remain above 80% even after four years. I can’t exactly vouch for that but it would be a big win if that holds true.

One downside, however, is the lack of stereo speakers on the device. The audio, while it is super loud and clear, still only comes from the bottom-firing speaker and for the price point, it is almost embarrassing. According to vivo, there isn’t a particular reason for it — just an area where the corners are cut to keep up with the design choices.

Since this was my first time using Funtouch OS, I think it is fair for me to share my thoughts on that as well. First things first, there’s bloatware. I’m okay with Amazon and Facebook but why is there a lock button in my app drawer? In case the power button stops working? Not sure if that’s necessary.

I’m also not a fan of the Global search window that appears when you pull the screen down from the middle. I just want the notification panel to slide down and sometimes I can’t go all the way to the top because I have tiny hands. I get that it’s probably something similar to Siri suggestions on the iPhone but I’m not a fan of that either.

Also, why does the “Smart” sidebar only open apps in either split-screen mode or a small window? I want to be able to use a full-sized window just by tapping on it.

Apart from that the UI is very smooth, responsive and heavily customisable if that’s something you’re into.

If you are in the market looking for a smartphone under ₹50,000 that takes great photos in all lighting conditions and lasts you a full day on a single charge, then the vivo V30 Pro is a great choice.

If you are someone who cannot agree with bloatware on their phone and has tiny hands, you might want to pass. Funtouch OS might be the only thing holding the device back. And the single speaker.