Vivo Z1 Pro Review: A New Budget King Is Here

Vivo is a well-known brand in the offline smartphone market. However, in the time where Redmi and Realme are offering a great value for the money in the online segment, it was very necessary for the Vivo to jump into the online smartphone segment. Vivo has launched the first smartphone of Z series named Vivo Z1 Pro. The Z stands here for the Gen Z consumer. It packs Snapdragon 712 SoC, a triple rear camera setup, 5000 mAh battery, a punch-hole display, and other interesting Vivo Z1 Pro specifications. But what’s even more exciting here is the price. The starting price of Vivo Z1 Pro is 14,990 INR and it is definitely killer pricing. Redmi Note 7 Pro and Realme 3 Pro are already in the market, let’s check how it fares against them. Who is the ultimate budget king?

Vivo Z1 Pro Specifications

Before we jump into the full review have a look at the quick specs.

What’s Inside The Box?

• Vivo Z1 Pro itself
• A good quality transparent Case
• SIM ejector tool
• 18W fast charger
• Micro USB Cabel (Sadly, no Type-C)
• Good Quality Wired Earphone (Rare nowadays)

Design & Build 

Starting with the build and design, and this phone will never disappoint in the pricing of 15,000 bucks. Vivo Z1 Pro is another good looking smartphone in the market. The gradient back looks beautiful like every other smartphone. Sonic Blue, Sonic Black, and Mirror Black are the color options you can choose from.

The smooth gradient finish and the eye-catchy colors are enough to impress you in the first impression. However, the back panel is made out of Polycarbonate or we can call is plastic. It does not feel as premium as the glass back panel. A squarish physical fingerprint sensor is present on the back and the triple camera setup is present on the top left corner along with the LED flash. The weight is 201 gram which is decent due to the massive 5000mAh battery.

The phone is easier to hold in the hands. Similar to every other smartphone, bigger display leads to no single-hand use.

Display

A big 6.53-inches Full HD+ IPS LCD display is what you will get in the front. The resolution is 2340×1080 pixels. By the way, it is a notch-less display! Vivo is offering a punch-hole in the display here which is present on the top left corner. The display here is not AMOLED panel but still, it is vibrant and bright. The media consumption on this big display is a very good experience and yes, it also comes with Widevine L1 certification for streaming Full HD content on Amazon and Netflix. The outdoor visibility is good too. The punch hole helps to achieve the screen-to-body-ratio of 90.77 percent. The bezels around are very minimal with a slightly bigger chin. It is one of the cheapest smartphones with the punch-hole display.

The Triple Rear Cameras!

No 48MP lens here, but the 16MP primary lens with an aperture of f/1.78 clicks good photos. What’s even good here is the implementation of a Super wide-angle 8MP lens with 120 degrees of field of view. However, the third lens is a 2MP depth sensor for good bokeh, no telephoto lens here. Vivo is famous for selfie camera in the offline market and a 32MP selfie camera is present in the hole-punch display. Check out our detailed article on Vivo Z1 Pro Camera Review from the below link.

READ MORE: VIVO Z1 Pro Camera Review with Camera Samples!

Implementation of a Wide angle lens is a big welcome. It adds a new perspective and it is one of the few budget phones having a wide-angle lens. The camera performance is great so far, it is not the best.

Performance: The Snapdragon 712 

Vivo Z1 Pro is powered by a new midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC. It is the first smartphone in India to launch with a Snapdragon 712 Processor. Talking about the numbers, it has 10 percent better performance than the last year’s 710 and 25 percent better performance than the 660. How it fares against Snapdragon 675? So there are only 1000 points of difference between 675 and 712 in the AnTuTu benchmark. The 675 is equipped 4th Gen Kryo 460 architecture while the 712 is still on 3rd Gen Kryo 360. The new architecture definitely helps 675 to overcome the 712 in terms of CPU related task. When it comes to GPU then Adreno 616 is definitely better than the Adreno 612 present on the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

In short, you are not going to face any kind of lag in your day to day usage and the Snapdragon 712 is capable of high graphics games and heavy task. Switching between app is smooth.

Gaming Performance

Vivo is marketing this device as the official smartphone for the PUBG mobile club. So, let’s see how is the gaming performance on this smartphone. First of all, as we mentioned above Snapdragon 712 plus Adreno 616 is equal to the great gaming experience.

Even the Game Mode present in the Z1 Pro will improve the overall gaming experience. It gives 4D Vibration and 3D surround sound. In PUBG when you kill someone, you will feel a vibration. That’s a good implementation.

Network & Connectivity

Dual 4G VoLTE is present with the dedicated microSD card slot. Bluetooth 5.0 is here and the LTE Cat.15 baseband leads to higher network speed up to 800Mbps.

Massive 5000 mAh

4000 mAh battery was a standard a while ago but now it seems like 5000mAh is the new milestone. Previously Asus and now Vivo offers a huge 5000mAh battery in a small form factor. The phone does not feel bulky in hands. Also, an 18W fast charger included in the box. The only thing missing here is the USB Type-C port. But our favorite 3.5mm Audio Jack is still present so that is good.

Software – Funtouch

The only downside of the Z1 Pro is the heavily skinned FunTouch OS on top of Android 9.0 Pie. A number of preinstalled app, Old fashioned navigation buttons, iOS-like navigation toggle from the bottom,  highly modified settings menu and whatnot. Still, the phone feels fluid no complaints here. If you are a Stock Android fan then you are not going to like this heavy skin for sure. Other than that it’s fine.

Z1 Pro Vs Note 7 Pro Vs 3 Pro

One new competitor is here to fight with Redmi Note 7 Pro and Realme 3 Pro. Let’s find out who is the real Pro.

Talking about the performance you really don’t need to care about the specs. All the phones will provide great performance at the price of 15k. Still Vivo Z1 Pro has a slight edge in terms of gaming. Let’s now talk about the Display. If you like the notch then go for 3 Pro or 7 Pro, but if you are interested in a punch-hole display then Z1 Pro is a great option. Battery life is definitely better on the Z1 Pro compared to other 2 smartphones.

Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a glass body which is obviously better than the polycarbonate one. Even the 48MP Sony IMX586 primary sensor present on the 7 Pro is the best in the price range. But Z1 Pro offers an additional wide-angle lens. So, it is based on your personal preference. None of these phones offers a pure stock Android experience. So, it’s upon you to choose a Custom Skin according to your usage.

Verdict

Let’s now come to the conclusion. Vivo Z1 Pro offers great performance, a massive battery life, a big display with the punch hole and a triple rear camera along with a 32MP selfie shooter. All these things are a true value for money.

No USB Type-C here, the primary lens is good but not the best, a polycarbonate build and Funtouch OS is the downside of the phone. If you are comfortable with this than the Z1 Pro is the best smartphone for you.