Forget Samsung and Google – I wish Vivo sold its | Tech News

It’s true that we’re spoiled for selection right here within the UK relating to Android smartphones, with scores of handsets for sale from Samsung, Google, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo and Motorola, to call probably the most outstanding manufacturers. But there may be one producer that doesn’t sell its telephones on these shores, and I’m right here to inform you it means you’re sorely lacking out on some of the best smartphone cameras on the earth.

Vivo, a Chinese telephone maker, has not formally sold its flagship smartphones within the UK since 2022’s Vivo X80 Pro, a telephone I stated had the best cameras of any telephone launched that 12 months.

With the succeeding X90, X100 and X200 sequence of telephones, Vivo has been heralded by tech media as quietly producing smartphones with thoughts-bogglingly good cameras. Vivo is a bestseller in its home nation.

Now, the model has introduced the Vivo X300 sequence, with the jewel within the crown being the X300 Pro, a machine that ups the optics stakes to a different degree. It has a 50MP predominant sensor, 50MP extremely-huge and 200MP periscope telephoto zoom lens that promise crystal clear, stylised and properly-rendered pictures throughout many various focal lengths. There’s even an optionally available images package with attachable telephoto extender.

I have been fortunate enough to have been utilizing 2024’s Vivo X200 Pro for the best half of a 12 months, and alongside the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, it has the best smartphone cameras I have ever used. The X200 has the identical primary digicam specs I simply talked about because the X300 Pro, albeit with an older predominant and telephoto sensor in comparison with the newer telephone.

I’ve taken some of the best images of my life with the Vivo X200 Pro. It’s not fairly a point-and-shoot expertise although – I’ve needed to become familiar with some of the settings and wrestle with Vivo’s varied zoom and filter settings to get the best out of it. Vivo’s classic filter within the portrait mode, helped by the firm’s Zeiss collaboration provides a great grainy, movie-like really feel.

But the training curve will not be very steep, and I’ve been rewarded with a telephone I can comfortably say, a 12 months from its release, has higher cameras than any telephone I’ve reviewed from Apple, Samsung or Google, together with the most recent Google Pixel 10 Pro XL.

Here’s a gallery of some of my favorite pictures I’ve taken on the Vivo X200 Pro (noting that they’re barely downscaled for add right here):

The prowess of the X200 Pro’s predominant sensor is its bigger than average measurement. It’s not fairly as giant because the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s 1-inch sensor, however comes close at 1/1.28-inch. By letting in more mild it may course of more element to supply extremely sharp photos which have much less noise than pictures from the principle cameras within the Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S25 or iPhone 16.

Coupled with the periscope zoom lens that has an 85mm equal vary, it has a degree of versatility I’ve but to seek out on many different telephones. Part of the appeal is the natural bokeh picked up by these lenses, the place you get background blur behind a subject that isn’t artificially created, as telephones with smaller sensors need to do with their ‘portrait’ modes. The X200 Pro has a portrait mode, however you don’t need to make use of it.

The giant predominant sensor additionally means very good low mild images. In what you would possibly contemplate a disadvantage however I see as an acceptable compromise for great lenses, the digicam bump on the telephone is totally monumental.

Selfie followers also needs to bear in mind that the 32MP shooter is a let down, with washed out outcomes.

The telephone itself is a huge, slippery black monolith with a curved edge 6.78-inch OLED screen. It’s pleasingly skinny although, and there’s a fast charger and plastic case included within the box. Battery life can be wonderful, lasting properly into a second day of use.

The simply-introduced X300 Pro, which is out there to order in China already, has a a lot more iPhone-inspired design, with flat edges, a completely flat screen and Vivo’s Origin OS 6 software program that mimics Apple options such because the Dynamic Island cut out.

It nonetheless retains that Vivo trademark round digicam bump, although, with a new 200MP sensor that Vivo in-built collaboration with Samsung used for the telephoto lens. It’s a step up from the X200 Pro, which is already succesful of beautiful outcomes. The predominant sensor can be an improve, with the Sony LYT-838.

Vivo will launch the X300 Pro in some European nations comparable to Spain, however the UK seems to be set to overlook out. Although Britain has an wonderful vary of Android telephones – significantly better than the US – I nonetheless assume it’s a crying disgrace you can’t simply get maintain of Vivo’s flagship smartphones over right here, as their cameras are a tier above what’s on offer from Apple, Samsung and Google.

A 12 months after its launch, the Vivo X200 Pro nonetheless has one of the best smartphone digicam systems on the earth, however the price is high. In Spain, it prices €1.299, about the identical because the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. I assume it’s price it if you would like the very best in telephone images.

I’m excited to see what the X300 Pro can obtain. Whether you or I can get my fingers on it’s a totally different matter.