If you are looking for a smartphone that is great at shooting portraits and selfies, the Vivo V30 smartphone might be the one for you.
Well, at least according to the Chinese phone maker, which is confident of its new product. And why not? The hardware on the new phone bears this out.
The Vivo V30 is armed not with one but three 50-megapixel sensors for its ultrawide, wide and selfie cameras, which provide plenty of resolution for a mid-range phone. The primary 1/1.55-inch camera sensor is also big enough to produce good-quality images.
What also stands out is the ultrawide camera’s 50-megapixel sensor, which is a considerable step up from the typical 8-megapixel sensor on mid-range phones.
Having more pixels for the ultrawide camera means better results when shooting interior decorations and landscape photography – yes, capturing more details without resorting to AI enhancements. This also lets you employ a more expansive perspective for video shoots, perfect for vlogging.
Notably, there is no zoom camera on the phone. These days, a zoomed image often means a digital crop of a larger image. I prefer a “real” optical zoom camera, but that would bump up the cost of a phone.
Perhaps more importantly, the images taken by the phone are good. Even without “beautification” turned on, the skin tones are maintained and there is sharpness in pictures taken on the primary and front-facing cameras. The food shots are also sharp and colourful, making these images drool-worthy.
My main gripe is the tendency for the camera to be underexposed, so you might need a quick adjustment of the exposure with exposure compensation or making the image brighter in post-editing.
Food shots are also a favourite of content creators, and the V30 does well here. Of course, some might find the colours a tad saturated.
The phone is well-built, with a metal frame and a glass back. It comes in two versions: white with a textured surface and a greenish-blue hue with smooth glass. The white version features a petal pattern, while the other offers a water ripple illusion.
The V30’s 2,800 x 1m260 pixel 6.78-inch AMOLED screen can refresh up to 120Hz, making it comfortable to look at for extended periods. At 7.45mm thick, the slender phone has a screen that curves at the phone’s sides.
Under the hood, the S$699 Vivo V30 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space.
Judging by the first impressions, the smartphone keeps up well with a flurry of photo and video taking without missing a beat. Accessing social media services, streaming videos and listening to Spotify will not be an issue.
Surprisingly, the Vivo V30 can hold a sizeable 5000mAh battery within its slim chassis. It’s a good thing Vivo provides a fast 80W charger that can fill the battery within an hour.
Amazing design