vivo X100 Ultra review

01 July 2024


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Vasra, 02 Jul 2024No single review of any modern top end smartphone reveals a... moreidk about the X100 Ultra but look at The Tech Phenomena's X100 Pro video review. That phone is only behind Apple because of slight consistency issues and the awful oversharpening in some instances, otherwise I'd say they're matched. Where Apple wins over everyone else is HDR, no one except for Sony does HDR like Apple. They had it as the base option since the iPhone 13 or something and I can see why they're so confident, the videos are top notch. Heck the iPhone 11 Pro gave my S22 Ultra a run for its money.

But tbh Apple is a tad bit overrated in terms of video, Sony's video processing along with Vivo's HDR processing in SDR videos would be the perfect blend, Apple seems overprocessed to me. Too artificial.

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    • Anonymous
    • PxV
    • 02 Jul 2024

    RoyalBlue, 02 Jul 2024I've had this phone for a month. The "slow&quo... moretextured mode is way too dark

      I've had this phone for a month.

      The "slow" charging is never a problem, I mostly charge at slower speed, because guess what, the phone lets you select charging speed while plugged in. It also produces less heat which means longer battery life.

      Most of the "muh oversharpening" problems can be solved by using "textured" mode. I don't understand why people think that every phone has only one post-processing mode.

      The battery always lasts thorugh the day, even when I'm mostly using the screen and camera. There's also many options to define how much each app can drain the battery.

      Be honest, how often do you use ultrawide? I only do maybe when I'm taking a landscape shot (mostly in daylight) or when I'm out with friends. For those few applications it's more than fine. Most of the time I use the main or tele and for those applications, I'd much rather have the sharpness rather than when using UW.

      The speakers are plenty loud (and much louder than my previous Huawei P40 Pro). They may lag behind other flagships in loudness but their quality as amazing - on par and maybe better than Samsung or Apple (I blid-tested this hypothesis). I'd take quality of sound rendition over loudness any day.

      Ofc there are things that could be better (the chinese ROM sometimes causes trouble) but the most important things were nailed. People these days compare every new phone with the "ideal" not with what's actually available as a competition.

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        • Anonymous
        • Yet
        • 02 Jul 2024

        Nick Tegrataker, 02 Jul 2024"Less noise" "Not even 10% of NR and sharpe... moreFrame stacking in video is for spec warriors who's only concern is not to end up with blown out sky but in the end they get orange people, faces with deep shadows that look like they came from most wanted posters, halos around tree branches and high frequency details in the background, noon that looks like dusk and so on. Frame stacking video the way phones do it is a sin to videography.

          No single review of any modern top end smartphone reveals all the pros and cons of a certain one phone. One HAS to read several reviews, look at several photos under various conditions.

          Vivo X100 Ultra has a lot of strengths. It's extreme long end zoom and night shots blow everybody else out of the water. No contest.

          However, it's video stabilization has a lot of jello artificial effects and smudginess due to bad algos. Nowhere near best of Apple or Samsung.

          As for the software.... well, it's Chinese : bad support, only 3 years, buggy, and while they have a lot of interesting UI gimmicks, they are not polished and thoroughly tested. Also, you will hit all sorts of restrictions trying to modify your phone.

          So, read/watch a lot of reviews and long term usage reviews.

          My reason for not buying X100 Ultra : too high price for too little software support (quality, length in years), no availability to unlock/extend support on your own and missing some crucial features for me.

          Still, great to see more competition against Samsung and Apple and spanking them in photo quality.

            jiyen235, 02 Jul 2024omg both the phones? May I ask why you have both of them? l... moreI had it, not anymore, after that i bought the x100 pro global, only to try macros, and i got addicted to them, but the FTOS is horrible and the battery drain as well, and I sold it as well, in the end I bought x100 Ultra.
            Pretty happy with overall experience.

              fro0st, 02 Jul 2024Facts brother, facts I have this phone, and I also have ha... moreomg both the phones? May I ask why you have both of them? lol

              And yeah! I love the Oppo, I think instead of saying one is better than the other, it's best to say the both provide different experiences. Oppo is more natural and Vivo is a little less so, Oppo's native focal lengths are different too so if someone wants that there's that and that's it, both of them have stellar camera systems and zooming capabilities.

              I just hope both these manufacturers can put in variable aperture because the Vivo X100 Pro is dangerously close to these phones for less, and a variable aperture would help differentiate.

                Thank you GSMArena for this awesome review, im glad to see that Vivo X100 Ultra is a great performer, however i think that Xiaomi 14 ultra is still the most balanced phone in terms of proper flagship camera quality.

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                  • Inedian
                  • L2r
                  • 02 Jul 2024

                  IMX363, 02 Jul 2024The main camera looks unimpressive. The dynamic range is go... moreNo oversharpening when you choose Texture mode which is best for me.

                    Pumpino, 02 Jul 2024The Pixels have great camera quality. Their camera bumps ar... moreThey are all right, but only when you don't zoom in. I am not a big fan of how they render details. You cannot cheat in physics. If you could minimize the hardware without any quality penalty, don't you think that all professional photographers would have smaller and lighter cameras and lenses?

                      The design of the ring has nothing common with watchmaking, rather it's a nod to Zeiss objectives from mid-20th century like biotar or sonnar.

                        The main camera looks unimpressive. The dynamic range is good but its quality is nowhere near close to the Nokia 808 PureView. In daylight it looks too sharpened. And it does not have an analogue look, it still looks very much like it was taken with a smartphone.

                        RX100, and even the old Nokia 808 PureView in the hands of someone who knows how to use them would easily beat this. But with an average user X100 Ultra would beat both. Especially in low light and challenging conditions. It would be nice to have an RX100 MK7 thrown in with camera samples.

                        The telezoom camera is impressive, very nice.

                        Overall, I like that the Chinese phone makers are pushing the specs. Software, and maybe lenses need some work though, HDR ruins real sharpness, and artificial post processing sharpening looks bad, fuzzy.

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                          • HutHutHut
                          • GRN
                          • 02 Jul 2024

                          GSM arena have been too generous in their review of the X100 Ultra's ultra wide camera... It's not good at all even in broad daylight... Sharpness throughout the frame is abysmal... Even my 3 year old Mi 11 Ultra takes far superior images compared to the Vivo... In my humble opinion the phones with the best Ultra Wide cameras released to date are the - Mi 11 Ultra and the Oppo Find X6 Pro... Nothing else is even comparable.

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                            • Jo
                            • B0e
                            • 02 Jul 2024

                            Anonymous, 01 Jul 2024That's true. There would be still 12.5 megapixel at 34... moreI tested the 12 vs 50 vs 200 on the zoom lens.

                            Weirdly the 50 gives a strange over sharpened image. It's worse than the 12. The 200 in comparison has a nice image quality and significantly more detail than the 12. There have been two software updates recently, maybe since the review images were taken ?

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                              • Anonymous
                              • nDx
                              • 02 Jul 2024

                              WhoCaresTM, 02 Jul 2024Once again the Chinese numbers don't add up in the rea... morei've used both s24 ultra and now owning x100 ultra and i'm not coming to samsung anytime soon, this phone is just superior in most aspects, is funny how you only looked at the 30min charging time but not at the full where samsung takes more than 20 mins to finish the charging on a smaller battery.
                              talk after you own this phone , samsung can't even get right its face unlock

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                                • Anonymous
                                • nDx
                                • 02 Jul 2024

                                Anonymous, 01 Jul 2024That bokeh blur on telephoto is criminal! The worst blur I&... moreso funny seeing clueless people comment like this, the blur from the 3.7x sensor is HARDWARE , it is very noticeable in taking normal pics (not portrait) calling fake blur actual dslr level blur is just too funny , stick with your scamsung

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • JHf
                                  • 02 Jul 2024

                                  So what's next in x200 ultra? Higher focal length for periscope? Zoom camera in between main and periscope for better zoom range coverage? Bigger ultrawide(like ~ov50e size)?

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • nDx
                                    • 02 Jul 2024

                                    xslvrxslwt, 01 Jul 2024I liked this phone until I've realized how big of a sc... moreyou do realize you can change default depth both before taking the potrait photo and after?
                                    all phones use AI especially in longer range zoom, stick to max 10x zoom and it puts to shame all any phones anyway
                                    also it has a HD portrait option that is taking dslr level portraits when it comes to details

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • pXr
                                      • 02 Jul 2024

                                      Again.. come on. The sensor is not 1".. no phones have a 1" sensor. It is correctly called a 1" type sensor, as the sensor is not 1" measured

                                        jiyen235, 02 Jul 2024GSMarena, the night mode 2x shots are the same as the 1x sh... moreFacts brother, facts
                                        I have this phone, and I also have had Oppo X7 Ultra, dont get me wrong Oppo is good as well, natural shots, good video recording and good phone overall.
                                        But with X100 Ultra i have more fun using it, especially the macros, it's crazy, and i like the OriginOS more, it's kinda more fluid and a lot more customizable, tho the caviar is, that you need to put a lil bit more work into setting the notifications up.
                                        In the end, they are both great phones, if you'll choose one of them, u wont be disappointed either.

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