vivo V20 Pro 5G hands-on review

Software and features

Upon arrival, the phone ran on Android 10 but shortly after, vivo seeded an OTA update bumping up the version to 11. The Funtouch version is also 11, and much of the features and customizations aren't new to us. We had enough time to test them out in the V20 review. However, we will do a quick overview of them to get a good grasp of what Funtouch 11 is all about.

The first thing we noticed is the near stock-ish look of the software. Funtouch has departed from the heavily-customized appearance of the past, and it now looks more polished. There are plenty of visual and functional customizations to play around with.

Always-on display and other ambient display effects

Some of those features include gaming-oriented apps and optimizations such as Ultra Game Mode, Esports Mode, 4D Game Vibration and sound effects with granular control over them.

Various gaming-related features

Camera

On top of the usual camera features one would expect, vivo has crammed up a couple of new ones, which are a rare find in the mid-range segment. For instance, you can record videos using the front and the back camera simultaneously, and you can shoot with the ultra-wide-angle cam using the Pro mode.

3D Sound Tracking is an interesting new feature that lets you hone in on the subject you are recording and leave the background's ambient sounds. This one's limited to 1080p at 30fps, probably due to the extra processing power it requires.

Anyway, we've got a couple of camera samples for you to look at, but we will leave the in-depth assessment for another time. For now, we leave the samples to you.

Camera samples: Main • Ultrawide • Main • Ultrawide

Here are some selfies.

Selfies: Normal • Ultrawide • Portrait

We also recorded a short 2160p video too.

Early verdict

Having reviewed the vanilla V20 and also having the chance to do a hands-on review on the 20 Pro 5G, we can conclude that both devices deliver a similar user experience that not many would notice the nuances.

Still, the V20 Pro 5G feels pretty fresh, and it's a gorgeous device, too. But being priced at INR 29,990, we fear that it would be yet another vivo handset that's too expensive for its own good.

This high price puts the V20 Pro dangerously close to feature-rich competitors like the recently announced Xiaomi Mi 10i or even the OnePlus Nord.

And relying mostly on marketing the 5G capabilities of a phone in India might not be such a great idea. Broad 5G adoption in India is still far off, and by the time it comes around, vivo would have probably already released a better and even cheaper 5G-capable handset.