vivo V23 Pro review

Design

The vivo V23 Pro is an unquestionably stylish device. vivo has been betting on pretty thin designs lately. At 7.4mm, the V23 Pro is pretty thin, plus the curved display and back panel and thin middle frame make the phone look and feel thinner still.

It is worth noting that due to its aggressively-curved sides and relatively smooth frame, with no strong edges or chamfers, the V23 Pro doesn't exactly sit confidently in the hand. In fact, it is quite slippery. The included transparent TPU case addresses these handling woes effectively, but you do have to give up on the particular feel of the back panel. The panel is covered with Fluorite AG Glass and has a sort of soft yet sandy feel, reminiscent of the Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Dimensity model's rear panel. The vivo logo is also kind of embossed, which is a nifty little detail.

While the finish on the backside is likely to be polarizing in terms of feel, the fact that it doesn't get greasy or otherwise dirty easily should be universally appreciated.

Of course, we can't discuss the back of the vivo V23 Pro without talking about its "party trick" - the UV reactive paint job. It should be noted that just the signature Sunshine Gold color is UV reactive. That's the unit we got for review, too. The other Stardust Black variant still has the sandy feel but does not change colors, making it a bit more understated overall.

Plus, there is a small detail to potentially consider - the camera island on the Stardust Black is, for some reason, not treated with the same UV-reactive paint as the rest of the back and does not change color, which can look a bit weird at times.

Speaking of weird, the color change itself can fall under that category. The "native" Sunshine Gold color is only really gold under more intense UV-free lighting. In a dim room with just natural light coming in from a window (which does filter out UV), the color is a lot "duller" and not as vibrant, like a pale grey or silver, with some greenish and blueish tones coming through, depending on how the light hits it. It's a pretty complex mix of hues, and that is also the case in UV light after the color has changed to what is mostly blue, but with some green and yellow showing through on occasion and depending on the angle. It is kind of meant to play with your mind and does that really well.

vivo V23 Pro Sunshine Gold in original color • vivo V23 Pro Sunshine Gold after color change

The color change itself can take anywhere from under a minute to a few minutes, both going to and from the UV blue state depending on how much UV light is present. You can often end up with a mid-way change in some environments, like on a cloudy day and never get all the way to the proper "blue" color.

Left: vivo V23 Pro * Right: vivo V23

Naturally, you can play around with the process quite a bit simply by covering parts of the back panel as it changes. Unless you are in a controlled environment, though, don't bet on any temporary "customization" sticking around consistently, like a stencil of a logo or something. And also, be prepared to look at a not-so-pleasing random "artsy" design for a while after holding your phone as you walk into or away from the sun.

As long as we are sharing random thoughts on the UV-reactive paint, we have to wonder how well the effect will hold up in time and whether multiple change cycles or prolonged UV exposure might make a difference to the longevity of the effect one way or another. All things considered, though, it is a really cool party trick that even works fairly well through the included TPU case, which is neat. And if you are not into it at all, you can always just slap a solid case on the V23 Pro and forget it was ever a thing.

Circling to the front of the V23 Pro for just a bit, the design is quite "modern", perhaps even going a bit overboard, particularly due to the aggressive curvature of the display.

Left: vivo V23 * Right: vivo V23 Pro

To be fair, though, the display itself doesn't extend all the way into the curvature, and there are some fairly-wide bezels on all sides. Nothing distracting or off-putting, but still noticeably-big.

The same pretty much goes for the selfie notch. Even though it houses two snappers, vivo has managed to keep its size quite reasonable and blend it in well with the rest of the design.

Materials and build quality

In terms of construction, vivo V23 Pro uses a standard "sandwich" setup, with a middle frame sandwiched between a glass back panel and a curved display on the front. It feels sturdy and well made, with practically no flex. Tipping the scale at 171 grams, it is actually a bit light for its size.

We think that the small size of the middle frame on the V23 Pro contributes at least a bit to its overall lightness. That and the fact that best we managed to tell, it is actually not metal, but rather a polycarbonate. Vivo doesn't seem to admit this outright in its official specs but does specifically mention that the frame of the vanilla vivo V23 is made of metal, which definitely suggests that the one on the V23 Pro isn't. There are other hints here and there as well, like looking into the housing around the Type-C port reveals a black material. The same goes around the SIM tray once ejected. Plus, the top bezel on the V23 Pro features a particular groove with a glass or plastic insert and some writing on that. We can only assume it's there purely for style, and accommodating it with a metal frame would have taken a lot of effort.

Plastic or not, the middle frame both feels and looks great. It even pulls off a metal finish quite successfully. We do have to note, though, that on our unit, the finish was bad on the SIM tray for some reason and even had some chips in the paint.

Vivo actually went with Schott as its vendor for protective glass on the V23 Pro. You get Schott Xensation α glass on the front and Fluorite AG Glass on the back panel. Schott might not be nearly as well-known as Corning in the space but is a quite reputable source for protective glass finish nonetheless. The Xensation α is actually its latest flagship product that even claims to rival Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus. It is a step up from the Xensation Up used in the vanilla vivo V23 as well as the vivo X60 Pro and X70 Pro.

One unfortunate omission on the V23 Pro is any formal ingress protection rating. Not even the basic IP53. There is an obvious rubber gasket on the SIM tray, for what that's worth.

Controls

The vivo V23 Pro has a pretty straightforward control scheme. You get a power button and a volume rocker on the right side in terms of physical buttons. These are well positioned and easy to feel out of but are a bit mushy and don't offer nice tactile feedback. They are still usable but could be a lot better.

The V23 Pro has an optical under-display fingerprint reader. It is quite snappy and reliable. We have no complaints about it.

The left frame on the V23 Pro is completely empty, and the top frame just houses a single hole for the secondary microphone. It is placed inside the plastic or glass insert on the top frame, which we mentioned earlier. It's not an accent you see too often.

The bottom of the V23 Pro houses its dual Nano-SIM card slot. It lacks a microSD card slot, which is a bit of a bummer.

Speaking of bummers, there is just a single bottom-firing speaker on the V23 Pro. No stereo setup, not even a hybrid one. There is no 3.5mm audio jack either. And since we are on the topic - no FM radio or NFC either. The Type-C port is wired for USB 2.0 data speeds but does support OTG.

In case you were wondering, there is no notification LED on the V23 Pro, even though there is plenty of space in the double-wide selfie notch. That's kind of the expected situation with modern phones, though. vivo still decided to fit a proper proximity sensor and a light sensor somewhere in there, both of which are appreciated as opposed to virtual alternatives.

We do still like the way the earpiece is neatly hidden away above the selfie cameras and just has a tiny little slit for sound to come through. Of course, we shouldn't forget to mention the two dual-tone LED "torches" for selfies, also hidden away near the top left and right edges. These are invisible while turned off as well.