vivo V23 Pro review

GSMArena Team, 19 January 2022.

Funtouch OS 12 now on top of Android 12

vivo has been keeping busy in the software department lately. Its new OriginOS is already a thing but still exclusive to just the Chinese market. Globally, the FuntouchOS skin was fairly recently bumped-up to version 12, as we saw of the vivo X70 family of devices. Those phones, however, still launched with Android 11 under the hood, whereas the vivo V23 Pro and V23 get the latest Funtouch OS 12 with Android 12 underneath.

vivo v23 Pro review

You can find more than a few traces of the new Android core scattered about here and there, like Google's new privacy-focused green notification dot that indicates when the camera or microphone are being used or the increased "bounce back" animations on most UI components. Overall, however, the UI and UX are distinctly custom, which comes courtesy of Funtouch OS 12. The stock-ish-looking UI elements that were kind of the norm in FunTouch OS 11 have been substituted with a highly customized and customizable UI. Some of the changes are pretty nifty, too, including the system menus being tailored towards a single-handed use. Some of the menus' content moves to the lower half of the screen when you swipe down, but not all, which is odd. vivo has revamped its default selection of widgets to make them more intuitive and easier to use as well.

Lockscreen - vivo v23 Pro review Homescreen - vivo v23 Pro review Folder view - vivo v23 Pro review Settings menu - vivo v23 Pro review Settings menu - vivo v23 Pro review Settings menu - vivo v23 Pro review
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • Settings menu

The recent apps menu, for example, has one of those useful proprietary features. You can choose between the standard carousel formation and a horizontal tiles layout - sort of like MIUI, only scrollable horizontally.

The app drawer, although stock-ish looking, has an expandable recommended apps category on the top (most commonly used ones), whereas using the vertical scroller on the right would highlight the apps beginning with the selected letter.

Recent apps - vivo v23 Pro review Recent apps - vivo v23 Pro review Notification shade - vivo v23 Pro review Quick toggles - vivo v23 Pro review App drawer - vivo v23 Pro review App drawer - vivo v23 Pro review
Recent apps • Recent apps • Notification shade • Quick toggles • App drawer

The notification shade has been revamped too, in terms of looks mostly - the quick toggles are now square-shaped, and the accent color around the menus (including the quick toggles icons) is blue, and there's no way to change either. Applying different themes would only change the icon pack and wallpaper.

Themes - vivo v23 Pro review Themes - vivo v23 Pro review Themes - vivo v23 Pro review
Themes

The rest of the UI gets plenty of love too. In the Dynamic effects sub-menu, vivo has grouped quite a few customizable aspects of the home screen, lock screen, animation effects, etc. There are even various charging and facial recognition animations.

The Ambient light effect gets more granular control with the option to enable it only during a limited time period, or you can choose which apps to trigger it.

Dynamic effects - vivo v23 Pro review Ambient light effect - vivo v23 Pro review Ambient light effect - vivo v23 Pro review Ambient light effect - vivo v23 Pro review Ambient light effect - vivo v23 Pro review Ambient light effect - vivo v23 Pro review
Dynamic effects • Ambient light effect

The always-on display settings are in a different sub-menu, however, but the phone still gives you plenty of options to tinker with - a wide selection of animations, clock styles, colors, backgrounds, the lot.

Always-on display - vivo v23 Pro review Always-on display - vivo v23 Pro review Always-on display - vivo v23 Pro review Always-on display - vivo v23 Pro review Always-on display - vivo v23 Pro review Always-on display - vivo v23 Pro review
Always-on display

One small but potentially important gripe we had with the vivo X70 Pro seems to have been addressed on the V23 Pro. There used to be no way to summon the fingerprint reader icon on a locked screen unless the motion sensor detects movement. Now, waking the display simply brings up the fingerprint reader as well. However, we are still not particularly happy that the double-tap-to-wake function is buried in the Smart motion menu.

vivo v23 Pro review

The Sound menu holds a few pleasant surprises. Just like Samsung, vivo is paying attention to people with hearing problems, and you can calibrate the sound to be heard by elderly people or those with impaired hearing. Additionally, notifications and calls get separate volume sliders. The vibration intensity can be adjusted for calls and notifications independently. No system-wide eq is available for the loudspeaker, though, which could be both a negative and a positive depending on how you look at it.

Sound options - vivo v23 Pro review Sound options - vivo v23 Pro review Sound options - vivo v23 Pro review Sound options - vivo v23 Pro review
Sound options

The previously mentioned Smart motion menu holds a handful of familiar screen-on and screen-off gestures along with some new additions. One of those requires you to wave in front of the screen during an incoming call to answer hands-free - useful if you're cooking, for example.

Smart motion menu - vivo v23 Pro review Smart motion menu - vivo v23 Pro review Smart motion menu - vivo v23 Pro review
Smart motion menu

Holding the volume down key can be used to launch an app or do a certain task, although the list of the latter is limited to launching the camera app, turning on/off the torch or starting recording audio. The so-called Quick action feature doesn't work when playing music for obvious reasons. Why isn't there a double-press option for Quick action, though?

Shortcuts and accessibility - vivo v23 Pro review Quick action - vivo v23 Pro review S-capture - vivo v23 Pro review Screen-split - vivo v23 Pro review Easy Touch - vivo v23 Pro review Easy Touch - vivo v23 Pro review
Shortcuts and accessibility • Quick action • S-capture • Screen-split • Easy Touch

Having all of these customizable gestures, actions and additional features around is definitely nifty, but we can't help but feel that vivo could have organized them a bit better. As things currently stand, it is hard to find certain options, even when you know for a fact that they exist and consequently, discovering new things is even harder.

Lastly, there's a little something for the gamers. A dedicated Ultra Game Mode is available, and it has it all. Most of the features are about mitigating disturbance during gameplay or letting certain apps display heads-up notifications. One of the most intriguing features that have been around on vivo phones for a while is the ability to turn off the screen and keep the game running in the background. Especially useful for turn-based games or those requiring some sort of "farming" and "grinding". Eagle eye enhancements and 4D vibration are also quite interesting in their own right.

Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review
Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review Ultra Game mode - vivo v23 Pro review
Ultra Game mode

Overall, Funtouch OS 12 is a great step in the right direction when it comes to fluidity and snappy operation. vivo even gives you the option the speed up transitions further, which is just another option to add to the myriad of customization available here. If you are into that, then you will definitely enjoy the experience. However, those that want to use Android as Google intended might not be okay with the colorful iconography and the highly customized system menus and animations.

Synthetic benchmarks

vivo went with MediaTek Dimensity chips for both the V23 Pro and V23. The former, which we are currently looking at, gets the tried-and-true Dimensity 1200, whereas the vanilla V23 is equipped with the newer but slightly lower-end Dimensity 920.

vivo v23 Pro review

If we don't count the new Dimensity 9000, the Dimensity 1200 is still one of the best MediaTek has to offer. It is an efficient 6nm chip, rocking an Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) CPU setup and a Mali-G77 MC9 GPU. It is also packed with current connectivity, including Dual-Mode (SA and NSA) 5G with dual 5G standby support (Sub-6 only, no mmWave) and VoNR. For local connectivity, the V23 Pro gets Dual-Band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.2 with LE and aptX HD support and GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC support. Quite the loadout. However, there are some notable omissions, like FM radio, NFC and a slow USB 2.0 data connection.

You can get the vivo V23 Pro in one of two memory configurations - 128GB 8GB RAM or 256GB 12GB RAM. We are conducting this review on the top-tier model. Vivo also has its Extended RAM 2.0 feature loaded on both the V23 Pro and V23 for an extra 4GB of "virtual memory". Version 2.0 of vivo's implementation of this particular Android feature promises improved efficiency while using ROM storage as RAM.

Kicking things off with some pure CPU performance and GeekBench, we can see that the V23 Pro and its Dimensity 1200 clearly hold their own, particularly against other mid and upper-midrange chipsets within the same rough price range.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

  • vivo X60 Pro
    3490
  • Realme GT Neo2
    3186
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    3034
  • vivo V23 Pro
    3021
  • Huawei nova 9
    2973
  • Honor 50
    2971
  • vivo X70 Pro
    2956
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    2941
  • Realme GT Master
    2917
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    2909
  • Google Pixel 6
    2899
  • Xiaomi 11T
    2834
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    2801
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    2792
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    2621
  • Poco X3 Pro
    2574
  • Poco X3 GT
    2310
  • Oppo Reno6 5G
    2131
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    1820
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    1797
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
    1780
  • Realme 8
    1690
  • Realme 8 Pro
    1678
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    1627
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    1599
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    1577
  • Xiaomi Redmi 10
    1294

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

  • vivo X60 Pro
    1034
  • Google Pixel 6
    1030
  • Realme GT Neo2
    1019
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    1003
  • vivo X70 Pro
    875
  • vivo V23 Pro
    850
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    814
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    813
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    805
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    803
  • Honor 50
    787
  • Realme GT Master
    785
  • Huawei nova 9
    784
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    771
  • Xiaomi 11T
    742
  • Poco X3 Pro
    735
  • Oppo Reno6 5G
    722
  • Poco X3 GT
    693
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    636
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    597
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
    569
  • Realme 8 Pro
    566
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    537
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    534
  • Realme 8
    533
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    525
  • Xiaomi Redmi 10
    361

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 870 manages to outpace the Dimensity 1200 consistently in both single and multi-threaded workloads, though not by a lot. All the while, CPU-wise, the Dimensity 1200 is about comparable to Qualcomm's newer 7-series chips, like the Snapdragon 780 and the 778G.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

  • vivo X60 Pro
    639612
  • vivo V23 Pro
    635060
  • Poco F3
    631850
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    524692
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    512164
  • Poco X3 GT
    506800
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    493509
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    465534
  • Poco X3 Pro
    453223
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    429675
  • Oppo Reno6 5G
    362450
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    334981
  • Realme 8
    298328
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    296721
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
    295442
  • Realme 8 Pro
    286666
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    279342
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    261282
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    218788

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

  • Realme GT Neo2
    726039
  • vivo X60 Pro
    720352
  • vivo V23 Pro
    716766
  • vivo X70 Pro
    694499
  • Google Pixel 6
    676831
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    671577
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    598022
  • Xiaomi 11T
    590837
  • Poco X3 GT
    578505
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    572549
  • Realme GT Master
    529263
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    522490
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    506432
  • Honor 50
    470348
  • Huawei nova 9
    469798
  • Oppo Reno6 5G
    430765
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    386474
  • Realme 8
    357488
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    353663
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    333668

AnTuTu with its more compound benchmarks paints a similar picture. In fact, we are happy to see that vivo is managing impressively-high scores for a Dimensity 1200 chip on average.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    159
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    143
  • Realme GT Neo2
    142
  • vivo V23 Pro
    140
  • vivo X70 Pro
    129
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    123
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    123
  • Xiaomi 11T
    121
  • Poco X3 GT
    116
  • Poco X3 Pro
    102
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    89
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    89
  • Honor 50
    78
  • Huawei nova 9
    78
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    77
  • Realme GT Master
    77
  • Realme 8
    53
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    43
  • Realme 8 Pro
    43
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    40
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    39
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    39
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    24

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Realme GT Neo2
    113
  • vivo X70 Pro
    108
  • Poco X3 GT
    97
  • Xiaomi 11T
    96
  • Poco X3 Pro
    93
  • Google Pixel 6
    90
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    90
  • vivo V23 Pro
    89
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    78
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    78
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    69
  • Honor 50
    68
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    59
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    59
  • Huawei nova 9
    58
  • Realme GT Master
    57
  • Realme 8
    48
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    39
  • Realme 8 Pro
    38
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    37
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    35
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    35
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    21

GPU performance is a bit more of a mixed bag. The V23 Pro and its Mali-G77 MC9 still hold their own very well, but in some on-screen tests in particular, the fps numbers do tend to be a bit lower than form other Dimensity 1200 phones with similar FullHD+ native resolution.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    117
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    100
  • Realme GT Neo2
    99
  • vivo V23 Pro
    91
  • vivo X70 Pro
    85
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    81
  • Xiaomi 11T
    77
  • Poco X3 Pro
    75
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    75
  • Poco X3 GT
    74
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    65
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    61
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    56
  • Realme GT Master
    56
  • Honor 50
    56
  • Huawei nova 9
    56
  • Realme 8
    33
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    32
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    29
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    29
  • Realme 8 Pro
    28
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    26
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    17

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    90
  • Realme GT Neo2
    84
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    82
  • vivo V23 Pro
    79
  • vivo X70 Pro
    77
  • Xiaomi 11T
    72
  • Poco X3 GT
    68
  • Poco X3 Pro
    67
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    61
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    57
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    57
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    54
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    49
  • Honor 50
    48
  • Huawei nova 9
    48
  • Realme GT Master
    46
  • Realme 8 Pro
    31
  • Realme 8
    29
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    28
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    26
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    26
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    23
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    15

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    66
  • Realme GT Neo2
    59
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    59
  • vivo V23 Pro
    53
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    48
  • Xiaomi 11T
    47
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    46
  • vivo X70 Pro
    45
  • Poco X3 Pro
    45
  • Poco X3 GT
    44
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    40
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    35
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    33
  • Realme GT Master
    33
  • Honor 50
    33
  • Huawei nova 9
    33
  • Realme 8
    20
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    19
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
    19
  • Realme 8 Pro
    18
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    17
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    17
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    16
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    9.3

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    57
  • Realme GT Neo2
    49
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    49
  • vivo V23 Pro
    45
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    42
  • vivo X70 Pro
    40
  • Xiaomi 11T
    40
  • Poco X3 Pro
    38
  • Poco X3 GT
    38
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    38
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    35
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    30
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    28
  • Huawei nova 9
    28
  • Realme GT Master
    27
  • Honor 50
    27
  • Realme 8
    18
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    16
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
    16
  • Realme 8 Pro
    16
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    15
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    15
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    13
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    7.9

Then again, looking a bit closer at the result, it seems that this behavior is limited to the older OpenGL ES 3.0 based test run. Ramping up the graphical intensity and using OpenGL ES 3.1 seems to be a lot more favorable towards the vivo V23 Pro.

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    43
  • Realme GT Neo2
    33
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    33
  • vivo V23 Pro
    32
  • vivo X70 Pro
    29
  • Xiaomi 11T
    29
  • Poco X3 GT
    28
  • Poco X3 Pro
    27
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    26
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    20
  • Honor 50
    20
  • Huawei nova 9
    20
  • Realme GT Master
    19
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    11
  • Realme 8
    11
  • Realme 8 Pro
    11
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    10
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    10
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    5.3

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    46
  • vivo V23 Pro
    34
  • Realme GT Neo2
    33
  • vivo X70 Pro
    31
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    31
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    30
  • Xiaomi 11T
    30
  • Poco X3 GT
    29
  • Poco X3 Pro
    26
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    19
  • Honor 50
    19
  • Huawei nova 9
    19
  • Realme GT Master
    18
  • Realme 8
    12
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    11
  • Realme 8 Pro
    11
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    10
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    10
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    5.6

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    30
  • Realme GT Neo2
    24
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    24
  • vivo V23 Pro
    21
  • vivo X70 Pro
    20
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    20
  • Xiaomi 11T
    20
  • Poco X3 GT
    19
  • Poco X3 Pro
    18
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    14
  • Realme GT Master
    14
  • Honor 50
    14
  • Huawei nova 9
    14
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    7.5
  • Realme 8
    7.5
  • Realme 8 Pro
    7.2
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    7
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    7
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    3.5

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    30
  • vivo V23 Pro
    23
  • Realme GT Neo2
    22
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    22
  • vivo X70 Pro
    21
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    21
  • Xiaomi 11T
    21
  • Poco X3 GT
    20
  • Poco X3 Pro
    17
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    13
  • Realme GT Master
    13
  • Honor 50
    13
  • Huawei nova 9
    13
  • Realme 8
    7.7
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    7.2
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    7
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    7
  • Realme 8 Pro
    7
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    3.7

Vulkan-based graphic tests seem to perform as expected to and also paint the vivo V23 is a pretty great light overall.

Same goes for 3DMark, where the V23 Pro managed to successfully max out the Slingshot Extreme runs in both OpenGL and Vulkan mode and scored very respectably on the Wild Life test. So much so, in fact, that it seemed to break away from the rest of the Dimensity 1200 pack once again.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

  • Google Pixel 6
    6832
  • vivo V23 Pro
    4713
  • Realme GT Neo2
    4250
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G
    4236
  • OnePlus Nord 2
    4224
  • Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
    4201
  • Xiaomi 11T
    4172
  • vivo X70 Pro
    4148
  • Poco X3 GT
    3991
  • Poco X3 Pro
    3401
  • Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
    3136
  • vivo iQOO Z5
    2639
  • Honor 50
    2503
  • Huawei nova 9
    2503
  • Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
    2491
  • Realme GT Master
    2481
  • Oppo Reno6 5G
    2024
  • Realme 8
    1486
  • Poco M4 Pro 5G
    1232
  • Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
    1107
  • Realme 8 Pro
    1051
  • Samsung Galaxy A52
    1040
  • Samsung Galaxy A72
    1031
  • Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
    482

Our best guess is that Android 12 is providing a boost to benchmark numbers here and there on the V23. Even if that performance delta is unlikely to transfer over, at least not to the same extent, on to real-world gaming performance, it is still a testament to the importance of running the latest Android OS.

Just to be thorough, we did put the V23 Pro through a thermal throttling test, since we were curious to find out if any of that impressive burst benchmark performance perhaps comes at the expense of long-term sustained numbers. We already know that body temperature on the V23 is not really an issue. It gets noticeably warm after a long gaming session, but is still perfectly comfortable to hold. This, in itself, is a major achievement, given the V23 Pro's slim profile.

CPU Throttling test - vivo v23 Pro review CPU Throttling test - vivo v23 Pro review CPU Throttling test - vivo v23 Pro review CPU Throttling test - vivo v23 Pro review
CPU Throttling test

After a solid hour of CPU torture, the vivo V23 Pro expectedly loses a sizable chunk of its raw performance to heat. Thermal-throttling in a closed thermal system is inevitable. The way said throttling is handled is much more important, though, and we were happy to see that the V23 Pro never experienced sudden jarring drops in performance but instead managed to gradually dial back. That's the kind of behavior you want to see, and we commend vivo for it.

Overall, the vivo V23 gets top marks in the performance category. Not only does it have capable internals, but it also manages to cope with heat surprisingly well. On top of that, Funtouch OS 12 provides a very smooth and highly customizable and feature-rich experience. Its new Android 12 base is likely helping a bit in this regard as well, and we appreciate its presence. Sans for a few gripes we have with vivo's automatic refresh rate switching logic, we have no complaints regarding performance on the V23 Pro. It is excellent all around, even exceeding expectations at times.

Reader comments

  • Hunter
  • 06 Dec 2022
  • rJ@

Yes vivo v23 is 5g

  • krish
  • 19 Sep 2022
  • Abb

vivo v23 is a 5g or 4g mobile............

  • Don
  • 04 Aug 2022
  • X5u

No