vivo X100 Ultra review

Android 14 with Origin OS 4.0, no Funtouch version

The X100 Ultra boots Android 14 with a layer of Origin OS over it - vivo's proprietary software for the Chinese market. Since there's no international version of the phone, there's also no Funtouch-based global ROM, so if you were to gray-import an X100 Ultra, you'll have to deal with certain limitations - some predictable ones, and others that may not be immediately visible.

The homescreens are nothing out of the ordinary, other than the fact that the phone comes with a bunch of China-specific apps pre-installed. They can be removed though, and we didn't encounter any instances of non-translated settings screens or other menu items - obviously, the Chinese apps will greet you in Chinese, but that's about it.

Origin OS on the vivo X100 Ultra

As with other Chinese ROMs, there will be a more granular approach to permissions than what we're used to with international builds, though that's not necessarily a bad thing and it doesn't get in the way once you do get yourself all set up. One roadblock, as usual, is the lack of Google Location History - the phone does let you toggle on the setting, but even after that Maps says that the X100 Ultra isn't contributing. Unfortunate.

More Origin OS

Benchmarks

The vivo X100 Ultra uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 inside - as do most other high-end Android phones in 2024. That's said, in the X100 family the Ultra is the exception - the vanilla model and the Pro both feature the Dimensity 9300.

Manufactured on a 4nm process, the SD 8 Gen 3 features an octa-core CPU in a 1+3+2+2 configuration, with a prime Cortex-X4 core clocked at 3.3GHz. The GPU is the Adreno 750. There are three memory configurations for the X100 Ultra - 12GB/256GB, 16GB/512GB, and the 16GB/1TB. The storage speeds of our top-specced review unit were consistent with the UFS 4.0 standard.

In benchmarks, the X100 Ultra posted predictably high marks, without going into the 'overachievers' territory. The 'BOOST' mode in the battery settings didn't have a meaningful impact on the scores - not that there is a whole lot of room for improvement.

We've discontinued GFXBench graphics benchmarking as the app is often banned/blacklisted on the phones we receive for review. The graphics performance ranking in 3D Mark is just as meaningful, so we suggest you refer to that one instead.

Under sustained load, the X100 Ultra performs... unlike most competitors. In the CPU Throttling test, the phone got a 78% rating after a nicely gradual ramp down of its scores. The thing is though, it got so hot that it was impossible to hold at the end of the test. The 3DMark Wild Life stress returned similar results - a fairly high stability rating at 70%, but unusually high temperatures. It's an interesting bias and one that probably shows how well the phone's thermal dissipation hardware can get the heat away from the bits that generate it, though it's not an entirely practical solution.

CPU Throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test