vivo X60 Pro review

Android 11 + Funtouch 11

The X60 Pro runs Android 11 with the proprietary Funtouch 11 layer on top, a combination we're already familiar with from the V20 that launched on Android 11 all the way in October last year. We noted a shift towards a less custom user interface back then, but that could have been due to the early release date. This version here isn't quite as stock, but rather more Funtouch-y.

The basics are either standard or close to it, even though the icons are thoroughly themed - the app drawer is stock, the task switcher is stock-ish (with a 'Clear all' button), the quick toggles in the notification shade have the usual circular design, the notification cards themselves are standard too. A welcome addition to the brightness slider is a switch for 'auto', usually buried in settings on stock-leaning UIs.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Task switcher • App drawer • Quick toggles • Notifications

Since the phone's software is based on Android 11, it offers the Android 11-intrinsic features. For instance, the notifications are now grouped into categories, so 'Conversations' from messaging apps won't get lost in the clutter. In case you've dismissed something by accident, there's detailed notification history. Other notable Android 11 features include Bubbles (a Messenger-like chat heads functionality), better permission handling, a built-in screen recorder, and the completely overhauled power menu.

With the return of the full-on Funtouch, in addition to the custom multimedia apps, we see a custom dialer and messages apps. The iManager is here to stay as well, a utility for clearing memory cache, data usage analysis, virus scans and the like.

You have the standard set of navigation gestures with additional quick access to Google's Assistant by swiping diagonally from the lower-left and lower-right corners of the screen.

Album • Video • Dialer • Messages • iManager • Navigation

There's also a fair bit of options to tweak the UI appearance. You can change the font, mess around with the themes, and choose between a handful of Always-on display styles. The Dynamic effects menu lets you change the system animations and effects.

General settings • Always-on display • Themes

The Ambient light effect, for example, lights up the edges of the display for notifications, calls and even lets you choose which apps to trigger the effect. It's not something we haven't seen before - Samsung, OnePlus, and Xiaomi do that, but vivo takes it one step further and lets you choose not only the style but also the duration of the ambient light effect. You can turn this into a substitute for notification LED.

Dynamic light effects

There are some gaming-centric features on the X60 Pro, grouped under the Ultra Game Mode in settings. A handful of options to minimize the disturbance during gameplay like blocking notifications and heads-up notifications are at your disposal.

Last but not least, this mode gives you the freedom to turn off the phone's screen while the game is running in the background. This would save an immense amount of power when playing some types of online or turn-based games.

Ultra Game Mode

There's a sidebar with a list of optimized settings for the current game and another one for quick settings during gameplay.

Game Assistant sidebar

Synthetic benchmarks

The X60 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 870 chipset - Qualcomm's second-best chip on offer that's an even higher clocked version of the SD865+, itself a souped-up SD865. That means an octa-core CPU in a 1+3+4 configuration with the prime core going all the way up to 3.2GHz.

Vivo is making a moderately big deal of its 'Virtual RAM' technology to improve perceived performance. The X60 Pro allocates 3GB of its UFS 3.1 storage for dumping some of the app processes running in the background that it deems less important. That should, in theory, allow you to have more apps open at the same time and speed up the user experience.

On the other hand, the 12GB of real RAM already available sounds like an ample amount of memory for pretty much anything you could think of doing on a phone, though 'more is more' remains a strong argument. In any case, we have no objective means of testing vivo's claims in this regard.

We do have GeekBench for CPU testing, and the X60 Pro with its SD870 excelled here. It only got beaten (expectedly) by the SD888-powered OnePlus 9 in terms of single- and multi-core performance, with the Exynos Galaxy S21+ 5G also squeezing in ahead of the vivo in single-core. Mind you, vivo's appears to have a notably better implementation of the SD870 than the Moto G100 we had just last week.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  3629
• vivo X60 Pro
  3490
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  3476
• vivo X50 Pro+
  3411
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  3302
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  3296
• OnePlus 8T
  3126
• OnePlus 9R
  3117
• Motorola Moto G100
  2860
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  2703

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  1129
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  1091
• vivo X60 Pro
  1034
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  996
• OnePlus 9R
  969
• Motorola Moto G100
  950
• vivo X50 Pro+
  930
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  906
• OnePlus 8T
  893
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  886

Antutu paints a similar picture - it's only the SD888 OnePlus 9 that can outmaneuver the SD870 X60 Pro. The Poco F3, another SD870 handset, is just behind the vivo, while the Moto G100 is nowhere near.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  715196
• vivo X60 Pro
  639612
• Poco F3
  631850
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  622276
• vivo X50 Pro+
  621433
• OnePlus 9R
  617766
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  602934
• OnePlus 8T
  576625
• Motorola Moto G100
  556137
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  543986
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  500114

The OnePlus 9 has about a 20% advantage over the X60 Pro in graphics tests in GFXBench and the Galaxy S21+ outperforms the vivo too - that's entirely normal. The vivo is more powerful than anything which isn't packing a 2021 flagship chipset, however.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  119
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  111
• vivo X60 Pro
  96
• OnePlus 9R
  93
• Motorola Moto G100
  91
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  90
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  89
• OnePlus 8T
  88
• vivo X50 Pro+
  85
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  85

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  100
• vivo X60 Pro
  86
• Motorola Moto G100
  79
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  78
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  77
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  75
• vivo X50 Pro+
  74
• OnePlus 9R
  60
• OnePlus 8T
  60
• OnePlus 9
  60

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  70
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  66
• vivo X60 Pro
  59
• OnePlus 9R
  57
• Motorola Moto G100
  56
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  54
• OnePlus 8T
  53
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  52
• vivo X50 Pro+
  51
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  50

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  58
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  54
• vivo X60 Pro
  51
• OnePlus 9R
  49
• Motorola Moto G100
  47
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  46
• OnePlus 8T
  46
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  45
• vivo X50 Pro+
  43
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  42

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 9
  43
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  37
• vivo X60 Pro
  35
• OnePlus 9R
  34
• Motorola Moto G100
  33
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  31
• OnePlus 8T
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  30
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  26

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  43
• OnePlus 9
  40
• vivo X60 Pro
  34
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  32
• Motorola Moto G100
  31
• OnePlus 9R
  31
• Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
  30
• OnePlus 8T
  29

The vivo inches ahead of the Moto G100 in 3DMark and is on par with the Galaxy S20+ in Exynos trim. The OnePlus 9 and the Galaxy S21+ are comfortably in the lead in this one as well, as expected.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  5757
• OnePlus 9
  5667
• Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
  4225
• vivo X60 Pro
  4203
• OnePlus 9R
  4154
• Motorola Moto G100
  4114

The vivo X60 Pro packs some high-performance silicon and uses it to its full potential. The combination of the high-end Snapdragon 870, fast UFS 3.1 storage, and generous 12GB of RAM (with an extra 3GB of 'virtual RAM'), means you're fully equipped for the most demanding tasks. Still, the SD888 will give you the upper hand, and if ultimate performance is important, the OnePlus 9 can give you that at essentially the same price as the vivo.