vivo X Flip review

Design, build quality, handling

Other makers like Samsung and Motorola may be a few generations in on their clamshell foldables designs, vivo is only now joining in on that action with the X Flip. So with the benefit of joining the race late, much like Oppo with the Find N2 Flip, the X Flip comes with a few of the form-factor's kinks already ironed out.

One of those is the relatively large cover display. Admittedly, the latest Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is all display on the cover, and the Galaxy Z Flip5 is likely going in that direction too, but the X Flip's 3-incher offers enough estate for handling basic tasks and providing a sensible camera viewfinder user experience, as we'll talk about more later on.

From a design standpoint, the black rectangle draws quite a lot of attention, but with its bezels extending all the way to the sides, it arguably looks less 'bolted-on' like the Find N2 Flip's and more like an actual integral part of the handset. Sure, it doesn't disappear like it does on the Razr, but it's not remotely an eyesore.

Neither is the camera island - a reasonably compact circular bump has the two cameras one above the other, neatly arranged with a Zeiss logo on the left and a T* (lens coating) badge next to a nearly invisible laser AF window. There was no room for the flash LEDs here, so they got a strip on the right, where vivo also printed some camera specs.

Our review unit is in the Silk Gold colorway, and it shows a sheen underneath the surface resembling that you'd get from draping silk cloth. The alternatives are Diamond Black with a fine crosshatch pattern, and the Rhombic Purple hero option that uses a leather-like back panel with a rhombic quilted pattern.

While vivo doesn't specify the material of the back panel, we did carefully go at it with a knife blade and the lack of scratches is a strong indication it's glass - at least our gold color option, but likely also the black one.

The unfolding action is smooth and reassuringly solid, with zero wobble in the hinge in either end state and only minor side-to-side movement in intermediate positions. Speaking of, the X Flip's hinge will happily stay open at any angle in the 50 to 130 degrees range (eyeballing it) - you can use that for self-timed picturetaking from a distance.

Also available is a calendar mode for the cover screen, which displays the clock and date constantly when you leave the X Flip in a tent state. There's normally no always-on display functionality for the outer screen other than that.

The X Flip is rated for 500,000 unfolds, but we're not entirely sure whether that means just the hinge or the hinge and display. Hopefully both.

The bendy panel takes on a waterdrop shape at the folding line, which allows the X Flip's two halves to fold in with no visible gap between them. That's how pretty much all foldables are, except for the Galaxies so far (we couldn't pass up on mentioning that).

In its unfolded state, the X Flip is very close to being creaseless in the middle. There's but a gentle wave that you're unlike to feel in the first place, unless you specifically focus on it, and even if you do, it disappears after a while in actual use. It's hard to tell which of the latest clamshells is the smoothest along the bend line, but the X Flip is certainly great in this respect.

The display is protected by UTG (ultra-thin glass), and there's also a plastic protective layer on top. Now, we wouldn't dare remove it, but we also didn't see explicit warnings that we shouldn't - that could be our Chinese being rusty, or the top film actually being non-structural. It can get a little smudged up in use, but your fingers normally glide very smoothly on it.

When unfolded, the X Flip looks like a regular large smartphone, albeit a particularly tall one. That said, it's a few millimeters shorter than the Razr 40 Ultra, whose 22:9 aspect makes it particularly elongated. The X Flip is essentially the same size as the Find N2 Flip, and as tall as the Galaxy Z Flip4, but the Galaxy is tangibly narrower (also 22:9).

The bezel situation is what you'd call standard for a clamshell foldable - there's a frame surrounding the panel that sits above it and protects its edges. Above the display, there are two cutouts in the bezel for the earpiece - a nicer looking solution than that on the Find N2 Flip, and similar to the Galaxy, though Motorola has managed to make the earpiece almost invisible.

The frame of the X Flip is aluminum and is treated to a semi-glossy finish. Somewhat unusually, vivo chose not to write anything on the middle piece that covers the inner bits and is visible when the phone is closed - Oppo and Samsung logos are to be found there, and Motorola did include Pantone cobranding for the Viva Magenta colorway of the Razr 40 Ultra.

There's not a whole lot of variation when it comes to physical button placement on clamshell foldables - all current designs, the X Flip included, have the power button and volume controls on the right side of the handset, in the top half. The power button also features a capacitive fingerprint sensor and we found it to work quickly and reliably with both a right thumb and a left index finger.

The rest of the mandatory bits are in the usual places too. A USB-C port is on the bottom, with the primary mic and the (only) loudspeaker on each side. Also on the bottom is the SIM card slot, which can take two nano-sized cards (no microSD, of course). While the blue gasket of the tray is nicely reassuring that dust or water won't go into the SIM slot, the X Flip isn't formally IP-rated.

Stuff in the usual locations • Card tray