Vivo V50 review: Affordable ‘flagship’ camera phone

Vivo V50 review

It is not that often that Vivo comes up with a phone that we can call value for money. Vivo makes some impressive phones—look at X200 Pro—and it is also priced well and has the same success philosophy Vivo has tried to apply with its V series phones, especially with the latest one, V50.

The company has dropped the V50 alone – no ‘Pro’ model – at least for now. But, for what it's worth, the phone – V50 – is more Pro than ever, and it does not need the ‘Pro’ moniker to prove that. For instance, the V50 phone comes with a total of three cameras – all 50MP – and all of them are turned by Zeiss. Not something that we’ve seen before in a non-Pro mode. There’s more. The phone comes with a 6000mAh battery – bigger than previous Pro models. Most importantly, it has a dedicated wedding mode, which is mainly a feature of the ‘X’ series phones.

V50 camera

What else? Well, the phone also comes with FunTouch OS 15 based on Android 15 and has a massive 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. To take care of durability, the phone has both IP68 and IP69 ratings – something we saw on Vivo X200 Pro and not even super-premium phones offer.

So, there’s a lot to talk about on paper. How about real-world experience? Does it deliver on all fronts – be it camera, performance or battery life? I have been testing this phone for almost weeks now and here’s how it fared:

Vivo V50 review: Camera quality and wedding mode
The V series has always been camera-focused. And the V50 is no different here. The phone comes with a dual rear camera and a front camera – all 50MP sensors. That’s impressive. But, most importantly, there are Zeiss tuning and modes and settings to offer one of the best possible camera experiences you can get in this price segment, and this is still an understatement. You may ask why. For that, look at some of the images captured using V50.
Looks impressive, right? Well, that’s because the phone captures stunning photos full of details, sharpness and dynamic range is something that I have seen in other phones of this price.

V50 camera sample Wedding mode

Let’s talk about the primary camera. The photos from the main 50MP sensor, which by the way comes with OIS, offer impressive results with vivid and punchy colours. Things are a little oversaturated, but that’s Vivo's way of processing photos, and I am not complaining as I prefer such photos, and they look impressive. The smart Aura light is not bright and offers good illumination on the face as well as the surroundings to make the photos sharp and detailed, especially facial tones.

Portrait is something that V50 has done an extra degree – like a crash course from its elder sibling – X200 Pro. It learnt all the good parts, though. For starters, the portrait mode offers a nice and linear bokeh effect –it feels natural and gradual like a DSLR effect. Moreover, the onboard Zeiss lenses add icing to the cake. The modes work without any issues and offer a balanced and detailed output in all lighting conditions. Thanks to the Aura lighting, the lowlight conditions or even unfavourable lights in the surroundings do not hamper its capabilities of capturing impressive photos, almost as good as X200 Pro.

Then comes the all-new wedding mode. Vivo has made this feature the top of the line and that’s because the phone delivers. I used it to capture some photos at a wedding, and the quality is good enough to make the professional camera person take more than a few notes.

Keeping that aside for a while, three wedding modes – Prosecco, Pestle and Neo-Retro – can be triggered by tapping on the Wedding mode again and again.

Tried all three modes and they work flawlessly. Each mode has its colour tuning depending on what occasion you are capturing at a wedding. Additionally, you can also add Zeiss portrait lenses on top of it to make it more appealing. It has seven of them and this goes without saying that all modes work hassle-free.

The video quality is fine, too, and while it struggles at times to keep the subject lit or in the changing lighting conditions, the overall quality is more than acceptable and sufficient for most needs. The details in the videos are on point, and there is not much to complain about them. The colours are vibrant, and the details are impressive, too.

Vivo V50 review: Design and display
Don’t fix it if it isn’t broken, and Vivo has followed that ideology with the design of the V50. The phone retains the design language of the previous V series phones. The pill-shaped design with a circular top and Smart Aura Ring light at the bottom of the pill design is still there. Then there’s this entire glossy back panel that makes the phone look premium. This is one of the most premium-looking phones in this segment. Not only this, this is one of the slimmest phones in the segment with a maximum thickness of 0.767cm. The rounder rails make the phone soft to hold and comfortable, too.

V50 display

Moving on, the front of the phone has a 6.77-inch display with 1.5K resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Being an AMOLED panel, the display quality is superb. It is crisp, clear and bright enough to be visible in all lighting conditions. The phone’s display quality overall suits all your needs, whether you want to use it for day-to-day things, gaming, watching content or capturing photos and videos.

Vivo V50 review: Performance
Vivo V50 is powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor. It may not be the latest offering in the market, but it is a very good mid-range chip with optimised performance and efficiency. And, that’s exactly reflected in the performance of the phone.

The phone handles almost all the tasks with ease. No major stutter or lag that I have noticed during my prolonged usage. For most users, the phone’s performance will be more than sufficient.

Playing games and juggling between apps is also not an issue. The frame rates while playing triple-A titles like CoD Mobile, BGMI, etc, remain stable. However, Genshin's Impact requires lowering the graphics settings to a notch for smooth performance.

V50 side

Another good thing is the phone. Even under heavy loads like gaming, capturing videos or photos and even while editing them remains calm and composed and the credit goes to the 8GB RAM onboard and faster storage solution.

FunTouch OS 15 and Android 15 run out of the box, and Vivo also promises a couple of generations of software support with the V50. As I have always said, FunTouch OS has come a long way when it comes to refinement and functionality.

It has been a while since Vivo has ditched that cartoonish design language and opted for a more sophisticated design language that feels closer to the stock. That’s just a part of it. Vivo’s OS is also known for offering first-party Android apps by default in the phone. For instance, FunTouch OS 15 has Google Dialer apps, Messages, Gboard, Chrome and a host of other apps from Google and not their own.

That’s not it. FunTouch OS 15 also comes with streamlined animations and the processor handles them beautifully.

There’s a but, though. And that’s pre-installed apps. While Vivo has managed to offer first-party apps, it still comes with some pre-installed apps. The good thing is that all of them can be removed manually for a much cleaner user experience.

Customisation is another strong suite of the FunTouch OS15. Leveraging Android 15’s themed icons and wallpaper styling and adding its touch on top of it makes the phone feel more personal.

With all the improvements that the FunTouch OS 15 brings to the table, it is one of the most refined custom user interfaces on an Android phone.

V50 charging port

AI features without broadcasting much. This is something I appreciate a lot. Every brand is trying to put AI features front and centre, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Vivo is also doing a similar thing while being subtle about it. There are features like AI Eraser, Circle to Search, Live Transcript Assist, etc. I tried them, and they work just as they should.

Vivo V50 review: Battery life
Vivo V50 packs a 6000mAh battery with 90W FlashCharge. One of the biggest batteries in this segment, and this is not just on paper. The phone manages two days of battery life without any issues, even if you are not very considerate with the usage. If your daily usage looks like mine, which includes calling, social media, browsing, photography and gaming, then V50 will easily get you through 1 and a half days, and when you need to charge the phone, an hour is more than enough to bring the phone to 100% from 0.

Vivo V50 review: Verdict
Vivo has done a lot of things right with the V50. The first and most important part is getting the pricing right. Previous Vivo V series phones used to feel a little overpriced. That’s not the case anymore. With all the features that the V50 offers, the Rs 34,999 starting price feels right at home and on par with the competition. The Zeiss camera setup is a bonus as it is certainly the most versatile camera phone in its segment.

Even if you are not a camera enthusiast, the V50 has got you covered with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip, 8GB RAM and massive 6000mAh battery.

So much so, calling the V50 a true middle-order batsman in VIvo’s lineup is perhaps an apt description for the phone.