vivo (the letter v is supposed to be not capital) is not really a well known brand in the UK or Europe. The Chinese company was only founded in 2009, so for them to debut into Europe with the vivo X51 5G is quite a feat. The phone offers brilliant performance, but above all, a camera performance to rival some of the big Chinese competitors in the market. On top of that, it also offers 5G connectivity, and does all that a mid-level price.
vivo X51 5G: Specs
- Dimensions: 158.46 × 72.80 × 8.04mm, Weight: 181.5g
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage
- 4315 mAh battery, with vivo FlashCharge 2.0
- Funtouch OS, updated to Android 11 over OTA
- 6.56inch, 90Hz screen, 2376 x 1080, AMOLED
- Connectivity: 5G, 4G, 3G, 2G
- Five cameras: Front f/2.45 (32MP), Rear f/1.6 (48MP) + f/2.46 (13MP) + f/2.2 (8MP) + f/3.4 (8MP), including laser detection auto-focus.
- Single and Dual SIM options. available
Look and feel
The device looks and feels rather pristine and premium. The glass back and the four rear cameras make it inline with the flagships from its main competitors. The curved glass for the main screen is very impressive too. The 90Hz screen mixed with the processing speed also ensures that everything feels rather smooth when it comes to scrolling and looks.
The colours are vibrant and bright, and it adjusts well to both sunny days as well as dull and drab British days.
All about photography
A lot of emphasis has been laid on photography when it comes to design.
It features the following four cameras on the rear:
- Gimbal main camera: 48MP, f/1.6, OIS
- Professional portrait camera: 13MP
- Super Wide Angle and Macro Camera: 120 degree super wide angle, 2.5cm Focus distance
- Periscope Telephoto Camera: 5x Optical zoom, 60x Hyper zoom
The main camera sits on a OIS system, promising to deliver up to 3 times the performance of a standard OIS system. This means that the phone can deliver some great motion and sports shots. Not just that, a stable camera also means great performance in low light conditions.
The camera does deliver, and interestingly, the night mode looks closer to what a night scene looks to the naked eye instead of how some of the competing phones, where they make night look like day.
The colours appear true and bright, and it works well in pretty much all conditions.
They also highlight video production, with features as motion tracking. I have to say that I wasn’t able to test it properly, thanks to all the restrictions we’ve been under due to lockdown.
5G Connectivity
The phone also offers 5G connectivity. This offers broadband and beyond level of internet speeds. Unfortunately the lockdown meant that I haven’t been able to travel to locations that offer 5G. Oxford is sadly not quite at the forefront of such technology.
Having said that, if you have it, you’ll have speeds closer to 1Gbps.
Performance
Snapdragon 765G and 8GB of RAM insure that the device offers a brilliant performance in its day to day use. Whether you’re browsing, checking emails, or screaming through social media, or just uploading your TikTok performance, the phone performances smoothly through it all.
256GB also means that you shouldn’t ever worry about running out of space, no matter how many videos you record or apps you add.
Battery Life and Charging
The phone happily offers more than a day’s performance on a single charge, but more importantly, it offers you 57% charge in just 30 minutes. This means that if you’re ever in a rush to charge your phone, you’ll always be good to go!
More information
More information on the vivo X51 5G can be found on the vivo website.
It retails around £750, and can be bought at various online retailers such as Amazon.