Recently, Vivo unveiled the premium X90 smartphone series in India.
It comes in two variants-- regular X90 along with X90 Pro. As mentioned in our first impression article, they feature pretty much the same design and internal hardware but differ in terms of battery capacity and camera. Here're my thoughts on the new Vivo X90.
Design, build quality and display
Vivo X90 carries forward the predecessor's unique design elements that instantly get attention and also make it stand out among rival brands. It has the brilliant smooth Fluorite AG glass back with a matte finish and a big circular camera module at the top, and on the front, it sports a dual-curved display.
Even when looked at from far, it can easily be identified as a Vivo phone, but on closer look, some might (including me) find there are too many words, describing the company's collaboration with Zeiss.
However, this is very subjective, as others may not feel the same as I think. You can see the close-up shot of the phone's back and you, the readers decide. This is breeze blue model and the company also offers astroid black colour variant too.
But on the brighter side, Vivo has done a fantastic job with the back cover of the device, as it repels fingerprint smudges. Add to that, the company is offering a free soft transparent silicone back cover, which protects the device from cracking during an accidental fall.
On the front too, the company has pre-fitted a layer of a good quality transparent plastic cover on the display, to safeguard against scratches.
As far as the display is concerned, it flaunts a gorgeous 6.78-inch full HD+ (2800×1260p) BOE Q9 OLED-based dual-curved display. It supports HDR10+, 120Hz refresh rate, and offers up to 1,300 nits brightness, which comes in handy outdoors to read messages or browse the internet without any issues and not have to squint your eyes either. Also, the 120Hz refresh rate feature further enhances the browsing experience on the phone.
Also, I had a good time watching full HD vlogs on YouTube. The screen manages to deliver motion pictures in rich vibrant colours. The credit has to go to ZEISS Natural colour mode, which manages to offer accurate and more natural colours on the screen.
The in-display fingerprint sensor works fine without any issues.
But, I have some advice to potential buyers of the Vivo X90 or any phone with an optical in-screen fingerprint sensor, to keep the fingers clean and dry before attempting to unlock the screen.
Performance
Like X90 Pro, the standard X90 model too, houses a powerful 4nm class 3.05GHz MediaTek Dimensity 9200 octa-core processor with Immortalis-G715 GPU and 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM options.
The X90 is a super smooth performer. During the entire review period, it never showed any lag-ness at all. Add to that, if you play games such as graphics-rich Asphalt series games, the phone doesn't heat up drastically. It get warmed up and never went out of my comfort level.
It should be noted that the X90 boasts multiple cooling channels and a 24-layer cooling structure so that it can run at optimal temperatures even at peak processing. As advertised, it does a commendable job.
The device runs Android 13 with Funtouch OS 13. There are a high number of pre-loaded apps such as Amazon, Snapchat along with Google's core apps, which most users don't mind.
There are also several duplicate apps, which eat up storage. But, thankfully, Vivo is offering the base model with a whopping 256GB. This way, the company has ensured there is enough space to install several hundred more apps and also has space for storing thousands of photos and videos.
With a 4,810mAh cell, the device was able consistently to deliver a full day's battery life. Also, on off days, and streamed live content too much, the 120W charger can help charge the device fully from zero to 100 per cent capacity in around 30 minutes.
And, the Vivo X90 supports multiple 5G bands (SA/NSA-- 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 28, 38, 40, 41, 77, 78) and is compatible with 5G services offered by Airtel and Reliance Jio in India.
Photography
It houses a feature-rich Vivo V2 chip-powered triple camera module-- main 50MP (with Sony IMX866 sensor, f/1.75 aperture, VCS bionic spectrum, OIS: Optical Image Stabiliser) backed by 12MP ultra-wide camera (f/2.0 aperture) + 50mm 12MP telephoto camera (2X portrait camera, f/1.98 aperture, laser autofocus) Zeiss T* coating, ZEISS optics, and LED flash.
It takes beautiful crisp photos in the natural sunlight. Of course, the colours particularly the flowers come off more vibrant and rich compared to what we perceive through our eyes.
I don't complain as the pictures are great. Even the human's face too, the camera and the image processor are optmised to make the skin look smooth and a tad fairer too, in the frame.
The portrait mode works as advertised, it manages to artfully blur the background of the subject and looks so natural. Also, as you can this sample photo, the camera's edge detection is exceptionally good.
As far as the ultra-wide angle photos, the X90 does a fine job of covering the wide area of this agriculture field quite well and also, the hill range with vegetation in the background is captured well too.
In the night mode, the X90 does a decent job in terms of balancing the light and night's darkness. It does not blow the scene with more light and makes it look like the photo was taken in the evening like some branded phones tend to do. It manages to capture the shadow of the grill quite well and also in the background, the sky's colour is dark and even the lights coming from houses look natural too.
On the front, it houses 32MP (f/2.5, 24mm wide lens, 1/2.8-inch sensor, 0.8µm pixel size). It takes brilliant selfies and of course, like the primary camera on the back, this one too ensures your face is clean and smooth. It does a fine job of clearing any acne scars. There are filters and tools within the native camera app to even alter chin, nose shape and other stuff too.
The primary camera on the back can record up to 4Kat 30/60fps (frames per second) and also full HD 1080p at 30/60fps. With the gyro-EIS (Electronics Image Stabiliser) feature, it does a decent job of recording stable high-quality video.
The front camera supports full HD (1080p) video recording. With a stable internet connection, it will deliver high-resolution video chatting.
Final thoughts
Though it has watered-down features compared to the Pro, this regular X90 model is no less of a premium phone.
The design and build quality of the Vivo X90 are praiseworthy. It is not only visually appealing, but the back panel also does an excellent job of repelling sweaty fingerprint smudges.
I am impressed with its camera's capabilities and performance wise too, X90 showed no sign of lag-ness at all.
And, it can easily deliver a full day's battery life and with 120W fast charging, it is such a value-addition to user experience, which hardly two or three brands offer such capabilities in top-end phones.
Considering the overall features and price, I am very much impressed with the Vivo X90.
Vivo X90 comes in two colours-- asteroid black and breeze blue colours. And, will be available in two configurations-- 8GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM +256GB storage-- for Rs 59,999 and Rs 63,999, respectively.
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