Vivo Z1 Pro Review

If you have been a Vivo fan, then you must know that the smartphone manufacturer has constantly been evolving over the years. For example, right from launching pop-up selfie camera and in-display fingerprint scanner to bringing these flagship-level features to budget segment mobiles, we have become fans of Vivo smartphones.

Expanding its budget smartphones range, Vivo has launched yet another smartphone, namely Vivo Z1 Pro, in the global market, which is going to be available in for sale on 16 July, exclusively on Flipkart. Vivo Z1 Pro is going to be a budget smartphone with decent specifications at a starting price of INR 14,990 and features a 6.53-inch display with the resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and ~395 ppi density.

Well, today, we have the brand new Vivo Z1 Pro and we’re going to review this very unit comprehensively exclusively for you.

Vivo Z1 Pro is available in 3 color variants – Mirror Black, Sonic Black, and Sonic Blue where all of them are up for grab in 3 storage variants, 4GB+64GB, 6GB+64GB, and 6GB+128GB.

The 4GB+64GB base variant is available at INR 14,990 while you have to pay INR 17,990 for the 6GB+128GB variant on Flipkart.com starting from 11 July, 12 PM onwards.

Vivo Z1 Pro comes inside a gradient-finish box with Z1 Pro written in bold white color on it. Once we open the retail box, we get a slim box containing documentation and a silicon-based clear protective case that seems to be of decent quality.

Taking a look back at the box, we get the brand new Vivo Z1 Pro handset wrapped in a plastic film. Beneath the handset, we have a sim-ejector pin, a micro-USB charging cable (unfortunately), 18W output fast charging adaptor, and a pair of earphones.

The charging cable has a good build quality, though. We would have liked it more if we got a USB Type-C charging cable out of the box.

Here is a list of what you’ll get inside the Vivo Z1 Pro retail unit box:

– Vivo Z1 Pro handset

– Clear Protective Case 

– 18W Output Fast charger

– Micro-USB Cable

– 3.5mm earphones 

– SIM ejector tool 

– Documentation

Well, before we finally share our views on the brand new Vivo Z1 Pro, let’s quickly have a look at the specifications:

– Display: 6.53-inch 2340×1080 FHD+ display with 90.77% screen-to-body ratio

– Processor & GPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 AIE Octa Core 2.3GHz Processor and Adreno 616 

– RAM & ROM: 4GB/6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB ROM (Expandable up to 256GB) with a dedicated MicroSD card slot

– Rear Cameras: 16MP+8MP+2MP 

– Selfie Cameras: 32MP

– Battery: 5000mAh, OTG reverse charging function

– Software: Android 9.0 Pie, Funtouch 9.0 UI

– Price: starts from INR 14,990

Now that we have specifications cleared, let’s jump straight into Vivo Z1 Pro comprehensive review.

Vivo smartphones have always been able to bring something new to the table and that’s the reason why the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has successfully established itself in the global market. In fact, Vivo brought the world’s first pop-up selfie camera on its Vivo Nex smartphone. We can actually say that Vivo has been the bar when it comes to innovations in terms of features.

Taking a look back at the brand new Vivo Z1 Pro, we have a beautiful-looking smartphone in its Sonic Blue color. The smartphone has 90.77% screen-to-body ratio with thin bezels we would say and a chin on the front. Well, this is not the best-looking smartphone available today.

However, considering its price range, we can say the phone looks decent on the front.

At the top left corner, we have a 32MP f/2 front-facing camera and Vivo calls it In-Display Camera. On the right side, we have a power/lock/unlock button and a volume toggle button. There is nothing on the top edge of the phone, whereas you get a SIM card tray with a dedicated MicroSD card slot on the left and a dedicated button for Google Assistant.

On the bottom edge, we have a 3.5mm headphone jack, primary microphone, a micro-USB port for charging and a speaker grill. Once you flip the Vivo Z1 Pro, there you have a triple-camera set-up (16MP f/1.78 + 8MP ultrawide angle sensor + 2MP depth sensor) and LED flash.

Fortunately, we have a physical fingerprint scanner on the back for quickly unlocking your phone. Finally, we have Vivo branding at the bottom.

Overall, Vivo Z1 Pro has a pretty clean design both on the front and back. We can say that Vivo has done a superb job in terms of design, especially considering the price range of the device. The device looks really good feels to hold in one hand.

Vivo Z1 Pro features a large 6.53-inch FHD+ IPS display with 1080 x 2340 pixels and ~395 ppi density. While we don’t get an AMOLED display panel on this Vivo smartphone, the screen has the ability to give sharp text and punch colors all due to the FHD+ resolution.

Besides, the punch-hole camera (in-display camera, says Vivo) on the front isn’t distracting, as it’s on the extreme top-left edge of the phone.

Vivo has ensured that the apps we run on this device scale up to make full and good use of the real estate of the screen. As the screen has enough brightness level, we don’t see a problem using the phone in the sunlight.

Vivo Z1 Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 AIE Octa-Core Processor that uses 10nm sophisticated, multi-core Qualcomm AI Engine clocked at 2.3GHz. To be specific, this is the first smartphone in India to Snapdragon 712 processor. When coupled with up to 6GB of RAM, this processor is capable of delivering smooth performance when it comes to multitasking.

We did try running multiple apps simultaneously and try playing different graphics-intense games like PUBG and Asphalt 9, and apparently didn’t face any lag or frame drops throughout. 

Also, if you are a PUBG fan and love to play in the team, yes you can enjoy the killings in the highly-cherished battleground on the Vivo Z1 Pro without any issues like the battery, graphics, and even excessive heating. In case you plan to buy the 64GB variant, don’t worry about the internal storage in the future, as you can plug in a microSD card to expand the storage up to 256GB.

Besides, the massive 5000 mAh battery can easily keep your phone alive for over an entire day. In case you need more juice, the 18W fast charger is bundled in the box.

Vivo Z1 Pro runs on the latest Android 9.0 Pie software out of the box with Vivo’s very own Funtouch skin as the UI for its signature experience. While the Funtouch OS has not gained much popularity among the users, it does have great features that are not present even in the stock android.

What we really liked the most about the Vivo Z1 Pro is that it has lots of customization, provided under the Game Cube option for an amazing gameplay. This feature allows you to make different customizations before as well as while playing PUBG and other graphic-intensive games. 

Not only can you limit background calls and notifications while playing your favorite game on Vivo Z1 Pro, but also can customize footsteps vibration and sound, enable/disable 4D game vibration, and a lot more before heading back to settings.

However, the phone does come with lots of third-party apps pre-installed, including UC Browser, Amazon, PhonePe, PUBG, and Gaana to name a few.

Talking about the camera, Vivo Z1 Pro comes with a triple rear-camera set-up, i.e. 16MP f/1.78 + 8MP ultrawide angle sensor + 2MP depth sensor for portrait pictures. This is a great camera set-up for amazing regular and portrait pictures.

While the camera app on the Vivo Z1 Pro might require you to take some time to get used to it, you do get multiple options and modes, such as photo, AI beauty, video, night mode, etc. placed at the bottom. Above these, you have the options like a shutter button, a toggle between front and rear cameras, and an option to switch to previously clicked pictures.

Also, there is an option for Jovi to suggest the best image filter as per the scene, which is on a real-time basis, along with other options like wide-angle mode, portrait mode, and full-screen image.

Vivo Z1 Pro packs in a 5000 mAh Li-ion non-removable battery that is good enough to last an entire day. As you know that smartphones with big batteries are becoming common these days, Vivo Z1 Pro follows the same pattern and keeps the phone alive even after multiple gaming sessions once fully charged.

Besides, the smartphone easily gives you 6 to 7 hours of screen-on-time.

Talking about charging, Vivo Z1 Pro bundles an 18W fast charger that took over 2 hours, which seems fair in case of a 5000 mAh battery.

If you love listening to music and watching movies on the go, then Vivo Z1 Pro is your go-to companion. Well, the smartphone does come with a 3.5mm headphone jack. While the audio signature is not amazing, having a brand new smartphone with a headphone jack is a bliss in itself.

Talking about the speaker, Vivo Z1 Pro is quite loud when you play music directly on the phone. However, the sound output does crackle a bit when you turn the volume to full. In case you like to take too many calls on the loudspeaker, don’t expect the phone to give great output.

Pros

– A large and impressive display

– Versatile cameras

– Price range

– 5000mAh battery

– Fast charger 

– 3.5mm headphone jack

– Expandable storage

Cons

– Obsolete Micro-USB charging port

– Funtouch OS as the UI on Android 9.0 Pie

– Audio/speaker output quality