Vivo X90 pro is a great phone when it comes to photography. There are very few options in the android at this price point that justify the price one pays through the camera experiences. However, ignoring the cost, I would still say that Samsung S series has the best camera experience among android smartphones. My fellow device reviewers do talk good about Google Pixel smartphone also, but I have not yet got a chance to check on it in detail.
Having said that, the premium user or for that matter any smartphone user does not buy a smartphone only for camera. It is undoubtedly the anchor feature that any consumer considers while deciding a smartphone. In our surveys over these years, we have seen consumers giving topmost rank to camera performance as a deciding factor with more than 50% of weightage being associated to the smartphone camera performance consistently in these surveys.
But a user would definitely want more than a camera. In the premium (₹25,000-50,000) and luxe (₹50,000-100,000) segments, the consumer is bothered about the overall experience even when the camera still remains a key feature to check for. Before sharing what, I felt is definitely going against the premium experience that Vivo would want to deliver through X90 Pro, let me first talk about the other aspects.
Overall, the phone gives a premium look and feel comparable to any other smartphone in the competition. Camera without any doubt remains among industry’s best, while display and audio add to creating an immersive environment to consume content. The 5G experience was also in line with the expectations, though at times it was patchy due to network issues. The handset cannot be held responsible for that.
The two areas where I felt scope for improvement is the battery performance and the UI. Compared to several phones around the price point, the battery of X90 Pro drains faster. I believe this will be addressed in subsequent software updates. The other issue I experienced was that the UI does not always give a smooth experience. For instance, opening links in chat applications, switching between different apps, etc., is not perfectly smooth. At least not that one would expect in a luxe segment smartphone.
Now coming to my main concern about Vivo X90 Pro that the OEM should address is about the UX. It has a bunch of preloaded apps including its stores / catalogues. These include V-Appstore, Hot Apps and Hot Games. Well, let’s not get into the debate of how much premium users really appreciate preloaded apps. There will be different user cohorts having specific views. But generally premium users are expected to have a good understanding of technology who would want to ‘boot-up’ their device as per their own preferences and needs, and not go by any ‘preloaded’ recommendation, etc. This is one of the main reasons of OnePlus’s success which exactly identified the user needs in the segment and started giving what it calls ‘burdenless’ experience and leave it to users to ‘burden’ their own devices. This is very much akin to DIY users who want to build from scratch. We have a DIY smartphone user base in the premium / luxe segment. Of course, they would not want to do hardware!
For the premium flagship smartphones of Vivo, essentially the X series, it might want to consider introducing a premium version of its custom ROM – Funtouch OS. This way they can create sustainable and distinctive differentiations at the UX level also including the preloaded apps, etc. For a consumer, experience comes from the interplay of hardware and software. While Vivo has all these years built a strong credibility in hardware and introduced some of the world’s best in class hardware, like Zeiss lenses, etc., the software of X series needs a bit of revision. It cannot be the same as is offered to other consumers Vivo serves through V and other series.
The camera is like mathematics subject that if you do well in it, you are considered to be a good student, but for passing the exams with flying colours, one has to secure great performance in each subject. I remember while in school, Urdu was considered as a vestigial subject by me and many of my batch mates. This is a common belief across the country for any language that is taught in schools. However, in 8th standard, our Urdu teacher once said that now we were closer to 10th grade, we must take this subject seriously along others, because it also can fetch us 100 marks like mathematics, science, and others. “You may do exceptionally well in other subjects, but your overall percentage could go down due to average performance in Urdu,” he emphasized. This somewhere etched my mind, and I started taking the subject seriously, which definitely helped me secure good overall percentage in my 10th grade.
Similarly, Vivo or for that matter any other OEM will have to holistically look at the elements of experience and work on bringing up smartphones that deliver equitable experience across major features and specifications. Otherwise going by just one or a few hero specifications, they may not conquer much.
