vivo X50 hands-on review

Introduction

The vivo X50 is vivo's mid-range smartphone with a focus on the camera performance. This is the cheaper of the two X50 models, the other being the vivo X50 Pro that we reviewed recently.

The standard X50 5G is not too far off from the feature set of the X50 Pro. The major differences between the two phones come down to the displays and some aspects of the rear camera system.

The LTE-only vivo X50 differs even more by swapping the 5G-capable chipset with a Snapdragon 730.

vivo X50 LTE (in this hands-on) • vivo X50 5G • vivo X50 Pro 5G

So if you are comparing the vivo X50 LTE, which we are reviewing today, to the vivo X50 Pro, it's got a Snapdragon 730 chipset instead of the Snapdragon 765G, it has a flat instead of a curved display and the rear camera lacks the "gimbal" stabilization and swaps out one of the telephoto lenses for a macro. The rest of the specifications are surprisingly similar, including the main camera sensor on the back.

Vivo X50 specs:

• Body: Aluminum frame, tempered glass front and back; 159.5 x 75.4 x 7.5 mm, 173g;
• Display: 6.56" AMOLED, punch-hole notch, 2376 x 1080px resolution, 398ppi; HDR10+ compliant, DCI-P3 coverage.
• Rear cameras: Main: 48MP, Quad-Bayer filter, 0.8µm pixel size, 25mm equivalent focal length, f/1.6 aperture, PDAF, OIS. Ultrawide angle: 8MP, 1/4.0", 1.12µm, f/2.2, 16mm, AF. Portrait: 13MP f/2.5, 25mm, 2x optical zoom, PDAF. Macro: 5MP, f2.5 fixed focus (1.5cm)
• Video recording: Main - up to 4K@30fps, rest - up to 1080p@30fps. EIS and OIS (where available)
• Front camera: 32MP, 1/2.8", 0.8µm, f/2.5 26mm lens.
• OS/Software: Android 10; Funtouch 10.5.
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 730: octa-core CPU (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver), Adreno 618 GPU.
• Memory: 8GB of RAM; 128GB/256GB UFS 2.1 storage.
• Battery: 4,200mAh Li-Po; 33W fast charging.
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, USB-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0; NFC
• Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader; single down-firing speaker.

This means the X50 would be the more pragmatic option for most buyers not looking for the best feature set. And these are mid-range phones, after all, so balancing price to features and performance is important and it seems the cheaper X50 will be able to do that better.

Today we have a quick hands-on with the device and see if it can hold its own alongside its sibling in this competitive segment.

Unboxing

The vivo X50 has a slightly above average packaging compared to its rivals, who are increasingly leaving things out to cut costs.

The large square box includes the phone, a 33W fast charger, cable, clear silicone case, analog audio adapter, and a pair of pretty decent sounding in-ear earphones. While we would prefer if phones had an audio jack, it's nice that vivo doesn't leave you high and dry and includes the basic necessities inside the packaging.