vivo X80 Pro review

Funtouch 12 on top of Android 12

The X80 Pro's s global variant we have here runs Funtouch 12 over Android 12 - a combination we already experienced on the iQOO 9 Pro. The Chinese model, just like other vivo and iQOO phones, gets Origin OS instead.

Funtouch 12 offers a highly customized and customizable UI. Some of the changes are pretty nifty, too, including the system menus being tailored towards a single-handed use. Some of the menus' content moves to the lower half of the screen when you swipe down, but not all, which is odd.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • Settings menu

The recent apps menu, for example, has one of those useful proprietary features. You can choose between the standard carousel formation and a two-high tiles layout - sort of like MIUI, only scrollable horizontally.

The app drawer, although stock-ish looking, has an expandable recommended apps category on the top (most commonly used ones), whereas using the vertical scroller on the right would highlight the apps beginning with the selected letter.

Recent apps • Recent apps • Notification shade • Quick toggles • App drawer

The notification shade is slightly different than the iQOO's - the quick toggles are circular here as opposed to the square-shaped ones on the sister brand. The accent color around the menus (including the quick toggles icons) is blue, and there's no way to change it.

The rest of the UI gets plenty of attention too. In the Dynamic effects sub-menu, vivo has grouped quite a few customizable aspects of the home screen, lock screen, animation effects, etc. There are even various charging and facial recognition animations.

The Ambient light effect gets more granular control with the option to enable it only during a limited time period, or you can choose which apps to trigger it.

Dynamic effects • Ambient light effect

The always-on display settings are in a different sub-menu, however, but the phone still gives you plenty of options to tinker with - a wide selection of animations, clock styles, colors, backgrounds, the lot.

Always-on display

You can also change the animation of the fingerprint scanner, the face unlocks and even the charging animation.

Speaking of the fingerprint scanner, there's no way to summon the fingerprint reader icon on a locked screen unless the motion sensor detects movement - sure, it's very sensitive, but still. That's despite the existence of toggles that lead you to believe it should be possible. Single tap doesn't work, whereas the double-tap-to-wake function is buried in the Smart motion menu.

However, if you get familiar with the scanner's position, you can just rest your fingertip on top and wait for the unlock. And you can set the recognition area if for some reason you want it to be smaller than the maximum, which is the default setting. We found fingerprint recognition to be very fast and reliable, and the large area really makes for a much more natural experience where it just works and you don't have to think about it at all.

And there is one more thing available as part of Funtouch 12 on the X80 Pro - Quick Action for the fingerprint scanner. Since the ultrasonic fingerprint reader has a larger working area than the optical sensors, its capability to scan your tips across a large rectangle is utilized in one really clever way by iQOO. See, you can add up to two shortcuts around the scanning area. If you place your finger within the usual circle, you will get to your homescreen. But if you rest it on the Facebook/YouTube/Camera/GSMArena app, or whatever you choose to put here, it will unlock and open this app immediately.

Animations • Animations • Quick actions for fingerprints

The Sound menu holds a few pleasant surprises. Just like Samsung, vivo is catering to people with less than perfect hearing, and you can calibrate the sound to be heard by elderly people or those with impaired hearing. Additionally, notifications and calls get separate volume sliders. The vibration intensity can be adjusted for calls and notifications independently.

Sound options

The previously mentioned Smart motion menu holds a handful of familiar screen-on and screen-off gestures along with some new additions. One of those requires you to wave in front of the screen during an incoming call to answer hands-free - useful if you're cooking, for example.

Smart motion menu

Holding the volume down key can be used to launch an app or do a certain task, although the list of the latter is limited to launching the camera app, turn on/off the torch or start recording audio. The so-called Quick action feature doesn't work when playing music for obvious reasons. Why isn't there a double-press option for Quick action though? Also, you may have noticed that this is a second, different Quick action feature, found in another menu.

Quick action • S-capture • Easy Touch • Screen-split

There is a bunch of proprietary system apps that come with the Funtouch 12 app suite. These include Albums, iManager, and Music, but the in-house Browser and Video app that we saw on the iQOO are missing here.

A Smart Remote app that uses the IR blaster comes preinstalled on the phone.

Albums • iManager • iManager • Smart Remote • Smart Remote • Music

Lastly, there's a dedicated Ultra Game Mode, and it has it all. Most of the features are about mitigating disturbance during gameplay or letting certain apps display heads-up notifications. One of the most intriguing features that have been around on vivo phones for a while is the ability to turn off the screen and keep the game running in the background. Especially useful for turn-based games or those requiring some sort of "farming" and "grinding".

Ultra Game mode

Performance and benchmarks

The X80 Pro has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 inside, the original plus-less version. Last year's X70 Pro+ came at a time when the SD888+ was all the rage, but this year the timing is different - the SD 8 Gen 1+ only just went official, and the X80 Pro has been out since before that. Anyway, the SD 8 Gen 1 is plenty powerful enough, as evidenced by the results of most any current Android flagship.

It's worth repeating here that the X80 Pro also exists in a different configuration using the Dimensity 9000 chipset. To the best of our knowledge, that variant is limited to the Chinese market, but we could be missing something. That Chinese model can also be had in multiple RAM/storage versions - 8GB/256GB, 12GB/256GB, and 12GB/512GB. Our global variant only comes in 12GB/256GB trim.

Starting with some GeekBench, we're seeing slightly lower scores from the vivo than what we got out of the iQOO 9 Pro or the more distant relative Realme GT2 Pro. The X80 Pro's figures are in line with other top-tier competitors with similar hardware, including the Xiaomi 12 Pro and the Galaxy S22 Ultra (here in Exynos trim).

Some shifting of the positions can be seen under multi-threaded load, where the Realme slides down to the vivo level, though the iQOO remains a top performer. The Xiaomi and the Motorola Edge 30 Pro are also a short distance ahead of the X80 Pro.

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT2 Pro
  1238
• iQOO 9 Pro
  1231
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  1196
• vivo X80 Pro
  1184
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  1180
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  1169
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  1165
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  1160
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  1126
• vivo X70 Pro+
  1106
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  1002
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  975

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• iQOO 9 Pro
  3708
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  3682
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  3673
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  3658
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  3657
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  3528
• vivo X80 Pro
  3505
• Realme GT2 Pro
  3501
• vivo X70 Pro+
  3469
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  3447
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  3433
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  3403

In Antutu, the X80 Pro actually manages to inch ahead of the iQOO, while another stablemate, the Oppo Find X5 Pro snatches the win narrowly. Interestingly, the OnePlus 10 Pro is underdelivering, as was the single-core CPU test above.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• vivo X60 Pro+
  3749
• vivo iQOO 7 Legend
  3715
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  3673
• nubia Red Magic 6S Pro
  3660
• OnePlus 9 Pro
  3636
• ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G
  3582
• Realme GT 5G
  3555
• Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro
  3521
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
  3518
• Sony Xperia 1 III
  3515
• vivo X60 Pro
  3490
• Xiaomi Mi 11
  3489
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
  3476
• vivo X80 Pro
  3469
• Oppo Find X3 Pro
  3316
• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
  3244
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  3191
• Motorola Edge 20 Pro
  3140
• OnePlus 9R
  3117
• Realme GT Explorer Master
  3050
• vivo X70 Pro
  2956
• Xiaomi 11T
  2834

In GFXBench, the vivo records more or less average numbers for its hardware. Mind you, its 1440p screen means the phone has more pixels to render in onscreen benchmark runs, and in those it can be way behind 1080p devices.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  50
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  43
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  41
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  37
• iQOO 9 Pro
  36
• Realme GT2 Pro
  36
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  36
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  35
• vivo X80 Pro
  34
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  30
• vivo X70 Pro+
  25

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10 Pro
  43
• Realme GT2 Pro
  42
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  41
• vivo X80 Pro
  41
• iQOO 9 Pro
  40
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  40
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  31
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  28
• vivo X70 Pro+
  27
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  60
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  51
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  45
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  41
• Realme GT2 Pro
  39
• iQOO 9 Pro
  37
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  37
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  36
• vivo X80 Pro
  34
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  29
• vivo X70 Pro+
  26

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10 Pro
  48
• Realme GT2 Pro
  46
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  45
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  45
• iQOO 9 Pro
  44
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  44
• vivo X80 Pro
  37
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  35
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  34
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  31
• vivo X70 Pro+
  29
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  78
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  74
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  68
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  62
• Realme GT2 Pro
  48
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  48
• iQOO 9 Pro
  46
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  46
• vivo X80 Pro
  44
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  44
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  37
• vivo X70 Pro+
  33

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10 Pro
  97
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  96
• iQOO 9 Pro
  95
• Realme GT2 Pro
  95
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  95
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  94
• vivo X80 Pro
  90
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  79
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  76
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  76
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  69
• vivo X70 Pro+
  66

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  111
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  104
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  94
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  89
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  86
• iQOO 9 Pro
  84
• vivo X80 Pro
  82
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  72
• Realme GT2 Pro
  60
• vivo X70 Pro+
  58
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  58

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10 Pro
  175
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  168
• Realme GT2 Pro
  165
• vivo X80 Pro
  164
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  162
• iQOO 9 Pro
  160
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  160
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  126
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  118
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  109
• vivo X70 Pro+
  105
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  105

Interestingly enough, the X80 Pro ended nearly topping the chart in 3D Mark Wild life, though the phones do tend to be particularly tightly packed in this one.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  9794
• vivo X80 Pro
  9778
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  9758
• iQOO 9 Pro
  9673
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  9664
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  9610
• Realme GT2 Pro
  9487
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro
  9406
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  7437
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  7405
• Asus Zenfone 8 Flip
  5677
• vivo X70 Pro+
  5332

While still on the topic of 3D Mark, the Wild life stress test, which is 20 1-minute consecutive runs of the same benchmark, showed a 75% stability rating, which is a pretty solid result as the ever-throttling flagships of 2022 go.

However, similarly to the iQOO 9 Pro, the vivo X80 Pro ran super hot, reaching 59°C (4°C more than the iQOO) at which point it was essentially impossible to hold in a hand. Having said that, actual games or other real-world loads won't be pushing your GPU at 100% for 20 minutes straight so the X80 Pro's fiery tendencies would be less of an issue in practice.

The behavior in the CPU stress test differed from what we observed on the iQOO, though. While that phone would gradually slow down to just under 70% of its maximum performance and maintain that level, the vivo wasn't quite as stable. It tried to settle around 75%, but a little over half an hour into the test, it would throttle to a lowly 40-ish percent for a few minutes, cool down a bit, go back to 75%, repeat until the end. The iQOO's chart is a lot more favorable - you don't want dips as low as the X80 Pro's.

CPU Throttling test • 3DMark Wild Life stress test