vivo X200 Review | Geek Lifestyle

Vivo has been on a roll this year with their quality, photo-centric phones, culminating in their top-shelf flagship, the Vivo X200 series. Their fruitful partnership with Zeiss remains the cornerstone of this new smartphone lineup, offering consumers some superbly premium photography tech for a fraction of the price. However, make no mistake. The Vivo X200 is no slouch, and won’t fly under the radar–in spite of its late release this year.

It’s a full-blooded flagship, clad in a gorgeous exterior and powered by the latest in Mediatek hardware. The 9400 chipset has seen a surge this year, and it works in overdrive as the heart of this new device. Zeiss imaging technology is this smartphone’s highlight–having capabilities to rival the best of the best when it comes to mobile photography. Throw in the expected bells and whistles, you get a gadget that can pretty much do everything–and stand out when it comes to wonderful snapshots.

We’ve had just enough time to use the Vivo X200 as a daily driver–in spite of a particular lack of photographic prowess. It goes head-to-head with several smartphones of its price range ilk, and rounds up quite the nice, competitive selection for holiday shoppers and those looking to make an upgrade for the coming year. Can it measure up to those in its weight class? Can it go above and beyond?

We’re pretty sure that long-time Vivo users will be more than satisfied, but for anyone looking to take a dip into Vivo’s shimmering waters–read on and see for yourselves.

Geeksthetic

After quite the unusual unboxing–with an unusually flat box, we’re treated to a two-delight. Truth be told, we assumed there would be no charger, in spite of the box’s overall heft. Lo, and behold, everything was in place, and arranged rather neatly.

Before unsheathing our Aurora Green review unit, we went through the separate boxes. We got the usual documentation, a TPU case, a SIM ejector tool, and a USB-C charging brick that supports 90W FlashCharge. Interesting.

After failing to neatly break the tear-away wrapper, the Vivo X200’s matte green finish lay before our eyes. It has quite the deceptive finish, being shiny while not being an absolute fingerprint magnet. At 7.99mm, it’s not a small smartphone. Sporting a nicely rounded curvature, it rests nicely in your hand, weighing just about 200 grams. It feels durable enough, but also exudes a bit of extravagance–mostly due to its green hue.

At the back, we’re greeted by a huge camera setup, with Zeiss design language smack dab in the middle. We’re rather fond of this round, middling variation compared to the corner peepers on the V series. It’s quite literally in your face. It’s undeniable. We’ll touch more on that in a bit.

To the sides, we get the usual buttons and notches, complete with dual stereo speakers. Up front, we have the lovely 6.67″ display that also utilizes Zeiss technology. It’s nice to see the brand making good use of both ends.

As for protection, we get a decent IP68 dust and water resistance. You’re pretty much golden.

Binge-Watching Factor

Now, about that 6.67″ Zeiss Master Color Display–and all its AMOLED glory. From bezel-to-bezel, it’s all just a treat to look at. Did you notice any chin? We certainly didn’t. We’re supposedly looking at a 89.6% screen-to-body ratio, but it looks just a tad more than that. Either way, things are looking good so far.

With a 1260 x 2800 resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, you won’t have any problem seeing and swiping through your home screen. Navigation was buttery smooth on our end. But what about simple viewing of your favorite shows?

Well, whether it be your favorite anime or the latest streamable blockbuster film, you won’t be complaining. Cranking the quality up to 1080p was no issue, and going full-screen made things even better. With a peak 4500 nits of brightness, you also don’t run the risk of long-term blindness during said viewing sessions. Those dual-firing speakers help make the experience more immersive, too. 

If things do get a bit tiresome, you can rest easy knowing that Smart Eye Protection Mode will always be there to adjust accordingly. Eye fatigue is a horrible thing, and it gets in the way of our hard-earned recreation.

Gaming Prowess

Ah, the age-old dealbreaker for some. Gaming have definitely come a long way–especially when you can run a variety of mobile games on more low end devices nowadays. The Vivo X200 sports the gold standard in Mediatek SoCs–the 3-nanometer Dimensity 9400. Not only does it contribute to the smartphone’s lithe appearance, but it also guarantees bombastic gaming capabilities. Coupled with the Immortalis-G925 GPU, we’d say yes.

Yes, you can definitely run the gauntlet of HoYoverse titles on high settings with this bad boy. Rightfully, so.

From smoothness of gameplay to thermals, it was a delight. After an hour of Honkai: Star Rail and Love and Deepspace (don’t judge), we only had a teensy bit of added warmth to the smartphone’s backside and zero experiences of stuttering. There was no need to tweak anything, as the settings immediately cranked things up to either high or ultra settings. Having 16GB of base RAM helped quite a bit, too. Not only did it provide a great overall gaming experience, but our unit’s 16GB of expanded RAM ensured that the game wouldn’t freeze every time I had to browse the different ways to flirt with Doctor Zayne. It was an arduous task, I assure you.

Having a hefty 512GB of storage guarantees that you can not only store all the games you can play, but you’ll also have enough room for all your essential apps–and some lovely photos. Yes, let’s move on to the highlight of this review.

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

It’s the Vivo X200’s crowning glory–a camera setup that can go toe-to-toe with the best. We’re talking about shooters that were tailor-made for those who wish to either jumpstart their career in content creation, or those who wish to capitalize on it. 

Now, here’s the thing. There have been two schools of thought as of late–those who want more telephoto, and those who want more ultra-wide. Vivo saw this and figured, “Why not both?” So, both everyone shall have. We get a powerful triple-camera setup comprised of a 50 MP VCS True Color Main Camera, a 50MP ZEISS Telephoto Camera, and a 50MP Ultra Wide-Angle Camera.

We’ll be the first to admit that the full potential of these shooters weren’t exactly utilized. That being said, just look at how great some basic everyday shots look. The default zoom presets capture the clearest shots. Cranking things up to 100 may garner just a bit of blur, but it’s like night and day compared to older models of smartphone. That’s pretty much the result of having an IMX921 sensor in your main shooter. You can expect great shots–even under dim lighting. Darkness would usually be a dealbreaker. Not this time.

It’s worth noting that there isn’t much–if not any color difference between ultra-wide shots and the rest. Also, night mode turns “barely visible” into “remarkable.”

Going into portrait mode, you’ll likely be making use of the basic bokeh blur on regular occasions. That being said, you’ll be rather hyped to see just how good the photos come out.

The Zeiss presets offer a very generous range of effects that can suit any mood. With seven in total, you have free reign to select the type of blur to blow the mind of anyone catching a glimpse of your portrait shots.

Here are the Zeiss portrait presets that provide different effects, depending on the background lighting. It mostly reflects in the shapes of the background lights.

Cinematic

There is so much more to tinker with and explore with this camera setup, like a Portrait Lens Kit aside from the aforementioned Zeiss presets. We also get a dedicated Landscape setting for light trails and long exposure. There’s also a dedicated Snapshot feature for quick photos. The camera setup alone warrants its own feature article. We’ve barely scratched the surface, as  we also get a variety of AI features via an editing suite.

Selfies come out just as nicely, thanks to the 32MP camera. What’s more is you can utilize all the Zeiss presets in selfie portraits. Aggressive AI-blur has become a thing of the past. 

For those who wish to utilize this smartphone as vlogging cam, you’ll be happy to know that you can shoot up to 4K at 60fps for both front and rear cameras–likewise, you can also shoot portrait video at a generous 1080p at 30fps.

While the camera setup is bananas, and arguably outshines the rest of this phone’s features, let’s not dismiss its capabilities as a reliable daily driver. Because it can be, if you so desire.

Everyday Reliability

Given the wealth of features that we’ve already gone through, what’s left to look at? We have a powerful chipset, powerful cameras, and a power move of giving the Vivo X200 some wonderful aesthetics. But have you considered just how much of that power would be drained over the day?

It matters not, for the Vivo X200 comes with a 5800 mAh third-generation silicon anode BlueVolt battery. It’s some interesting new technology that allows the battery to boost its energy density courtesy of having a semi-solid state. While we don’t know much about the nitty gritty, we do know that we get more than a day’s worth of power with less than an hour of 90W FlashCharge. This is also likely due to the efficiency of the Dimensity 9400 chipset. 

As for its interface, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Funtouch OS can be an acquired taste, given its minimalist design, but it has a certain level of customizability in its 15th iteration. Given you’re also running Android 15, you also gain access to all the lovely features it entails. It’s a rather seamless partnership.

All-in-all, you’ll have a more than capable daily driver if you decide to add this bad boy to your loadout.

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

If you’re in the market for a new flagship that looks good, performs at a high level, and is basically a camera masquerading as a smartphone, then it’s hard to overlook the Vivo X200. Surely, there are similar smartphones that have similar capabilities, but the Zeiss technology coupled with AI-driven features make this a compelling choice.

Devices sporting the powerful, yet power efficient Dimensity 9400 are on the rise–and the features are starting to mirror each other. It will soon all boil down to a matter of preference. So, for those who desire to navigate that steadily intensifying flagship smartphone battle royale, this one just might be the dark horse you could ride into the sunset with.

For those who wish to snag one, both are now available nationwide at concept stores, kiosks, and online via Shopee and Lazada. The X200 is priced at Php 57,999, while the X200 Pro goes for Php 69,999, both with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. As for the 16GB variant, we’ll keep our eyes peeled.

Early buyers can enjoy exclusive freebies, including:

• vivo TWS 3e (worth Php 1,999)
• vivo VIP Card (worth Php 4,500)
• Php 6,000 discount on vivo Watch 3

Vivo X200 specs:

• 6.67-inch (1260 x 2800) AMOLED display, 120Hz refresh rate
• Mediatek Dimensity 9400 (3 nm)
• Immortalis-G925
• 12/16GB RAM
• 256/512GB storage
• Rear cameras: 50MP main + 50MP periscope telephoto + 50MP ultrawide triple rear camera setup
• Front camera: 32MP
• 5G, LTE
• Under Display Fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C port
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 5.4
• 5800mAh battery with 90W wired Fast charging
• Android 15 with Funtouch 15