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This must be the season for camera partnerships. While the folks at OnePlus have bragged about their $ 150 million Hasselblad collaboration over the past few weeks, Vivo has teamed up with Zeiss.
The deal was announced last year, but as a result of the partnership, the X60 series is launched worldwide today. The Chinese manufacturer is launching three phones: the X60, X60 Pro and X60 Pro + (it’s a language changer). In addition to having Zeiss-powered lenses, the company has also included the Gimbal mount – which it introduced with the X50 Pro last year – for the Pro and Pro + models.
If you want to know more about these phones and their specifications, check out this article.
Here we are going to talk about the leading X60 Pro +, its design and its versatile camera. I have been using the phone for over a week and love that the camera has so many options for taking a photo or video that you are considering.
But before enteringto the essential, let’s look at the specifications of the phone.
Characteristics
- Screen: 6.56 inch FHD + AMOLED display
- Refresh rate: 120 Hz
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
- RAM: 12 GB
- Rear camera: 50-Megapixel main sensor with f / 1.6 (1 / 1.31 inch) aperture + 48-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with f / 2.2 aperture and gimbal stabilization + 8-megapixel f / 3.4 periscope telephoto sensor ( 5x optical zoom) + 32 megapixel portrait sensor with f / 2.08 aperture
- Front camera: 32 megapixels with f / 2.5 aperture
- Internal storage: 256 GB UFS 3.1 (for faster read and write speeds to open apps and access content quickly)
- Security: Fingerprint sensor integrated into the screen; face unlock
- Drums: 4,200 mAh
- Charging: 55W wired flash charge
- Software: Funtouch OS 11.1 based on Android 11
Design and features
I want to talk at length about the camera, so let’s cut some other stuff out. Vivo designed a very slim phone if you don’t count the gargantuan camera bump, so getting to know and use is a snap. In addition, the textured vegan leather on the back provides a good hold on the phone.
One minor complaint I have about the size of the camera bump is that it gets in the way of the way I usually hold a phone. I had to adjust my grip a bit, and it took me a day or two.
The AMOLED screen is charming and bright, and you can safely use it outdoors. I watched Formula 1: Drive to survive on Netflix, and it was a joy to see all those vibrant colors with HDR10 + enabled. I would have liked the device to have two speakers, however.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888’s performance was hiccup-free when multitasking, switching between apps, watching videos, or playing games such as Cover the fire.

Vivo included some cute little additions in the retail box. It has a 55W charger that will charge half the battery in less than 50 minutes. The battery life itself is good and the phone can last for a day depending on usage. The box also has a pair of wired headphones that you’ll need to use via an audio jack to a USB-C converter. The X60 Pro + has a Cirrus DAC which is capable of playing 32-bit tracks sampled at 196kHz, so if you have FLAC files this will come in handy.
Camera
The Vivo X60 Pro +’s camera setup is one of the few times when all the sensors do their job well, and they’re not just there to market a “four camera assembly”.
The main sensor of the phone is a 50 megapixel GN1 sensor developed by Samsung with an f / 1.6 aperture. The most amazing thing about it is that its size 1 / 1.31 inch – one of the biggest on the market. In comparison, Huawei’s P40 Pro + had a 1 / 1.28 inch sensor, and Xiaomi’s upcoming Mi 11 Ultra would have a 1 / .12 inch sensor.
Due to the large sensor, the camera captures a lot of detail by default. The colors are therefore precise but punchy, even in slightly darker conditions. However, some images suffer from excessive sharpness and a software update could fix this.
Low light photos usually take an amicable amount of detail. In addition, the T * coating helps prevent ghosting and excessive lens flare in places with a lot of light. The large sensor does a great job of capturing shadows and contrast without triggering night mode. For videos, the main sensor doesn’t have gimbal stabilization, but it does have electronic stabilization and a night-time enhancement mode. A combination of the two would have been wonderful.
Interestingly, Vivo included its gimbal mount in the ultra wide angle camera. It cancels hand movements when taking videos and photos to improve the quality of the final product.
While daylight photos capture colors accurately, at night or indoors you’ll find the ultra-wide-angle camera displaying different colors than the main sensor. It’s not bad, but you may need to adjust your shot a bit to get the result you want. Photos also distort a lot at the edges and Vivo probably needs to apply a more powerful correction algorithm.
Telephoto and portrait sensors are useful for 2x and 5x zooms. When you zoom in to 5x some noise will seep in, but it’s a great addition for taking pictures of animals and babies in your home.
There’s no dedicated macro sensor, but the main sensor’s cropping and focusing works like a macro mode and gets good detail without too much noise and blur.
The portrait sensor does its job well with varying depth of field during and after shooting. Moreover, it offers many styles and filters for taking different types of photos.
Vivo takes pride in their selfie cameras and they are pretty good at capturing the details of your face. This 32 megapixel snapper is no different, but please turn off all beauty filters.
The X60 Pro + also has supermoon and astrophotography modes, I have taken a few photos through them, but unfortunately the hazy Delhi sky is not suitable for this. Plus, there are a ton of filters and effects in the camera app and it might take several days for you to try it out.
Who is it for?
The Vivo X60 + has a spec sheet on par with the 2021 flagships with a 120Hz FullHD + display and Snapdragon 888 processor. But its appeal lies more than its camera. You get a large main sensor, a gimbal-stabilized ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 5x optical periscope telephoto lens, all of which take good photos for the class.
In some aspects, this phone’s camera could outperform the Samsung S21 Ultra and OnePlus 9 Pro under certain conditions, such as low light photography. Plus, its variety of sensors and software options make it a worthwhile purchase if you use your phone’s camera in a variety of conditions.
In India, the phone is priced at ₹ 69,999 ($ 963), the same as the OnePlus 9 Pro, and if you could do away with the Funtouch OS, Vivo’s flagship is a great deal.
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Published March 25, 2021 – 14:30 UTC
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