Let's admit it, the iPhone has done a lot for smartphone design. It is, in a way, perhaps the most copied smartphone design. When Apple releases a new smartphone design, it normally lasts for at least two years and that gives smartphone makers all around the world the opportunity to create devices that are inspired by it.
Well, Chinese brand Vivo has taken things to a different level. Its latest smartphone - the X5 Pro -- is quite brazen about its iPhone influence. However, that's besides the point. What the user needs to know is if the phone is worth a buy or not? We figure that out in this review.
Design and build
As we mentioned before, the Vivo X5 Pro has a design inspired from the iPhone 6. Vivo wouldn't admit it, but the stark similarity between the iPhone 6 and the X5 Pro is palpable. From the rounded edges, to the machined speaker grills, everything about the fascia and the sides of the phone has been aped from Apple's flagship product. That's never a bad thing for a smartphone per se, if implemented well and Vivo has done a great job.
Things change on the back. Gone is the iPhone 6 influence, and you'd see a glass finish that, while attractive to the eye, is also very fragile. Our review unit took a bit of tumble and we ended up cracking the glass on the back. So, that's something potential buyers will need to keep in mind.
Vivo has done an admirable job of keeping the phone super slim. It measures just 6.44mm thin, which is slimmer than the iPhone 6. It weighs 147 grams, which admittedly is quite a bit more than the iPhone 6 and also the new iPhone 6S.
It uses dedicated capacitive buttons for the navigation of Android and doesn't come with virtual software keys. This is a subjective design choice as some people prefer the software keys, while others like the tactile feel of capacitive buttons.
The phone feels great in the hand and is quite easy to carry around. It doesn't feel excessively big like some other phones in the market. The fit and finish of the phone is also top class.
Display
Perhaps, the biggest difference from the exterior between the iPhone 6 and the Vivo X5 Pro is the size of the screen. The Vivo has a much larger 5.2-inch screen. It is an AMOLED screen, a type of technology usually seen in Samsung's smartphones, and it also packs vastly more pixels than what Apple has in its halo device. By that we mean, it has a Full-HD screen, which is plenty dense for reading text and you'll never see jagged edges while reading text.
AMOLED screens by nature are more vibrant than LCD screens found on most phones. Colours pop more and seem more exaggerated and on most occasions seem more pleasant to the naked eye. Largely, the screen is very nice. Videos and games look gorgeous on the Vivo X5 Pro.
Even under direct sunlight, the legibility of the screen is pretty decent. The phone also has the protection of Corning's Gorilla Glass, which is a super tough cover-glass that makes the phone somewhat resistant to scratches and drops.
It can also be argued that the screen of the Vivo X5 Pro is actually better than the iPhone 6. Impressive!
Camera
Vivo is quite loud about the cameras on the X5 Pro. On the back, the phone has a 13-megapixel camera and the front has an 8-megapixel camera. Does this mean the cameras are better than the one on the iPhone? The answer is a resounding no. The Vivo X5 Pro perhaps has the most inconsistent rear camera we've seen on any phone that's priced less than Rs.30,000.
In day light, the camera on the back is capable of some very good results. Often, there will be a lot of details and the colours of the photos would be very saturated. So much so that at times you will feel that the screen has an HDR like effect, which can be good or bad depending on the scene you are hoping to click. The phone is also very good at taking close up photos. While good, things can't be compared to a phone like the iPhone, which plays in the same price category. The camera is also inferior to Xiaomi's Mi 4, which is significantly cheaper.
Things start going south when we talk about low-light photography. It is not that the phone is taking dark photos, it is a case of it reproducing photos that look overexposed and unnatural with blown up highlights. Images are also very grainy, which is always bad news for a camera.
But the good thing is that the camera app is very easy to use just like an iPhone's app. That's because it is modelled exactly like an iPhone's camera app. We noted the same thing when we reviewed the X5 Max.
The selfie camera on the front is also pretty good. It is better than the one on the iPhone. So, if you're a selfie addict then this is not a bad phone to own.
As for FullHD video, the quality is decidedly average. The camera struggles to change focus, when you're changing perspective and as it lacks optical image stabilisation, the video often is jerky if your hands shake a lot. The recorded audio quality is garbled and it is advisable to not use the phone to record videos in loud ambient environments.
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Software
In terms of software too, Vivo's phone is inspired by the iPhone. The software; which while is based on Android Lollipop is very similar to what you get on an iPhone. The Android implementation is modelled just like iOS on the iPhone.
By this we mean that all the apps are on the home-screen and you have to swipe left or right to find more. The Android widgets too co-exist in the same environment. But this is common on many Chinese Android phones. What's different is the way you multitask and find the quick toggle settings on the phone. You have to swipe from the bottom upwards to trigger a menu which hides the app switcher and quick toggle setting for a bunch of things.
The notification shade on the top is exclusively for notifications. That's about it and this system is almost identical to the iPhone.
Not that we are complaining, because this works pretty well. Additionally, despite the major overhaul of the core Android experience, the phone is lag-free and smooth to operate.
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