Vivo V27 Pro : Review
Specifications VIVO V27 Pro : Review
Introduction
The vivo V27 trio is finally official and it's quite fascinating - there is the regular V27 with a focus on rear camera quality, then the toned down V27e, and the amped-up V27 Pro with flagship-grade performance and premium camera quality across both sides. Today we are going to explore the most interesting member - the vivo V27 Pro.
The new vivo V27 Pro is a notable upgrade over the previous V23 Pro and V25 Pro. While they were both camera-centric midrangers, this one trumps them with supposedly better camera kits and a flagship-grade chipset. It also features a larger display, and yet it manages to keep the signature thin and lightweight design.
Let's start with the design - it is reminiscent of the V23 Pro and V25 Pro as it uses the same color-changing back panel and remains just 7.4mm thin. But the vivo V27 Pro comes with a larger 6.78-inch AMOLED display of 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.
One of the most important key features is the new chipset - the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 - a SoC fabbed on a more efficient 4nm process, compared to the 6nm Dimensity 1200 and 1300 inside the previous models. It offers big improvements in CPU and GPU performance, supports new RAM and storage, there is better ISP and expanded connectivity options.
The camera has also been upgraded - there is a trio of cams on the back with a 50MP OIS primary, an 8MP ultrawide, and 2MP macro shooters. The selfie camera is quite promising - a 50MP eye with a wide-angle lens and autofocus support - an improvement over the V25 Pro, but somewhat of a downgrade when compared to the 50MP+8MP+dual-LED flash front setup on the V23 Pro.
The vivo V27 Pro is powered by a 4,600mAh battery and there is support for 66W fast wired charging. The new smartphone boots the latest vivo software, which is Android 13 with Funtouch 13 right now.
vivo V27 Pro specs at a glance:
- Body: 164.1x74.8x7.4mm, 182g; glass front, glass back, plastic frame.
- Display: 6.78" AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 388ppi.
- Chipset: Mediatek Dimensity 8200 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.1 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G610 MC6.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 13, Funtouch 13.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.9, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 16mm, 120˚, 1/4", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 50 MP, f/2.5, (wide), AF.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@60fps, 1080p@60fps; Front camera: 4K@60fps, 1080p@60fps.
- Battery: 4600mAh; 66W wired, 50% in 19 min (advertised).
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC.
There are a few things we hoped to see, but didn't happen - some sort of officially rated splash protection and stereo speakers. We think it's time for the V series to finally get stereo speakers.
And now, let's unbox the vivo V27 Pro.
Unboxing the vivo V27 Pro
The vivo V27 Pro comes packed inside a long silver box. It contains the phone itself, an 8A-rated USB-A-to-C cable and an 80W FlashCharge power adapter. Note that the vivo V27 Pro is limited to 66W charging, but it seems the maker doesn't mind shipping the phone with an overqualified adapter.
That's not all, of course. The retail bundle also offers a soft transparent case and a thin protective film, which was already applied on the phone before it had left the factory.
Design, build quality, handling
The vivo V27 Pro is a great-looking smartphone with a neat hidden feature - a color shifting back panel. It's a dual-glass handset with a plastic frame, just like the V25 and V23 models, and has a notably thin and lightweight body.
Both sides of the V27 Pro a curved towards the longer edges, which makes for a premium-looking curved shape, but also ruins the grip of the phone. The frame is made of plastic with a glossy finish, flat around the top and bottom sides, and super thin across the left and right.
The rear glass appears to use a less saturated light blue (called Magic Blue) than on the V25 Pro, but it's still a color-shifting one and the whole thing is fingerprint-resistant thanks to the special matt finish. The V27 Pro is also available in Noble Black, which has no such effect.
If you are new to the series and the whole color-changing aspect, let us explain a bit. The paint reacts to UV light and the hue becomes darker. You can cast shadows with some objects and thus "paint" them on the back for a while.
The best way to play with this cool panel is under direct sunlight, otherwise you will need a UV flashlight to reach the deep blue color. It's a nice trick and this reviewer has played for a couple of days with the panel and its effects, but we have to admit - it wears off rather quickly.
We have no information on the protective glass on top of the screen - vivo usually uses Schott Xensation for its models, so it could be that one again
We already talked about the back, but we want to praise the new camera housing. Sure, it's unnecessarily larger once again, but it's made of brushed metal and is rather no-nonsense - three cameras and a ring dual-LED flash.
There is no official ingress protection rating for the vivo V27 Pro and that's a pity. The phone seems to have seals where it's most vulnerable, but we would surely keep it away from water, just in case.
Now, let's take a closer look at the vivo V27 Pro.
The new 6.78-inch AMOLED panel occupies the entire front part and it has evenly thin bezels. The screen is of extended 1080p resolution, and it supports 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ content.
Above the front camera, almost invisible, is the earpiece. It's so thin that we had to use a flashlight to make sure it's there. Unfortunately, it does not double as a speaker.
The vivo V27 Pro has an under-display optical fingerprint reader - it is quite fast and accurate, and you can use it even as quick access via some clever software UI.
Display
The vivo V27 Pro employs a 6.78-inch AMOLED with an extended 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and HDR10+ support. The panel has a small perforation and is protected by a slightly curved glass.
The exact resolution of the panel is 1,080 x 2,400 pixels or 388ppi, the color depth is 8-bit for over 16million colors and there is wide-color support.
The maker hasn't shared any official brightness numbers. We've completed our display test and the maximum brightness we measured when using manual adjustments was about 480 nits. That is in line with the V25 Pro and V23 Pro displays.
Color accuracy
There are three color options in Display Settings - Standard (default), Pro, and Bright. You can further tweak the color temperature in each of these modes.
The Standard and Bright correspond to DCI-P3 color gamut, while Pro should be sRGB accurate.
The default Standard mode offers very good color accuracy except for the slightly bluish white and gray hues. The same also applies to the Bright mode, but some of the base color also exhibit a slight saturation boost. If you fancy better accuracy, you can do that by choosing about 50% warmer position from the color temperature slider.
Finally, the Pro mode offers outstanding accuracy to sRGB targets.
Refresh rate
The vivo V27 Pro screen offers 120Hz refresh rate. Hardware scanning apps detect support for three fixed steps - 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz - but we couldn't make the screen use 90Hz option no matter what we tried.
The vivo V27 Pro offers three refresh rate modes, similar to what we've seen on most of the modern phones - 60Hz, 120Hz, and Smart Switch.
The 60Hz option is straightforward - the phone always uses 60Hz refresh rate and all apps are capped at 60fps.
The Smart Switch and 120Hz modes work in a similar way - they use the maximum 120Hz across the user interface and some supported apps, and switch to 60Hz for static picture, video playback (but not video UI) and incompatible apps like Google Maps and Camera app. Both modes allow for HFR gaming, too, if supported.
The Smart Switch setting is a bit more restrictive - it analyzes the app, and then decides if it's worth using 120Hz or not. We found that web browsers, video streaming apps like Netflix, office apps, among others are limited to 60Hz. In fact, half of the apps we tried were limited to 60Hz.
HDR and streaming
The vivo V27 Pro comes with an HDR10+ certified display and Widevine L1 DRM support. It is recognized as HDR10-capable by YouTube, but Netflix serves 1080p SD content and detects no HDR support.
Visual enhancements
There is one display enhancement option for the vivo V27 Pro screen, and it's called Visual Enhancement. It optimizes the colors and contrast in compatible video streaming apps for a "more vivid picture". Once enabled in settings, you can select the apps where you want this to work - such as YouTube and Netflix.
Battery life
The vivo V27 Pro is powered by a 4,600 mAh battery, which is slightly lower capacity than V25 Pro's 4,800 cell despite the larger body. There is support for 66W fast wired charging.
We've completed our battery life test and the times are quite impressive. The vivo V27 Pro scored an outstanding endurance rating of 121 hours. It did great on all tests - calls, web browsing, and video playback.
Charging speed
The vivo V27 Pro supports 66W FlashCharge, but it ships with an even more capable 80W FlashCharger with an 8A-rated USB cable - the same you would get with a flagship like the vivo X90 Pro.
Despite the more powerful power adapter, the vivo V27 Pro won't use more than 66W, as expected.
The supplied adapter replenished 42% of the vivo V27 Pro battery in just 15 minutes. Another 15 minutes on that charger and we were up to 71% of charge.
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