Vivo is bringing its newest smartphone – the V17 Pro – to the Philippines. Through the device, the Chinese mobile maker promised to enhance the user’s mobile experience as it is packed with a sophisticated design, impressive features, and jaw-dropping cameras.
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| Vivo V17 Pro Review; Not Your Ordinary Camera Phone |
Fortunately, our team got a chance to play around with the handset ahead of its official launch. Tapped as our main driver, the V17 Pro exceeded our expectations, as it proved that it is more than just a camera smartphone – thanks to its overall offerings!
Now, let’s dig deeper to see if it can also deliver your mobile needs.
INSIDE THE BOX:
Vivo V17 Pro Unboxing and Hands-on
Aside from the V17 Pro unit, its retail box also includes a sturdy protective case, earphone, user’s guide, USB cable, USB power adapter, SIM ejector tool, and a protective film which is pre-applied on the phone.
PHYSICAL:
The V17 Pro can surely steal one’s attention with its premium-looking design, which will make you think that it's more expensive than its actual price. The phone is available in two striking color variants: Midnight Ocean, and Glacier Ice. Our team received the latter, which we really like because of its simple yet so classy appearance.
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| Glacier Ice |
Made with glass, the phone is heavy at 201.8 grams, while it measures 159 x 74.7 x 9.8mm. Hence, one-hand usage isn’t safe, as a solid grip is highly advisable to avoid dropping it accidentally.
Its front is dominated by a large 6.44-inch Super AMOLED panel, which almost delivers an all-screen display. To make this possible, Vivo armed it with an in-display fingerprint scanner and a pop-up camera mechanism.
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| Pop-up Camera |
Aside from its motorized camera, its 3.5mm audio jack is also located on the top of the phone. Its bottom part, on the other hand, accommodates its dual SIM tray, USB-C port, the primary mic, and speaker grilles.
On its left cheek, you’d see its dedicated Google Assistant button, while its right side houses its power/lock button and volume keys. All the buttons worked well during our tests.
Flip the device on its back to reveal its glass body. Its quad cameras are positioned vertically together with its LED flash.
DISPLAY:
As mentioned, the V17 Pro sports an immersive 6.44-inch Super AMOLED screen with an Ultra FullView display and FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution. Since it has no notch, the device allows us to enjoy watching films and playing games with impressive quality, accurate colors, and good sharpness. Also, users have options to watch videos in full screen or in its original resolution by just pinching it.
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| 6.44-inch Super AMOLED Ultra FullView display |
Moreover, it has good brightness levels, as we never had a problem using it even under direct sunlight.
Other display settings include its Eye Protection, Dark Mode, Font Style, Font Size, Screen Colors, Low brightness and anti-flickers, and Full-screen display of apps.
SOFTWARE:
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| Software |
The V17 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie OS with Funtouch OS 9 skin on top of it. Just like other Vivo smartphones, the device has no app drawer, which means that users have to create folders in their home screen if they wish to organize their apps.
If you don’t like its default theme and youthful icons, you can download a new theme on the iTheme app to change its appearance based on your taste.
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| Dark Mode |
It also allows users to have system-wide Dark Mode, which will be applied on supported apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more.
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| In-display fingerprint scanner |
For security, the V17 Pro is equipped with a responsive in-display fingerprint scanner and an assistant face unlock, which will only work after three failed attempts using the fingerprint sensor.
Meanwhile, Vivo geared it with a large 128GB storage. The device comes with numbers of pre-installed apps, including Google native apps, Vivo-owned apps, Lazada, WPS Office, Kids Mode, and more. You can uninstall some of these apps to save more space.
See Also: Price Drop Alert: Vivo Y17 Now Only Php10,999
PERFORMANCE:
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| Game Assistant |
The V17 Pro is powered by Snapdragon 675 octa-core processor, Adreno 612 GPU, and 8GB RAM. Expecting that it can give off a smooth performance, we still ran it on our preferred benchmark apps to give us a preview about its actual capabilities.
Here are the results:
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| Benchmark Scores |
The V17 Pro satisfied our mobile needs when it comes to multitasking and gaming. When heavily used, the device never lagged, and we didn’t experience any frame drops when playing games with heavy graphics, such as Call of Duty Mobile, Mobile Legends, Mortal Kombat, and Asphalt 9.
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| Call of Duty Mobile |
Meanwhile, we noticed that the device becomes hot when using it at a low battery percentage. It’s manageable, though.
CAMERA:
Banking on great photography capabilities, Vivo armed the V17 Pro with a total of six cameras – two on its front, and four on its main department. It sports a flagship-like quad-rear camera setup, consisting of a 48MP main shooter, 8MP wide-angle lens, 2MP depth sensor, and 2MP macro lens. For selfies, the phone boasts 32MP + 8MP wide-angle snappers.
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| Quad-rear camera setup |
It comes with various camera features, including DOC, PRO, SLO-MO, TIME-LAPSE, Camera Filter, LIVE PHOTO, HDR, PORTRAIT, Panorama, 4K Video, Touch to shutter, Voice Control, Palm Gesture, AR Stickers, Super Night Mode, Jovi Image Recognizer, AI Scene Identification, Bokeh, Ultra-Wide Angle, and Super Macro.
Here are some of our sample photos:
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| Outdoor |
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| Wide |
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| Outdoor |
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| Indoor |
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| Low-light |
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| Night Mode |
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| Selfie (Portrait Mode and Wide) |
Meanwhile, its front cameras worked well and can offer natural-looking images even if it enhances your facial features. Users can also take wide shots to include more persons in just one frame.
CONNECTIVITY:
The phone is a dual SIM device that supports LTE connectivity. It also boasts basic connectivity features, including WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. It all functioned well during our tests, considering that we also have good signal reception.
BATTERY:
The V17 Pro is juiced with a 4,100mAh battery that supports 18W dual-engine fast charging. As our main driver, the device can last for almost a day, even if we’re heavily using it for playing games.
To give you an idea about its power, our daily mobile activities include continuous social media browsing, basic communications, casual gaming, and intensive video streaming. Our brightness is always placed at its lowest level, while we always leave its WiFi connection opened.
Meanwhile, it usually took us an hour and a half to fully charge the phone.
VERDICT:
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| Vivo V17 Pro |
Good thing, Vivo made sure that the device can still enhance your mobile experience with its impressive photography department. The V17 Pro isn’t just an ordinary camera phone, too, as it can also deliver great overall performance when handling heavy tasks such as gaming. It has a long battery life and immersive display, too.
So, is it a yay or nay? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
Vivo V17 Pro Specs (Philippines):
- Dual SIM, supports LTE connectivity
- 6.44-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ Ultra FullView (2400 x 1080) capacitive touchscreen
- Dimensions: 159 x 74.7 x 9.8mm
- Weight: 201.8g
- Android 9 Pie with Funtouch OS 9.1
- Snapdragon 675 octa-core processor
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB storage
- 48MP + 8MP (Wide-Angle) + 2MP (Bokeh) + 2MP (Macro) quad rear cameras
- 32MP + 8MP (Wide-Angle) dual front cameras
- Multimedia Player
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth 5.0
- GPS
- USB-C
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, E-compass, Gyroscope
- Others: In-display fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock
- Battery: 4,100mAh non-removable, 18W dual-engine fast charging
- Colors: Knight Black, Crystal White
- Price: Php21,999