Vivo ended the year 2019 with a bang, as it dropped the S1 Pro in the Philippines. One of the most competitive smartphones at its price point, Vivo allows consumers to score an impressive smartphone that promises to elevate their mobile experience.
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| Vivo S1 Pro Review: A Stylish Midrange Contender |
Tapped as our main driver for more than a month, can it stand out against its competitors? Let’s find out!
PHYSICAL:
The vivo S1 Pro flaunts a premium-looking body, thanks to its 3D glass-like back that comes in Knight Black and Fancy Sky. Our team received the former variant, which appeared to be classier than the latter. At first glance, it looks simple with its black physique, but it would become more interesting once you start noticing its red accents.
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| Knight Black |
Its front is dominated by a large 6.38-inch screen with a waterdrop notch. Meanwhile, you can easily see its bezels – although those are slim enough – and its thick chin. The device sports an in-display fingerprint scanner, which comes with different animation styles. We’ll talk more about its display later.
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| Right Side |
Its bottom part accommodates its speaker, microphone, and the USB-C port, while its 3.5mm audio jack is located on the top. You can find its volume keys and power/lock button on its right side, while its left cheek houses it hybrid SIM card tray.
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| Diamond-shaped Camera Design |
Flip the device on its back to reveal its quad-rear camera setup that is thoughtfully placed inside a diamond-shaped bump. This makes the phone unique and a total head-turner, as other handsets almost come with similar camera module.
The S1 Pro can comfortably sit on our hand, but one-hand usage isn’t advisable because it has a slippery body. Its back can easily attract fingerprints and smudges too, so, it’s better to use its protective case.
DISPLAY:
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| 6.38-inch Super AMOLED screen with a tiny notch |
Going back to its display, the S1 Pro boasts an immersive 6.38-inch Super AMOLED screen with an FHD+ 2340 x 1080 resolution. It has vibrant colors with sharp details, as well as good viewing angles, making it a great device for watching videos and playing games. Using it under direct sunlight wasn’t an issue, too.
Users can also opt to customize its display settings, including Eye Protection and Low brightness anti-flicker, for a more comfortable viewing experience.
SOFTWARE:
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| Software |
The S1 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie operating system with FunTouch OS 9.2 skin on top. It has clean interface, which is also easy to navigate. In addition, Vivo packed it with iTheme, allowing users to dress it according to their style and preference.
Good news for those who belong to the dark side, the S1 Pro comes with a system-wide Dark mode. Hence, even third-party applications such as social media apps will also be displayed in Dark mode.
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| Dark Mode |
For security purposes, the S1 Pro is equipped with an in-display fingerprint scanner that is responsive enough to unlock the phone in just one try or two. However, we noticed that you must place your finger on its sensor for a longer time if it has an animation style. It has Face Unlock, too, which works fine even in low-light settings.
PERFORMANCE:
Vivo loaded the S1 Pro with a Snapdragon 665 octa-core processor, Adreno 610 graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of expandable storage. We knew that it won’t offer a beast-like performance, but we still expect it to give us a smooth overall experience.
We ran it on various benchmark apps to get some previews. Here are the results:
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| Benchmark Scores |
- AnTuTu – 183,539
- Geekbench – 312 (single core)
- Geekbench – 1,396 (multi core)
- PCMark Work 2.0 Performance – 6,435
- 3DMark – 23,880 (Ice Storm Unlimited)
- 3DMark – 1,739 (Sling Shot)
While many can say that the S1 Pro has an underwhelming chipset, our tests proved that the device can still deliver decent performance even when handling heavy mobile activities, such as gaming and multitasking. Switching from one app to another was smooth, while there were no obvious lags when we’re also using it with multiple apps running on the background.
Playing games with heavy graphics, including Mobile Legends, Call of Duty Mobile, MortalKombat, and Asphalt 9, was fun too.
CAMERA:
The S1 Pro sports a quad-rear camera setup, consisting of a 48-megapixel main shooter, 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens, 2-megapixel depth sensor, and 2-megapixel macro lens. For selfies, it is mounted with a 32-megapixel snapper.
Similar to other Vivo devices, the S1 Pro is banking on great photography capabilities that users will surely love. Here are some of our sample photos:
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| Oudoor |
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| Wide |
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| Food |
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| Night Mode |
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| Selfie (Outdoor, Indoor) |
If you’re looking for a camera-phone that can produce social media-ready photos, then, the S1 Pro is worth considering. Its camera has AI feature that can enhance images, allowing it to shoot great photos with accurate colors, sharpness, and details. Also, its AI won’t overdo its job, hence, it won’t produce too vibrant images.
The device has a dedicated Night mode, too, enabling users to capture good photos in low-light settings. But of course, we’ve seen better phones that can offer more impressive night shots than the S1 Pro.
For selfies, users will surely enjoy enabling its Portrait mode, as it can really enhance your images. It’s nice that you can adjust its facial enhancement feature, and as a result, users will get natural-looking photos despite its beautification.
See Also: Price Drop Alert: Vivo Y15 Now Only Php7,999!
CONNECTIVITY:
The S1 Pro is a dual-SIM device that supports LTE connectivity. It also has basic connectivity features, such as WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth. All these functioned well throughout our tests, plus it has good signal reception too.
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| Bottom |
Other connectivity features include its 3.5mm audio jack, and USB- port.
BATTERY:
Vivo geared the S1 Pro with a large 4,500mAh battery. It’s quite impressive, considering that other smartphones at its price point usually have lower battery capacity. As our main driver, the phone can last for more than a day. Our mobile activities include basic communications, social media browsing, and casual gaming.
However, it only lasted for almost 13 hours when we’re using it intensively, meaning we’re heavily using it for social media browsing and gaming.
The S1 Pro supports Dual Engine Fast Charging, which can charge the device to 100% from 20% in less than 2 hours.
VERDICT:
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| Vivo S1 Pro |
The Vivo S1 Pro is a good midrange contender. It is packed with impressive overall offerings, which consumers can really use on a daily basis. Although it has some shortcomings, we can still say that Vivo packed it with well-balanced specs and features.
If you’re looking for a good smartphone that can deliver great display, long battery life, and outstanding camera performance, the S1 Pro might be a wise choice. You can score it for the price of Php15,990.
So, is it a yay or nay? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
Vivo S1 Pro Specs (Philippines):
- Dual SIM, supports LTE connectivity
- 6.38-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED (2340 x 1080) capacitive touchscreen
- Dimensions: 159.25 x 75.19 x 8.68mm
- Weight: 186.7 grams
- Android 9 Pie with Funtouch OS 9.2
- Snapdragon 665 octa-core processor
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB internal storage, expandable up to 256GB via microSD
- 48MP + 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide + 2MP f/2.4 macro + 2MP f/2.4 depth quad rear cameras
- 32MP f/2.0 front camera
- Multimedia Player
- FM Radio
- USB-C
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
- Bluetooth 5.0
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- Others: In-display fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock
- Battery: 4,5000mAh non-removable, Dual Engine Fast Charging support
- Colors: Knight Black, Fancy Sky
- Price: Php15,999