One thing I appreciate about vivo is its commitment to bringing the best smartphone camera experience to more and more people. The Philippines hasn’t had an X Series phone since the X80 Series in 2022. Those phones had ZEISS technology so you can take the best possible photos. In 2024, vivo collaborated with ZEISS for a V Series phone for the first time. Does having better cameras compromise the rest of the phone? Here is my vivo V30 Pro unboxing and first impressions.
Disclaimer: vivo Philippines sent the vivo V30 Pro review unit in Petals White. It arrived on April 9, 2024, and unboxed it on the same day. I’ve been using the phone for around 5 days as of posting this.
What’s Inside the Box?
The V30 Pro has a more or less typical unboxing experience. I love that we’re still seeing chargers included in the box of midrange phones, especially when a big phone maker doesn’t include them anymore. It’s also nice that we have a jelly case in the box since that’s not a thing as the price creeps up.
Thin and Light, Yet Plenty Powerful!
At 7.45 mm, the V30 Pro is vivo’s slimmest phone with a 5000 mAh battery! It’s also surprising that it weighs 188 g considering everything it can do. This phone has a 6.78-inch display with a 2800 x 1260 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, up to 2800 nits local peak brightness, and 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It uses the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 processor with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. When you’re in a pinch and need to charge, the V30 Pro supports 80W vivo FlashCharge fast charging.
The overall package is impressive so far. So much so that I almost didn’t bring up the other aspects of the phone until the full review. My first impressions of the vivo V30 Pro are mostly all about the…
Cameras. Yes, The Cameras!
vivo really impressed me when I reviewed the V27e last year. That good impression was mostly due to vivo’s image processing and the Aura Light Portrait system. Not only are we getting both of those in the vivo V30 Pro, but we’re also getting a more versatile ZEISS Triple Main Camera system to boot!
That triple main camera system consists of the following:
- 50MP VCS True Color Main Camera (1/1.49″ Sony IMX 920 sensor + vivo Camera-Bionic Spectrum) with an f/1.88 aperture and OIS
- 50MP AF Ultra Wide-Angle Camera with 119° field-of-view and f/2.0 aperture
- 50MP Professional Portrait Camera (50mm focal length) with an f/1.85 aperture and 2x optical zoom
You also get a 50MP front camera with autofocus (AF) and f/2.0 aperture for those excellent selfies. It’s also nice that we’re getting an upgraded Aura Light Portrait 3.0 with Distance-Sensitive Lighting and Smart Color Temperature Adjustment.
While I won’t share my detailed thoughts until the full review, here are some sample photos!
Portrait photo shot with the 50MP front camera 
Landscape photo shot with the 50MP VCS True Color Main Camera 
Landscape photo shot with the 50MP Professional Portrait Camera 
Landscape outdoor photo shot with the 50MP Ultra Wide-Angle Camera 
Landscape photo shot with the 50MP VCS True Color Main Camera 
Portrait photo shot with the 50MP VCS True Color Main Camera 
Group photo shot with the 50MP front camera 
Portrait photo shot with the 50MP front camera 
Food photo using the Food mode shot with the ZEISS Triple Main Camera system 
Landscape photo shot with the 50MP Ultra Wide-Angle Camera 
Landscape outdoor photo shot with the 50MP VCS True Color Main Camera 
Outdoor photo shot with the 50MP VCS True Color Main Camera
The photos impressed me so far! I never thought that midrange photos could get any better, but I can see where the ZEISS collaboration was put to good use.
I’m still reviewing the V30 Pro, which includes discovering whether there is more to this phone than just its cameras. You won’t have to wait long though. That review’s coming real soon!