It wasn’t too long ago when vivo unveiled the V19 series in the Philippines. Not that we should be surprised, but just a reminder, the past four months weren’t too long ago.

Fast forward today, vivo has finally announced not one, not two, but three new smartphones, pandemic notwithstanding. The V20 series lineup goes like this: the V20 SE, V20, and this one, the V20 Pro. If you’ve been fond of vivo’s V-lineup, they always skip models in odd numbers. This time, they decided to mix things up with an even number — right in time for the year “20”20.

V stands for Very Confusing

If you’re confused among these models, here’s a quick spec comparison.

	V20 Pro	V20	V20 SE
Processor	Snapdragon 765G	Snapdragon 720G	Snapdragon 665
Display	6.44” AMOLED HDR10	6.44” AMOLED	6.44” AMOLED
Memory	8GB	8GB	8GB
Storage	128GB	128GB + microSD	128GB + microSD
Network	5G + 4G LTE	4G LTE only	4G LTE only
Rear Cameras	64MP f/1.9 WA 8MP f/2.2 120º UWA 2MP f/2.4 Mono	64MP f/1.9 WA 8MP f/2.2 120º UWA 2MP f/2.4 Mono	48MP f/1.8 WA 8MP f/2.2 120º UWA 2MP f/2.4 Mono
Front Cameras	44MP f/2.0 Wide 8MP f/2.28 105º UWA	44MP f/2.0 Wide	44MP f/2.0 Wide
Battery	4000mAh	4000mAh	4100mAh

Full of Firsts

The V20 Pro may not be vivo’s first 5G smartphone, but it’s currently the world’s slimmest. In fact, it’s even slimmer than its 5G-equipped cousin, the X50 Pro.

Just like how I used a vivo smartphone for the first time, the article headings were (heavily) inspired by BLACKPINK’s tracks that are also from their first ever full album. Coincidentally, Lisa has also endorsed the vivo S7 — which is the Chinese counterpart of the V20 Pro. I digress.

ALSO: This is the first 5G smartphone I’ve ever held and used.

Look so good, yeah, look so sweet

I hope you read that with the tune of BLACKPINK’s Ice Cream. Those iconic lyrics best describe how I feel about this particular piece of hardware.

It’s eye-tricking. The psychedelic back confuses and amuses me at the same time. Depending on one’s source of light, this phone can show shades of orange, red, blue, or pink, with subtle hints of yellow and purple all over it. The warmer side reminds me of a popsicle I used to eat when I was a kid. Thus, it looks good, and sweet — at least in my eyes.

The Sunset Melody variant isn’t bad  at all but it’s simply not my cup of tea. If people love flashy, eye-candy colors, I beg to differ. Other than the difficulty in matching this phone with my usual monochromatic pandemic OOTD, it’s also hard to keep this away from the prying eyes of thieves.

If I had the chance to choose one, I’d simply pick the white-touting Moonlight Sonata colorway because it’s cleaner and the fingerprint smudges will appear less. Although black is my favorite color, Midnight Jazz looks too bland for my liking.

This doesn’t mean I don’t like the phone. I honestly like how it feels in the hand despite being thin. It’s light yet not too slippery nor fragile (unlike me).

Other than that, the stainless steel frame and matte glass back both add premium touches to the phone itself.

Unlike its younger siblings, the 3.5mm audio jack was eliminated from the V20 Pro and was replaced by a SIM tray slot just beside the microphone and USB-C port. I’m not making a big fuss about this as I’ve already transitioned into a more wireless and USB-C ecosystem. But for audiophiles or other people who totally rely on it, this could be a dealbreaker. Don’t fret, vivo has bundled a USB-C to 3.5mm audio jack adapter if you still want that immersive, wired audio experience.

Now that we’re on the topic of speakers, it doesn’t have stereo speakers but its mono speaker is decent and loud — just don’t try to cover it too much with your finger when holding it in landscape mode or you might muffle the whole audio experience.

Love To Hate That Display

Now that I already brought up the topic with V20 and V20 SE, I just don’t understand how vivo decided to bring back these notches over the V19’s punch-hole camera cutout and V17 Pro’s set of pop-up cameras. This even reminds me of the early days of the brand with the vivo V9 and the V11.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love its 6.44-inch AMOLED display that shows deep blacks and vivid colors. It might not be too obvious but the bezels are slimmer than the V20, making its form factor smaller and thinner than the latter. I even tested out V20 Pro’s clear case but it simply wouldn’t fit the V20’s slightly larger and thicker form factor.

Without the presence of a physical fingerprint sensor, the in-display fingerprint scanner is there to save the day. Unlike previous review units I tested, V20 Pro’s reader is fast enough for everyday unlocking. I mean c’mon, vivo brought this technology first with the 2018 APEX phone. There’s no competition but there’s a reason why they should ace this particular technology over other brands.

There’s also a Face Unlock feature but in times like this, it’s best to just use the fingerprint scanner. After all, we’re required to wear face masks and face shields when we’re out and about in public.

Pretty Savage Specs

As stated in the intro, the V20 Pro packs a Snapdragon 765G processor that’s responsible for delivering outstanding CPU and GPU performance. And thanks to this processor, it’s able to bring 5G support to the V20 Pro for a less expensive price tag compared to the pricey SD865 variants.

Of course, we shouldn’t miss playing PUBG especially since BLACKPINK has a collaboration with them.

Most (if not all) phones have DND (Do Not Disturb)  Mode but most of the time, it just doesn’t seem to work especially when playing games. The built-in game manager controls that can be toggled on the upper left corner are handy especially if you want to focus on the game and don’t want to be interrupted by app notifications, messages, and calls.

If you’re gonna ask what’s my favorite feature, it’s a minor addition but the 4D vibration is something I love. It adds an intuitive gaming experience by enhancing the overall vibration feedback of the phone. Haven’t tried all sorts of options since I’m not a professional mobile gamer, but vivo’s In-Game Manager is worth trying out.

I tried taking a break by playing amid the busy workload I have during this aphonecalyptic month full of phone launches and events. My original goal was to just find the BLACKPINK-themed plane. Unfortunately, it never showed up. Instead, I was teamed up with these three random PUBG players from different parts of the world.

All throughout the game, performance was fast and snappy. Although there’s no 120Hz refresh rate (and 240Hz sampling rate), it still performed buttery smooth thanks to its powerful chipset. This proves that you don’t need the highest processor just to play graphics-intensive games. As the photo shows above, the phone supports PUBG’s Ultra frame rate option and HDR resolution.

After a quick gaming session, me and these bunch of strangers that helped each other were able to stay ’til the end and got an imaginary winning chicken for dinner. This circumstance also happened for the first time ever since I started playing this game months ago.

Crazy Over 5G

Although the pandemic is far from over, I was still able to test out 5G speeds in the Metro — and it was insanely fast. It’s even faster than our typical Fiber Internet Plan at home.

Let me open my Instagram first as an early app test. I know this app doesn’t require blazingly-fast data speeds but hey, better to open something first that doesn’t consume all of your data balance 😂

Fresh from the oven, I was also able to watch BLACKPINK’s first (yes another first in this article) ever Netflix documentary. I completely forgot to download it through our Wi-Fi connection at home but I’m glad 5G saved my day. It took me less than three to five minutes to download this more than 1GB-worth documentary.

You Never Know When It’s Gonna Die

If you’re like me who spends countless of hours listening to music (especially K-Pop), the V20 Pro is a perfect companion for those ultra-long jamming sessions — especially in this pandemic.

While its 4,000mAh battery isn’t as “enormous” as other Android phones, the phone was able to last at least a full day of moderate to heavy usage. Do take note how you use your phones quite often. For me, music playback doesn’t require the screen to be always turned on so it’s still not as power-hungry as when you play games, binge-watch a series, or shoot photos and videos for hours.

There’s more than enough juice left for the day. Mind you, I used this phone the moment I went out of the house at around six in the morning with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Cellular Data toggled on. Since then, I never plugged it in my powerbank to fill up the phone.

While super fast charging isn’t particularly new these days, vivo’s FlashCharge technology sure does the trick of bumping up the battery level from zero to 100 percent in about an hour. I tried testing it out and it took the V20 Pro exactly 58 minutes to charge — which is still fast considering it has a large 4,000mAh battery.

And yes, you heard that right! The 33W vivo FlashCharge adapter is still bundled in the box. 👀

How You Like That Cameras?

This familiar-looking camera cutout made its debut on the vivo X50 Pro — a.k.a the world’s first smartphone with a gimbal camera system. Not to confuse you, but having a similar camera design doesn’t mean it has the same stabilization technology.

For aesthetic purposes, vivo just decided to bring this sophisticated-looking camera placement on their newest S and V series line — and I honestly love how it looks. But do I love how its cameras perform? Tune in to my samples below.

On paper, you get a 64-megapixel f/1.9 wide camera. Other than that, there’s an 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide angle camera with a 120-degree FoV. This sensor is also responsible for shooting macro and bokeh shots. The third lens is an additional 2-megapixel f/2.4 mono sensor.

For the most part, the V20 Pro produced great shots

With ample amount of sunlight, the V20 Pro can keep up with most of 2020’s smartphone camera competition.

Its dedicated zoom toggle helped a lot in capturing interesting subjects even from afar.

Restricting the frame by zooming in on the subject can help deliver better photos without ever moving an inch closer to the object itself — just like how I tried not to scare away this stray cat.

Even under harsh daylight conditions, the V20 Pro successfully showed photos with great dynamic range, no matter what type of lens you use.

However, the two minor issues I’ve faced are the inconsistencies in detecting the Auto WB (White Balance) and the lack of stabilization when zooming in.

As seen from my two pets, it’s pretty evident that ultra-wide shots take warmer photos in contrast to its regular / wide lens.

Other than that, zoomed shots taken indoors were a little bit blurry due to the lack of stabilization.

But then again, it’s not totally a big deal for photos that will just be posted on social media.

Just for fun, I tried comparing the V20 Pro with Google’s Pixel 2 XL — a flagship from three years ago

Having an AI camera can surely help you take better photos when the phone detects a particular subject or object. This automatically switched to vivo’s built-in Super Macro Mode. The lady bug can still be seen but it failed to preserve the accurate highlights and shadows.

Pixel, on the other hand, was able to preserve the scene just like how my eyes saw it. It’s totally not a fair comparison because Pixel lacks a macro mode but it still got the job done of capturing that tiny bug hiding on the leaf.

This second photo shows how software processing affects the color accuracy of one shot. Then again, Pixel 2 XL has delivered the shot closer to what you’ll see in reality. These were both taken when the sun was completely out, past six in the evening.

Finally, the sun is gone. I then tried to shoot this night scenery. The V20 Pro’s output still looked like the sun was present in the scene. Meanwhile, the Pixel, though grainy, still produced a better-looking photo with the right amount of highlights and shadows.

These samples show how a 2017-made flagship can still keep up with a new 2020-midranger. Regardless if a phone is a new or not, this proves how computational photography still plays a big role in shooting photos.

Finally, less-smudgy selfies

For an obvious reason, the V20 Pro has a slightly wider notch because of its dual front cameras. There’s a main 44-megapixel f/2.0 selfie camera, while the second sensor is an 8-megapixel f/2.28 ultra-wide selfie shooter for those extra-wide groufies — which isn’t ideal yet in this pandemic because we still need to distance ourselves (especially from our crushes).

Taking selfies in establishments is now bearable, thanks to the existence of face masks 😂

Is the vivo V20 Pro your GadgetMatch?

For someone who wants to taste vivo’s freshly-served ice cream, the V20 Pro is still worth purchasing. Although it’s priced at PhP 24,999, it’s simply not the cheapest and most power-packed 5G smartphone option you can get today.

But considering how vivo carefully crafted this latest piece of hardware and still managed to have power-packed internals, a large battery, and even a 5G modem inside a slim chassis, this is one of the best picks especially now that the country is slowly evolving into a 5G-ready nation.

If you’re still hesitating to buy it due to the inconsistencies in camera performance, the only hope we could ask is for vivo to solve it via future software updates. If the notch is a complete dealbreaker, there’s an Android app that can completely hide it for you.

Now, if you care less about 5G and want a cheaper variant, get the V20 instead with some caveats over its ‘Pro’ sibling. But if you care less about the bells and whistles the higher V20 variants offer, the V20 SE is an option, especially if you want to try out the nature of vivo’s ecosystem.

Availability update as of 12/5/2020

The vivo V20 Pro is now available through Smart Signature Plan L 1999. Interested subscribers need to only pay an initial cash-out of PhP 3,710 and add PhP 200 on top of their monthly bill; or pay a one-time cash out of PhP 8,300.

Existing Smart Signature subscribers looking to renew their plan only need to add PhP 179 on top of their monthly bill or opt for the one-time cash out option of PhP 4,300.

As a limited treat, Smart Signature subscribers with approved applications for vivo V20 Pro will also get Free Wireless Earbuds worth PhP 2,499 until January 15, 2021.