Features

Taking photos to the next level with the vivo V23 5G

It’s not always about camera hardware

Published

February 24, 2022

Vincenz

The vivo V23 5G is one among 2022’s latest midrange smartphone offerings — well at least in several countries like India and the Philippines.

Some of you might remember the phone’s quick unboxing with some #PhotoDump. This time, we’re only focusing on the vivo V23 5G’s camera capabilities and how its software magic can do more than just relying solely on its less-exciting camera hardware.

Going beyond camera hardware

As a refresher, the vivo V23 5G has a total of five cameras with three in the back:

64MP f/1.9 wide (main)
8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide
2MP f/2.4 macro

And two selfie cameras: a 50MP f/2.0 wide and a wider 8MP f/2.3 ultra-wide lens.

Admit it or not, the vivo V23 5G doesn’t have the best cameras in any midranger right now. If I’ll list down, one of you (or more) would probably argue that there are better midrange offerings with better cameras of the same price tag.

UWA | Wide | 2x

With a certain amount of light, the lens will start showing flares and glares — which is actually a pretty-looking effect just like how it did on my cat.

When the sun sets and everything gets dark outside, the night mode actually helps.

Night Mode OFF | ON

But most of the time, it just amplifies the highlights and shadows a little bit.

Night Mode OFF | ON

The story doesn’t end here. In fact, night mode shots can still look better — more on that after you read this section.

Night Mode OFF | ON

The subtle photo processing adjustments also occur in food. Some of you might already look contented with how the vivo V23 5G produced these lasagna photos.

AI OFF | ON

When turned on, its AI feature can automatically detect if a subject is a food, pet, scenery, sunset, and more — just like most Android smartphones do nowadays.

AI OFF | ON

But sometimes, the AI doesn’t do its job to make the photos stand out — such as these ice cream photos.

And even in subjects that don’t have food in it, I think the vivo V23 5G could produce better shots than the usual.

This is where its brilliant camera software enters the scene. Its host of camera software features offer more than meets the eye.

Using photo filters isn’t a crime

Don’t listen to #NoFilter apologists. Your shots, your rules! Even if a lot of people brag about their shots being taken “without filters”, there’s already some post-processing algorithm happening in the background the moment you click the shutter button.

And speaking as a multimedia creative, professionals do tend to play with colors for a lot of photographs and video output. So no, you’re never alone in applying filters on your shots.

See your life to the fullest

The term ‘vivo’ in Latin means “within the living”. And the better way to actually make the most out of your daytime shots is to slap on some filters curated by the vivo team.

Daylight photos shot with the vivo V23 5G with HDR and AI turned look fine on most occasions, but just in case you’ll own one and you want to go the extra mile, the in-app filters will make them a lot better.

Original | Night Breeze

While I’m not the biggest fan of oversaturated photos, you just need to make some photos livelier.

Original | Night Breeze

Honestly, the vivo V23 5G took blander photos than what I see in reality. Thankfully, the Night Breeze filter I often use does the trick in making the shots true to life.

Original | Night Breeze

The filters may vary depending on your taste. Some filters are inclined towards saturation and contrast boosting, others are subtle with some adjustments in overall tint and temperature.

Original | Night Breeze

Luckily, these built-in camera filters are here to save the day. And yes, they work in ultra-wide angle mode, too!

Regardless of what subject or object you shoot, the filters will look good. It’s just a matter of preference which you will use.

Warmer and more saturated ones, or the faded and less saturated filter, it’s all up to your creative freedom to choose.

Can you even imagine a dramatic shot get even more dramatic just because of these camera bonuses?

If you don’t like the “too colorful” processing vibe of the vivo V23 5G itself, there are filters that could (somehow) patch things up such as desaturated and faded out filters.

But in other aspects, the darker and cooler filters bring justice to the subject.

And in some situations, tinkering with these filters add drama to your boring day-to-day photos (since some of you crave for that anyway).

Food for the hungry eyes

We love taking food photos. Whether that may be flat-lays, angled shots, or just the typical focused ones with some depth segmentation happening in the background. But the first thing that worried me is how the vivo V23 5G lacks a 2x lens since its more flexible to take food photos for your Gram.

My go-to filter for most of my food shots taken with the vivo V23 5G is the Macarons filter since it brings out better shadows and tones down the saturation.

Original | Macarons

While it brings down some of the needed highlights, I still prefer this filter over the original one that favors contrast more.

Original | Macarons | Night Breeze

Even in this spicy 짜장면 (jjajangmyeon) I ate, the filtered one (using my other fave) looks something I would directly post on my social media. Even the color of the 소주 (soju) is favorable in my opinion.

Original | Night Breeze

That said, there are still other filters you can play around with.

My favorite filter doesn’t do well on this halo-halo so I had to peek and select other options in the filter list.

And in this late night indoor shot of the tempura and tonkotsu, the original one looked too dark for my taste.

But with the existence of vivo V23 5G’s camera filters, one of them brings out the better food photo that you can directly post in your socials.

The better night mode

While regular night mode does the trick of making night-time photos brighter, filters actually do take part in making such shots more appealing and convincing (sometimes even exceptional).

Unlike filters in the regular photo mode, shooting with night mode brings you a different set of filters to choose from.

From filters such as Cyberpunk to silver and orange, most of these filters will look good as long as you have the right exposure, framing, and environment.

Some even complement the architecture or scenery itself. Take these Venetian-styled buildings and bridge as a reference.

Or if that’s not enough, here are some retro-looking interior decor without and with vivo’s in-app filters.

These night mode shots actually looked better when I tried choosing a filter over the original shot.

Not only did the filters add more color, it also gave the extra “oompfh” I’m looking for shots that the regular HDR, AI, and Night Mode processing of the vivo V23 5G failed to achieve.

And just like in the day, these filters also look nice in the dark via its ultra-wide lens.

In your next café or restaurant visit with a lot of neon signs on it, the vivo V23 5G’s built-in camera filters saves that extra energy you’ll use for manual photo adjustments.

Open that hidden treasure chest

I’m not saying you should open the treasure chest with THAT gold that’s been missing for decades 👀. There are a lot of users who simply don’t take full advantage of the extended features of a camera app. And if you’re a new V23 5G user, don’t hesitate to try them out instead of leaving them alone.

Other than the regular portrait, photo, video, and night modes, there are several more hidden under “More” tab. Those modes include:

High Resolution taken in full 64 megapixels
Panorama for that scenic wide-long views
Live Photo which captures both stills and a super-short clip
Slo-mo for well, you’ve guessed it
Time-lapse for that artsy rundown of a long video recording
Pro mode for those who dare (I’m not talking about you, ROG)
AR stickers for Gen Zs (or maybe boomers) who want to look cute(r)
Documents, well no-brainer
Double exposure for conjoining the base photo with an opaque image preset by vivo; and
Dual view for simultaneous recording via the front and rear cameras

These AR stickers a la Snapchat and SNOW are too cute for my liking. If you’re a fan, more can be downloaded right through the camera mode itself.

I even tried taking a “double-exposure” shot but I guess there’s a better use for that in a different scenario.

Two front cameras for many uses

Other than the color-changing glass back of the vivo V23 5G, its dual front cameras with both a wide and ultra-wide lenses are what makes the vivo V23 5G stand out from the rest of the crowd. Forget bringing that ring light! There’s also a dual Spotlight flash — which is also another first in this phone.

For OOTDs (and maybe TikToks?)

These were the first few samples I’ve taken with the ultra-wide front camera of the vivo V23 5G just right after I received it.

With that wider selfie lens plus turning on the timer and putting it on a stable tripod (or any other surface), this handy-dandy feature is very useful for those who want to see their full OOTD look without ever worrying about framing that most users do when using rear cameras.

This is beneficial for bloggers (or influencers) who flaunt their latest look or even for those who sell their garments online. Moreover, this wider view is an advantage for those who shoot a lot of TikTok dance trends — just don’t ask me about the video quality as I don’t use one 🥴.

For pandemic groufies

Wide (1x) vs Ultra-wide (0.6x)

Bulky monopods no more! If you’re tasked to take a selfie and you have a short hand (like my friend), you might have a hard time taking groufies.

But thanks to the extra ultra-wide lens of the vivo V23 5G, you’ll get better photo souvenirs with your friends.

And in tight spaces like a small car interior, having the option to switch between these two selfie cameras helps a lot.

The new selfie expert?

If you’re one among those aging tech nerds like yours truly, you’d know that the tagline belongs to OPPO. But upon testing — even if I’m not the biggest selfie expert in this team (that title probably goes to either of the two MJs — one from New York and one from the Philippines), the vivo V23 5G actually takes some good selfies with the right amount of beauty effects and filters applied.

Just like how you’ve seen it in groufies, taking a selfie between ultra-wide (0.6x) and wide (1x) lenses are noticeable.

UWA | Wide Front

It took some guts to actually take cringe-y selfie samples like these at 3AM.

Flash OFF | Aura | Spotlight

Another one of the same pose but this time, it shows how bad the selfie is without opening the fill-in and dual Spotlight flash modes of the vivo V23 5G.

Flash OFF | Aura | Spotlight

Beauty filters and effects are preferential. I just tried comparing three beautified selfies against one without it.

Beauty / Flash OFF | Beauty ON | Aura | Spotlight

And if the smoothing effect doesn’t look clear enough, here’s a closer look.

Using beauty mode shouldn’t be frowned upon. Not only does it show the right amount of skin texture, the skin also isn’t as smeared the way other Android phones do it.

Too much software magic? No problem!

Just in case you do and you properly know what’s good for the eyes (well tbh you should still learn and understand the basics first before you break ’em), give the built-in adjustment settings in vivo’s Albums (Gallery) app a try.

In my experience, adjusting was a total breeze. I have access to most of the stuff I play around with like exposure, contrast, temperature, highlights, shadows, and more. If you don’t know how to tinker around, the Auto-Enhance might come in handy but it might not work most of the time.

There are photo filters that can be applied as well so if you’re not satisfied with the first filter you have, you have the ability to change it afterwards.

Not for everyone — but good for anyone

If you’re a budding enthusiast with a keen eye on photography or a casual user who just wants to take a lot of photos but has a limited budget, the V23 5G should be in your radar.

Its built-in filters, camera modes, plus the in-app adjustments you’ll find in its Albums (or Gallery) app are some of the reasons why the vivo V23 5G can still take social media photos that are worthy to post.

And in all honesty, the vivo V23 5G cameras aren’t the worst. We’re just surrounded with a lot of smartphones lately that take the best-in-class phonetography experience. But with the existence of these software novelties, I think it’s time for people to make full use of them that would totally make phone shots a lot better than what’s taken straight out of the camera app.

Related Topics:Vivo vivo V23 vivo V23 5G

Features

Can the REDMI Note 15 Pro+ 5G Survive?

REDMI Titan Durability Challenge!

Published

January 17, 2026

GadgetMatch and Michael Josh Villanueva

As someone who travels and is outdoors a lot, THE Michael Josh will be the first to admit that he is NOT gentle with his phones.

They live in his pockets, bags, hands. They get dropped, they get wet, and they get dusty.

So when REDMI asked him to test something they call “REDMI Titan Durability,” he figured the only fair way to do it was to put the REDMI Note 15 Pro+ 5G to the ultimate durability test.

Reviews

POCO M8 Pro review: Goin’ loco over this POCO

POCO starts 2026 with some bang

Published

January 15, 2026

Vincenz

Looking back at my first few months with GadgetMatch back in 2018 nostalgically evoked my Pocophone F1 core memory. It was touted as THE “flagship killer for less.”

Pre-pandemic, that “Pocophone” simply became “POCO” and became an “independent” kiddo who moved out of its parent’s house.

Almost eight years after that very first iteration, I’ve finally had my first (and long overdue) POCO-perience with the latest POCO M8 Pro.

Design: Repurposed with a purpose

While I have not held a POCO phone until very recently, I am still aware of the brand’s offerings over the years.

Seeing the POCO M8 Pro for the first time instantly reminded me of last year’s Redmi Note 14 Pro series. That’s not me saying POCO blatantly ripped the aesthetics as the POCO X7 also had the same design language.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Like a full circle moment, the aforementioned phones were launched back a year ago.

In all honesty, it still confuses me which direction Xiaomi is heading, especially with the non-stop rebadging of existing POCO and REDMI phones — just with scrambled internals and CMF (color, materials, finish).

Having said that, I still consider the M8 Pro a level up from the last M7 Pro. The former’s design felt like it was not given much importance.

The centered camera island with a squircle cutout seemed like a signature design element of Xiaomi’s newer midrange line moving forward.

I also love how the phone felt in my hands. Even with that plastic back, it felt grippy enough when held.

You have to be wary of fingerprint smudges though — especially if you rock the black colorway. Luckily, the green shade I have still looks clean despite those unwanted smears.

And, if you’re brave enough to clean it in running water, the POCO M8 Pro boasts not just one, not two, but quadruple IP ratings: IP66, IP68, IP69, and even IP69K. These used to be exclusive only among 2025 flagships.

Now Playing: IDOL I

Much like my fanaticism to anything tech, the same can be said with Korean Pop Stars. More known as “K-Pop Idols”, I have been a huge geek of K-Pop for 16 long years (and still counting).

Interestingly, after finishing a series that just ended in Netflix, IDOL I swiftly came by. Even if I am the type of viewer who values the drama’s synopsis more than the cast involved, this K-Drama instantly hit two birds in one.

For one, its starred by a true iconic idol herself: Choi Sooyoung — or one of the nine members of SNSD / Girls’ Generation a.k.a the ultimate 2nd generation K-Pop girl group I’ve been stanning since my youth.

Although Maeng Se-na here is a heartless and “selfish” lawyer, she is the opposite for being a huge (yet silent) fan of “Gold Boys” with Do Ra-ik as his “Ult” (or Ultimate Bias).

In a wild turn of events, the idol became a “murderer” overnight — blaming him for the sudden death of his co-member after waking up from their drinking session.

But, no matter how the general public looks at him as the prime suspect, finding faults against Ra-ik is difficult. That’s pointing out the fact that he was just sleeping in his bed while his former bandmate slash loyal friend got stabbed without clear answers.

I can pretty much say the same thing with the 6.83-inch screen of the POCO M8 Pro: I cannot see any fault at all.

For one, it’s an AMOLED display that made me enjoy binging the first four episodes non-stop. But, being able to display 68.7 billion Colors and 12-bit color depth aside from the usual HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support? That’s likely unusual for a phone in such price point.

And, with a 1.5K display resolution plus a pixel density of 447 ppi, it’s as crisp as it could get. Watching it outdoors is neither a problem with its mighty 3200 nits peak brightness.

While my eyes aren’t very sensitive to light and flicker, its 3840Hz PWM dimming and TÜV Rheinland Flicker-Free and Low Blue Light certifications are still worth mentioning — especially if you stay up all night binge-watching hours worth of titles like yours truly.

On Queue: Apink’s RE:LOVE + Chuu’s XO, My Cyberlove

Pumping up the volume by 60%, it’s expected that the POCO M8 Pro possesses a louder than ever sound output. However, my audio assessment doesn’t end just there.

Just like POCO starting the year with a bang, the K-Pop scene in January 2026 has already exploded with real hit bangers.

First and foremost, Apink finally gathered again to released their 11th Mini Album (their previous Mini Album dates back to 2020). As per usual, I used Apple Music to take full advantage of that Lossless format.

Their title track “Love Me More” not only brought a lot of the group’s nostalgic intro and dance break instrumental during their early days in the industry, it also reminded me of the pre-millennium K-Pop era back in the early 90s.

Pair that with b-sides such as “Sunshine” that sounded pure and soulful, this latest mini album will truly make Pink Pandas’ hearts flutter.

In addition, Chuu (LOONA) finally releases her 1st Full Album titled “XO, My Cyberlove.” It is a complete opposite of her first ever solo song “Heart Attack” almost a decade ago which highlighted her cutesy, innocent charms.

The comeback track of the same title is as quirky and whimsical as it gets. Not only does it highlight Chuu’s light yet ethereal vocals, but it shows her newer, more mature side.

Furthermore, lyrics that evoke unexpected budding love in this digital era where everyone enjoys making connections through the cyber world.

With POCO M8 Pro’s speakers, I fully enjoyed playing the entirety of her freshly-baked album while I was writing this piece. Teeny Tiny Heart and Love Potion are currently my fave b-sides from this release.

Such music fulfillment was possible with the Dolby Atmos stereo speaker setup and Hi-Res Audio support of the M8 Pro. Not only its proudly loud, the audio produced is full and immaculate with clear line between its highs, mids, and lows.

Performance: Adequate for most

On paper, the POCO M8 Pro runs Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 SoC based on a 4nm process. As confusing as it seems, this is different from the more powerful Snapdragon 7 Gen 4.

That being told, game settings will vary depending on how demanding one is.

For instance, CoDM (Call of Duty: Mobile) runs in Very High and Max settings upon first set-up.

Meanwhile, Racing Master (based on NVIDIA’s PhysX engine) can run Ultra settings at 60fps.

However, it throttles during the first two ranked races.

Fortunately, the game detects if it gets sluggish — suggesting lowering down the settings altogether.

Lastly, playing Zenless Zone Zero is doable but, at the lowest graphics by default.

You wouldn’t dare to go past it as Combat Mode will literally feel like combatting the phone itself due to how heavy the game is.

The only “remedy” for these hardware limitations? It’s none other than the Game Turbo mode that boosts graphics performance and input through Xiaomi’s software advancements. And it sort of helped make the gameplay smoother, but not fully.

For the rest of apps that are not graphics-intensive, the M8 Pro can breeze through various apps without hiccups, do split-screens, or multitasking along floating windows with ease.

I can truthfully say that the only thing dragging the POCO M8 Pro down is the software as a whole.

After experiencing the beauty of vivo’s OriginOS 6 and HONOR’s MagicOS 10, Xiaomi’s HyperOS still feels like an after-thought. While it can keep up with the modern-day Android features, its stability and optimizations simply don’t make the cut.

Besides, its built-in AI tools, device ecosystem, as well as cross-compatibility functionality aren’t as polished as what you get on other Chinese brands. Let alone, a rip-off from everyone’s fruit rival without much feature improvements.

Seriously, Xiaomi?

Worst thing? Maybe the ad slash bloatware infestation found not just on the lock screen. Even transferring personal files through Xiaomi’s native File Manager app plays an unskippable ad.

Battery: Eat it up! Eat it, eat it up! 🍝🎶

At 8.31mm, the POCO M8 Pro is as slender as it can get. How they were able to fit a 6500mAh battery inside its chassis is a true feat of engineering.

For the record, this is the first POCO M-series smartphone to have such a ginormous battery. It joins the same league as the POCO F8 Ultra, F7, and the X7 Pro (in India).

For added context, the M7 Pro, as well as the X7 with a similar form factor, only had a 5110mAh battery. But, numbers are just part of the story.

In day-to-day scenarios with light to moderate usage, the POCO M8 Pro can last you a full day — even more when you hit the bed with around 30% to spare.

As one would expect though, the biggest hogging can be felt when playing games.

During my gameplay stress test, downloading resources in Racing Master for about 30 minutes already consumed 5% charge (92% down to 87%). An hour of racing ate up 11 percent — from 87% down to 76%.

Letting it rest on my desk for 18 hours, the phone depleted to 51%.

At around 9 in the evening, I then started playing HoYoverse’s Zenless Zone Zero for exactly an hour. Battery charge went down further to 36%. Then, a 1.5-hour game in CoDM resulted to a 28% battery percentage. And, as of writing, the POCO M8 Pro still had a 3 percent charge left in its massive tank.

That said, the POCO M8 Pro comes with Xiaomi’s 100W wired HyperCharge speeds — adapter still bundled in the box.

By default, the battery charging speed is set in regular with the prompt / option to enable boosting.

In my GadgetMatch Charge Test results, it can be seen that the difference isn’t too far off.

	*Boosted HyperCharge*	*Regular HyperCharge*	*PPS Charging* (UGREEN 100W Nexode)
*START TIME* *From 0%*	1:11AM	3:10PM	4:06PM
3 minutes	10%	8%	1%
5 minutes	17%	11%	4%
*10 minutes*	25%	18%	13%
15 minutes	40%	23%	21%
20 minutes	46%	32%	28%
*30 minutes*	70%	50%	46%
45 minutes	88%	71%	67%
*1 hour*	99%	91%	84%
1 hour 15 minutes	–	99%	96%
*END TIME* *100%*	2:14AM 1 hour 3 minutes	4:27PM 1 hour 17 minutes	5:30PM 1 hour 24 minutes

PPS Charging is also possible. Although the device only showed “Quick Charge” while being filled up, it’s safe to say that it performs as fast as Xiaomi’s regular HyperCharge with a super close margin of only seven minutes.

Cameras: Surprisingly Satisfying

Prospective buyers of the M8 Pro wouldn’t have a hard time dealing with its conventional camera configuration: a 50MP f/1.6 main (wide) camera based on Light Fusion 800’s 1/1.55-inch sensor. That’s paired with a less outstanding 8MP f/2.2 UWA (ultra-wide angle) camera.

For the most part, the main camera does its job very well considering this type of device.

With the satisfactory 1x image sensor, 2x zoom is also possible, thanks to in-sensor cropping.

I honestly used the 2x mode more than I thought — especially when capturing my cats and food I devour.

You can go beyond the bounds. But, with obvious hardware limitations, the camera processing can only do so much.

Once that natural light disappears, it will be tricky to take low-light shots as this has NO dedicated Night Mode feature. No luck if you are using them indoors with artificial light around.

Instead, regular Photo Mode automatically detects a low-light subject and toggles Night Mode processing by itself.

While most results are satisfying, it’s also a testament that its cameras are far from being flawless.

Good thing, the flash exists for a funkier look in subjects that suit it — food specifically.

Portraits weren’t missed. Although it only relies on some software-based processing, it still gets the job done of separating the subject away from the background — humans and pets alike.

Personally, the aperture function was a bit of a nuisance.

For context, these shots were set to a low “f/1.8 aperture.” But, the M8 Pro rendered DoF (Depth of Field) that isn’t as shallow as what it’s supposed to show.

My frustration continues as the setting defaults back to f/4.5 after quitting and re-opening the camera app. That’s not even the standard lens opening when taking portrait photos.

And while we’re already here, selfies taken with its front-facing shooter.

Is the POCO M8 Pro your GadgetMatch?

While this isn’t the “flagship killer” most expect from a POCO phone, it’s hard not to go loco over how well-rounded yet wallet-friendly this POCO phone is — especially in the year 2026 where inflation is still unstoppable alongside the almost instantaneous and ridiculous RAM price hike.

ICYMI, the POCO M8 Pro has a starting price of GBP 299 / SG$ 389 / RM 1199 / PhP 16,999 (around US$ 279) for the 8+256GB configuration.

Meanwhile, the 12+512GB variant that I handle is priced at GBP 349 / SG$ 449 / RM 1499 / PhP 19,999 (approx. US$ 359).

Its closest rival is none other than the HONOR X9d. Coincidental or not, it was launched just a day after the unveiling of the M8 Pro.

Frankly, the only thing you’ll let go from HONOR’s sweet treat are its monstrous 8300mAh battery and more polished OS. This POCO-ffering blows it out of the water with a greater chipset, faster wired charging, bigger and better display, capable cameras, durability never forgotten.

Although it wasn’t totally highlighted, the POCO M8 Pro is undoubtedly a rebadged REDMI Note 15 Pro+ — Xiaomi’s midranger that heavily markets its “Titan Durability” capabilities.

The POCO M8 Pro has them all: from its sturdy aluminum frame, four IP ratings, even the fully-shielded front glass care of Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The biggest disparity? REDMI has a 200MP main camera over POCO’s 50MP shooter.

Despite some inconsistencies, the POCO M8 Pro is still an all-around midranger that will satisfy most users who want to purchase a shiny new smartphone without burning holes in your pockets.

It is a Swipe Right, Super Swipe, and a worthy recipient of the GadgetMatch Seal of Approval.