In my last post about the Vivo V11 Pro, I had posted the unboxing and the first impression of the phone, you can read the article here. In this post, I am going to share the full reviews and my opinions for Vivo V11 Pro
Vivo V11 Pro has the In-Display fingerprint sensor, this is the first time Vivo has added the In-Display fingerprint sensor to the V series which also means that to the wider audience. Apart from the In-Display fingerprint sensor, V11 Pro will be the first Vivo mobile phone to feature the waterdrop notch display design.
Key Specifications of Vivo V11 Pro:
- Dual SIM dual standby, 4G-VoLTE Support, Hybrid SIM slot
- 2-Nano and 1 MicroSD card slot in a single tray
- 6.41 inches Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with a teardrop notch, 2340 x 1080 pixels, 403 PPI
- 3rd Generation Gorilla Glass for screen protection
- Processor: Snapdragon 660 AIE Octa Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz, Quad core, Kryo 260 1.8 GHz, Quad core, Kryo 260)
- GPU: Adreno 512
- 6 GB LPDDR4x RAM with 64 GB internal storage
- Storage expandable up to 256 GB (dedicated card slot)
- 4th Gen In-Display fingerprint sensor + IR Face Unlock
- Rear Camera: 12MP Dual Pixel Sensor (f/1.8) + 5MP Dual Pixel Sensor (f/2.4) AI camera with a single LED flash, PDAF, Ultra Mode, Portrait Mode, Manual Mod, Shot Refocus etc.
- Front Camera: 25 MP f/2.0 selfie camera, AR Stickers, Portrait Mode
- Sensors: Fingerprint Sensor (In-Display), Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor, E-compass, Proximity Sensor, Gyroscope
- Connectivity: WiFi, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0, A-GPS, GLONASS, FM Radio, 3.5mm audio jack and USB 2.0 with OTG support
- Colour: Starry Night, Dazzling Gold
- Dimension: 157.91 x 75.08 x 7.9 mm
- Weight: 156 g
- 3400 mAh Non-removable battery with Dual-engine fast charging
- Funtouch 4.5 operating system based on Android Oreo 8.1
Full Review of Vivo V11 Pro
Design & Build Quality:
Vivo is among the very few companies who are still experimenting with design and bringing some unique features, the In-Display fingerprint sensor and Elevated/Pop-up camera in its previous phones was the example of this. Vivo V11 Pro has a beautiful design and color gradients back panel which makes this phone different in the crowd of mobile phones in any segments. It comes in two beautiful color variants which are Starry Night and Dazzling Gold; both color variations are visually stunning but the Starry Night the one with the gradient blue-black color is my favourite.
Related Post: Unboxing Of Vivo V11 Pro, What’s In The Box?
Vivo V11 Pro has a plastic body at the rear and glass on the front, the antenna lines are not visible. The front of Vivo V11 Pro is fully covered with the gorilla glass 3 and has teardrop/waterdrop notch at the top portion of the 6.41 inches full HD+ super AMOLED display along with the 25MP selfie camera, a thin cut at the right top area above the display for infrared and then right above the teardrop notch, there is the earpiece.
Vivo has taken out the earpiece from its traditional place and added right above the display or near the top edge of the display. Vivo V11 Pro has In-Display fingerprint sensor like the previously launched premium Vivo mobile phones Vivo X21 and Vivo V Nex. Basically, with the In-Display fingerprint scanner, you can unlock the phone by putting the finger on the certain area of the screen/display.
On the left side of Vivo V11 Pro, you have the hybrid SIM + MicroSD card tray slot, you can insert 2 nano-SIM cards and a MicroSD card at the same time via single tray. The bottom of the device has a 3.5 mm audio jack, micro-USB port, mic, and the speaker grille. A 12MP+5MP dual pixel camera along with a single LED flash is placed on the top-right corner of the rear side with beautiful golden color Vivo branding at the center. On the rear side, there is also “Designed by vivo” text below the Vivo branding, the golden color branding and texts look really cool on the blue-black gradient color panel.
The overall design and build quality of the V11 Pro is very impressive, its sleek, beautiful clean design and lightweight. It’s a bit slippery because of the glossy finishing on the plastic body but Vivo is providing the transparent back cover with the phone and screen guard applied out of the box, the official back cover will give you good grip and protection for your phone whereas having a plastic screen guard on the display protects the phone from the minor scratches.
It’s really good for the consumers that big brand like Vivo is providing all the accessories with the phone that a buyer probably needs it eventually, I have unboxed almost all Vivo mobile phones and appreciate that the company is still providing the accessories like back cover, screen guard, earphones.
So if you are buying a Vivo phone you can just take out the phone its box and start using as your daily commute, do not need to rush for the covers, screen guard, or earphones. Only complain I have with the design and build of this phone is the edges which are not smooth, the joint of rear and front panel is sharpness, the edges at the SIM tray are extremely sharp; so if you are planning to use the phone without the back cover then you will feel the sharp edges very easily.
Display and Fingerprint Sensor:
Vivo V11 Pro comes with the 6.41 inches Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with a waterdrop/teardrop notch, 2340 x 1080 pixels, and 403 PPI. The Super AMOLED display makes this phone even more special, the display of this device is stunning, when a mobile phone has an AMOLED display then you will barely find any complaint with the display and V11 Pro is no exception.
The color rendering of Vivo V11 Pro is very good; the screen is bright and it offers accurate colors, again thanks to the Super AMOLED display. The images and videos are appearing perfect with the accurate colors, 6.41 inches display size is big enough to enjoy the YouTube, Netflix, or Prime Video.
Fingerprint Sensor & Face Unlock:
The fingerprint sensor of the Vivo V11 Pro is just average, appreciate the technology though. During the testing, I found it working around 7-8 times out of the 10 which is not as good as the traditional fingerprint sensor but trust me if you are going to use the Face Unlock on Vivo V11 Pro then most probably you will never have to unlock it using the fingerprint.
The face unlock feature on V11 Pro is IR(infrared) assisted and powered by AI, it can recognize your face perfectly and insanely quick even in the zero light conditions. You just need to press the power button while holding your phone and your face should be in the reach area of the camera, doesn’t even require to properly hold the phone in front of your face; just look at the phone while pressing the power button and it will unlock the device in no time.
Music & Call Quality:
“Camera and Music” is the tagline of the company which shows how confident they are about both of these features. The audio output from the speaker is clear, loud, and moderately detailed, there is no distortion even at a max volume which may also depend on the music you are playing. The voice during a call is very loud and clear in all scenarios either indoor or outdoor. I am using the V11 Pro with Jio SIM card and I never have to increase the call volume more than 50-60%.
Vivo V11 Pro comes with a generic Vivo headphone which is very or I should say exactly like the apple earphones in design and look, the sound output from the earphone is also good for calling purpose and also for playing media files, but it’s not at all comfortable in the ears. Since there is no foaming on the earbuds it started hurting in ears within 20-30 minutes of continuous use. So if you wish to experience the real music output then you have to have a good earphone/headphone.
I have tested the music quality using the Sennheiser CX-180, JBL T100A, OnePlus Bullet (V2), Mi Pro HD earphone, JayBird Bluebuds X, and Bose SoundTrue Ultra; I really like the music quality via headphone, it’s not too loud rather pleasant, the bass lovers may find it a bit disappointing with the default sound setting but you can always tweak the audio effect form the Vivo i-Music application. Once you will go to the settings of the i-Music you will find many setting including the option to enable “Mega Bass” and the equalizer for your custom taste. Enabling “Mega Bass” while using a headset will give you really amazing bass.
Vivo V11 Pro Camera Review:
It has a 12MP + 5MP AI rear shooter with phase detection autofocus, face detection, touch focus, and a single LED flash and a 25MP selfie camera. The camera app gives you an easy interface to click the photos. The options to flash control, settings, HDR mode Live Photo Mode and option to different camera modes are at top of the camera app.
You can switch between rear and front camera from the right bottom of the app, the bottom of the camera app also has a shortcut to the gallery, filters and camera shutter at the centre. Camera app featured all the popular settings like HDR, night mode, and Panorama etc. It also has features like Portrait Bokeh, slow-motion & time-lapse video recording, UltraHD photos, professional mode, and the new option called Live Photo.
Using the UltraHD mode you can click the photos with comparatively very good details than normal photo modes. The UltraHD mode takes the photo with a resolution of 8064×6048, but you need to be steady while taking the photo in UltraHD mode because it takes 2-3 second to capture-process-save the image. Professional mode is a kind of manual mode which enables the options to customize the shutter speed, ISO, exposure and white balance.
You can take some really good photo with 12MP Dual Pixel Sensor (f/1.8) + 5MP Dual Pixel Sensor (f/2.4) AI camera of Vivo V11 Pro and you can also make use of cool AI sticker, the focusing is pretty fast. The rear camera will amaze you when you are taking the pictures in the proper light conditions. The color reproductions and color accuracy are good. I have noticed when taking the photos using the AI Face Beauty mode it’s adding yellowish tint on the photos Photo with the rear and front camera as well.
As per my opinion, “AI Face Beauty” mode can make use of some software updates specially while working with the rear camera. Photos are coming good in daylight or good light conditions but in low light, it is not doing that good which is very common in most of the mobile phones specially the mid and low segments Android mobile phones. If the object is not too far than flash will do fine. There is a Night Mode option which can help you take more detail of distant objects in dark or in low light conditions.
See some rear camera samples below: [Click on the images to view in full resolution]
Vivo is very well known for its selfie camera so it’s obvious to expect good selfies with the V11 Pro’s 25 MP f/2.0 AI selfie camera and I must say I am truly impressed by the front camera; the selfie shooter takes really fabulous selfies, in very low light conditions, it may capture some noises. It does not have the moonlight or front flashes like V7 Plus and few other old V series phones, V11 Pro is using the screen brightness instead to give some light when taking selfies in the low light conditions. The front camera also has a feature like a face beauty (Whitening, Skin Tone, Buffing), HDR, Group Selfie, and Portrait Bokeh.
“Selfies Lighting” and range of filters with this feature is one of my favourite features on Vivo v11 Pro. Using the “Selfies Lighting” you can create the beautiful bokeh effect with some really cool light and color background effects, see the samples below. (Selfies lighting samples below).
Following photos were clicked in low lights without the screen flash and with the screen flash.
Software and Performance Of Vivo V7 Plus:
Vivo V11 Pro runs Funtouch OS 4.5 based on Android N 8.1.0. Funtouch is basically skin on the stock Android which comes with some pre-loaded apps that we use in daily life eg. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Flipkart, Prime Video, WPS Office etc. and then there are some official Vivo Apps; some of them are Theme, Backup/Restore, File Manager, EasyShare(file sharing), Internet Browser and VivoCloud to backup your data on the cloud, Gallery, iMusic, Notes etc.
You may find some of these preloaded official Vivo apps useful but if you like the stock Android or a fan of Stock Android then you may find this a bit disappointing because after all these are just a bloatware which may not make any sense for too many users who like the stock Android or who like to have more control on their mobile phones since it doesn’t allow to remove or uninstall these apps.
You can make use of iManager to clear cache, monitor user data. Option to uninstall apps moved under settings and the option to lock the apps is now moved to Fingerprint & Password sections which used to be inside iManager in the previous version of Funtouch OS.
I personally like the stock android and stock app drawer. As per my opinion, every brand should keep their OS as stock as possible because that will give the user an easy interface with faster software update delivery, the company will also have to spend comparatively fewer resources on software sections if they use stock Android.
Vivo’s Funtouch OS skin doesn’t come with the app drawer so all installed apps will be placed on the screen and to organize the apps all you can do is create folders based on the type of apps or if you do not want to use the specific app then you can also hide the app icons from settings.
If you want to have the look and feel of stock Android then you can consider installing the Microsoft, Nova or other launchers which will provide you with the stock Android design feel, I have installed the both Microsoft and Nova but I had to remove the Microsoft Launcher since it was not supporting the waterdrop notch properly, so now I am using the Nova launcher; even in Nova launcher I am having issues because the default launcher setting is getting restored randomly on the V11 Pro and this is not new I have had the same issue with the other Vivo smartphones.
There is one more issue which I find very irritating with the Funtouch OS, its official gallery app called Album has stopped working after disabling the location access which is weird. So now, since Album is not working I can not view the recently clicked photos from the camera app because camera app is also using the Album as the default gallery to show the photos and weirder part is Funtouch OS will not allow you to set any other app as the default app to view photos. So either I will allow accessing the location to the Album app or I will have to go to the third party app individually to see the recently clicked photos. I am using QuickPic as primary gallery app, I found it clean and classically organised.
6GB LPDDR4x RAM and Snapdragon 660 AIE Octa Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz, Quad core, Kryo 260 1.8 GHz, Quad core, Kryo 260) is giving the very smooth performance, memory management seems good, multitasking is appreciable since it’s not reloading the most recent background apps but if you have too many apps like more than 15-20 apps running in the background then few apps may reload after switching back. Smart Split (Split screen), Smart Motion, App clone, and Smart click features are also available.
The split screen is working only with messaging apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, Facebook. Inside the smart motion has too many gesture options like double tap to wake/sleep, W to WhatsApp, F to Facebook, M to start the music etc.; Smart click enables the option to Turn On/Off flashlight or start app by press+hold the volume down key while the screen is off (this will not work during music play).
Battery:
Vivo V11 Pro has 3400 mAh Non-removable battery which comes with dual engine fast charging, it takes 30 minutes to charge the 60% and around one hour twenty/thirty minutes to charge the battery from 0 to 100%. Till now I am getting more 30-35 hours of battery backup with the normal uses like few phone calls, chatting, normal browsing, and video/audio playing.
Verdict:
If you can ignore the fact that it’s not a stock Android phone and it has some bloatware and some minor bugs on its OS then overall Vivo V11 Pro is very good phone considering the price tag. You can take really good photos with both rear and front camera, it has an amazing display with the beautiful water drop notch. The long battery backup and dual engine fast charging just completed the phone in every aspect, the sexy gradient color back panel, and sleek design is complimentary. If you are looking for the phone around 20-25k range then also you can consider it even if you have to stretch your budget a bit.
Pros:
- IR-Face Unlock
- Camera
- Music & Call Quality
- Display
- Design and Color
- Stylish In-Display Fingerprint
- Battery With Quick Charging
- Price Tags
Cons:
- Build and Finishing
- No USB Type-C
- Low Light Photography
- OS/Software
- Bloatware
