Vivo V15 Pro Unboxing and First Impressions

Vivo has just announced the V15 Pro with triple rear cameras and elevating selfie camera for the Philippines and this is our first impressions!

Vivo V15 Pro

Vivo has learned from the V11 and has improved the design, build and specs of the new V15 Pro.

It has a 6.39-inch 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass 5 Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 at 403 ppi. It is powered by a Snapdragon 675 AIE octa-core processor and Adreno 612 with 8GB RAM and 128GB ROM.

These are our thoughts!

Unboxing/Accessories

Inside the box

The box it comes in is the familiar matte white box with the picture of the phone, branding and regulatory information. Inside is the phone, the documentation, the USB to micro USB cable, 5V/2A power brick, earphones, and the bumper clear case.

Build Quality/Design

The beautiful glossy glass-like back

The V15 Pro significantly ups its game with the build materials and design of the phone when compared with the V9 and the V11 series. V15 Pro is made up of a premium glossy polycarbonate frame and a glossy glass-like back.

Premium glossy polycarbonate frame and a glossy glass-like back!

The back is a new gradient design with wavy line patterns. At the bottom is the Vivo branding while the triple rear cameras are on the top left.

This results in a better feeling device on hand but because of the glossy back and frame, it can feel that the phone may slip at any time. These are also huge fingerprint magnets.

The elevating selfie cam is designed to last!

Many are afraid because of the elevating camera's design that it will affect the structural integrity of the phone. BUT, Vivo claims that the elevating design is meant to be used for around 300,000 times. It is designed to last longer than other phones.

Full-screen display

The 6.39-inch Super AMOLED display nearly takes up the whole front with thin top and side bezels. Only the chin is noticeably thicker than the rest. The display also has a screen protector applied out of the box. It comes with a tall 19:5:9 ratio and 91.64 percent of screen-to-body ratio.

By using a full-screen display, the Vivo V15 Pro with the large 6.39-inch screen is able to be smaller in a smaller form factor compared to an iPhone 8 Plus with a smaller 5.5-inch screen.

It measures at 157.25 x 74.1 x 8.21 mm.

The top side

On top, there's a single microphone hole, 3.5mm headphone jack, and the pop-up camera. At the bottom is the micro USB port, single speaker grill, microphone, and the SIM card tray.

Bottom side

At the right side are the volume rocker and the power button while the right side has the SIM card tray.

Left side

Right side

The phone is also comfortable to hold, but prone to the fingerprint scanner. It weighs at 185 grams.

Initial findings

1. The Vivo V15 Pro carries a large 6.39-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 resolution at 403 ppi with thin side and top bezels. It is packaged in a premium glossy frame and glossy glass-like back panel.

The display is bright with vibrant colors that produce sharp text and images. Super AMOLED remains to be the best display in the market.

AnTuTu score of the new processor!

2. Inside is a 2.0GHz 64-bit Snapdragon 675 AIE octa-core processor with the Adreno 612 GPU with 8GB RAM and 128GB ROM.

This resulted in an initial AnTuTu score of 177,055 with favorable results in the CPU and Memory scores. The GPU, however, isn't that high.

The battery is a 3,700mAh battery that is charged via micro USB with a 5V2A power brick which we think isn't great given that more phones like the Samsung Galaxy A30 and the A50 offer fast charge 15W charging over USB-C.

The latest version of FunTouch OS

3. V15 Pro runs on the latest Android 9 Pie-based FunTouch OS that had minor visual improvements over the previous generations. It still the good mix of Android and iOS UI elements that we love but because there aren't any drastic changes, it feels somewhat dated. Don't get us wrong, it is perfectly fine but we just wish Vivo would up their game like in ColorOS 6.

Triple rear cameras!

4. At the back are the rear triple camera set-up made of a 48MP f/1.8, 8MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra wide-angle lens and a 5MP f/2.4 w/ PDAF and LED flash.

The images are noticeably good out of the box from both daylight and low light images from the main camera. In low light, the wide-angle camera seems to drop in image quality.

The pop-up selfie camera!

The main camera of the phone is the elevating 32MP f/2.0 Samsung ISOCELL GD1 sensor that pops out whenever the selfie camera is needed via the camera app or when using Face Unlock. It supports selfie flash

The images out of the box of the selfie camera are noticeably sharper and more vivid than the rear camera images.

We will have to do more testing to see how it really stacks up.

5. The fingerprint sensor is under the display and Vivo says that it has been improved. In our initial testing, it is slightly faster but it still has the miss or hit rate that the previous generations of In-Display fingerprint scanners have.

The face unlock is almost instantaneous as soon as the camera pop-up mechanism reaches the max height.

Vivo V15 Pro Specs

Display: 6.39-inch 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass 5 Super AMOLED screen w/ FHD+ 2340 x 1080 resolution at 403 ppi
CPU: 2.0GHz 64-bit Snapdragon 675 AIE octa-core processor
GPU: Adreno 612
RAM: 8GB
ROM: 128GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 256GB
Back Camera: 48MP f/1.8 + 8MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra-wide-angle lens + 5MP f/2.4 w/ PDAF and LED flash
Selfie Camera: 32MP f/2.0 Samsung ISOCELL GD1 sensor w/ AI and screen flash
Battery: 3,700mAh w/ Dual Engine fast charging
OS: Android 9.0 Pie w/ Funtouch OS 9
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), dual 700MHz 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5, A2DP, LE, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, dual SIM (nano)
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, dual mic, Colors: topaz blue, ruby red
Dimensions: 157.25 x 74.1 x 8.21 mm
Weight: 185 g
Price: PHP 23,999

As of the moment

The Vivo V15 Pro is looking to be one of the better designed and spec'd phones for its price point.

This is because of the new 11nm Snapdragon 675, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, the triple rear camera, the 32MP selfie pop-up camera and the In-Display fingerprint scanner.

We do wish that Vivo would have added USB-C and a larger battery to make this phone even more competitive than it already is.

We are excited to see more of what this phone can do.

For our review: Vivo V15 Pro Review - 3 months after, still worth it?