A special Vivo X70 Pro+ Wilderness Edition was launched last September in China with a great popularity. Just one month ago, Vivo sent us a new model. To better test its performance, we made a special trip to Yunnan province, China during which we took a lot of photos and videos in Lijiang (a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province) and Shangri-la (a county-level city in Yunnan Province). Well, let's get back to business. You may wonder whether its performance is as good as advertised. Well, follow us and you may find the answer.
Vivo X70 Pro+: Design
The Vivo X70 Pro+ we received is the most popular Wilderness Edition with blue leather back panel, more non-slip and easier to grip than glass or plastic materials adopted in other phones.
The phone has a rectangular camera module to hold its four rear lenses--a replacement for the stepped camera modules of earlier X phones. Next to that, is a large, mirrored plate of glass engraved with ‘Pro+’ branding and the logos of both Vivo and camera partner Zeiss.
An overview of the Vivo X series flagship phones, the X50 is the first model featured a gimbal-like stabilization system. Then, the miniaturised gimbal system was iMProved with the launch of the X60. Looking forward, Vivo works to strengthen the system further with its successor, the Vivo X70 Pro+. It seems that the system may be the icon of the Vivo X series models.
This phone features four rear cameras: a 50MP main camera, 48MP ultrawide, 12MP 2x zoom lens, and 8MP 5x zoom lens. Remarkably, all the four feature optical image stabilisation (OIS) with the ultrawide also packing Vivo’s own miniaturised gimbal tech for extra stability.
Key camera specifications:
√ Wide (main): 50 MP Samsung GN1 sensor with with 24mm-equivalent f/1.57-aperture lens, 1/1.31", PDAF, Laser AF, OIS
√ Ultra-wide: 48 MP sensor with 14mm-equivalent f/2.2-aperture lens, 1/2.0", gimbal-stabilization
√ Tele: 12 MP sensor with 50mm-equivalent (2x optical zoom) f/1.6-aperture lens, OIS
√ Tele: 8 MP sensor with 125mm-equivalent (5x optical zoom), up to 60x digital zoom, f/3.4-aperture lens, OIS
Sitting at the helm of the Vivo X70 Pro+ is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ chipset, that has a 20% AI boost compared to the standard SD888. And to support the SD888+ ISP, Vivo added its own custom image processing chip known as V1. According to Vivo, the V1 chip helps to handle image processing while consuming less power at the same time.
Vivo X70 Pro+: Sharpness, Sensitivity and Latitude
Unless otherwise specified, the test is completed with the 50MP main camera.
001 Sharpness
We have used ISO 12233 charts with all the four cameras and now show you 100% crops at the center and corners to measure sharpness.
Summary:
√ Wide (main) with a 50 MP Samsung GN1 sensor: the best sharpness, sharp in both center and edges
√ Ultra-wide with a 48 MP sensor: sharp in the center but a little soft on the edges
√ Telephone with a 12 MP sensor: sharp in the center but much soft on the edges. Considering that it is for portrait, the difference in quality is quite reasonable.
√ Tele with a 8 MP sensor: the worst sharpness, if not, not good as the previous lens
002 Sensitivity
You can adjust the exposure manually when the Pro mode is on. Adjusting within a sensitivity range of ISO 50 to 3200, we shoot the image and analyzed details and dark parts in it to see how the image quality changes as the sensitivity increases.
As you can see, the Vivo X70 Pro+ presents a relatively pure picture in terms of details and dark parts under ISO 400.
At ISO 800, the dark parts appear partially smeared; at ISO1600, a lot of details are missed, but the dark part does not show chroma noise that is usually seen on other phones, which in turn shows that the powerful performance of the V1 chip. All in all, the sensitivity below ISO800 is recommend to make sure the best image quality.
003 Latitude
Since Vivo X70 Pro+ supports both jpg and Raw files, we tested latitude on the two fronts.
We only dialed the exposure from negative 3 to positive 3 stops with the shutter speed and ISO set by default.
(JPG)
(RAW)
We adjusted the stops of exposure and pushed back to check out the picture. Obviously, the jpg files include 5 stops of exposure latitude (2 over to 3 under).
When it comes to Raw files, stops of exposure latitude are significantly increased. At 4 stops over, pushed back details can be well presented. Therefore, when taking photos with a high lighting ratio, it is best to store up Raw files.
004 Lens distortion
By shooting the wall with four lenses respectively, we observe the distortion of the image. As tested, there is only a slight pincushion distortion on the periscope lens--a reflection of the quality of the lens and the prowess of the V1 chip.
（Wide-angle main lens）
（main lens）
（portrait lens）
（Periscope lens）
005 Stabilization
Vivo also boasts iMProved stabilization, including several stabilization modes, such as Standard, Ultra and the new horizontal stabilization.
The stabilization mode facilitates to achieve a stabilizer-like effect when shooting images with small moves.
Vivo X70 Pro+: In use
The Vivo X70 Pro+ performs well in theoretical test, then how about its operations. Here, we will discuss the issue on two fronts, both photos and videos.
The phone houses a Zeiss optics camera with T coating, which reduces stray lights and ghosting effects for true color whether it’s day or night.
001 ZEISS Natural Color
In this effect mode, the color performance is truly restored as the real and natural color that human eyes normally see.
In comparison, we also shot pictures with original color, ZEISS Natural Color and Raw format. (from left to right) The picture with original color shows cooler tone, giving a more gaudy feel.
As you can see in the picture below, when turning on Zeiss Natural Color, the dark details of the image can also be maintained. However, as for Raw files, as soon as its dark part is boosted, purplish-red color will appear.
When shooting on the plateau, Zeiss Natural Color is without question the best mode to shoot. Its effect can hardly, if not, be caught up with in post-production processes.
002 Raw files
Although Zeiss natural color is very powerful, in some environments with high lighting ratios, the results may not be as we want. At this point, RAW format files stand out. The RAW format is convenient for post-production adjustments to images with obvious highlights.
（RAW format）
The RAW format retains the original data of the picture information to the greatest extent, giving more room for adjustment.
003 Night Mode
Speaking of night shots, Night mode was actually a weaker link in the X60 Pro+, and does perform better in the X70 Pro+. The main reason why is because the dynamic range and detail are better, especially when you manually adjust exposure.
（shot on vivo X60）
（shot on vivo X70 Pro+）
The Zeiss optics camera with T coating largely reduces stray lights and ghosting effects for true color whether it’s day or night. That’s all more than pretty much any other phone’s night mode offers.
004 Portrait Mode
Portrait mode on the X70 Pro+ might as well be a treasure trove. There are several styles and filters, four Zeiss branded ones in the first category.
The 2x zoom is perhaps the best coMPromise between image quality and subject distance. Subject separation and blur characteristics look good, and the perspective of the 50mm-equivalent lens is way better.
The powerful Portrait lens is in collaboration with ZEISS to recreate Portrait styles that resembles shots captured by ZEISS’s various iconic filters: Biotar, Sonnar, Planar and Distagon.
The Biotar filter, siMPly put, is the swirly bokeh effect, more obvious in scenes with lots of bokeh spots.
The Sonnar filter does quite readily create quite lovely smooth creamy bokeh, reducing the unnatural feeling of the boundary between the character and the background.
Beautification enhancements are also at your disposal with no less than 17 different settings. In addition, you can control the level of bokeh.
005 Macro Mode
The X70 Pro+’s ultra-wide sensor can double as a macro lens and it kicks in automatically when you get close enough to a subject. The images are presented with Lilliputian senses.
Vivo X70 Pro+: Video performance
The Vivo X70 Pro+ can record video up to 8K 30fps with its primary camera, 4K 60fps if you're more into higher framerates or slow-motion videos at 1080p/720p 240fps.
Compared to other phones, the video coMPression rate of Vivo X70 Pro+ is high, with the bit rate of 4K video at around 63Mbps and 8K video at around 110Mbps. The Vivo X70 Pro+ has ability to achieve a high compression rate while retaining as much picture quality and clarity as possible. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the memory problem when shooting 4K or 8K videos for a long time. Besides, devices used in post-production processes are not necessary to be top-notch anymore.
002 Stabilization
As stated before, the Vivo X70 Pro+ is proven to be great in terms of stabilization. With the combination of the powerful miniaturised gimbal system and OIS optical stabilization, relatively stable images can be shot handheld even mowing on buMPy roads.
Coupled with a selfie stick, we exported the video directly without any stabilization function added, the wobbles of images are reduced quite a bit. Although there is still Z-axis shake, but it is not serious.
003 Professional Mode
In the mode, we can manually turn on the Log mode at 4K 30fps. The Log mode is easy to restore, using the Alexa default logc2 rec.709 in PR and the highlights and shadows of the scene can be restored with a little fine-tuning.
Like photo shooting, the ISO, shutter speed, manual focus, waveform view can be controlled easily in video recording.
004 Smooth Zoom
The zoom lineup is coMPrised of 0.6x (super-wide), 1x, 2x and 5x zoom. It is common in most phones with multi-lens camera modules. The difference between the Vivo product and others, though, lies in that the Vivo X70 Pro+ can firmly lock the center of the image during smooth zooming, which is very surprising.
005 Time-lapse photography
With the assistance of 4K time-lapse photography, we found it’s easy to record the scenery during our trip.
With a lightweight LENNON tripod, you can also shoot sports time lapse in the car. Because it's automatically generated within the phone, it doesn't cause redundant buildup of footage, saving both space and time.
As you can see, the X70 Pro+ has a very coMPrehensive range of features for video recording, from superb stabilization to smooth zoom performance, which is much iMProved coMPared to its previous generations.
Indeed, there are some problems need to be solved. For exaMPle, with "video" and "Professional video" mode to choose from, "Professional video" 8K video mode supports stabilization effect, but "video" 8K video mode doesn’t.
And another thing, with "Video" mode on, the frame rate, resolution, or stabilization mode can’t be adjusted alone, but it’s not difficult to deal with.
Verdict
The X70 Pro+ is a fantastic piece of hardware. You’ll get top performance, smooth zoom, various recording formats, not to mention one of the absolute best cameras in any phone right now.
There are downsides, though. Its software struggles continue, with an awkward UI that gets in the way of a premium experience elsewhere. Its operating system may be the last piece of the puzzle. We hope Vivo does something to upgrade its software issue.
All in all, the Vivo X70 Pro+ is certainly our recommendation for a flagship Android smartphone, especially for its versatile camera modules.