Vivo X60 Pro+ review: a flagship that deserves your attention

While flagship smartphones from brands like OnePlus, Samsung, and Apple generally tend to grab more headlines, Vivo has managed to create some noteworthy high-end phones that require equal attention. In many ways, phones like the Vivo X60 Pro and Vivo X60 Pro+ offer serious hardware that can give other premium brands a run for their money. We already reviewed the Vivo X60 Pro and now we’re taking a closer look at the flagship Vivo X60 Pro+. This phone aims to please in terms of design and performance with its vegan leather finish, Snapdragon 888 chipset, 120Hz AMOLED display, and 50MP quad-cameras.

Contents

Verdict The lowdown Final verdict Editor’s rating: 4 / 5 Pros:Cons:

Table of Contents

Verdict

With the Vivo X60 Pro+, the company has definitely not settled in any area. The phone offers a premium design and terrific raw performance. To top it off, it also comes with some of the best cameras you can find on a flagship phone in 2021.

The lowdown

You can trust Vivo to create a sleek and good-looking premium smartphone. With the Vivo X60 Pro+, the company isn’t going with a traditional glass back design. Instead, you get a vegan leather finish that comes in Emperor Blue colour. The leather finish does feel more premium than glass, but it’s all in the mind really. The best thing about this design is that the rough feel offers a better in-hand grip and the panel doesn’t register any fingerprints or smudges.

At 191 grams, the Vivo X60 Pro+ isn’t exactly lightweight. The phone will start weighing down on you during long sessions of gaming or watching media on the go. The large camera module on the back sticks out and causes the phone to wobble when kept on a flat surface. With the Vivo X60 Pro+, you get a Type-C port, a SIM tray that does not support storage expandability, and a bottom-firing speaker.

Unfortunately, this premium and high-end Vivo flagship does not come with stereo speakers, which is quite disappointing. While the bottom-firing speaker is clear and loud, it misses out on providing that immersive stereo sound effect when watching movies or playing games.

The Vivo X60 Pro+ features an attractive edge-to-edge display with curved sides. The curvature is not deep and the bottom bezel is quite narrow. You get an AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and FHD+ (2,376 x 1,080) resolution. The display offers plenty of brightness and vibrant colours to keep you happy. The inky blacks are deep and lead to better overall contrast. You also have the option to switch between Professional and Bright display options if you are not pleased with the Standard colour calibration.

You can watch HDR-supported content on platforms like Netflix. Videos look crisp and bright, with excellent colours and viewing angles. But the lack of stereo speakers puts a downer on what is otherwise a very good media experience.

The Vivo X60 Pro+’s Zeiss-branded camera system is easily the biggest reason to buy the flagship. The phone offers a stellar array of cameras that includes a 50MP f/1.57 Samsung GN1 primary sensor, a 48MP ultra-wide gimbal camera, a 32MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom, and an 8MP periscope lens with 5x optical zoom and up to 60x digital zoom. At the front, you get a 32MP camera for selfies. This is a pretty solid spec sheet for the cameras and translates to some really impressive photographs.

The Vivo X60 Pro+ shines in daylight photography, capturing crisp and bright photos through pretty much all the cameras. The wide-angle lens is able to match the main camera in terms of sharpness and colour reproduction. The 32MP telephoto lens can capture good details at 2x zoom, while the 8MP periscope lens can zoom in all the way to 60x. The 60x zoom feature was rarely used, but I did manage to capture some respectable albeit hazy pictures of a full moon. The 32MP selfie camera is also great at capturing crisp and clear selfies.

Notably, I was able to capture sharp macro photos using the wide-angle lens thanks to the gimbal stabilisation. The Vivo X60 Pro+ comes with a host of camera features to play around with, including the ZEISS Biotar bokeh feature, Pro sports mode, ultra-wide night mode, and night filters, among others. These features play their respective parts and are not as gimmicky as what you would find on some other smartphones. As for the night mode, I was pleased with some of the low light shots I captured. Depending on how dark the scene is, the night mode. is able to adjust the exposure to allow more light in the frame. Photos come out detailed and clear, although colours can look dull and washed out at times.

In addition to capturing some excellent stills, the Vivo X60 Pro+ is also a capable phone for videos. The gimbal stabilisation on the wide-angle lens ensures you’re able to record smooth and almost cinematic-like wide-angle videos. The primary camera also does a good job of recording stable videos.

Talking about the performance, the Vivo X60 Pro+ comes with all the bells and whistles that you would expect from a high-end Android flagship in 2021. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset paired with 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. That is plenty of power under the hood to get most of the jobs done, including high-intensity gaming and multitasking. When it comes to synthetic benchmarks, the Vivo phone delivers terrific numbers, with a score of over 720,000 on AnTuTu and a multi-core score of over 3,600 on Geekbench. These scores were notably better than what the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G (review) managed.

In real-world usage, the Vivo X60 Pro+ breezes through pretty much anything that I threw at it. Apps open quickly and scrolling through them felt fluid thanks to the high refresh rate. The dynamic refresh rate setting also lowers the refresh rate when not required, so you save some battery life. Games like Call of Duty Mobile can run on the highest graphics with ease. During my time with the device, I noticed little to no lag as I went about my day.

The Vivo X60 Pro+ ships with Android 11-based Funtouch OS 11.1. Vivo pushed out the March 2021 Android security patch, so that’s a good sign. The UI is quite responsive and buttery smooth to use with the high refresh rate enabled. A few preloaded apps exist such as Snapchat, Flipkart, Moj, Dailyhunt, and a few of Vivo’s own apps, including its default browser. While you won’t see any ads in Funtouch OS, the Vivo browser will spam you with notifications unless you disable it.

The Vivo X60 Pro+ packs a 4,200mAh battery that is good enough to take you through a full day with heavy usage. Even with the Always-on Display feature enabled, the phone manages to last a full day, with standby battery drain at a minimal. More importantly, the flagship charges pretty quickly thanks to the 55W fast charger in the box. It can juice up the phone from 1 to 100 per cent in less than 60 minutes. Unfortunately, the Vivo flagship does not support wireless charging, which is a bummer considering the price tag.

Final verdict

The Vivo X60 Pro+ is easily one of the more exciting flagships to launch in India in 2021. The phone definitely requires more attention than it is getting as it delivers on many fronts. In addition to offering a sleek design, the phone also brings an attractive AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, blazing-fast performance thanks to the Snapdragon 888 chipset, and some high-quality cameras. Compared to the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G, the Vivo X60 Pro+ feels like the company has not compromised on a lot of core features. However, there are still a few compromises to be found.

The Vivo flagship does not offer wireless charging, stereo speakers or any IP rating. These may not be game-changing features, but they are expected on a phone that is priced close to Rs 70,000. You will find these features on flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S21, iPhone 12, and OnePlus 9 Pro, which are what the Vivo X60 Pro+ is up against. If these features don’t affect you much, you should definitely give the Vivo flagship a consideration.