Another Solid Midrange Smartphone From vivo

I’ve been on a vivo kick lately as the company has sent me a second smartphone to review and assess. The X200 Pro was a winner, and the vivo V50 has big potential as well. This is the follow-up to the vivo V40 Pro that I reviewed a while back. vivo made two V40’s, the V40 and the V40 Pro. But with the vivo V50, there is only one model. I guess they felt the two models were close enough to each other, they just merged it into one. So now, there is only the vivo V50. This is what I would consider a midrange phone in the company’s stable. The X200 pro being their flagship.

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

vivo has been making waves over the past several years, and they’re making moves into the global market, the vivo V50 is the latest push, and it is a solid midrange phone worth looking at. Let’s get into the full review of this sleek and powerful midrange offering from vivo.

The Quick Take

The vivo V50 is a solid follow-up to the V40. The way I see it, this phone brings everything the V40 Pro was and adds a bigger battery. Here’s what I liked and didn’t like.

Bottom Line and Score

Overall, the vivo V50 is a solid midrange smartphone. It looks like vivo decided to just package all the goodies into one V series phone and call it a day. I think this was a good idea, rather than have two V-series phones with minor differences. I don’t think you need to rush out and upgrade from the V40 Pro, though if you want a bigger battery, then certainly do it. But there’s not a lot here to make me want to move from the V40 Pro. Still, if you’re looking to upgrade from an older midrange smartphone, and you can get one of these, then the vivo V50 is a solid choice.

Specifications

The vivo V50 has the following features and specifications:

• Colors: Rose Red, Titanium Grey, Starry Night, Purple
• Ingress Protection Rating: IP68 & IP69 dust tight and water-resistant (high-pressure water jets; immersible up to 1.5m for 30 min)
• Operating System: Funtouch OS15
• Android Version: Android 15
• Processor: Qualcomm SM7550-AB Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 (4 nm)
• CPU Core Count: Octa-core (1×2.63 GHz Cortex-A715 & 3×2.4 GHz Cortex-A715 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A510)
• GPU: Adreno 720
• Process Node: 4nm
• RAM & Storage Capacity: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM UFS 2.2
• Battery Size: 6,000 mAh
• Charging Power: 90W Flash Charge and 30W wireless charging
• Dimensions: 163.3 x 76.7 x 7.4 / 7.6 / 7.7 mm
• Weight: 189 g or 199 g (6.67 oz)
• Display: 6.77 inches, 110.9 cm2 (~88.5% screen-to-body ratio), AMOLED, HDR10+, 120Hz, 1300 nits (HBM), 4500 nits (peak), 1080 x 2392 pixels (~388 ppi density), Diamond Shield Glass
• Fingerprint Sensor: Fingerprint (under display, optical)
• Main Camera:
  • 50 MP, f/1.9, 23mm (wide), 1/1.55″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS
  • 50 MP, f/2.0, 15mm, 119˚ (ultrawide), 1/2.76″, 0.64µm, AF
  • Color spectrum sensor, Zeiss optics, Ring-LED flash, panorama, HDR
  • Video 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS, OIS
• Selfie camera:
  • Single 50 MP, f/2.0, 21mm (wide), 1/2.76″, 0.64µm, AF
  • Features Zeiss optics, HDR
  • Video 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps

What’s In The Box

• vivo V50
• Quick Start Guide
• USB Cable
• Charging brick
• Sim eject Tool
• Phone Case
• Screen protector (applied)
• Warranty Card

Design

The design of the vivo V50 is similar to the V40 and still holds to the curved display design from a few years ago. I’m not really a fan of curved displays anymore, but at least this one is not crazy curved, but only slightly crazy. I know there are plenty of users out there who love these displays, so this is really an objective thing. I feel like it’s identical to the V40.

Like the previous models, the V50 comes with a TPU case and a screen protector, already installed, which is always nice to see. The TPU case is thin and will protect the smartphone from minor drops, and it’s frosted, so the color of the phone does show through.

The build quality is the same as the previous V-series as well. The frame is a shiny plastic material that seems durable, though it does get smudged easily. The front and back are made of glass, of course. The weight is pretty good and the whole package is very slim and fits in the hand nicely. These curved glass designs do lend themselves to accidental touches to the display, though.

The left side of the vivo V50 has nothing on it. The right side houses the power button and the volume rocker. The top houses microphones and antennas. The bottom houses the USB-C port, SIM tray, microphones, and antennas.

The back is made of glass and houses the camera module and flash. There is vivo branding and Zeiss branding on the back as well. The front houses the display, the front facing camera and the screen protector which is already installed.

Overall, there’s not a lot more to say. The vivo V50 is just about the same as the previous V-series phones. That’s not a bad thing, it’s nicely built, feels nice in the hand, and looks nice.

Display

The vivo V50 comes with a 6.77” AMOLED display with a 1080 × 2392 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. This is a nice AMOLED display that gets super bright. This display will push up to 4,500 nits with HDR content, and the extra brightness is really very helpful outside in sunlight. Using smartphones with a dim display outside is annoying. This display is .01″ smaller than the V40 Pro, but that’s not a huge deal. The resolution is also a little lower.

Being this is a AMOLED display, colors are very saturated and intense, which is what most people really like. This display not only offers a high variable refresh rate for smoother visuals, but also boasts an impressive peak brightness of up to 4500 nits, making it one of the brightest displays you can get in a midrange phone. Having a higher peak brightness on a smartphone goes a long way in terms of viewability in direct sunlight, which I appreciate.

As I mentioned, the AMOLED display is vibrant and colorful, and it can display up to 1.07 billion colors with its 10-bit panel. This tuning is what many smartphone users really love, and this panel is going to work nicely for the majority of users.

Like the V40 Pro, the vivo V50’s in-screen fingerprint sensor is placed lower than other smartphones, like Samsung’s. But I love it. I like the lower placement and I found it to be very comfortable to use and reach. The higher placements are fine, but this is 100% better than having it too high.

I mentioned the vivo V50 curved display, again, I am not a massive fan of this. It looks cool and gives the phone an elegant feel, but my meat paws tend to register accidental touches. The display’s performance in terms of color reproduction and brightness control is exceptional for the price you’re paying for this device.

Overall, the vivo V50 display is one of the best reasons to get this device. With its exceptional brightness, color accuracy, and a fluid 120Hz refresh rate. The display is one of the best you’ll find on a midrange device. It’s even fairly close to flagship display’s and some users may not even notice the difference between this and something like an iPhone 16.

Software

The vivo V50 comes with Android 15 and Funtouch OS 15. We already know what Android can do, so there’s not a lot to say in that respect. The Funtouch OS interface is not my favorite. But I do get a little confused as the aesthetic look of Funtouch seems to vary from one model to another.

Funtouch OS on the vivo V50 seems to have a lot more bloatware than the vivo X200 Pro. The overall look is also different. Not drastically, but enough to make me wonder why the subtle differences. Still, Funtouch OS isn’t my favorite. It works fine, but given that I am used to One UI, pure Android, and iOS, it makes sense that this isn’t comfortable for me.

I think the market that the vivo V50 is mostly targeting will like it just fine. For those in the States looking to buy this phone, it may be a little weird at first. But it is easy enough to get used to and you can install the bloatware.

Overall, Android is great, but Funtouch OS isn’t the best. I wouldn’t say it’s unusable, but it does take some getting used to.

Performance

The vivo V50 is rocking the Qualcomm SM7550-AB Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 paired with the Adreno 720 GPU. This duo delivers solid performance, but I have to say, the V40 Pro and the X200 Pro using Dimensity components, seem to run a lot smoother on these phones.

You wouldn’t notice much of anything if you didn’t have the phones side by side. But when you do use the X200 Pro and V40 Pro alongside the vivo V50, the Dimensity powered phones just feel a lot smoother.

This isn’t to say the vivo V50 has poor performance. I think it does an excellent job, especially for the price point we’re talking about here. Overall, the vivo V50 is going to give you great day-to-day performance and even be able to play some games, but you might see some stress and fluidity issues from time to time. Still, for a sub-$500 smartphone, it’s not bad in performance.

Speakers/Sound

The stereo speakers were fine, not my favorite, not horrible either. Again, I felt the V40 Pro from last year had a stronger soundstage and presence. The vivo V50 works, and it will get you by, and it’s even better than other midrange phones. It’s just lacking some bottom end and the soundstage just feels thin. Again, not bad, but just mid. It is a midrange phone, so this is expected.

Camera

The cameras on the vivo V50 are solid for a midrange device. These aren’t as versatile as the V40 Pro cameras were, which leads me to believe that this setup is closer to the V40 than the Pro. But for the price of entry, these cameras are going to deliver midrange results. You get what you pay for. Like a lot of these overseas smartphones from China, the camera app is packed full of features. Too many to talk about, and some may find them useful and some may not.

The camera system is a dual threat of 50MP sensors, all “tuned” by ZEISS optics, with the main sensor having optical image stabilization. Again, the vivo V50 is more like the v40 than the v40 Pro, in this respect. The images you can get out of all the cameras are impressive, for what they are.

The main shooter delivers rich colors and sharp details, especially in daylight and good lighting conditions. The telephoto lens does an impressive job with portrait shots and gives that background out of focus look. The selfie came is also 50MP, and it does a decent job too.

Night sight shots are not bad, but like every other smartphone camera, it really depends on how dark the scene is. Even the Pixel and iPhone will struggle in places with nearly no light. Context matters, and cameras need light to create an image. I would say the night performance isn’t as good as a flagship, but it is adequate in moderately lit dark places.

Overall, these are decent cameras. But if you really want a vivo phone that knocks it out of the park in the camera department, you need to check out the x200 Pro. One thing I will say, turn off the watermark feature, it’s on by default and it’s annoying.

vivo V50 Camera Samples

Battery Life

I was already impressed with the V40 Pro’s 5,500mAh battery, but vivo managed to stuff an even bigger battery into the vivo V50. We now have a 6,000mAh battery and that is freaking impressive.

I had no problem getting a full day of mixed usage, including gaming, camera use, and streaming. The 80W fast charging is also helpful to quickly charge the vivo V50 to full in no time. I was able to charge the phone from around 15% to full in less than 35 minutes, about the same as the V40 Pro before it. Of course, that is using a fast charging brick, not any old brick will push that much.

But like any other smartphone battery, the vivo V50 battery will be challenged if you’re a heavy gamer. Gaming involves heavy computation, and you’re pushing the chipset to pull the max amount of power. So it makes sense that the battery is going to drain faster. What we need is more efficient chips and batteries that are optimized for gaming loads. So heavy gaming will make the phone warmer and drain battery life faster.

Overall, battery life will be highly dependent on the user and what the user is doing and what settings they have on or off. I can say that I think the average user is going to get a day and a half under normal use.

Price/Value

Trying to find an accurate price was difficult, as the vivo V50 isn’t up for sale on any sites that are here in the United States. But from what I could find, the pricing is actually a bit less than the V40 Pro. I think the value is here, if you’re looking for a midrange phone.

Wrap Up

Overall, the vivo V50 is a solid midrange smartphone. It looks like vivo decided to just package all the goodies into one V series phone and call it a day. I think this was a good idea, rather than have two V-series phones with minor differences. I don’t think you need to rush out and upgrade from the V40 Pro, though if you want a bigger battery, then certainly do it. But there’s not a lot here to make me want to move from the V40 Pro. Still, if you’re looking to upgrade from an older midrange smartphone, and you can get one of these, then the vivo V50 is a solid choice. I will add, if you can at all afford to purchase the vivo X200 Pro, that is the one I would buy over this. But price is a factor.

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