Friday, October 5, 2018

ET REVIEW..... VIVO V11 PRO A Notch Apart


VIVO V11 PRO A Notch Apart

Over the course of 2018, Vivo has cemented a reputation of being the first to launch the most innovative new features. Take the NEX for instance, which is still the only full view screen phone without a notch. While other brands prefer to keep unique features like this in premium devices, it seems that Vivo wants to give them a wider reach. The latest example of this is the Vivo V11 Pro — it has the smallest notch ever and is the company’s cheapest offering with an in-display fingerprint scanner.
V11 Pro features fourth generation in-display fingerprint. While it’s still not as fast as a dedicated fingerprint scanner, the accuracy is much improved. Keep in mind that it takes a few days of use for the fingerprint scanner to get accustomed to your fingerprint. This type of scanner only works if the phone has an amoled display. It has a 6.4-inch display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a small notch — they call it a Halo FullView display. The large screen is great for content consumption (especially video and games), but one hand usage is cumbersome. The phone has slim bezels, great sunlight legibility the small notch is a welcome change. Currently, there is no way to hide the notch but it might get added via software update.
Performance from the V11 Pro is great thanks to the Snapdragon 660 processor combined with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. We faced no issues in multi-tasking, playing Asphalt 9 as well as video editing using Quik and Animoto. The phone breezes through day to day usage and further impresses with minimal heating after 30 minutes of gaming. Battery life is also stellar — a full charge regularly lasted one full day with around 20-25% battery left to spare. Vivo includes dual engine fast charging which gives you a full charge from 0% in 2 hours.
Camera is another area where V11 Pro surprised us. The primary dual camera setup is 12MP (f1.8) + 5MP (f2.4) depth sensor with dual pixel phase detection autofocus. It also includes AI for scene detection that works great. We thought the image quality was fantastic: it captures great details, rich colour and has excellent dynamic range. Special mention goes to the Backlight HDR mode that delivers great results even when the light is in the background. Low light shots were also excellent — although the camera loses some details in low-light, the overall image is still good enough to view on the phone or share on social media. 4k video recording has been added via software update and it works well. One feature we missed on is OIS — it would have been a great addition to reduce blur caused due to hand-shake.
V11 Pro has a 25MP front camera with wide-angle lens and f2.0 aperture that delivers selfies with good details. Even the front camera gets HDR and a selfie lighting feature (similar to the iPhone X) which can be used to get some great photo effects like monochrome background and rainbow light. A dedicated AI beauty mode lets you adjust things like skin tones, apply skin whitening, face shaping and nose/mouth shape. If you click a lot of selfies, you’ll love the front camera here.
There are a few other noteworthy features. It has an IR emitter to assist the face unlock (since no external light is needed, it works even in darkness). On the software front, it has Vivo’s Jovi assistant which enables smart camera and game mode. The gradient finish on the Starry Night colour is really eyecatching. However, do keep in mind that it is a plastic body and not metal — this is the one big area where Vivo has done cost cutting on the V11 Pro. Also, there is no notification LED and it does not support HD video streaming (no Widevine L1 support).
The Vivo V11 Pro brings flagship features and technologies to the mid-tier. This is what makes the V11 Pro one of the best options in the 25,000 to 30,000 price segment. If you care most about performance, there is the option of the cheaper Poco F1. The V11 Pro is the one to get if you want unique features combined with great performance and top-notch cameras.

ET 20SEP18

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