Vivo V11 Pro review: The perfect successor

Vivo V11 Pro 7

Vivo has stepped up their game this year and has been on the forefront of smartphone innovation. They were the first ones to adopt the in-display fingerprint sensor on the Vivo X21 (Review) and the notched display. Vivo V9 (Review) was a hit smartphone as it brought the notch design to mid-range smartphone and its successor the V11 Pro takes it another level.

With the V11 Pro, Vivo has unveiled a new notch design which is much toned down and hence provides a greater screen to body ratio. Now Vivo V11 Pro comes at a time when the market is very crowded with some good offerings and brands are pushing the products more aggressively.

We have been using the Vivo V11 Pro close to two weeks now and here’s our full review.

Vivo V11 Pro Specifications

  • Display: 6.41-inch AMOLED display, (2280 x 1080 pixels)
  • Software: Android 8.1 Oreo, FunTouch OS 4.5
  • Fingerprint Scanner: Yes (In-Display)
  • CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Octa-core processor
  • GPU: Adreno 512
  • RAM: 6GB
  • Storage: 64 GB internal, microSD support
  • Main Camera: 12 MP (f/1.8) + 5MP (f/2.0), dual-tone LED Flash
  • Selfie Camera: 25MP with f/2.0 aperture
  • Connectivity: USB, 3.5 mm, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS + GLONASS
  • Cellular: 4G LTE, Dual SIM
  • Battery: 3,400 mAh, Li-ion Polymer, non-removable
  • Price: INR 25,990

Box Contents

The box design is similar to what we have seen in the past with other Vivo products. There is the Vivo V11 Pro branding on top. As soon as you lift the top part, you are greeted by the smartphone. Underneath lie the documentation and the supplied accessories.

A complete list of items you get inside the box:

  • Vivo V11 Pro smartphone
  • Sim Ejector Tool
  • Charger
  • USB Cable
  • Silicon Case
  • Earphones
  • Warranty and User Guide

Design

Vivo V11 Pro’s design is quite similar to that of other Vivo mid-range smartphones. The front of the smartphone features a bigger display at 6.41-inch with the newer water drop notch. When compared to the Vivo V9, the bezels here are quite small. The water drop display is kind of similar to the notch that we have seen on the Essential PH1 in the past but with curved edges.

Vivo V11 Pro 4

The notch just houses the front-facing camera while the earpiece and sensors are neatly tucked in the frame above the display. Vivo has added an IR sensor for an enhanced Face-Unlock capability which is also placed near the earpiece. Just like the X21 and Nex, the in-display fingerprint scanner makes a return and is placed just a little above the bottom part of the display.

The back of the phone is made out of acrylic which gives the appearance of a glass back. The phone comes in two colors, Gold and Starry Night giving off a gradient look. The dual rear cameras are vertically placed on the top left part with the LED flash underneath.

Vivo V11 Pro 2 1

The bottom of the phone houses the speaker grill, 3.5mm audio jack and the USB charging port. We wish Vivo had gone with a Type C port rather than the old micro-USB. The power and volume buttons are placed on the right side, while the SIM tray is on the left.

Display

Vivo has gone with 6.41-inch 19.5:9 aspect ratio display on V11 Pro. The tech used in the panel is AMOLED meaning punchy and vivid colors. The display certainly lives up to the AMOLED hype and there are no complaints in that regard. The outdoor legibility is perfect as well.

Vivo V11 Pro 5

Vivo has gone with an in-display fingerprint scanner here and a fingerprint logo lights up when motion is detected, in order to make it easier to know the fingerprint position. The generation 4 sensor used here is a little quicker than the one found on Vivo Nex when compared side by side.

Software and Performance

Vivo V11 Pro comes with Android 8.1 Oreo with FunTouchOS 4.5 on top out of the box. FunTouch still resembles iOS and there’s not much of change this time too. Just like other Vivo smartphones, V11 Pro comes with a bunch of pre-installed apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, WPS Office, NewsPoint, PhonePe etc, which might or might not be useful for most of the users.

There are some nifty features like Game mode, navigation gestures and shortcuts. Vivo has improved the Face Unlock this time around and has also added an IR sensor for improved low-light performance. Other than this, AI has generously been integrated throughout the custom skin and apps. Most of the AI additions can be found in the camera app like auto scene detection, AR filters, automatic selfie beautification etc.

Vivo V11 Pro 3 1

The only noticeable issue is, that Vivo hasn’t given an option to hide that. Now, this can be an issue for some users or with some apps that won’t properly scale. We hope this gets added in the future updates.

Vivo V11 Pro is being pulled by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 under the hood which is coupled by 6GB of RAM. Despite the skin being too heavy, you won’t notice any lags or stutter. The chipset is more than capable of pulling the OS and everything is thrown at it with ease. App launch and switching are butter smooth.

We ran games like Asphalt:9 and Pubg at highest possible settings and the phone pulled through with flying colors.

Camera and Battery

Vivo has gone with a dual rear camera setup just like the one its predecessor the V9. The primary rear camera has a 12-megapixel sensor with f/1.8 aperture. The sensor supports dual-pixel autofocus making the focus incredibly fast. We didn’t notice the camera hunting for focus. HDR works as expected and balanced out bright and dark areas.

Vivo V11 Pro 1 1

Under bright light conditions the main camera works extremely well and captures a good amount of detail but things take a hit in low light. There is no sort of stabilization present here, so you need to be very steady while taking low light shots.

The 5-megapixel secondary sensor is used to capture depth information and kicks in while taking portraits. Edge detection in portraits is a hit or a miss and can be worked upon in future updates. You can vary the effective aperture through software which is handy at times. After the recent software update, the ability to shoot 4K videos was added but there isn’t much that can be chosen. There is no option to choose the fps count and you are stuck with pre-sets.

The front 25-megapixel camera is one of the best selfie shooters currently in the market. Images taken here are sharp and have a good amount of detail. The shots are well exposed and can be tweaked as per the liking. There are modes like AI Face Beauty and lighting modes that are similar to the ones found on the iPhone X range.

Coming to the battery, the phone packs in a 3,400 mAh battery which in our tests lasted a little more than a full day with moderate use. The phone supports Vivo’s Dual Engine fast charging technology which gives you roughly a 42% charge in 30 minutes and the phone takes around 1hr 45mins for a full top-up, using the supplied fast charger.

Vivo V11 Pro Pricing

  • 6GB/64GB – INR 25,990

Pros

  • Good looking Design
  • Decent Performance
  • Good cameras
  • In-display fingerprint

Cons

  • FunTouch OS needs work
  • No USB Type-C

Vivo V11 Pro 2 1

Verdict – Should you go for it?

With the Vivo V11 Pro, we feel that Vivo justified the basics and added some industry leading features in a decent looking smartphone. The camera is the best in its segment and we hope Vivo adds EIS in future updates to further enhance the experience. That being said there is some stuff we didn’t like, the old micro-USB could have been replaced with a Type-C port, features like NFC could have been added.

For the INR 25,990, there is a lot more competition in the market right now like the OPPO F9 Pro and the POCO F1. We totally recommend this product to users looking for a more balanced smartphone with some industry leading features baked in.

About the author

Yogesh Brar

The guy recommending you tech products & living on the Internet. Or you can connect with me on Twitter: twitter.com/heyitsyogesh