Vivo T1 Pro 5G Review: A Serious All Round Contender

Last Updated on June 8, 2022 by Yogesh Brar

These days, the mid-range smartphone market is the most active. New players like iQOO, Vivo, and Motorola have entered a segment that was formerly controlled by Xiaomi and Realme. Even OnePlus has flooded the market with too many options, making it impossible for others to compete. The Vivo T1 Pro 5G is the most recent arrival to cause a stir in the segment.

Vivo just unveiled the T1 series, with the Vivo T1 5G (Review) smartphone featuring all of the fundamental elements that would make it an attractive buy in the sub-₹20,000 segment. The Vivo T1’s popularity provided Vivo with much-needed confidence to release the Vivo T1 Pro 5G.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor is at the heart of the smartphone, and it promises to offer good performance on several fronts. Is the Vivo T1 Pro worth exploring further? Let’s find out in our comprehensive Vivo T1 Pro 5G review.

Design

The Vivo T1 Pro 5G doesn’t have the same lustre as the T1 5G. Instead, we’re treated to a tried-and-tested design with high-quality plastic construction and curved back edges. The phone comes in two colours: a subdued Turbo Black and a vibrant Turbo Cyan. For this review, we got the Turbo Cyan variant, which shimmers in bright light and has a jazzy appearance.

The camera module is located on the top left and features a pattern of camera lenses similar to that seen on the OnePlus 2T. Vivo has incorporated a rubber seal within the SIM tray to keep water out, even though the phone is not dust or water-resistant.

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The power button and volume rockers are located on the right side of the phone, while the SIM tray, USB Type-C connector, and speaker grille are located on the bottom. The phone is missing a 3.5mm audio jack as well as an IR blaster, something we’ve seen on other Vivo and iQOO phones recently.

Display

The Vivo T1 5G has an LCD screen, but the T1 Pro has all the bells and whistles, including a 6.44-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel. Given the price, the panel utilized here is of acceptable quality and gets reasonably bright outside, with a peak brightness of around 1,300 nits.

The panel’s colours are close to accurate because it supports the DCI-P3 colour gamut at a solid 100% mark. It also features HDR10+ compatibility and the SGS eye-care certification. Thick bezels, a bulky chin, and the dew-drop notch, which have been almost absent from this price range for a long time, may upset most users.

The display supports a 90Hz refresh rate, even though the competition currently offers 120Hz. Right out of the box, the display is set to ‘Smart Switch’ mode, which adjusts the screen refresh rate dependent on the usage circumstances.

While this function can be extremely beneficial, the results on the T1 Pro were disappointing. I’d recommend setting the refresh rate to manual and keeping it at 90Hz throughout for a pleasing experience.

Software

Vivo deserves credit for following its update strategy and shipping the T1 Pro 5G with Android 12 preinstalled. Since I last used the FunTouch OS, it has advanced by leaps and bounds. It is no longer as obnoxious as it once was. The user interface is significantly more streamlined, with pleasant colours throughout and a plethora of useful features.

Because FunTouch OS is a custom skin, you may customize the screen layouts, icon sizes, and navigation swipes movements, among other things.

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But it’s not all sunshine; the phone comes pre-loaded with unwanted apps like Moj, MX Takatak, ShareChat, Josh, and a slew of other apps that you can find on the competitors as well. In the search menu, Vivo also crams in its ad-like “suggestions.” This is the drawback of getting high-quality hardware at low prices: companies have to make up the difference in some way or the other.

Performance

Despite all of the drawbacks mentioned above, the Vivo T1 Pro is a fantastic performer. It is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G CPU, as well as up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. For this review, we have the 6GB RAM model of the phone. The T1 Pro, like many other Vivo smartphones released recently, can use a portion of its UFS 2.2 storage as ‘Virtual RAM,’ and our model includes 2GB of extra Virtual RAM.

The Snapdragon 778G has been a favourite among smartphone manufacturers in the affordable high-end phone segment, and we’ve seen a lot of mid-range phones powered by it. In most categories, this processor outperforms the competition and runs cool. This chip is capable of handling your daily duties without causing any perceptible lag.

We played all of the major titles available right now on the phone, including Call of Duty Mobile, for approximately an hour at a time. The phone runs those games in a stable manner and offers fluid gameplay. Vivo has incorporated a fantastic 4D Linear Motor in this device, which enhances the whole experience.

Although I am not a fan of these benchmarks because they do not present a larger picture of how a smartphone performs, here are the most common synthetic benchmark scores for people interested in numbers. The scores are decent for a phone in this segment and the T1 Pro scored 690 points in the 3D Mark Extreme test which is inline with other Snapdragon 778G powered phones.

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The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios on the phone worked properly. Except for minor call drops, there were no oddities to report in terms of the 4G VoLTE connection, which is completely subject to the telecom operators. The phone supports the 5G n1/n3/n5/n8/n41/n77/n78 bands, but this feature has yet to be tested.

Camera

The Vivo T1 Pro 5G packs a triple-camera setup on the back with a 64MP primary camera, an 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. A 16MP front-facing camera is available for selfies.

The 64MP primary camera excels at capturing fine details and has a pretty wide dynamic range. Its big F1.79 aperture delivers plenty of light even in low-light situations. The Super Night Mode enhances photos while adding light gently to nighttime shots.

The 8MP ultrawide camera is also quite decent for the price. Although it has a 117-degree field of view, it produces soft images that begin to come apart as soon as you zoom in. There is also a notable colour shift in photographs taken with ultrawide cameras compared to those taken with regular cameras. On the other hand, the macro camera is mostly used to boost the phone’s camera count.

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In terms of selfies, they turn out well with plenty of details, although the processing could be improved. The camera app is jam-packed with features like Panorama Mode, Portrait Mode, and Slow-Mo, among others, making it a good choice for social media video creators.

Then there’s the Portrait Mode, which does exactly what it says. In addition, the smartphone supports 4K video recording, allowing you to capture footage in stunning detail.

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Some of the features, such as Super Stabilization and Dual-View Video Mode, which allows users to concurrently capture films from both the back and front cameras, may appeal to the Gen Z crowd. Cameras have always been a strong suit on Vivo phones, and the T1 Pro does not disappoint.

Battery Life

The Vivo T1 Pro 5G comes with a 4,700mAh battery, which is quite large for a phone of this size, and Vivo should promote this feature more. The phone was able to give 7-8 hours of screen-on time on many occasions throughout our brief testing session. This indicates that the average user will be able to get through a full day of use while still having some juice left while enjoying all their favourite apps.

The phone supports 66W fast charging, and a full charge should take no more than 40 minutes with the compatible charging brick. This is a major step up from the T1 5G which just supports 18W fast charging.

Conclusion

The Vivo T1 Pro 5G does a good job of covering the essentials while providing a pleasant experience. Some features, such as a hole punch instead of a notch, a 120Hz refresh rate rather than 90Hz, and a better wide-angle camera, could have elevated the experience. That said, a high-performance smartphone from Vivo at a bargain price of ₹23,999 is something to be applauded.

The OnePlus Nord CE 2, Realme 9 Pro+, Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G, and POCO X4 Pro are the closest competitors to the T1 Pro, all of which are priced under ₹25,000.