Vivo X100 Review: A Complete Package

The Vivo X100 is one of the latest smartphones to be born out of the Vivo-Zeiss partnership, now in its sixth year. This collaboration has made the Vivo X-series models some of the most sought-after camera phones in the market. 

This year’s X100 lineup gets major upgrades, especially the standard X100 which has improved in every department. But is that enough to warrant its asking price? That’s what we will find out in this Vivo X100 review.

Vivo X100 Review: Pricing 

The Vivo X100 is available in two variants. The base variant has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and is priced at ₹63,999 in India, while the 16GB+512GB variant retails at ₹69,999.

Unlike the X100 Pro, the standard model in the Vivo X-series doesn’t see a price bump compared to its predecessor, which is a good thing, but Vivo’s decision to position the 12GB RAM variant model as the default means there’s no version of the X100 priced under ₹60,000. 

Design & Build

The Vivo X100 is perhaps the most refined model in the X series. From the X60 Pro to the X80 Pro and now the X100, the design progression in this lineup has reached new heights. 

Vivo is sticking to a glass-metal body that feels solid in the hand. This phone is available in two elegant colour options - Stargaze Blue and Asteroid Black. The blue variant has a cool “diurnal circle” design on the back that is visible at  different angles. It’s got this silky-smooth finish that isn’t exactly grippy, but the company claims it is smudge-proof.

The camera module is now centrally positioned, surrounded by a stainless steel ring with a mirror finish and protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass. The ring resembles the shape of a crescent Moon and therefore looks asymmetrical on an otherwise simple aesthetic.

The X100 measures 8.8mm thick and weighs 206 grams. It has rounded edges that make for comfortable one-handed use. It’s also IP68 rated, protecting it against splashes of water. 

Overall, I feel it has a stylish design that works perfectly for a high-end device. 

Display

The 6.7-inch 1.5K HDR10+ AMOLED display is simply stunning with its bright and vivid colours. There’s an option in the display settings to switch to FHD+ resolution, but the 1.5K resolution ensures everything looks crisp and sharp. 

The display has thin bezels all around for an immersive viewing experience. The screen also supports a 120Hz peak refresh rate for smooth and immersive visuals, and 360Hz touch sampling rate for silky smooth gameplay. The in-display fingerprint sensor is fast and responsive. 

Vivo claims that the display on the X100 has a peak brightness of 3000 nits which is a tall claim that we put to test using a light meter. In our multiple brightness tests, the screen on the X100 averaged to 1089 nits of typical brightness and 2300 nits of peak brightness in adaptive mode, making the screen easily readable even under direct sunlight.

The display on the X100 is great for watching videos and multi-tasking. I believe it has one of the best displays in its price segment, and it’s definitely an upgrade over the one on the X90 Pro.

Cameras

The triple rear camera system is headlined by a 50-megapixel main camera that uses a Sony IMX920 sensor. The physical size of the sensor is 1/1.49", while the actual imaging area is 1/1.56". Vivo has used a wide f/1.6 aperture, laser autofocus, and a Zeiss T* coating which is said to improve image quality by reducing reflections, stray light and colour fringing. The X100 captures photos with good detail and dynamic range even in low light. 

The periscope lens on the 64-megapixel telephoto camera allows for sharp 3X optical zoom and up to 100X digital zoom. One key feature that Vivo has introduced this year with regard to the telephoto camera is the Sunshot mode, which enhances sunset and sunrise images without blowing out the highlights.

The Portrait mode now offers five focal lengths ranging from 24mm to 100mm. This includes 24mm for landscape, 35mm for street shots, 50mm for natural and classic portraits, 85mm for figures, and 100mm for close-up portraits. The telephoto camera also doubles up as a great macro camera to get some extreme close-up shots. 

The cinematic video mode (1080p@24/30fps) allows you to shoot videos with a spot bokeh effect along with focus shift. There are movie LUTs and film effects that can add unique styles to your cinematic videos.

Rounding off the trio is a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a 119-degree FOV for capturing wide landscape shots. Selfies are handled by a capable 32-megapixel front camera.

While 4K video capture is stabilised, you can switch on ultra stabilisation though this will limit you to 1080p@ 60fps. The Pro mode gives you full control over parameters such as white balance, aperture, metering, and ISO, so photography enthusiasts can experiment with different styles.

The camera performance of the X100 is excellent thanks to its three versatile cameras. It also helps that this phone has a dedicated ISP (Image Signal Processor) in the form of Vivo’s own V2 chip, which it says helps reduce noise in images and enhance HDR and frame rate interpolation for smooth, immersive visuals.

Performance

Powered by the flagship-grade Mediatek Dimensity 9300 SoC  paired with up to 16GB of RAM, the Vivo X100 screams performance. I did not find any lag or stutter while multitasking, gaming, or using heavy apps. Graphically intensive games such as Battlegrounds Mobile India, Call of Duty Mobile, and Genshin Impact ran smoothly thanks to the SoC’s integrated fifth-generation Immortalis-G720 GPU with ray tracing and rate shading. There’s a game mode that allows you to tweak some settings for a smooth gameplay experience. Storage options go up to a generous 512GB so you'll never run out of space.

The Vivo X100 offers smooth performance, and the benchmark scores show vast improvements over the previous generation. Moreover, in the CPU throttling test, the chip was able to run at 81% peak performance before throttling kicks in. Thermal management is good, and not once did I feel the phone getting warmer than usual. 

The major issue here isn’t the hardware, but Vivo’s Funtouch OS 14 UI, based on Android 14. It just looks dated and comes loaded with bloatware, although usage remains smooth. 

Battery & Charging

The Vivo X100 offers strong battery life thanks to its large 5,000mAh battery. It also supports 120W fast wired charging. Despite its large and power-hungry AMOLED display, the battery on the Vivo X100 easily lasts over a day of moderate to heavy use on a single charge. In my heavy use, I got an average screen-on time of around 6-7 hours.

Where the X100 truly excels though is charging speed. It can charge from 0-100% in just around 30 minutes, which is great for quickly topping up your phone.

Verdict

The Vivo X100 is an attractive high-end smartphone with flagship-level specs and features. It has a premium, stylish design, very good performance, a Zeiss-backed camera system, an excellent display, and lightning-fast charging. 

Considering its asking price, the Vivo X100 is one of the best “value flagships” in the market today. Very few phones offer such a complete package at this price point, which is what makes it a solid choice for those looking for a well-rounded experience.