Vivo has kept us busy. Even as I type this review – the third for a Vivo smartphone in six weeks, the company has just unveiled the Vivo U10, a budget smartphone with a massive battery. The Vivo V17 Pro takes off where the V15 Pro left off, about 7 months ago. This one is positioned as a serious alternative for camera buffs and Instagramers. With 6 lenses, Vivo is clearly not leaving anything to chance.

Vivo’s big pitch for this device is the dual selfie pop-up cam, a first according to them. Targeted at everyone who loves posing for themselves, it boasts of a ‘Pose master’ feature that helps make the task of posing for selfies much easier. The clever addition consists of an 8MP wide-angle selfie lens that bolsters the 32MP primary front lens. Its 105-degree field of view makes not just selfies, but even groupfies less stressful.

It’s the rear cam that’s the big story. Vivo assembles a quad cam that is driven by a 48MP primary lens and is augmented by an 8MP wide-angle lens, a 13MP telephoto lens and a 2MP Bokeh lens. It doesn’t just look formidable on paper but it walks the talk. It’s one of the most versatile shooters in the sub Rs 30,000 segment and kept throwing up pleasant surprises. Super Macro mode was one such experience. The camera does a decent job in lowlight too but there’s still some room for improvement which hopefully a software optimisation will bring. The camera UI is a tad cluttered and not super intuitive. Shooting wide-angle images requires a drop-down unlike most devices where you can just zoom out. Overall, Vivo’s spin on Android – FunTouch OS, is not our favourite even though it’s much improved over the last year or so.

It’s time Vivo’s UI catches up with the build quality and design aesthetic. The S1 was one of the most stylish devices we’ve seen from the Vivo brand stable and the Vivo V17 Pro continues that story. We checked out the Glacier Ice variant, its quite chic with an elegant build. It doesn’t feel too unwieldy despite the 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display (1080 x 2400 pixels). The pop-up camera keeps bezels to a bare minimum, allowing Vivo to stretch the screen: body ratio to 91.65%; impressive.

Vivo seems to have sorted its brand portfolio with a strong belief that one size doesn’t fit all. While the S series leans heavily on style, the V17 Pro is clearly a camera smartphone. It’s probably why Vivo opts for a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor that’s not as formidable as the processor in some of its rivals in the Rs 25,000 – 30,000. This is clearly not a device for the ‘power hungry’ PUBG addicts but it’s no slouch either. It managed a respectable 179064 on our AnTuTu benchmark but it’s certainly not the fastest in its class. The device features 8GB of RAM and 128GB of Internal memory that should please most average users. Battery life (4100 mAh) is another plus, Vivo also throws in fast charging to sweeten the deal.

The Vivo V17 Pro is easily one of the better camera devices in the sub Rs 30,000 segment with a fully kitted selfie cam and a versatile primary shooter. We’re sure that a few software tweaks will make this device leverage the camera hardware even further.

The Vivo V17 Pro costs Rs 29,990 and comes in Glacier Ice and Midnight Ocean colour variants.

Highlights:

• 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display (1080 x 2400 pixels / 91.65% screen: body ratio) 
• Quad rear cam: 48 MP (f/1.8 aperture) + 8MP wide-angle lens + 13MP telephoto lens + 2MP Bokeh lens. 
• Dual selfie pop-up camera (32MP + 8MP)  
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 Processor 
• 8GB RAM/ 128GB Internal Memory 
• 4100 Battery (With fast charging) 

Feature Image Credits: SoyaCincau