Vivo V40 Professional evaluation: In a league of its personal

Vivo tends to launch numerous telephones over the course of a 12 months, and its mid-range V sequence specifically sees a brand new mannequin each six months. The breakneck launch technique means there is not a lot in the way in which of differentiation between generations, with Vivo as an alternative providing one new function to justify launching new units.

That modified firstly of 2024, with the V30 Professional coming with sizeable upgrades, together with Zeiss tuning and 50MP auxiliary cameras. With the V40 Professional, Vivo is touting portrait photographs because the marquee addition, nevertheless it’s additionally providing a lot better {hardware} with the Dimensity 9200+, and even higher cameras. Identical to the X100 Professional, the V40 Professional’s 50MP zoom lens doubles as a portrait shooter, and it manages to ship actually excellent pictures.

There’s additionally a bigger 5500mAh battery, however the cellphone itself is not any thicker than its predecessor, and that is an achievement in and of itself. Though the V40 Professional is launching simply six months after its predecessor, the sheer variety of new options makes it some of the thrilling units on this phase.

Vivo V40 Professional: Pricing and availability

Vivo unveiled the V40 and V40 Professional at a launch occasion in India on August 7, and the telephones are occurring sale within the nation later within the month. The V40 Professional is out there in 8GB/256GB, 12GB/256GB, and 12GB/512GB editions, whereas the usual V40 is offered in 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB, and 12GB/256GB fashions.

The important thing distinction between the usual V40 and the V40 Professional is that the latter will get a 50MP telephoto lens on the again. The Professional mannequin is extra highly effective because of the MediaTek Dimensity 9200+, with the usual model providing the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. Outdoors of that, each telephones share the identical 120Hz AMOLED panels, similar design, similar 5500mAh battery with 80W charging tech, and similar software program.

In India, the V40 Professional prices ₹49,999 ($595) for the model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and the 12GB/512GB mannequin prices ₹55,999 ($667). That is a heady improve over the V30 Professional, which is out there for ₹41,999 ($500) for the 8GB/256GB mannequin and ₹46,999 ($560) for the 12GB/512GB version.

The common V40 begins at ₹34,999 ($417) for the 8GB/128GB mannequin, going as much as ₹36,999 ($440) for the 8GB/256GB version and ₹41,999 ($500) for the 12GB/512GB model.

Vivo V40 Professional: Design

Vivo tends to ship attention-grabbing designs with its V sequence telephones, and that is no completely different with the V40 Professional. The cellphone shares related dimensions as its predecessor, and the symmetric curves at the back and front guarantee you may simply maintain and use the gadget. The V40 Professional is among the thinnest telephones round, however there’s enough thickness across the mid-frame that it’s not awkward to make use of the cellphone within the least.

A sizeable change this era is the digital camera housing; the module is getting large with each new launch, and the way in which it’s going, by the point the V60 sequence rolls out by this time subsequent 12 months, the cameras will cowl the complete again. Anyway, Vivo says the Gemini Ring digital camera island accentuates the general design, and whereas it seems to be a bit of outsized, it is not ungainly.

As at all times, Vivo has attention-grabbing shade selections of the V40 and V40 Professional. The Nebula Purple, Sunglow Peach, and Meteor Blue variants include a textured again, and the Moonlight White model that I am utilizing has a shiny coat. The white hue has refined hints of blue, and Vivo says the design is supposed to evoke pictures of “pristine moonlight reflecting off a tranquil lake,” and whereas the colour seems to be elegant, what I really like is the anti-fingerprint coating that does job minimizing smudges.

Coming in at 7.58mm, the V40 Professional has the excellence of being the thinnest cellphone with a 5500mAh battery. I nonetheless do not perceive why manufacturers chase these meaningless figures, as a thinner gadget would not actually provide any materials advantages in each day use. If something, elevated thickness makes holding a tool simpler. That stated, Vivo did job balancing the design, and I’ve to confess that the V40 Professional seems to be lots sleeker than its predecessor.

You will nonetheless must put money into a case to safeguard the gadget, however within the two weeks I used the V40 Professional, I did not discover any points with construct high quality; the cellphone took just a few tumbles and got here away unscathed. Vivo says it strengthened the chassis to have the ability to stand up to tumbles, and that’s certainly the case in each day use.

One other welcome change is the addition of IP68 ingress safety, giving the V40 Professional a lot better resistance to the weather. Whereas the V40 Professional would not carry many groundbreaking new options, there are many smaller tweaks that in the end make it a a lot better gadget.

Vivo V40 Professional: Show

Vivo hasn’t modified the size of the panel on the V40 Professional, so that you get the identical 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a decision of 2800 x 1260 and 120Hz refresh. What’s completely different this time is that the panel will get noticeably brighter, going as much as 4500 nits in HDR content material. In fact, there is not that large a change in each day use, and whereas the V40 Professional will get brighter outdoor, it is solely evident when utilizing it subsequent to the V30 Professional.

What you will really find yourself noticing is the presence of stereo audio system; Vivo was obstinate in utilizing a single driver on its mid-range telephones up so far, however fortunately, the V40 Professional will get stereo sound, and that instantly makes a distinction. The colour constancy is simply nearly as good because the V30 Professional, and also you get vibrant colours and glorious distinction — I did not see any points in common use.

There is a first rate quantity of customizability as effectively, and the one quibble I’ve with the panel is that the in-screen reader sits too low; this can be a routine sufficient prevalence on Vivo telephones nowadays, and it makes utilizing the gadget extra awkward than vital. Aside from that although, Vivo obtained all the things proper; the addition of stereo sound and tweaks to the brightness ranges makes the V40 Professional probably the greatest units on this regard.

Vivo V40 Professional: Efficiency and battery

Vivo’s V sequence units aren’t essentially recognized for his or her {hardware}, and whereas the V30 Professional was first rate sufficient in each day use, its shortcomings have been evident whereas gaming. Fortunately, Vivo is rectifying the difficulty with the V40 Professional; the cellphone is powered by the Dimensity 9200+ platform, and it’s unbelievable. It switches to Arm’s v9 cores, together with a Cortex X3 at 3.35GHz, three Cortex A715 cores at 3.0GHz, and the same old cluster of 4 A520 cores clocked at 2.0GHz.

The result’s that the V40 Professional delivers considerably higher efficiency than some other V sequence gadget thus far. The cellphone does a terrific job in demanding video games because of the 11-core Immortalis-G715, and even throughout prolonged gaming periods, I did not see a lot in the way in which of jitter. If something, the V40 Professional has probably the greatest {hardware} packages on this class, and Vivo pulled fairly the turnaround on this space.

I am utilizing the 12GB/512GB model of the cellphone, and whereas Vivo makes use of UFS 3.1 storage modules, I did not see any points in multitasking or capturing 4K video. The vibration motor is nice in its personal proper, and it has granular suggestions. There are not any issues with connectivity both; the V40 Professional has a Wi-Fi 7 modem, Bluetooth 5.3, and the same old AptX HD suite of codecs.

Battery is one other space the place the V40 Professional has a sizeable benefit over its predecessor. The 5500mAh battery manages to final over a day with out breaking a sweat, and even with heavy use, I obtained a day and a half between fees. And when it’s good to plug it in, the 80W charging tech takes simply over 45 minutes to cost the battery.

Due to the newest Dimensity platform and greater battery, the V40 Professional simply outshines the V30 Professional and most different mid-range telephones, and in case you’ve needed a Vivo mid-ranger that takes nice pictures and can also be good at gaming, that is the apparent selection.

Vivo V40 Professional: Cameras

Vivo often rolls out up to date cameras on its V sequence units, and the V40 Professional is its strongest displaying but. The cellphone comes with a quartet of 50MP cameras; there is a 50MP Sony IMX921 important digital camera with OIS that is joined by a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 wide-angle lens and a 50MP Sony IMX816 telephoto that additionally has OIS. There’s one other 50MP ISOCELL JN1 module on the entrance, and it has a large angle of view.

Now, if these sensors look acquainted, it is as a result of they’re unchanged from the Zeiss-tuned V30 Professional. The IMX921 is an replace to the IMX920, however apart from that, the wide-angle, zoom, and selfie lenses on the V40 Professional are the identical as its predecessor, with the important thing distinction being the addition of OIS on the telephoto.

Nonetheless, Vivo made tweaks to its digital camera tuning algorithms, and the V40 Professional is ready to ship higher pictures in all eventualities. What I like probably the most is that the zoom lens doubles as a portrait shooter; I used this to nice impact on the X100 Professional and the X100 Extremely, and it is thrilling to have the ability to do the identical on a mid-range cellphone.

Identical to the V30 Professional, the V40 Professional manages to take excellent pictures in daylight eventualities, delivering photographs with nice shade rendition and white stability. There are not any points with foliage rendition or distinction ranges, and the wide-angle lens additionally does simply nearly as good a job.

Equally, the cellphone takes detailed photographs in difficult conditions, and there is not seen noise — even with the wide-angle or zoom lenses. That is an enormous deal on a mid-range cellphone; whereas most units on this phase have an important major lens, the auxiliary cameras are an afterthought, and that is fortunately not the case on the V40 Professional.

One other factor the cellphone will get proper is portrait photographs; you may select the focal size and bokeh, and the V40 Professional takes the very best portrait photographs of any mid-range gadget. I took tons of of portrait photographs with the X100 Extremely, and whereas the V40 Professional did not fairly handle to ship the identical caliber of pictures, it got here shut — and that is no small feat.

Vivo made heady features within the imaging aspect of issues this 12 months, and whereas the X100 Extremely is the very best all-round digital camera I’ve utilized in 2024, the V40 Professional has a transparent edge over different mid-range telephones.

Vivo V40 Professional: Software program

There is not a lot to speak about on the software program entrance, with the V40 Professional providing the identical Funtouch OS 14 interface as its predecessor. The UI relies on Android 14, and whereas there may be overt customization, it seems to be cohesive, and it’s much like ColorOS. Vivo has a set of customized options which might be unique to its telephones, and these embody gestures, Jovi House, and distinctive always-on types.

The interface itself is fluid, and there’s a first rate quantity of customizability on provide. There are not any points with notifications, and whereas the reminiscence administration is aggressive at instances, it is not anyplace as bothersome as Xiaomi’s software program.

Aside from that, the one level of rivalry with Vivo’s software program efforts is that the V40 Professional will get simply three platform updates. Most telephones on this phase now get 4 updates as customary, so Vivo is on the backfoot on this regard. Then there’s the query of when these updates can be out there to the gadget — Vivo must roll out well timed updates to its mid-range telephones as effectively.

Vivo V40 Professional: The competitors

If you happen to do not want the newest cellphone, the V30 Professional continues to be an important providing, and now that the V40 sequence is official, it is out there for much less. The V30 Professional additionally has terrific cameras, the design is simply as elegant, and the AMOLED panel is equally nice. The battery would not final as lengthy, and the cellphone is not anyplace nearly as good at gaming, however in case you do not thoughts these omissions, it’s a higher worth.

Speaking about worth, the OnePlus 12R continues to be a sensible choice on this class, and it combines design with highly effective {hardware} and an important 50MP digital camera on the again and 5500mAh battery. Whereas I like the primary digital camera, the auxiliary lenses aren’t anyplace nearly as good, and the resultant photographs aren’t fairly on the identical stage because the V40 Professional.

Vivo V40 Professional: Must you purchase it?

You can purchase this if:

• You want a mid-range cellphone with terrific cameras
• You desire a glossy design that does not miss out on the fundamentals
• You want highly effective {hardware}
• You need two-day battery life

You should not purchase this if:

• You want worth
• You need well timed software program updates

Whereas I did not assume a lot of the V40 Professional when it was introduced, I ended up liking the gadget fairly a bit within the two weeks I used it. The ultra-thin design is noticeably completely different to different telephones, and Vivo deserves credit score for cramming an enormous 5500mAh battery into such a svelte body.

Whereas the digital camera housing is beginning to look comically giant, I like the general design of the cellphone. The {hardware} is equally engaging, and the inclusion of stereo sound and IP68 ingress safety permits the V40 Professional to remain related on this class. The battery lasts for much longer than the V30 Professional, and I used to be simply capable of get a day and a half even with heavy use.

Curiously, the change to MediaTek’s Dimensity 9200+ makes the V40 Professional some of the highly effective mid-range telephones round; it’s considerably higher than its predecessor at demanding video games, and it would not overheat even in prolonged gaming periods.

However the digital camera is as soon as once more the star of the present; by together with 4 nice cameras on the gadget, Vivo is providing the very best total digital camera package deal of any mid-range cellphone in the present day. Sure, it prices much more than the V30 Professional, however you are additionally getting sizeable upgrades, and if you need a glossy cellphone with nice cameras, the V40 Professional needs to be on the high of your listing.