Samsung has been resting on years of delivering smaller updates for its clients in India. So, a brand new participant (within the foldable market) like Vivo actually must reinvent the wheel to get a premium smartphone purchaser’s consideration. After utilizing the cellphone for a number of weeks, I can conclude that Vivo has not precisely reinvented the wheel with its X Fold 3 Professional. Nevertheless it does take issues to the following degree, providing loads of worth and options in comparison with the competitors. As feature-packed as it could appear, it isn’t good. Learn on to seek out out why.

The Vivo X Fold 3 Pro is obtainable in only one RAM and storage possibility with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of inner storage that’s priced at a staggering Rs. 1,59,999 in India. It could appear to be a really excessive worth to pay for an Android smartphone, not to mention a foldable one. However browse round, and you’ll discover that Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 begins from Rs. 1,54,999 (512GB) and goes all the best way as much as Rs. 1,84,999 (for the 1TB variant). Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Extremely can also be priced at Rs. 1,29,999, and it isn’t foldable. Out of the blue, the Vivo X Fold 3 Professional looks like a fairly whole lot, given what it presents. And there positive is loads!

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Evaluation Design: Skinny is in

• Dimensions – Closed – 159.96 x 72.55 x 11.2mm
• Dimensions – Open – 159.96 x 142.4 x 5.2mm
• Weight – 236 grams
• Colors – Celestial Black

As with each foldable system, design, sturdiness, and repair play a serious function. Whereas I can’t touch upon the final two (except I exploit it long-term), I can inform you concerning the barely completely different method that Vivo has taken to get to the very prime of its recreation.

The Vivo X Fold 3 Professional is simply 5.2mm thick when open

Vivo’s declare about being the thinnest foldable on provide in India is real. At 11.2mm, it isn’t as slim as a bar-shaped premium flagship (normally round 8.5mm), however it feels shut sufficient once you maintain it. Unfolded, it measures simply 5.2mm, which is impressively skinny not only for a foldable however even for an everyday smartphone or pill.

Having proven this foldable to family and friends, it was simple to wow them as a result of many assumed it was an everyday smartphone till I pried it open from the facet, revealing the bigger show inside.

And if that wasn’t sufficient, Vivo additionally claims that foldable is IPX8 rated (identical to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5), which ought to give patrons peace of thoughts when utilizing it within the rain. Whereas I did bravely spray water on the foldable, I’ll advise in opposition to doing in order the guarantee doesn’t cowl this, identical to every other premium smartphone out there.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Evaluation Shows: Smarter by design

• Cowl show – 6.53-inch, 2,748 × 1,172 pixels, full-HD+, 120Hz
• Predominant show – 8.03-inch, 2,480 × 2,200 pixels, 2K+, 120Hz
• Cowl show sort – AMOLED (LTPO), Armour Glass
• Predominant show sort – AMOLED (LTPO), UTG

At 8.03 inches, the principle folding show is the most important on a foldable up to now. It is taller and wider than any bar-shaped flagship as nicely, together with Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Extremely (6.8-inch) and Apple’s iPhone 15 Professional Max (6.7-inch). It makes for some fascinating use circumstances for this smartphone. The foldable’s shows, regardless of their bigger than common dimension, provide good pure colors and get loads of shiny outside, even below direct daylight. There is no seen crease, despite the fact that each halves fold flat in opposition to each other.

I might comfortably devour content material on the principle show because of its barely rectangular 4:3.55 side ratio, which is so much higher than the sq. one the OnePlus Open (1.0758:1) presents.

Even when folded in Vivo’s “flex mode”, which lays the controls (cursor, brightness, and so on.) on the underside half of the show (like a laptop computer), the highest half of the show was as massive, broad and large as an everyday premium flagship. When totally opened, it was enjoyable to look at the video, regardless of which format or side ratio content material was shot in.

The Vivo X Fold 3 Professional’s foremost show at 8.03 inches is the most important one round

And at 6.53 inches, even the duvet show, with its 21.1:9 side ratio, is without doubt one of the greatest ones out there on a foldable. It is extremely a lot potential to pair a Bluetooth keyboard with the cellphone and use it as a small Android pill for mild productiveness. I additionally discovered the big show very helpful whereas attending briefing calls and conferences when a pc was not out there. The proprietary Armour cowl glass additionally has a 3D curved edge on the fitting facet, making swiping gestures very inviting and pure.

Like Google’s Pixel Fold (which by no means got here to India), Vivo has added some nifty options that reap the benefits of the cellphone’s hinge and enormous shows.

When capturing photographs, you’ll be able to hover the digicam half of the cellphone and use the opposite half as a tripod for snapping group photographs from a distance and even for capturing higher low-light landscapes.

A fold-to-split gesture prompts once you shut the fold midway after which (shortly) open it once more. This locations the prevailing fullscreen app to the left in a dual-spit format and opens up the app drawer so that you can choose the second app. Fairly handy!

The Desk Calendar AOD mode needs to be my favorite. Place the X Fold 3 Professional on a desk in tent mode, and the duvet show’s 1Hz refresh price (LTPO) turns the big display screen right into a desk clock. Whereas it positive seems cool and sensible, the Desk Calendar AOD mechanically switches off after a most length of two hours.

The Vivo X Fold 3 Professional’s Desk Calendar AOD function makes glorious use of the hinge

The Vivo X Fold 3 Professional can also be very good. When viewing a video, the cellphone will detect its state and orientation relying on whether or not it is in hover mode, tented mode, folded or large open. Well mission the video on the proper display screen (or half) dealing with you. It is one thing that simply works flawlessly and feels very pure.

All of this flipping and flexing is feasible due to the brand new hinge. Vivo claims it’s a lot lighter than the competitors and went to several lengths to get this foldable’s weight all the way down to 236 grams. This makes it 3 grams lighter than the titanium-laden Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely. And it manages to remain this mild and slim regardless of having an enormous 5,700mAh battery backup, which is once more the most important we now have seen on a foldable up to now.

In contrast to most foldables, the X Fold 3 Professional has two fingerprint readers, that are embedded into their respective shows. Whereas I discovered the one on the duvet show to be very dependable, I struggled with the one on the principle show, which wants a tough press to reliably unlock the system with the display screen open.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Software program: Wants a little bit of polish

In contrast to the OnePlus Open, the model’s first book-style foldable, Vivo absolutely had sufficient time to refine its software program expertise, provided that it is a third-generation system.

The foldable runs Vivo’s Funtouch OS, primarily based on Android 14. When it comes to commitments, Vivo presents three years of software program updates and 4 years of safety updates for this foldable. This is not dangerous, however given how Samsung and Google have raised the bar by providing as much as 7 years of software program assist, it does fall a bit in need of expectations, particularly provided that Vivo is trying to woo Samsung’s long-standing clients in India.

Vivo’s software program in some way appears to lack the required polish in some areas.

On condition that the X Fold 3 Professional has an oblong foremost show, it is pure that many people would reorient the display screen from vertical (when opened) to panorama to look at motion pictures or just run apps in pill mode, including a break up display screen view and extra for sure apps.

With 4 apps on show at a time, the Vivo X Fold 3 Professional can simply be used as a lightweight workplace productiveness system

When reorienting the Vivo X Fold 3 Professional, not all apps stretch from edge to edge, leaving a black bar on the left facet of the show, which is sort of a centimetre large, operating from prime to backside, which is a waste of display screen house. With the apps that I used when testing this system, just a few apps (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger by Meta) stretched to suit the show, however these didn’t even embrace Google’s companies like Messages (SMS), Calendar, Drive, and so on. Even Netflix didn’t play movies in full display screen except pinched to zoom, which might find yourself cropping the body.

Vivo did introduce a function in Settings referred to as ‘Show on the prime of the display screen’ in a latest bug-squishing replace to deal with the selfie digicam’s cutout, however it doesn’t appear to resolve the issue, with problematic apps displaying a filler white bar on the left as an alternative of the empty black void.

I’ve knowledgeable Vivo about the identical and the model has assured (with calls from its software program staff) that they may discover a solution to repair the above subject. However it’s a bit regarding that no one from Vivo seen this from the get-go.

Among the many quite a few native Vivo apps, the V-Appstore continuously exhibits annoying notifications occasionally. Uninstall a third-party app from the Play Retailer, and the V-Appstore will seize the chance to push out a notification and remind you to obtain different associated apps from its retailer as an alternative. Fortunately, Android let me flip these off.

There’s an annoying black bar seen on the left that eats into the in any other case huge viewing space when utilizing many third-party apps (proven right here is Netflix)

Whereas the cellphone does include a ton of Vivo apps (most of which can’t be uninstalled), a few of it’s helpful as a result of it packs the much-needed AI punch that the model’s flagships have lacked for some time. The performance continues to be fairly fundamental. The native Notes app can create summaries from pasted textual content, whereas the recorder app, other than transcribing textual content from a recording, may create a abstract of the audio recording.

For many who ceaselessly report cellphone calls, Vivo makes use of its dialer app and so can report calls in a somewhat stealthy method, with out a notification or perhaps a beep earlier than, after and even throughout a recording.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Efficiency: Keepin’ it cool

• Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• RAM – LPDDR5X – 16GB
• Storage – UFS 4.0 – 512GB

With a robust processor and a slim physique, the cellphone does heat up when utilizing the digicam below direct daylight, however it’s not as regarding and didn’t throw up any warnings even when capturing 4K video samples again to again.

The system managed spectacular benchmark scores which are far larger than the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and a bit larger than the OnePlus Open.

Demanding 3D video games like Genshin Impression run completely superb with none hiccups or irregular heating at maxed-out settings. Each shows are completely responsive when taking part in Name of Obligation: Cell at Max and Extremely body charges. The cellphone can simply multi-task while you’re taking part in a recreation with a YouTube video and even one other recreation operating on a break up display screen.

There is a useful but discreet alert slider on the left half of the Vivo X Fold 3 Professional for switching ringer profiles

Certainly, that is all all the way down to the big vapour cooling system that Vivo has well packaged into this system regardless of its skinny profile. Add to this the truth that the processor resides within the prime half of the cellphone (when held in panorama mode), protecting the nice and cozy areas away from my fingers when gaming on the principle show.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Cameras: Could possibly be higher

• Predominant digicam – 50MP (OIS), f/1.68 aperture, AF
• Extremely-wide-angle digicam – 50MP, f/2.0 aperture, AF
• Telephoto digicam – 64MP (OIS), 3x optical zoom, f/2.57 aperture, AF
• Selfie cameras – 32MP, FF (cowl show) – 32MP, FF (foremost show)

The first digicam handles pictures like a professional in all varieties of lighting circumstances. Autofocus is fast to lock focus in all varieties of circumstances, so I might click on photographs of my child and pets simply in Portrait mode with out worrying about blurry outcomes. Taking pictures metropolis streets in low mild, the colors come out superbly with out getting saturated whereas particulars and sharpness are what one would count on from a smartphone at this worth level.

The Vivo X Fold 3 Professional has three rear cameras

The telephoto digicam additionally didn’t fail to impress with tack-sharp portraits of topics or objects in daylight and spectacular outcomes with glorious color copy in low mild as nicely. Nonetheless, not like the first, the telephoto did battle a bit with shifting objects, leading to barely gentle photos of topics when captured indoors below synthetic mild.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Daylight Digicam Samples. Prime to backside – Extremely-wide, major, 3x telephoto (Faucet photos to develop)

The Vivo X Fold 3 Professional’s telephoto digicam can be used for capturing close-ups or macro photographs, and these come out very well and pack in loads of element because of the high-resolution sensor. Zoom was additionally fairly helpful regardless of switching to hybrid after 3X, because the photographs are completely usable as much as 10X zoom, past which there’s a noticeable drop intimately and a few purple fringing as nicely.

The ultra-wide digicam will not be as spectacular as the opposite two, however it will get the job performed in daylight. There’s noticeable barrel distortion, and the colors do not match the outcomes from the opposite two cameras. In dim street-lit settings, the picture high quality takes a drop, with aggressive noise removing messing up the small print. Furthermore, colors additionally seem a bit uninteresting.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional digicam samples. Prime – close-up, backside – Tremendous macro (faucet photos to develop)

Each selfie cameras produce common outcomes with textures that are not as detailed as most flagships at and under this worth level. Nonetheless, since that is foldable, it was potential to make use of the first digicam as a selfie digicam, and the outcomes from this digicam had been top-notch, with glorious element, sharpness, and edge-detection. Low-light selfies from the first digicam additionally got here out equally spectacular.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Low mild digicam samples. Prime to backside – Major digicam, telephoto digicam, Selfie from Major digicam (faucet photos to develop)

The cellphone captures good 4K video at 30 or 60fps with good element and dynamic vary in daylight and low mild. The movies provide a gentle bit price as nicely and are well-stabilised. The T* coating positive helps minimize down on lens flare when capturing video in low mild. 8K 30fps footage turned out to be the perfect of the lot and even managed glorious high quality in dim lighting. Sadly, it is a bit too shaky, and at 200MB for 20 seconds of footage, it isn’t possible to shoot at this decision on a regular basis.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Battery: Larger is healthier

• Battery Capability – 5,700mAh (dual-cell)
• Wired Charging – 100W
• Wi-fi Charging – 50W
• Charger – 120W (within the field)

Battery life is shockingly good for a foldable and fairly spectacular for an everyday premium cellphone as nicely. The cellphone simply managed greater than a day with heavy utilization, even with the AOD on, which included blended use of each shows. With informal use, you will get previous 1.5 days of use.

The Vivo X Fold 3 Professional’s hinge makes it slimmer and lighter than the competitors

In our video loop battery take a look at, the cellphone managed to run for 19 hours and 56 minutes on the duvet show and an equally spectacular 16 hours and 4 minutes on the principle show. And even after I ran out of cost, the included charger juices up this foldable’s large battery (from zero to completely charged) in simply 43 minutes, managing an 82 % cost in simply half-hour.

Vivo X Fold 3 Professional Verdict

Samsung has been delivering each single foldable that has been launched globally in India yr after yr. The model absolutely has its following, so will probably be actually exhausting to persuade a Samsung smartphone proprietor to change to a different model, not to mention a Vivo-branded system.

Nonetheless, there’s sufficient worth with greater (high-resolution) shows, loads of uncooked efficiency, extra options (with a sprinkle of AI), and higher total digicam efficiency out there on the Vivo, making the X Fold 3 Professional stand out. Vivo appears to have performed sufficient to get any brand-loyal smartphone purchaser’s consideration. Simply so , this cellphone can also be manufactured in India. Oddly, Vivo doesn’t provide any paid care program to increase the guarantee of the foldable, as Samsung and OnePlus do. This implies you’ll have to actually handle the system (or pay for damages your self in full) in case your show or hinge will get broken past the guarantee interval, which may get expensive.

In case you are very choosy concerning the software program expertise, then the OnePlus Open (Review) is unquestionably a more sensible choice at a cheaper price, however it lacks a number of options that the Vivo X Fold 3 Professional presents. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 (Review) will nonetheless be the go-to foldable for a lot of patrons because it additionally gives S-pen stylus assist, however it has now come to some extent that it is exhausting to disregard the large {hardware} and have upgrades which are being supplied by the rising competitors this yr.