The book-type fold smartphones haven’t been my favourite. Yes, they might offer a great use case for productivity and multi-tasking but I’ve never reached out to them as my go-to. But this summer, I got my hands on the Vivo X Fold3 Pro, and my extensive use of the smartphone made me reconsider my feelings towards this form factor. Let me take you through the details of the new Vivo X Fold3 Pro, which manages to break a few barriers and make a foldable more loveable!
Design
At first glance, I realise how much the top display resembles a “regular” smartphone and not just a thinned-down version of a smartphone. The Zeiss-branded camera module takes center stage aesthetically on the rear panel which has a smooth matt finish, in Celestial Black - the only colour option on this smartphone. The company says the rear panel is made of ultra-durable glass fiber and UPE fiber, which lends a lot of strength to not crack if you drop it. The phone also feels surprisingly light at 236 grams, despite the two displays and a sizeable battery which I’ll get to later. While folded in, the dimensions are refreshingly thin at 11.2 mm.
Main display
I prop open to explore the massive main screen which measures 8.03 inches across. The crease along the middle is only initially visible, and I pretty much forget it exists the more I use the smartphone unless I happen to run my hand along it. There’s a bunch of bloatware, to begin with, and I quickly uninstall those before downloading some of my favorite games and OTT platforms so I can make the most of the display.
The main display offers a resolution of 2480 × 2200, along with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. I tried on the new comedy-drama Crew, in which three air hostesses played by the gorgeous Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Kriti Sanon team up. The aerial shots of Dubai look fab on the display, where I often find myself reducing the brightness levels because even medium levels render bright, vivid details. Outdoors, too, I never find the need to squint to view what’s on screen.
Cover display
More than the main display, I’m impressed by the cover display on this smartphone. Of all the foldables I’ve reviewed till now, the Vivo X Fold3 Pro is the only one that feels like the cover display is not a compromise. The 6.53-inch is just the perfect width, making me reach for it quite often. This too is an AMOLED display that offers refresh rates of up to 120 Hz, thereby offering an excellent canvas on which to watch stuff on the go, as well as play games. It’s another matter that I’d prefer the bigger screen for extended use. But if I knew I was going to deboard the metro in another 10 minutes, this is what I would use. Using certain apps and games which were not optimised for the bigger screen also felt nicer to use on the cover screen.
Camera
I’ve been a fan of the Vivo flagship smartphone camera experiences this year. And, the Vivo X Fold3 Pro is no exception. The main setup includes a 50 MP VCS True Color Main camera with optical image stabilisation. There’s a ZEISS 64 MP telephoto camera which offers 3x optical zoom, 10x high-def zoom, and 100x digital zoom. A 50 MP super-wide angle camera rounds up the trio with an expansive 119-degree field of view.
Videos I took of a bridge, sitting in a rather rickety auto getting jostled from side to side, had turned out surprisingly stable. It also delivered some fairly sharp stills, despite snapping from a moving vehicle. This happened even with low-light shots after sundown, with surprisingly well-lit snaps and an excellent level of detail. In daylight, the colours popped, while still staying accurate to the real-life saturation. I loved the accuracy of skin tones too, both in the front camera as well as the primary setup. The texture seemed a little glossed over at times with the front camera, even with the beauty filter off. While I’m paranoid about someone taking off with a review unit, this form factor does offer the option to place the smartphone on the road/ floor or on top of a car and click a selfie from afar. I love the album preview functionality found in most folds, which lets me quickly recheck what I’ve snapped.
Tech Specs
The Vivo X Fold3 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform, as are most flagships this year. Vivo has managed to tackle any potential decision paralysis by offering only a whopping 16 GB RAM and a decent-ish 512 GB storage. There’s also 16 GB virtual RAM available if and when needed.
Funtouch OS 14 based on Android 14 is what designs the user experience. There are a bunch of super useful tools such as the Smart Sidebar, which docs preferred and recently used apps. A small but overlooked feature is that I can customise the volume level for each app I use, which is very useful cos I usually find myself tweaking levels when I switch between Spotify and Netflix quite a bit. A new bunch of AI features find a home on the Vivo X Fold3 Pro including a note-tasking assistant that can summarise and even make a to-do list based on the notes I’ve taken! There’s also AI to help you transcribe stuff as well as translate what I see on-screen.
Battery
A 5,700mAh powers the smartphone, and truly gave me the luxury to go without having to charge every single night. My usage was mostly media-oriented - lots of binge-watching, some casual gaming, and taking photos or videos when I was out and about. With this, I was able to go 1.5 days with ease. With slightly lower usage, I could stretch it till a second evening before I had to plug it in.
Verdict
There are days and weeks when writing about smartphones can feel a little repetitive. They all have the same form factor, and they more or less offer the same functions, and the best of them come with a price tag that not everyone who loves technology and smartphones can easily afford. Only one of the above three is true for the Vivo X Fold3 Pro. The way it’s been designed makes the foldable factor even more alluring both in terms of form and functionality.
There are more functions built into the smartphone software experience than I had the space to write about in this 1000-odd-word review. If you were to buy this phone, I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of months down the line, you were still stumbling upon new functions. The only allegation it doesn’t beat is the prohibitively expensive price tag. Having said that, as far as foldable smartphones are concerned, the Vivo X Fold3 Pro has pushed the bar of being the best a little higher for sure!
Price - ₹1,59,999
Pros - Excellent form factor, super bright displays, great aspect ratio, excellent battery life, sharp photography experience
Cons - Expensive, three years of software support