Design
- Looks stunning with a bezel less design - and is incredibly light even with a big battery inside it (the fact that it's made of plastic helps) - this is a phone that you can definitely call sexy - and Vivo continues its recent trend of making some very good looking smartphones
- Good hand fit too
- Right below the camera set up on the rear, there's the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor which is pretty fast and unlocks the phone in blink of an eye
- There's also face unlock support, and it is extremely quick at opening the phone - the face unlock works well in low-light as well as in good light when you are outdoors
- The back is of course made of glossy plastic - which means, one, the feel of the phone is not as premium as say a glass or metal phone - and two, it registers smudges and oily fingerprints on the back cover within minutes, if you don't use a case
Display
- Beautiful, 6.3-inch FHD+ tall display with 19:9 aspect ratio and 90 per cent screen to body ratio - the big screen of the V9 Pro offers great experience to users for movie buffs and gamers - colors are vibrant, and the display of the V9 Pro is bright enough to be used under the direct sunlight
Software
- FunTouch UI on top of Android is largely a copy of the iOS interface, and works fine - there are some add-ons like a virtual assistant, and a gaming mode
- The software is on the cluttered side though (as custom Android UIs often are), so it will not give you the clean, simple feel of a stock Android UI, that's available on some other phones in this price bracket
Performance
- Butter smooth performance, backed by the excellent Snapdragon 660 - the phone sails through anything you throw at it, and the only better performer you will find in this price bracket is the Poco F1, which is of course an outlier
Camera
- Good set of dual rear cameras - can click good pictures in good lightning with great amount of details, and pretty decent pictures in low light too - overall, the primary camera of the V9 Pro is one of the best you can get at this price segment
- Good selfie camera too - a 16MP selfie shooter paired with several modes likes group selfie, professional, AI stickers, selfie lighting, among others
Battery
- Good battery life with a 3260mAh battery - thanks to a pretty efficient processor and some battery optimisation features through Funtouch OS, the phone easily lasts one full day on a single charge, and up to one and a half days with lighter use
- No fast charging - it takes nearly two hours to charge the device from zero to 100 per cent
More
- On the whole, seen on its own, the V9 Pro is a very good choice in this price segment, and wins on looks, on performance, and in the camera department - having said that though, it will also face some stiff competition - from the likes of Xiaomi Mi A2 (stock Android + regular updates), the Nokia 6.1 Plus (again, stock Android + regular updates), the Realme 2 Pro (arguably better overall value), and the Poco F1 (outlier performance with Snapdragon 845)