Vivo V15 Pro First Impressions: Is the pop-up camera just a gimmick or is it actually worth it

Vivo just launched its new mid-range smartphone, Vivo V15 Pro in India, priced at Rs. 28,990. It is one of the cheapest devices you can get with a truly bezel-less display and a pop-up camera. Some other key features include a 48-megapixel rear camera, an in-display fingerprint scanner and a 32-megapixel selfie camera.

We were able to spend some time with the device ahead of the launch and here's how it performed during our initial few moments with it.

Vivo V15 Pro: Specifications

Vivo V15 Pro features a 6.39-inch full HD+ Super AMOLED display. It is powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor coupled with an Adreno 612 GPU. The dual-SIM handset packs 6GB of RAM along with 128GB of internal storage. It runs on FunTouch OS 9 based on Android 9.0 Pie operating system. All of this is backed by a 3,700mAh non-removable battery with the company's own Dual Engine fast charging technology.

On the optics front, the Vivo V15 Pro sports a triple camera setup on the back consisting of a 48-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel secondary sensor and a 5-megapixel sensor. On the front, it features a 32-megapixel pop-up camera sensor.

Vivo V15 Pro: First Impressions

Vivo launched their first smartphone with a pop-up camera almost two years ago and since then, they have improved on it and managed to bring the tech to a more affordable price point.

As soon as I held the Vivo V15 Pro, I knew that I was looking at some of the great smartphone innovations bundled onto one phone. It comes with an Ultra Full View display, which means this display has no bezels or notches of any sorts, which is great since the notch train seems to be leaving the station. Under that display resides the company's latest in-display fingerprint scanner, which is now much faster and more accurate when compared to its predecessor the Vivo V11 Pro.

Also Read: Vivo V11 Pro Review: Is the future here? Let’s find out

The display itself is a 6.39-inch Super AMOLED panel, which delivers punchier colours and deeper blacks making it amazing for media consumption. Vivo has also included a 3.5mm headphone jack on the device, which means you can watch your favourite movie on the beautiful full-screen display with your favourite pair of headphones. Even when you are not wearing them, the speakers are good enough to keep you occupied.

Another highlighting feature of the Vivo V15 Pro is its 32-megapixel pop-up camera. The camera comes out of its shell whenever you try to unlock the phone using face unlock or hit the selfie option in the camera app. The whole process happens very quickly and seamlessly. Also, to be honest, in the time I spent with the device, I loved playing with the pop-up mechanism.

Also Read: Vivo V15 Pro launched in India: Price, specifications and availability

Flipping the phone around, the V15 Pro comes with a triple camera setup and a dual-tone gradient finish back panel. The primary 48-megapixel camera managed to impress me a lot during initial testing. However, we will need to spend some more time with the device to test out features like Night Mode, Ultra Wide mode and Portrait mode.

As for the performance, the device ran quite smoothly and had no issues in performing simple tasks like launching social apps, opening the camera app multiple times and more. We also played a few games including PUBG Mobile, all of which ran without any hiccup. But, before we give out a final word, we will first have to test out the performance of the device much more intensely, in our full review.

Disclaimer: The author is currently in New Delhi on behalf of Vivo India to attend the launch of the Vivo V15 Pro.