Vivo V27 Pro continues the legacy of the company’s lightweight and stylish smartphones in the V series. The V27 Pro was launched as a successor to last year’s Vivo V25 Pro (Review). Compared to the outgoing model, the Vivo V27 Pro has received upgrades in many areas. However, the core philosophy remains the same — a sleek and lightweight design that changes the colour under light. The new V27 Pro gets a powerful SoC, curved-edge AMOLED display, and more.
However, Vivo has cut corners in some crucial areas that might hamper the user experience. With all that is on offer, should you consider buying the new Vivo V27 Pro? Here is our full review to help you decide.
Vivo V27 Pro price in India
The Vivo V27 Pro has been launched in three storage options. The base variant that we have comes with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It is priced at Rs. 37,999. There is a 256GB variant with 8GB of RAM, which is priced at Rs 39,999. The 12GB RAM variant with 256GB storage is priced at Rs 42,999.
Vivo V27 Pro design and display
Perhaps the highlight feature of the Vivo V27 Pro is its design. The phone has a curved front and back that merges into the plastic frame to give it a premium look. The rear panel, much like its predecessor, has a Fluorite AG Glass which changes colour from light to dark blue within a few seconds when UV light or sunlight hits it. Vivo calls this colour Magic Blue. If you want something that does not change colour but looks equally modern and classy, you might consider checking the Noble Black colour.
Vivo V27 Pro’s colour changes from light to dark blue when sunlight hits the rear panel
What is common between the two colour options is the excellent in-hand feel. The Vivo V27 Pro feels very light especially after using some heavy phones such as the Xiaomi 13 Pro (Review) and the iPhone 13 Pro (Review). While the V27 Pro weighs 182g on paper, it certainly does feel a lot lighter in the hand. It is also incredibly thin compared to many premium phones such as the iQoo Neo 7 5G (Review) and the OnePlus 11R 5G (Review), which weigh about 193g and 204g, respectively.
The Vivo V27 Pro does not attract fingerprints or smudges easily, and despite being fairly tall, the phone is quite ergonomic to hold. It is also only 7.36mm thick which also means that there is no 3.5mm headphone jack. The power and volume buttons too, can be reached easily. That being said, the phone is not intended for one-handed use. I also like the new camera module design, which is minimal and looks quite good at the same time.
On the front, there is a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a full-HD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The screen offers good viewing angles and vivid colours even in the standard screen colour mode. Vivo does not specify the max display brightness level but I found it to get amply bright for indoor and outdoor use.
The curved-edge screen adds a lot to the Vivo V27 Pro’s aesthetics
The screen is curved towards the edges, which helps offer a great viewing experience. While the device is claimed to have an HDR10+ certification, streaming apps such as Netflix and others didn’t seem to detect it at the time of testing.
What takes away an immersive experience is the single-channel speaker. I am quite disappointed to see a sub-Rs. 40,000 smartphone to not have stereo speakers in 2023. The phone does not have an official IP rating either, but it did survive an unseasonal March drizzle in Mumbai.
Vivo V27 Pro specifications and software
The Vivo V27 Pro features a MediaTek Dimensity 8200 SoC, which is manufactured on a 4nm process. The phone has up to 12GB of physical RAM along with 8GB of extended RAM. There is no microSD card support. It packs a 4,600mAh battery with support for 66W fast charging. The Vivo V27 Pro has support for seven 5G bands in India. The phone also offers connectivity options such as 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, Navic, and a USB Type-C port.
The Vivo V27 Pro is only 7.36mm thick
Coming to the software, the Vivo V27 Pro runs the Android 13-based Funtouch OS 13 out of the box. Vivo has promised to provide two major Android updates and three years of security patches. And when it comes to updates, Vivo’s game has been pretty strong. The company was among the quickest to release the latest Android update for its eligible devices. Even while reviewing the phone, the V27 Pro received its March security update which came with “system improvements and bug fixes”.
Funtouch OS 13 is quite customisable and can be personalised as per your preference. You get options to adjust the animation effects, and the speed of various routine tasks, such as charging, transitioning between the home screen and lockscreen, etc. There is also support for Android 13’s colour palette, which matches the system icons and interface’s colour with the wallpaper. Alternatively, users can choose from a bunch of preset colour options from the Settings app.
You also get to create profiles for multiple users and guests, thus ensuring there is enough privacy. The custom skin supports Android’s privacy indicators and highlights at the top right corner whenever an app or service is using the camera or microphone in the background.
Some of the downsides include the app recommendation folders in the app drawer and home screen. You can remove them but the process involves multiple steps, unlike previously. Also, I received multiple notifications from the V-App Store, even when I never opened the app even once. This happens by default and the only solution is to long-press on any unwanted notification and tap on “Turn off notifications”, followed by “Turn off all notifications.”
Vivo V27 Pro performance and battery life
When it comes to performance, the Vivo V27 Pro impressed me. Be it routine tasks or games, the phone handled almost everything very well during my review period. I played Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends and the experience was fairly good. Call of Duty: Mobile ran at the ‘Ultra’ framerate, which was good to see. I could switch to ‘Max’ frame rate and ‘Very High’ graphics for a balanced experience. While playing games, there wasn’t any major stutter or lag. But I did notice the phone getting warmer quicker than usual. This could be due to the phone’s slim design which is perhaps not the best for heat dissipation.
The display’s curvature did not cause any accidental touch issues during my usage
I also noticed a slight stutter often while switching between apps. In case you were wondering, the screen’s curvature was not a problem for me when playing games as I did not experience any accidental touch issues.
The Vivo V27 Pro scored 836,701 points on AnTuTu, which is slightly lower than the performance-focused but much cheaper iQoo Neo 7 5G (Review). The phone, however, beat the OnePlus 11R, which comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC and scored 775,602 points in our tests. In Geekbench 6, the Vivo V27 Pro scored 998 and 2,198 points in the single-core and multi-core tests. While it performed surprisingly well in the single-core test, the multi-core test was quite lower than the rivals.
In terms of battery life, the Vivo V27 Pro can last all day with medium to light usage. On days when I played games or used the camera a lot, the average screen-on time (SoT) was about 6 hours and 30 minutes. On other days with lighter use, the phone lasted for about eight hours on a single charge. In our HD video battery loop test, the Vivo V27 Pro lasted for 18 hours before running out of juice. The phone takes about an hour to charge from zero to 100 per cent with the bundled charger and cable.
Vivo V27 Pro cameras
The Vivo V27 Pro has three camera sensors on the back. There is a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766V primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. For selfies, there is a 50-megapixel front camera with autofocus.
Vivo V27 Pro gets a new aura-light LED flash
Starting with the primary camera, photos shot in daylight offer good details and contrast. The colours are a tad bit saturated but if prefer such a pallet then you will like the vibrancy. The rear camera also does a good job of maintaining the skin tone while capturing human subjects, although there is a bit of beautification happening despite disabling all possible filters.
In low light, the camera does a good job of controlling highlights and exposing shadows. There are times when you will see little noise in the shadows in extremely dark shots but that’s something acceptable for a sensor this size. The night sky does look slightly blue in some shots. Also, the shutter remains open for a couple of seconds on average and takes a second or so to process the output.
Vivo V27 Pro primary camera samples (tap to see full size)
The ultra-wide camera gets the colours right but tends to boost the greens and blues in images. The dynamic range performance is not as good as the main camera. While the software does try to fix the distorted edges, they are still noticeable. The 2-megapixel macro sensor offers average shots and if you have shaky hands, you might struggle to get the focus right.
Vivo V27 Pro ultra-wide camera sample (tap to see full size)
The front camera’s performance is what many people might like. It gets the skin tones right mostly but regardless of you disabling the beautification toggle, there is a layer of skin smoothening happening in almost all images. When I say the images are likeable, it is because the photos in portrait mode offer good blur and the edge cutout is also on point in most cases. The dynamic range of the front camera too is pretty impressive.
Vivo V27 Pro front camera samples (tap to see full size)
In terms of video, the Vivo V27 Pro can capture up to 4K 60fps using the main rear and front cameras. The ultra-wide camera can record 1080 30fps videos. The main camera, with the help of optical image stabilisation (OIS) and electronic image stabilisation (EIS), tries to remove any visible shake but there is a slight crop in the focal length. The overall performance of the main and front cameras for videos is quite good. You get enough details with good sharpness, good contrast and dynamic range.
Verdict
If you have come this far, you already know that the Vivo V27 Pro would be a good choice for those who want a phone with an excellent in-hand feel. The colour-changing trick is subjective but its novelty might wear off soon. The camera performance, especially the front camera, is also quite good for the price.
The Vivo V27 Pro does not disappoint when it comes to performance. However, it tends to feel warm quickly due to its slim form factor. While the display by itself offers a good experience and supports HDR10+, popular video streaming apps couldn’t detect the latter feature which I felt was a letdown. What’s an even bigger bummer is a single speaker setup in a phone at this price. There seems to be many ifs and buts with the V27 Pro, which is a little disappointing.
Plus, the competition offers better hardware for the price. Vivo’s own sub-brand iQoo offers better value when it comes to performance with the iQoo Neo 7 5G (Review). The OnePlus 11R 5G (Review) offers a better display, good main camera, and a bigger battery with faster charging.
The Vivo V27 Pro gets maximum points for its design and camera performance, and If you are someone who needs exactly that while not caring much about the rest, it could be a good option for you.