The Vivo brand will say little, at least at the moment, to the Italian public, yet we are ready to bet that it will soon begin to have its say with the release of further devices. Vivo X51 is the first to arrive within our borders, and it does so with an exceptional feature: it incorporates a gimbal in the rear chamber. Here's how our test went.
First of all, some hints to the brand. For those unfamiliar with Vivo, it is part of the BBK group, which boasts OPPO and OnePlus, brands best known to the general public. The combination of these names already makes the Vivo brand reliable, which is certainly already well established outside our borders. Vivo X5q looks like a smartphone with a very nice design, even if it is now very difficult to talk about originality. The front, really clean, is interrupted only by the small hole for the camera, positioned in the upper left corner, which seems to almost disappear from sight after a few hours of use.
The edges of the display, on the sides, are both curved, and are reminiscent of the quality that only Samsung can give when it comes to curved displays. There are no noticeable color variations on either side of the screen, nor unpleasant black effects that extend the full length of the side. On the rear stands the imposing photographic compartment, with a design that is certainly not minimal, but absolutely well done and cared for, with two small steps that, strangely, manage not to be annoying, and that indeed almost embellish the rear body. The size of the camera department should certainly not surprise, considering that a micro gimbal is housed inside which, as we will see, will serve to stabilize the videos, and which will give its best even in night photos.
On the left side there is nothing, completely clean, while on the right we find the classic button for power on / standby, and the volume rocker. On the bottom, in addition to the speaker grill, also the USB-C input, and the compartment for the Sims.
The aesthetics of the terminal, we reiterate, although not original (now it cannot be otherwise), is absolutely accurate: in your hand you immediately have the feeling of quality, of a premium terminal.
Technical features
As for the technical data sheet, Vivo X51 is placed in that range of devices that certainly boasts a hardware from the top of the new generation range, that is, very high quality technical specifications, even if not at the top of the range. It is the new concept of the “modern top of the range”, which almost abandon the processor at the top, to turn attention to cheaper models, but which in practice, in everyday life, are real top of the range.
Inside is the processor Snapdragon 765G , an octa core clocked at 2.4 GHz, an Adreno 620 GPU, assisted by 8 GB of RAM LPDDR4X and 256 GB of internal memory type UFS 2.1 . There is no expandable memory, since the Sim compartment can accommodate two nanoSIMs . Connectivity offers a module with 5G support up to 3.7Gbps, Wi-Fi ac dual band, Bluetooth 5.1 and NFC. There is no physical button for the fingerprint reader , which is optical under the screen . It responds very well, and together with Face Unlock it still allows you to unlock the smartphone always, in any condition, and in a few moments.
The speaker at the bottom is good, even if mono, too bad for the vibration feedback, with an engine that appears to be slightly subdued.
In everyday life, however, Vivo X51 does not present any problems, being extremely fluid in any conditions, and even under stress. The transition from one application to the other was immediate: during the tests we never encountered a problem, or a block.
The display offers a wide diagonal from 6.56 inches , with AMOLED technology and resolution FullHD + . On the panel we have absolutely nothing to object, very nice, accurate in colors, and with the curves on the sides really well done.Good brightness and color rendering, there is no lack of support for the HDR10 + standard, with DC dimming and refresh rate to 90 Hz , which can be decreased to 60 Hz, also to improve autonomy. We never felt we had to make use of this savings, as the battery has always carried us in the evening with a margin of about 15%. In addition, the charging support Vivo Flash Charge , which brings the terminal to almost 60% in just 30 minutes.
Camera
What most certainly intrigues about this terminal is the camera department, if only for the gimbal installed on board. The main camera is 48 megapixel with focal aperture f / 1.6 with optical stabilization, accompanied by two sensors, respectively, 13 megapixel f / 2.46 with 2x zoom and an 8 megapixel f / 3.4 with zoom up to 5x. The 8MP wide-angle sensor with f / 2.2 aperture closes the circle.
Night Photo
iPhone 12 
Vivo X51
As already mentioned, however, what most attracts is certainly the presence of a real hardware gimbal, installed on the main camera. The built-in gimbal offers optical stabilization with ± 3 ° stabilization movements, above the competition which comes in around ± 0.7 °. This means that the camera will be able to absorb, and therefore reset, larger movements, like a traditional external gimbal.
The result, of course, is not comparable to that of external gimbals, which certainly manage to stabilize much more abrupt and wide movements, but it certainly does its job. Not only in the videos, where the result is immediately perceptible, as we show in the video below, but also in the photos, especially in the night ones, where it is necessary to keep the phone motionless for a few moments, just long enough to acquire the image. The video below shows the differences of the videos captured with and without super stabilization, also showing a comparison with what could be a reference terminal, namely iPhone 12.
Below is a gallery of images:
Particular attention, then, deserves the “Super Moon” mode. We will not stay here to explain it to you, but we will leave you only to the photos:
Software
A pleasant surprise was also that relating to the software. It is equipped with an interface FunTouch OS , which tends to reflect a stock Android experience, both in the icons, in the themes, and in the presence of the Google Feed to the left of the Home. Too bad only for the Always-on, which does not show the icons of all incoming notifications: absent, for example, the Telegram icon.
Conclusions
Vivo X51 is really an excellent smartphone, which offers an optimal user experience, both from the point of view of the software and from the hardware one. Too bad only for the price: the price list is 799 euros (it is already at 699 euros). While it is worth the price of the terminal, it will certainly discourage buyers, who are faced with a new brand.
PRO
VERSUS
In Italy, at the moment, we have tracked it only on the euronics website, where at the moment it is offered at a discount at 699 euros. At 100 euros less, it's a more attractive price for anyone.
