Vivo S1 Pro smartphone review with key features

In November 2019, a new smartphone was introduced to the world of smart devices. The company Vivo created in a sense confusion and confusion with the release of its next new product Vivo S1 Pro, because the phone with that name already exists and its presentation took place in the spring of the same year. Why it happened and in connection with which the continuation of the series did not acquire another name remains a mystery. But, it should be noted, this is a completely new device with different characteristics and appearance.

Design and parameters

The appearance of the smartphone has retained its classic shape: comfortable dimensions (159.3 / 75.2 / 8.7 mm), elegant rounded corners, there are almost no frames around the display. The usual weight for this type of device is 186.7 grams.

The front panel has no peculiarities: the same thin black frame lines, the lower one is slightly wider than the rest, the upper one has a small teardrop-shaped cutout for the front camera.

The back panel is the bearer of the color, which is available in two versions: Knight Black and Fancy Sky. Black is a Vivo classic, this time slightly diluted with smooth transitions from black to gray. It is not for nothing that the name Knight Black was used in the description - a black knight, the overflow of shades resembles the shine of metal on armor. This color will suit the user with strict ideas about the design of the phone.

The second color is the exact opposite: Fancy Sky is actually the color of a fantastic predawn sky, reflecting the transitions from white to pale pink and pale blue. Tenderness, delicacy and glamor merged into one whole, becoming an original image that will suit natures with aesthetic views. In the center of the upper part is the main camera of an interesting diamond shape with rounds instead of corners. A thin line passes through the entire "back", through the camera block, as if denoting the center. On it in the lower part of the company name with the inscription "camera & music", which speaks for itself. Thus, even before you test the device, you can determine that its strengths will be excellent camera and music playback capabilities.

The right side panel is a traditional place for control buttons, which are not inconvenient to use because they practically do not protrude from the body.On the left panel there is a SIM card slot, which is absolutely invisible during external examination.

The bottom and top panels have not changed their functionality, so all speaker / microphone connectors and outputs remain in their original positions.

• Classics in design and form;
• Convenient size and weight, equally comfortable in the hand and in the pocket of clothes;
• Unusual colors.

• Body material.

The parameters of the smartphone are almost completely different from the model of the same name, released in mid-2019, and this is worth mentioning separately.

Vivo S1 Pro VS Vivo S1 Pro

It is difficult to say why this is so, but the new model does not have versions with memory (8GB / 128GB), while the previous one gave the user a choice in the amount of memory and at the same cost (8 / 128GB, 6 / 256GB).

Screen

The display type is standard super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen displaying 16 million colors and shades. Measured diagonally 6.38 inches, in square centimeters - 99.9. Screen-to-body ratio of the device ~ 83.4%. The entire front panel is occupied exclusively by the display, framed by small bezels around.

The S-AMOLED screen guarantees brightness, wide viewing angles, color saturation, dimming sun glare, energy saving and long-term trouble-free operation.

This diagonal and parameters are ideal for working and viewing files of any type.

• Large screen without frames around;
• The display type contributes to the comfort of use in any lighting;
• The screen is not designed for high charge absorption;
• Strong Gorilla Glass protection.

• None.

Processor and memory

The smartphone is equipped with a Qualcomm SDM665 Snapdragon 665 processor. This platform is designed for mid-range devices with moderate performance.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 Mobile Platform provides highly intelligent mobile gaming, great camera performance, and security performance.

The processor consists of 8 Kryo 260 cores (custom design, 64-bit), which are divided into two clusters. Fast cluster of four cores up to 2 GHz (Kryo 260 Gold - derivative of Cortex-A73) and energy saving cluster up to 1.8 GHz (Kryo 260 Silver - Cortex A53). Both clusters can work synchronously.

Graphics from Adreno 610 provide high quality images, excellent color display in the dynamics of pictures. Graphics support modern APIs such as Vulkan 1.0, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 and DirectX 11, which improve the speed in games, and make high-quality graphics effects available.

Thanks to the new 11nm LPP process, the energy efficiency of the filling should be generally good.

operating system

Vivo was used as an operating system in a new smartphone Android 9.0 (Pie) with a proprietary shell Funtouch 9.2. This allows you to expand the standard functionality, add flexibility to the personal interface settings, optimize the device's performance and simply change the usual look.

What the Funtouch 9.2 shell gives:

• A wide range of themes for desktop design, including the ability to upload your own themes. A light theme is offered as standard, but as an alternative, you can turn on a dark one (in the "Display and brightness" settings).
• Changing the sizes and types of fonts.
• Customize the shape (square, rounded, round), size and design of icons.
• The user can independently adjust the size of the desktop (4 * 5, 4 * 6 or 5 * 6), which is very convenient for placing everything you need on one field.
• As with the stock version of Android, there is no application menu. All of them are located together with other programs, but they can be easily dragged to another desktop and grouped according to their usage.
• One of the design features in this version is two separate "curtains": notifications appear on the upper one, the lower one (Shortcut center) has become the carrier of Wifi, Bluetooth, brightness, volume and other settings. This and a number of other features are adapted to control the device with one hand.
• There is a special panel for quick commands, where you can place up to 8 icons of frequently used functions or applications.

• You can use buttons and gestures to control the system. However, gesture navigation can be easily disabled. The order and style of the keyboard navigation buttons is customizable. All this has a simple visual instruction available to even the most uninformed user. Among the most convenient additional gesture movements in control, it is worth noting shaking to turn on the flashlight, two taps on the screen to activate it, drawing on the screen to launch individual applications.
• There is a special mode for one-handed navigation, which allows you to reduce the screen, enable a separate keyboard that can be dragged to the desired side of the display for more convenient typing.
• The auxiliary button "Easy Touch" is not fixed in one place, its location is floating on the screen depending on the wishes of the user. If it is left inactive, then after a few seconds it disappears by itself, in its place there is only a small transparent dot to indicate its location. Its most common function is to enable the required application in a new window on top of all running ones.
• For the application manager, a familiar "carousel" is used to scroll through application icons.

Additional shell features:

1. "Children's mode" - allows you to control almost all actions on the smartphone (from a timer for connecting the Internet to limiting the operation of certain applications or the entire system as a whole. A history of all actions for up to a week is saved. With this mode, parents can easily track what their child is doing, restrict his actions and include the necessary time frame, which is very relevant recently.
2. Recording of conversations. Sometimes this feature is extremely necessary and useful.
3. A photo album or gallery is no different from the standard ones, but there is a special feature - a separate folder that plays the role of a basket. In it, deleted files are delayed for 30 days. They can be removed without problems before, so as not to clutter up the space, but very often mistakenly deleted photos can be saved thanks to the basket. In addition, files are sorted very conveniently using smart classification. This organization makes it easy to find the photos you want.
4. Games have become an integral part of mobile life, for this there is a game mode, when enabled, the system is optimized, notifications and some other distractions are turned off.
5. Cloning applications.
6. Mirror your smartphone screen to your TV (if it supports this function).
7. An absolute novelty of the Funtouch 9.2 proprietary shell is the "Motorcycle Mode". It can be used to configure incoming calls to be dropped or answered with a message at a specific vehicle speed. In principle, this mode can also be used for driving.

The built-in applications of this operating system are subject to change and interchange depending on the model. In our case, there is a standard set of players, a dispatcher, a file system manager, an email client, a calculator, a cloud service from Vivo, a voice recorder, and a radio tuner.

Memory Vivo S1 Pro

This model has no options for memory: RAM - 8 GB, built-in - 128 GB. An additional expansion up to 256 GB using microSD is available, but it has its drawback in the form of losing one of the SIM cards (there is no separate slot for a memory card).

• Qualcomm SDM665 Snapdragon 665 Chipset;
• GPU Adreno 610;
• 11nm LPP process improves energy efficiency;
• Operating system Android 9.0 (Pie) with proprietary shell Funtouch 9.2;
• Large memory capacity, expandable.

• Some users may be uncomfortable with the proprietary Funtouch 9.2 shell, which affects the design and functionality of the device;
• There is no separate slot for a memory card. When you connect microSD to one of the slots, you will lose the ability to turn on the second SIM card.

Camera parameters and features

The big difference from the version of the same name is the smartphone camera. The manufacturer took care of improving both the main and front cameras.

Main camera

The location is at the top of the rear panel, in its center. The compact square block with rounded corners is inverted in a diamond shape.

The new device has 4 rear camera lenses: 48 MP / 8 MP / 2 MP / 2 MP. The main sensor of 48 megapixels provides high-quality wide-angle shots, the second sensor complements the previous one, increasing the width of the composition capture in the corners. A 2 megapixel macro camera is the emphasis and focus of attention in photographs on small details. A small "eye" will provide clarity and contour of the picture, regardless of its size. ToF-sensor 2 MP easily copes with unlocking the device on the face of the owner, deepens images, creating a three-dimensional effect, making images more realistic.

Photos are obtained with the same quality both in daylight and in night mode.

Overall, the main camera of the new Vivo is much better than the three-sensor camera of the previous S1 Pro. If only because four sensors in well-coordinated cooperation provide clearer and better images.

Selfie camera

This model does not have a pop-up mechanism for the front camera. Many people will like it, because the "moving" components create the impression of fragility of the structure. Here is the usual location at the top of the front panel above the screen. A small keyhole does not create discomfort at all and does not draw attention to itself.

The camera with a resolution of 32 megapixels, the capture width allows you to take great photos on any background, the intelligent image processing functions mask imperfections on the face and adjust the lighting in the frame.

The video quality of both cameras is relatively high quality for a smartphone.

• The harmonious combination of four lenses creates an excellent shooting environment;
• LED flash provides the required amount of light in low light and at night;
• The presence of a deepening sensor improves the quality of portrait photos.

• Not detected.

Battery and offline mode

High performance and wide functionality of a smartphone requires a powerful battery for correct operation. That is why a non-removable lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 4500 mAh is inserted into the device. This guarantees long-term autonomy in activity mode - about 15-20 hours. In economical mode, the device will last more than a day without recharging. 18W fast battery charging will give you virtually uninterrupted use.

• Large battery capacity;
• Low self-discharge of the battery;
• Fast charging (18W)
• The battery life in all modes is quite long.

• Not.

Vivo S1 Pro in the new version is a worthy successor to the Vivo S line. Improvement and improvement of the model on the face. The brand name on the rear panel, together with the clarification “camera & music”, fully justifies itself. A smartphone, without exaggeration, can be used as a camera and a video camera. Playing music files, both through a headset and with speakers, will delight music lovers.