Vivo X200 FE review: Solid phone in compact package

By design, it is small in appearance, but it packs a punch with a powerful processor, a big battery and a feature-rich camera.

Vivo, earlier this month, launched a new X200 FE series Android phone in India.

It is an affordable version of the premium X200 series with watered-down specifications, but it is made of high-quality, durable materials with a price starting at Rs 54,999.

I have been using the device for a week, and here are my thoughts on Vivo's handset.

Design, build quality and display

Vivo X200 FE is very different from the original X200 (review) and X200 Pro series. Unlike the latter, which had a big circular camera module, the former features a capsule-shaped module with dual-camera sensors and a separate camera sensor, along with a circular LED flash.

Vivo X200 5G (left) and Vivo X200 FE (left).

The rest of the body has a frosted glass finish and vertically aligned Vivo engraving at the base. The back panel does a fine job of repelling the fingerprint smudges.

The frame is made of sturdy aerospace-grade aluminium material, and the device comes with an IP68+ IP69 rating. It can survive 12 hours of rain, and even 100 bars of high water jet pressure. It can even function normally at extreme temperatures up to 80 degrees Celsius.

Also, the company offers free silicone cover case. It soft and sturdy and can save the device from cracking during an accidental fall.

Vivo X200 FE 5G.

The device comes in a compact form factor and is easy to carry around. Most importantly, it is perfect to operate the phone single-handedly.

Vivo X200 FE 5G.

On the front, it features a beautiful 6.31-inch 1.5K(2640 x 1216 p) LTPO AMOLED screen. It supports with 120Hz refresh rate, and offers up to 5,000 nits peak brightness.

It is great for multimedia consumption, and users can also watch top-quality HDR content on YouTube, Netflix and other popular OTT platforms.

Vivo X200 FE 5G.

The device also features dual-SIM slots, a Type-C port, stereo speakers and an in-display fingerprint sensor. The latter, by the way, works amazingly fine with a lower false rejection rate.

Performance

Under the hood, X200 FE houses a powerful 4nm class MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ octa-core processor with Immortalis-G720 GPU, 12GB/16GB LPDDR5X RAM, and 256GB/512GB UFS 3.1 storage.

Vivo X200 FE's CPU and GPU performance score on Geekbench 6.0.

The Vivo phone is a smooth performer. Be it graphics-rich games or recording 4K videos or running any generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI) features, the device remained stable.

Sometimes, when outdoors in high temperatures, the device gets a bit warm. But, never overwhelming enough to complain about. It is common for high-end phones with glass and metal to get a bit warm while performing heavy-duty tasks, but with a cover case, one can barely notice it.

Vivo X200 FE 5G.

The device runs familiar Android 15-based FuntouchOS 15. It has a lot of pre-loaded apps, but it is not a deal breaker, as the company offers 256GB base storage. It is plenty enough to install hundreds of new applications that the user likes to use on the phone. And, users can even store thousands of photos and videos captured on the phone's camera without any worry of running out of storage space anytime soon.

X200 FE, despite its compact size, X200 company has managed to incorporate a massive 6,500mAh battery. It can keep the phone running a whole day under normal usage with Wi-Fi connectivity at home and the office.

If the device solely relies on the cellular network for usage all day, it can last up to late at night.

Vivo X200 FE 5G.

Even if you are an extreme user and the device requires charging, it can power up in time. The company offers a 90W charger. It can charge up the phone from zero to 50 per cent around 30-35 minutes. And, it can reach the 100 per cent mark within 60 minutes.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

Photography

Vivo X200 FE houses a Zeiss T* lens coated triple-camera module-- main 23mm 50MP camera (1/1.56-inch Sony IMX921 sensor, f/1.88 aperture, 1.0µm pixel size, PDAF: Phase Detection Auto Focus, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) with an 15mm 8MP 106-degree ultra-wide camera (with 1/4.0-inch sensor, f/2.2, 1.12µm pixel size) and a 70mm 50MP (with IMX882 3x periscope telephoto sensor, f/2.65, multi-directional PDAF, OIS) with laser autofocus, ZEISS optics Aura light LED.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

It takes pretty nice photos in all light conditions. As you can see from the photo samples, the subjects, particularly the flowers, are vibrant than they appear to our eyes. They look lovely.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

The device can also take ultra-wide-angle photos. It can cover a wide area of the landscape pretty well in the frame.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

With portrait mode, it can capture a pretty photo with sharp focus on the subject and artfully blur the background to get that perfect bokeh effect.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

It also supports several gen AI photography tools such as object eraser, glass reflection remover, sharpen blur photos and can also enhance the image quality in terms of enriching the subjects, such as a human face's complexion and skin tone and make them photogenic.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

At night to, it takes decent photos with less noise.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

It also supports optical zoom up to 3X with lossless photo quality. It can also digitally zoom up to 100X. The picture quality retains sharpness up to 30X and begins to accumulate grains after that.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

However, it can take pretty good photos of the moon in clear sky conditions. However, it should be noted that the surface of the moon appears sharper thanks to the native camera's advanced computational photography capability.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

It boasts of a 20mm 50 MP wide camera with a 1/2.76-inch sensor, f/2.0 aperture and 64µm pixel size and supports PDAF. It takes pretty amazing selfies in all light conditions.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

Also, both the front and the primary camera on the back can record a stable 4K video at 30 and 60 frames per second. The video quality is praiseworthy.

Vivo X200 FE 5G's camera sample.

Final thoughts

Vivo X200 FE is pocket dynamite. By design, it is small in demeanour, but it packs a punch with a powerful processor, a big battery and a feature-rich camera. It will find traction among niche customers, who want a powerful phone in a small package. And, is less expensive compared to other premium phones in its class.

Vivo X200 FE 5G.

The new Vivo X200 FE comes in three colours-- Amber Yellow, Luxe Grey, and Frost Blue. It is available in two configurations for 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and 16GB RAM + 512GB storage for Rs 54,999 and 59,999, respectively.

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