vivo V29 Pro review

Introduction

Vivo has yet another premium midranger in its ranks, one produced in India and with a design inspired by India - the vivo V29 Pro. Like previous V-series models, the V29 Pro heavily focuses on photography. The V29 Pro doubles down on the previous model's 'Aura light' concept with a dedicated color-changing illuminator on the back, introduces a dedicated portrait telephoto camera and brings an extra high-res display into the mix.

The new Aura light implementation includes a separate dedicated set of LEDs (15.6mm in diameter) that can automatically adjust their temperature depending on ambient light, and you can also tweak it manually if you so choose. These are supposed to be 36% brighter than the previous generation.

The 2MP dedicated macro cam from the V27 Pro might be gone, but a 12MP, 2x zoom portrait camera is in its place. No other V-series phone has even had one, so this is a big change. The Sony IMX663 sensor has "all-pixel dual-core" autofocus, which helps it in the dark.

Next on the list of major upgrades is the display, which remains unchanged in size at 6.78 inches in diagonal. It is, however, an unusually high-res panel - the 1260x2800px resolution makes for a 453ppi density, so you can count on some extra sharpness.

vivo was dead set on maintaining a slim waistline for the V29 Pro, with a nicely thin 7.5mm thickness. That's meant keeping the battery capacity at 4,600mAh, though if the V27 Pro is any indication, that should be plenty. Charging is now rated at 80W instead of the V27 Pro's 66W spec, but those power ratings don't mean that much, so we'll see how the charging speed stacks up.

vivo V29 Pro specs at a glance:

• Body: 164.2x74.4x7.5mm, 188g; Glass front, glass back.
• Display: 6.78" AMOLED, 120Hz, 1260x2800px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 453ppi.
• Chipset: Mediatek Dimensity 8200 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.1 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G610 MC6.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM.
• OS/Software: Android 13, Funtouch 13.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.9, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 12 MP, f/2.0, PDAF, 2x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2.
• Front camera: 50 MP, f/2.0, 22mm (wide), AF.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery: 4600mAh; 80W wired, 1-50% in 18 min (advertised).
• Connectivity: 5G; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 5; BT 5.3.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical).

Vivo decided not to upgrade the chipset, and the V29 Pro uses the same MediaTek Dimensity 8200 chip as the V27 Pro. It should still perform better than the Snapdragon 778G inside the vanilla vivo V29. Speaking of the regular V29, one of its major additions is the IP68 ingress protection rating. Interestingly enough, while the V29 Pro is also built according to stringent durability requirements, it does not have an official ingress protection rating for some reason.

Unboxing

The vivo V29 Pro arrives in a full-size gray box highlighting the Aura feature with a large shiny circle around the phone's name. It is a very sturdy, two-piece box that includes a nice cradle for the phone on the inside.

Vivo doesn't skimp on the retail package of its devices. First and foremost, you get an 80W vivo FlashCharge charger in the box and an accompanying USB Type-A to Type-C cable. The cable seems perfectly standard without any extra pins, so you don't need to keep track of it closely. The V29 Pro's retail bundle isn't skipping protection either. A factory-applied screen protector film is joined by a transparent case to minimize worrying about the handset's physical well-being.

Design

One of the signature design aspects of the vivo V series has traditionally been the UV-reactive paint job. Well, for better or worse, that is gone with the V29 generation. Color options are a lot simpler and straightforward this time around. The V29 Pro is available in Himalayan Blue, which is the color of our review unit. The Himalayas apparently inspire the wavy pattern on its back.

Left: vivo V29 • right: vivo V29 Pro

The finish is glossy, attracting and retaining plenty of fingerprints and grease. Thankfully, it is not particularly slippery and grips fairly well to the skin.

The V29 Pro can also be had in Space Black, which looks pretty plain in comparison. But we can't fault anyone for wanting a more traditional-looking device that blends into its environment. We did find info online about an elusive third Pink color option, but we can't find it in any picture, so it might not actually exist.

The V29 Pro doesn't have too much in the way of distinctive characteristics, but we do like the overall look of the camera island. It covers a large surface area, and that large Aura Light ring flash that takes about as much space as a camera module is definitely not something you see every day.

Some things haven't changed, though. The super slim profile was one of the design team's priorities, and they've kept it for the V29 Pro. The curves on both the display and the back panel that meet in a thin frame on the sides enhance the perception of compactness and contribute to an overall premium feeling. The middle frame itself is also glossy with a metal-like silver finish. We find it perfectly appealing.

That's further reinforced when you fire up the display on the V29 Pro and look at the slim bezels. It's one of the more premium-looking handsets you can get in the midrange.

The punch hole for the selfie camera is also quite reasonably-sized, especially considering that it houses a large 50MP camera with autofocus. This, too, contributes to the overall premium look of the midranger.

Materials and construction

First things first, we need to address the ingress protection situation. For the first time ever on a V-series device, the regular V29 gets an IP68 rating. For whatever reason, that is not the case with the V29 Pro. It does not have an official ingress protection rating.

The V29 Pro employs a standard glass "sandwich" design. Both the front and back are covered with some sort of glass, though vivo does not specify exactly what kind, which is not exactly confidence-inspiring. The middle frame appears to be made of plastic.

On the plus side, there doesn't seem to be any flex or give in the overall construction. The back side has a slight hollowness but nothing to lose sleep over.

Controls

The V29 Pro has a pretty standard control scheme. The volume rocker and power button are both on the right-hand side. Both are fairly thin, which is necessitated by the middle frame's width. Even so, the buttons still offer nice tactile feedback and are what we would call nice and "clicky".

There is nothing on the left side of the frame.

And the top houses just a secondary noise-canceling mic. Vivo continues to include a plastic insert in the top frame. That's presumably done for better wireless reception, though with a plastic frame and glass front and back, we don't really see the need for extra plastic.

The bottom of the V29 Pro is pretty busy. Just like its predecessor, it lacks a storage card slot. Instead, you get two Nano-SIM card slots on a single tray. The tray does have a pretty beefy rubber gasket, which suggests that the phone could perhaps still withstand some encounter with water despite the lack of an official ingress rating.

Speaking of omissions on the V29 Pro - it lacks a stereo speaker setup. Unlike many competitors, its earpiece does not double as a speaker, which seems like a missed opportunity. The only speaker you get is the singular bottom-firing one.

The V29 Pro uses an optical under-display fingerprint reader. It is perfectly snappy and reliable. We have no complaints.

One interesting thing to note is that the light and proximity sensors on the V29 Pro are also under the display and located somewhere around the selfie camera.

Connectivity

The V29 Pro is a dual-SIM 5G device with SA/NSA Sub.6 connectivity on both SIM slots. It also has dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (ac) and Bluetooth 5.3 with LE support. For positioning, there is GPS (L1), GLONASS (G1), BDS (B1I), GALILEO (E1), QZSS (L1) and NavIC.

We already noted the lack of expandable storage. The V29 Pro also lacks NFC and a 3.5mm audio jack. The Type-C port on the V29 Pro is backed up by a basic USB 2.0 connection, which means a theoretical maximum transfer rate of 480 Mbps. It has USB Host/OTG support but nothing fancy beyond that, like video output.

In case you were wondering, the phone has no notification LED.

In terms of sensors, the V29 Pro has an Ism6dso accelerometer and gyroscope combo, a sensorTek stk33737 light and hardware proximity combo and a memsic mmc5603 magnetometer and compass combo. There is no barometer onboard.

Unusually high-res 6.78-inch OLED display

One of the V29 Pro's peculiar upgrades is its new display. While it is the same diagonal as on the V27 Pro, as well as the V29 and V27 at 6.78 inches, the panel has higher-than-most resolution of 1,260 x 2,800 px, resulting in a 453ppi pixel density, making it sharper than the bulk of panels out there, just short of 1440p high-end models.

Naturally, the panel supports a 120Hz refresh rate. Vivo also advertises up to 2160Hz pulse-width modulation for dimming, so even those sensitive to flickering should be perfectly okay.

In terms of brightness, we measured 532 nits on the slider. When exposed to bright conditions, the phone went up to a max of 1,029 nits. That's a pretty great result, and the V29 Pro never finds itself strapped for brightness. The V29 Pro also gets pretty dim, with an output of just 2.2 nits at its minimum brightness setting.

The V29 Pro has an 8-bit panel and a total of three color modes. The default mode, called "standard," aims for the DCI-P3 color space and delivers a punchy color rendition with overly saturated reds and blues. Vivo clearly went for that coveted OLED "pop" in its default mode. "Bright" mode also targets the DCI-P3 color space, brings down reds and blues a bit, and saturates greens for a slightly more balanced look. However, if you really want accurate colors, there is the "Pro" mode, which practically nails the sRGB color space.

In another rather odd case of disparity between the regular vivo V29 and the V29 Pro, the specs sheet for the Pro does not mention any HDR certification on the display. This is odd, given that the vanilla model clearly advertises HDR10+.

HDR decoding • DRM info • Netflix playback capabilities

In terms of HDR decoding, the V29 Pro supports HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG. The phone also supports the highest possible L1 Widevine DRM, allowing apps like Netflix to offer up FullHD resolution stream.

High refresh rate handling

The vivo V29 screen's refresh rate maxes out at 120Hz. Hardware scanning apps detect support for three fixed steps - 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz. Three modes are available in settings - 60Hz, 120Hz, and Smart Switch.

The 60Hz option is straightforward - the phone always uses 60Hz refresh rate, and all apps are capped at 60fps.

The Smart Switch option will essentially maintain 90Hz across the UI when you're interacting with the phone but will switch down to 60Hz when idling or when you open an app - any app.

Refresh rate options

The 120Hz mode maxes out at the nominal refresh rate. Interestingly enough, unlike the regular V29, which still switches to 60Hz while in 120Hz mode, the V29 Pro does not seem to do so and mostly remains locked at 120Hz. Well, with the exception of video playback apps, which switch down to 60Hz, as well as incompatible apps like Google Maps and the Camera app.

High refresh rate gaming

High refresh rate gaming is a mixed bag in both Smart Switch mode and 120Hz mode. Luckily, vivo includes the option to select refresh rate on a per-app basis while in the 120Hz mode, so you can force high refresh rate gaming. Even with that option, however, we experienced some games that did not respect the setting and still went down to 60Hz.

Battery life

The vivo V29 Pro has a 4,600 mAh battery, just like its predecessor, and the V27 Pro is rocking the same 4nm Mediatek Dimensity 8200 chipset. This entails pretty similar battery life across the two, which is kind of the case, but not entirely.

The V29 Pro managed a solid 113 hours of endurance in our testing and pretty much matched the standby and call times of the V27 Pro, as expected. However, on the whole, the V29 Pro scored a bit lower in endurance than the V27 Pro due to its relatively lower on-screen endurance numbers. We double-checked the numbers and can only conclude that the new higher-resolution (1260 x 2800 pixel) display consumes more power.

Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test is done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns, check out our all-time battery test results chart, where you can also find all phones we've tested.

Charging test

One of the upgrades to the V29 Pro coming from the V27 Pro is a new 80W vivo FlashCharge charging standard. That's compared to the V27 generation and its 66W FlashCharge technology. The latter has already proven itself to be pretty fast and competitive in the midrange. Since the battery capacity is the same at 4,600 mAh, the real question is - did vivo improve charging speeds this year? The simple answer here - a resounding no.

The V29 Pro basically charges at the exact same rate as the V27 Pro. The charging curve is slightly different. But not by a lot. The V29 Pro managed to get from empty to 39% in 15 minutes, then 69% in thirty minutes, with a charge to 100% taking exactly 50 minutes. A full charge of the battery took an additional four minutes, so if you want to max out the battery charge, it should take you around 54 minutes.

Loudspeaker test

We complained a bit about the V27 Pro and V27 not having stereo speakers, and we'll be forced to extend those complaints to the V29 Pro as well. It has almost become a given in this price range, and it seems only vivo is still sticking to a single speaker configuration, and we're not okay with that.

In our testing, the V29 Pro placed in the same 'Average' category as the V27 Pro in terms of loudness, again lagging behind the competition. Interestingly enough, the V29 Pro ended up quieter than the regular V29. Output quality is good enough, though nothing to phone home about. The V29 Pro has a bit better low-end frequency response than the other V29 and V27 models.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

Funtouch 13 on top of Android 13

Just like the V27 family before them, the V29 Pro and V29 run Funtouch 13 on top of Android 13. Vivo did discuss its update and support policy regarding the V29. We can only assume that said information applies to the V29 Pro as well, which means that owners can expect two major Android updates and three years of security fixes. It's not the most generous update policy ever, but it's not too bad.

Funtouch 13 remains an experience relatively detached from 'stock' Android, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • Settings menu

One of the useful proprietary features can be found in the recent apps menu. You can choose between the standard carousel formation and a horizontal tiles layout - sort of like MIUI, only scrollable horizontally. The setting is available right then and there - you don't need to look for it in the menus.

Recent apps • Recent apps • Pop-up • Spilt screen

The notification shade is familiar, and Funtouch is staying away from Google's large bubble-style quick toggles - it's simple circular buttons here. The default accent color is blue and can be controlled via the Android 13 AOSP color palette interface. A powerful theming engine is still present.

The app drawer has an expandable recommended apps category on the top (most commonly used ones), whereas using the vertical scroller on the right would highlight the apps beginning with the selected letter.

Notification shade • Quick toggles • App drawer • Scroll by letter • Widgets next to the app drawer

The rest of the UI has plenty of non-stock bits. In the Dynamic Effects sub-menu, vivo has grouped a bunch of customization options for the home screen, lock screen and animation effects. There are even various charging and facial recognition animations.

Dynamic effects

The always-on display settings are in a different sub-menu, but the phone still gives you plenty of options to tinker with - a wide selection of animations, clock styles, colors, and backgrounds.

Always-on display

Just like Samsung and its OneUI, Funtouch takes care of people with hearing problems, and you can calibrate the sound to be heard by elderly people or those with impaired hearing. Additionally, notifications and calls get separate volume sliders. The vibration intensity can be adjusted for calls and notifications independently. There is a system-wide audio equalizer of sorts, though it only has presents and no sliders to adjust. An Audio Super Resolution toggle is thrown into the mix.

Sound options

The Smart motion menu holds a handful of familiar screen-on and screen-off gestures along with some new additions.

Holding the volume down key can be used to launch an app or do a certain task, although the list is limited to the camera app, turning on/off the torch, starting recording audio, open Facebook, or opening any custom app. The so-called Quick action feature doesn't work when playing music for obvious reasons. There still isn't a double-press option for Quick action, though.

Smart motion menu • Shortcuts and accessibility • Quick action • S-capture • Split-screen • Easy Touch

A dedicated Ultra Game Mode is available, and it has it all. Most of the features are about mitigating disturbance during gameplay or preventing certain apps from displaying notifications. One of the most intriguing features that have been around on vivo phones for a while is the ability to turn off the screen and keep the game running in the background. Especially useful for turn-based games or those requiring some sort of "farming" or "grinding".

Ultra Game mode

The Funtouch launcher also offers its own gallery, audio and video players, and system manager. There is also a dedicated Themes app and an iManager app with various system tools.

Albums • Video • Music • Manager • Manager • Themes

Performance and benchmarks

For one reason or another, vivo decided not to change the chipset going from the V27 Pro to the V29 Pro. It still runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 8200 - a premium midrange chip aimed to bring flagship-grade performance on non-flagship smartphones.

The Dimensity 8200 is an overclocked version of the Dimensity 8000 chip, but it is built on the 4 nm process technology and comes with HyperEngine 6.0, which supports Vulkan (though not the full-featured API) for raytracing in gaming, FPS improvement and smart resource optimization.

HyperEngine is a set of features dedicated to improving smartphone gaming performance in the flagship-killer territory. The Dimensity 8200 also comes with improved camera support over the Dimensity 8000 thanks to the Imagiq 785 ISP.

The Dimensity 8200 has an octa-core CPU configuration consisting of one big Cortex-A78 core, clocked at up to 3.1 GHz, three more Cortex A78 ones, working at up to 3.0 GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores, capped at 2.0 GHz. On the GPU side of things, we have the Mali-G610 MC6. All of this is paired with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS3.1 storage in the V29 Pro. Our review unit has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. However, a lesser version with 8GB of physical RAM and the same amount of storage also exists.

Let's kick things off with some CPU tests and Geekbench. Here, the Dimensity 8200 is clearly showing its midrange prowess. It ends up being basically unmatched in the multi-core test and only slightly bested by the likes of the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2.

The Poco F5 rocking the aforementioned Qualcomm chip continues to be sort of an anomaly in terms of value for performance and remains hard to beat.

AnTuTu is a much more compound benchmark that also includes GPU testing as well as scores for memory, among other things. It is very favorable towards the vivo V29 Pro.

While pretty decent in the grand scheme of things, the Mali-G610 MC6 GPU setup inside the Dimensity 8200 isn't quite as impressive as the CPU. For some reason, the V29 Pro consistently underperforms compared to the vivo V27 Pro in offscreen testing, which is odd, given that these should be independent of display resolution and always render at 1080p. We did doublecheck the scores, so perhaps it is some compatibility issue with the benchmark.

As for on-screen GPU performance, it is worth remembering that the vivo V29 Pro is rocking a 1260 x 2800-pixel display - higher resolution than most FullHD+ phones in the running, and that's a fact that puts extra strain on the GPU at native resolutions.

Historically, 3Dmark tends to offer more comparable and consistent GPU benchmark numbers than GFXBench, and we are happy to report that the Mali-G610 MC6 inside the V29 Pro performs as expected and up to speed with the one inside the V27 Pro in this test.

Still, if a more potent GPU for gaming is what you are after, the likes of Google's Tensor G2 ship inside the Pixel 7 and the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 inside the Poco F5 seem to offer better overall performance within this price range.

From a more practical standpoint, we are happy to report that the vivo V29 Pro is not strapped for power. Its Funtouch OS runs perfectly smooth with practically no hiccups, and the phone easily chews through any daily task. Gaming is also a perfectly feasible and enjoyable activity on the V29 Pro. Even some of the heavier games available on Android are not a problem. Overall, we can understand vivo's decision to stick with the Dimensity 8200 chipset for another generation of phones.

The V29 Pro doesn't really get too hot in terms of surface temperature. It gets warm for sure, but never uncomfortable to hold. Unfortunately, the Dimensity 8200 chipset gets toasty quickly and tends to thermal-throttle rather aggressively.

Thermal throttling

On a positive note, at least we didn't observe any sudden drops down in performance that could result in stutters in game.

An upgraded triple camera setup

The vivo V29 Pro has a 50MP, OIS-enabled main camera, just like the regular V29 and the V27 Pro. In fact, it is the exact same camera with the IMX766 sensor. An 8MP ultrawide camera accompanies it. Unlike the aforementioned siblings, the V29 Pro drops the 2MP dedicated macro snapper in favor of a brand new 12MP, 2x portrait telephoto snapper.

As already mentioned, the main camera on the V29 Pro is very familiar. It is based on the Sony IMX766 sensor - a 1/1.56" sensor with 1.0 µm individual pixels. It sits behind an f/1.9 lens with OIS. There's nothing particularly fancy about the autofocus system, just PDAF.

The ultrawide camera reports using the Omnivision OV08D10 sensor, which is pretty small in size - 1/4.0", 1.12µm and is paired with f/2.2 aperture. Sadly, there is no autofocus on the ultrawide, so it can't double as a macro shooter and tame over for the missing macro.

Last but not least, on the back, there is the new 12MP portrait telephoto. The V29 Pro is actually the first V-series phone to have a dedicated telephoto. It is based on the Sony IMX663 sensor, which has a 1/2.93" size and 1.22µm individual pixels. It has a 2x zoom lens that can focus on subjects at 0.5m to 2m away (1.6-6.5ft). Also "all-pixel dual-core" autofocus, which helps it in the dark.

One of the signature features of the V29 Pro is the circular LED flash on the back. It is called a Smart Aura Light and measures a hefty 15.6mm in diameter on the V29 Pro. It is now 36% brighter than the previous generation. This flash adjusts its color temperature according to ambient light. Or you could tweak the settings manually yourself.

Typical for the V-series, an impressive selfie camera is on board - a 50MP module with a fairly wide 92-degree lens with autofocus. And not just autofocus, but Eye AF that ensures your face is always in focus. It is based on the Samsung s5kjn1 Tetracell sensor, commonly known as the ISOCELL JN1. It is a 1/2.76" sensor with 0.64µm individual pixels.

The camera app is quite familiar, similar to the one seen on the V and X series. There's a straightforward zoom selector with 0.6x, 1x and 2x steps.

The main modes are arranged in a carousel formation, and you can switch between them by swiping or tapping on one of the visible modes. The More tab lists the rest of the modes, and from there, you can also customize the modes you have available in the viewfinder.

The Pro mode allows you to adjust the focus distance, white balance, shutter speed, ISO and exposure. You can use Pro mode on the primary and ultrawide cameras. There's an 'i' button where you can get helpful information explaining all of the options in case you are just getting into photography. Shooting in RAW is also an option.

Camera UI

Daylight photo quality

The main 50MP camera on the V29 Pro with its IMX766 sensor is tried and tested at this point. It saves stills in 12.5MP resolution by default. These look very impressive, class-leading even. There is plenty of detail and practically no noise. The dynamic range is plenty wide, and the contrast is pretty good.

The photos offer crips and punchy colors - there is an obvious saturation boost, though it's not over the top.

Overall, these are some solid photos, one of the best in this class, with flagship-grade quality.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples

If you are not fond of the saturation boost, you can switch to Natural Color mode, and it will deliver. All photos we took with this mode have the same exceptional quality as the standard one, plus a lot more accurate and true-to-life colors and spot-on white balance.

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vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples Natural Color

You can force the main camera to capture in the full 50MP resolution. These shots do take a couple of seconds to capture and are also rather large in file size. However, you do get noticeably more fine detail in the frame. Also, there is less sharpening and overall processing, which leads to a more natural look. We do believe using 50MP mode is worth it for things like panoramic shots.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples

vivo V29 Pro: 50MP main camera samples

You can check how well the main camera on the V29 Pro does in our vast photo compare database.

vivo V29 Pro against the Samsung Galaxy A54 and the Motorola Edge 40 in our Photo compare tool

The main camera on the V29 Pro captures some excellent portraits.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples

Subject detection is spot on, and so is the background separation. We really enjoy the quality of the artificial background blur as well.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

Non-human subjects work pretty well, too, even though getting the subject detection to properly pick them up is a bit fiddlier.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

Let's move to the 8MP ultrawide. Its shots have high contrast and enough dynamic range. The noise is kept low, while the colors are as punchy as on the main camera.

The ultrawide photos are of average detail, but we are glad the sharpening isn't overboard, as it often happens. The corners are proficiently straightened out. There is a bit of corner softness, but nothing dramatic.

vivo V29 Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera samples

Like on the main camera, if you don't enjoy the slightly more saturated default color science, you can toggle Natural Color mode and get a much more natural rendition, as advertised.

vivo V29 Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera samples Natural Color

As we already mentioned, for better or worse, there is no longer a dedicated macro camera on the back of the V29 Pro. Vivo has swapped it for a telephoto. The ultrawide lacks autofocus, too, and there is no dedicated macro mode in the camera app at all.

Let's move on to the new 12MP telephoto then. It offers 2x optical zoom compared to the main camera. The shots it captures are pretty great. The frame has plenty of detail and a tasteful amount of sharpening. Contrast is good, while dynamic range is decent, but it could be a bit wider.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera samples

Colors look quite saturated by default, just like on the main and ultrawide cameras. All of them are nicely matched. Once again, if that is not your liking, you can enable Natural Color mode.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera samples Natural Colors

vivo advertises its new telephoto camera's portrait capabilities, and indeed these 2x zoom portraits look very competent overall. Detail is great, and so are subject detection and separation. The V29 Pro also does a consistently good job with the artificial bokeh.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera portrait samples

Just like with the main camera, non-human subjects work pretty well with telephoto portraits. You just need to be a bit more patient when focusing.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera portrait samples

The selfie camera supports autofocus and uses a high-res 50MP sensor. And the 12MP selfies it saves are solid! The level of detail and sharpness are good, the noise is pretty much absent, and the dynamic range is great. We think the contrast is spot-on, the colors are quite pleasing, and the overall processing is mature and natural-looking.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera samples

However, we do have to note that selfies from the V27 Pro looked a bit better to our eye.

The vivo V29 Pro has an additional HD toggle in the camera app, which supposedly results in better detail, but we honestly can't see a significant difference. Photos still come out in 12MP resolution either way, so you might as well leave the toggle enabled.

There are three zoom levels available on the selfie camera.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera zoom level samples

Selfie portraits look great. They are about as good as regular selfies in terms of facial features and skin tones. The autofocus is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, typically meaning that your face will be perfectly sharp. The background bokeh effect looks very convincing, too.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera portrait samples

Video capture

The vivo V29 Pro can capture video at up to 4K@60fps on its main and telephoto cameras and 1080p@30fps on its ultrawide. You can either record in the more widely compatible AVC (h.264) format or go for the more modern HEVC (h.265) and save some space.

Let's start with the main camera. Its 4K@30fps h.264 videos get saved with an AVC video stream of around a solid 50 Mbps with stereo AAC audio inside a standard MP4 container. The quality is solid overall, but not the best we've seen. There is plenty of detail, and colors look nice and natural. Noise is non-existent.

However, we do have to note that contrast is cranked way too high for our taste, resulting in a rather harsh and overprocessed look. Dynamic range isn't amazing either, with clipped highlights and some crushed shadows.

Here is how the main camera on the V29 Pro stacks up against the competition in our vast video compare database.

vivo V29 Pro against the Samsung Galaxy A54 and the Motorola Edge 40 in our Video compare tool

We don't particularly like the 4K video captured by the telephoto camera. It is decent enough, with good colors and low noise. However, detail is not what we would expect from a 4K stream at around 50 Mbps.

Overly high contrast remains a notable issue here. The image looks oversharpened and harsh. Dynamic range is also not ideal once again. Also, the telephoto does seem to focus-hunt quite a bit. Though, to be fair, conditions were rather windy while capturing the footage.

The ultrawide camera captures pretty good 1080p video in its own right, but the footage is nothing to phone home about. The detail is good, given the resolution and we kind of like the color rendition, even though it is distinctly different from the other two cameras and notably warmer. Contrast is good this time around and not overly heightened. Dynamic range is about on par with what we can expect from an ultrawide.

There is some corner softness to note, but nothing dramatic.

The selfie camera can capture video at up to 4K. We like the overall quality. Detail is very good. Colors look natural, though not closely matched to those on the main camera. The footage is a bit shaky, though.

The main camera on the V29 Pro has OIS, and there is EIS on top of that. In fact, there are two levels of stabilization available - standard and ultra. Standard stabilization does not lower the video resolution to function, while Ultra stabilization is captured at 1080p@60fps.

We can't say that we are overly impressed with the stabilization on the V29 Pro, primarily because there is plenty of focus hunting caused by walking and other shakes and bumps.

On a more positive note, at least selfie stabilization seems to work a bit better and does not cause too much focus hunting.

Low-light camera quality

The main camera on the V29 Pro captures great low-light photos. There is more than enough resolved detail and outstanding exposure, the noise is kept incredibly low, and the colors are impressive. Contrast is also impressive, and so is the dynamic range on display here. There is plenty of detail in the shadows and light sources are handled very competently.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera low-light samples

The default camera photo mode applies some amount of night mode processing by default. There is also a dedicated night mode beyond that, and it tends to have longer capture times and more HDR stacking. Night mode sharpens the shots quite a bit without going overboard on the sharpening. Surfaces don't look quite as soft.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera night mode samples

The telephoto camera holds up quite well in low light. Detail is plenty, and colors are well-matched to the main camera. Contrast is good, and the dynamic range is pretty wide.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera low-light samples

There is a bit of noise on certain surfaces, but nothing excessive.

The regular photo mode tends to apply lengthier and more frequent night mode processing for the telephoto than the main camera. Consequently, there is often just a small difference between regular and night-mode shots.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera night mode samples

The low-light photos from the ultrawide camera are good - the detail sure isn't excellent, but everything else is great - exposure, dynamic range, color rendition and saturation, even the noise reduction seems proficient for such type of camera. It is worth noting that colors are not well-matched to the main camera and are notably warmer on the ultrawide.

vivo V29 Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera low light samples

Like on the telephoto, the dedicated night mode does not do too much for ultrawide photos. In fact, using the dedicated night mode often results in slightly softer photos. The night mode processing applied in the default photos mode is perfectly sufficient.

vivo V29 Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera night mode samples

The selfie camera produces all-around solid low-light photos. Skin texture and tones come out looking great with plenty of detail. Contrast is also great.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera low light samples

You can enable the dedicated night mode on the selfie camera, too. It mostly brightens up the backgrounds of photos but doesn't really do much about the subject, which is probably a good thing.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera night mode samples

Low-light videos from the main camera are excellent overall. Detail is superb, and so are colors and contrast. The dynamic range is surprisingly wide, too. Light sources are handled very well.

The telephoto camera is a bit noisier in comparison and a bit less detail. Other than that, it also has very good quality overall.

The low-light ultrawide videos are usable, and that's the best we can say about them. They are dark and noisy, but you can see what's on them.

The competition

The vivo V29 Pro has an MSRP of INR39,999 ($480) for the base 8GB/256GB version and $515 for the 12GB/256GB one. That puts the phone in a rather weird spot. Its pricing is not quite in the premium category, but it is still a bit expensive for a midranger. Most of its direct competitors tend to be a bit cheaper, which is not a great or competitive position to be in.

Let's kick things off with Samsung and the popular Galaxy A54, which fits the same budget. A 128GB/8GB model will run you just around €350, while a 256GB/8GB variant costs about €399, making it notably cheaper than the vivo V29 Pro. The Samsung phone has expandable storage and offers IP67 ingress protection and Gorilla Glass 5 protection for its display. The Galaxy A54 also has a 120Hz AMOLED panel with HDR10+ support. Battery life is a bit better on the Galaxy, although the Samsung mid-ranger is limited to 25W charging. The Galaxy A54 also has a potent 50MP OIS-enabled main and 12MP ultrawide cameras but lacks a telephoto shooter, unlike the V29 Pro.

Another Samsung phone worth mentioning is the much cheaper Galaxy A34, which brings a similar overall experience on a much tighter budget.

Unsurprisingly, there are a couple of viable options over in camp Xiaomi. For less than the V29 Pro, you can get a Poco F5/Redmi Note 12 Turbo with Gorilla Glass 5, stereo speakers, a large 5,000 mAh battery with 67W charging, a 12-bit 120Hz HDR-capable AMOLED display, a potent Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chipset and a pretty versatile camera setup with a 64MP OIS-enabled main shooter.

Alternatively, you could lower the budget quite significantly and go for something like the ever-popular Redmi Note 12 Pro. Despite its lower price, it still offers much of the same Xiaomi experience, including stereo speakers, 5000mAh battery with 67W charging and a 10-bit 120Hz HDR AMOLED display. The Xiaomi Poco X5 Pro is another option quite similar to the Redmi with a Snapdragon chipset and better battery life, but also some concessions, like no OIS.

Samsung Galaxy A54 • Xiaomi Poco F5 • Redmi Note 12 Turbo • Motorola Edge 40

The Motorola Edge 40 is potentially worth considering as well. It is a notably cheaper device than the V29 Pro but still delivers in some key aspects. Its AMOLED display, for instance, has a fast 144Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ certification. The Moto also has an IP68 ingress protection rating and stereo speakers, both of which are lacking on the V29 Pro. The Moto has a very clean OS if that is something you appreciate.

Our verdict

The vivo V29 Pro is a rather odd device. There are no two ways about it. First and foremost, there is the price aspect. The V29 Pro occupies a rather odd middle space between the realm of really premium and flagship devices and midrangers. So much so, in fact, that some proper flagships like the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S23 currently reside in the same rough price range.

On the flip side, the V29 Pro does punch above its weight class in at least a few aspects. For one, its design and overall appearance, both subjectively and objectively, through things like a curvy display with small bezels, is more premium than your average midranger. vivo is also clearly focusing on the camera department, and the V29 Pro is the first device in the V-series to bring a dedicated telephoto. And credit where credit is due, not only is said telephoto actually quite good in practice, but it is really hard to even find a dedicated telephoto camera in this price range.

All of this is fine and dandy, but the V29 Pro, unfortunately, comes with some major concessions. vivo keeps refusing to equip the V-series with a stereo speaker system. Not even a hybrid one. All the while, most of the V29 Pro competitors do have said feature in their roster. Also, for some unknown reason, the V29 Pro lacks official ingress protection, while the vanilla vivo V29 does have an IP68 rating, and the two devices are almost physically identical to the point where we believe they even share some parts including the 6.78-inch, high resolution 1260 x 2800-pixel, 120Hz AMOLED display. It also seems to be the same on the V29 Pro and the vanilla V29, yet the vanilla gets HDR10+ support, while the Pro lacks official HDR support, at least as far as the official specs sheets are concerned.

Overall, it's not hard to see what we mean when we say that the vivo V29 Pro is a bit of an odd device. Even so, with its versatile camera setup with all-around solid performance, we feel that it might still be a good fit for a photography buff on a budget. If you don't particularly care about getting a good dedicated telephoto and an autofocusing selfie, though, the V29 Pro seems a bit overpriced for what it offers.

Pros

• Luxurious exterior and eye-catching design, though the UV-reactive paint is no more.
• Pretty bright and color-accurate OLED display.
• Solid battery life and quite speedy charging.
• The Dimensity 8200 chipset offers great performance for a mid-range handset.
• Versatile camera setup now complete with a telephoto, which is hard to come by at this price point.

Cons

• No official ingress protection rating.
• A single speaker with average quality.
• No expandable storage or NFC.
• No HDR support on the display.

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