Vivo X200 FE review

The Vivo X200 FE is a rather handsome little slab. Picking it up, the first thing you notice is, well, how little of it there is to notice. With a 6.31-inch screen and weighing a feather-light 186g, it’s a genuine one-hander, a comfortable and handy device that doesn't demand digital gymnastics to reach the top corner. The frame is a sturdy yet sleek aluminium alloy, and the whole package feels reassuringly solid.

It’s available in a few rather fetching hues: a moody Luxe Grey, a cheerful Amber Yellow, and a calming Frost Blue. The back uses something called Metallic Sand AG, which is a fancy way of saying it’s a matte glass finish that’s had a bit of an upgrade. The upshot? It feels silky, isn't a magnet for fingerprints, and boasts enhanced scratch resistance. The front display is protected by Schott Xensation Core and not Gorilla Glass.

To top it all off, it’s got IP68 and IP69 ratings, meaning it can survive a dunking in water and even withstand a high-pressure, high-temperature steam jet. So, yes, you can finally live out your dream of binge-watching shows in the shower.

The real story here, as mentioned, is how Vivo has managed to cram a massive 6500 mAh battery into this svelte frame. As with its competitors, this is thanks to that denser battery tech. The OnePlus 13s we tested recently was a cracking example of a compact that didn't compromise on stamina, and the X200 FE follows suit. This thing will see you through a full day and then some, no questions asked.

Vivo has slapped a rather lovely AMOLED display on the X200 FE, and it’s a proper treat. It’s a 6.31-inch flat screen with a 1.5K resolution that makes everything look pin-sharp, thanks to a pixel density of 460 PPI. But the headline act is the brightness. With a frankly bonkers peak brightness of 5000 nits, this display is more luminous than a supernova in a lightbulb factory. Even under the harshest sunlight, you won’t be squinting or shading the screen with your hand.

Where that brightness tends to be best experienced is in HDR movies on Netflix and Prime. The colour here is tuned by ZEISS as well so colours simply pop without looking fluorescent and unnatural. The OnePlus 13s comes close but the Vivo has a better display in my opinion.

Speakers are okay-ish on both smartphones compared to the Apple iPhone 16. The OnePlus and Apple have more lower end grunt compared to these two but you’ll be scrolling reels so that will hardly matter, right?

Here’s where things get interesting. The X200 FE is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ chipset, a flagship processor from a year ago. Paired with speedy LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, it’s certainly no slouch. Day-to-day tasks are dispatched with ease, and it can handle demanding apps and games without breaking a sweat. It even has a nifty cooling system to keep things from getting too toasty.

But, and it’s a significant but, this is where you, the discerning consumer, have a choice to make. As I see it, the processor is the one area where Vivo has made a noticeable compromise. This is the very same chip that was in the flagship Vivo X100 Pro, which launched way back in the mists of time (well, January 2024). The OnePlus 13s, by contrast, offers the very latest Snapdragon 8 Elite silicon, but its cameras are, to put it kindly, a bit mediocre, and it lacks an ultrawide lens entirely.

So, the choice is yours. Do you prioritise photographic prowess? If so, the Vivo is the clear winner. But if you’re after a device that will feel zippier for longer and has more processing headroom for the years to come, the OnePlus is the more logical, if less inspiring, choice. To muddy the waters further, the Xiaomi 15 manages to get both the processor and the cameras right, but it has a tendency to run hotter than a vindaloo. Consumer choice is a wonderful, if confusing, thing, isn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, the Dimensity 9300+ is still a beast of a chip, but it’s a compromise worth noting in what is otherwise a top-drawer compact. The massive 6500 mAh battery, topped up by a zippy 90W FlashCharge that can give you hours of video playback from a 10-minute charge, is the brilliant silver lining.

If you asked me to name the best camera phones, my finger would instinctively point towards Vivo’s X-series. They are consistently, brilliantly, excellent. The X200 FE proudly carries on this tradition and is, without a doubt, the best compact camera phone in the Android universe.

The hardware is, frankly, stacked. You get a 50MP main camera with a Sony IMX921 sensor and optical image stabilisation, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and the star of the show: a 50MP ZEISS Telephoto Periscope camera with a Sony IMX882 sensor. This telephoto lens offers 3x optical zoom and up to a frankly ludicrous 100x digital zoom.

What’s truly impressive is the consistency. Despite the different sensors, Vivo has worked some dark magic to ensure the colours and quality remain remarkably consistent across all focal lengths. Whether you’re shooting a wide landscape or zooming into a distant building, the results are fantastic. The ZEISS Multifocal Portrait mode is a particular highlight, offering classic focal lengths like 23mm, 50mm, and 85mm for stunning portraits.

However, it’s not perfect. My main gripe is with Vivo’s HDR processing. It can be a tad aggressive, especially in high-contrast scenes. Point the camera from a dark room towards a bright window, and it will sometimes crush the shadows to pull back the highlights, resulting in a slightly flat, unnatural look. This is most noticeable on faces, where the software has a tendency to brighten skin tones a bit too much, occasionally whitewashing darker complexions. It’s a trick that Apple, Samsung, and Google have largely managed to unlearn.

But these are minor quibbles in an otherwise stellar camera system. For every shot with slightly off-kilter HDR, there are a dozen that are bursting with detail, vibrant colour, and lovely highlights. Point this camera at pretty much anything, and it will reward you with a pleasing, shareable photo. It’s a joy to shoot with.

The X200 FE runs Funtouch OS 15, which is based on the latest Android 15. It’s a clean, customisable experience with plenty of options to make the phone your own, from app layouts and themes to always-on display styles.

Vivo is also going all-in on AI. The phone is littered with "smart" features. There’s the Gemini Assistant from Google, a Smart Call Assistant that can translate calls in real-time, and vivo DocMaster for handling all your document needs. The photo album is also brimming with AI editing tools like AI Erase, which lets you magically remove photobombers, and AI Reflection Erase for cleaning up shots taken through glass. 

While some of these are genuinely useful, but the overall OS feels dated and lacks meaningful features. And the Global Search Bar is littered with ads and only if you pry around to turn them off, you will be able to do so. OnePlus has a better OS, in my opinion and has better usable features than Vivo.

The Vivo X200 FE is a cracking little phone. It’s a triumphant return to a more manageable form factor, proving that you don’t need a device the size of a paving slab to get flagship performance and, crucially, all-day battery life.

The camera system is the undisputed champion of the compact class, offering a level of quality and versatility that its rivals simply can’t match. It’s a phenomenal tool for mobile photographers, despite a few minor quirks with its image processing. The design is sleek and premium, and the display is a joy to behold.

The only real fly in the ointment is the processor. While perfectly capable, it’s a step behind the silicon you’ll find in some of its key competitors. This makes the X200 FE a phone defined by a single, very important choice: do you want the best camera, or the fastest chip?

If photography is your passion, then the answer is easy. The Vivo X200 FE is the compact camera king, a pocket-sized powerhouse that will have you snapping away with glee. It’s a beautifully designed, long-lasting phone with a killer camera.