Vivo’s latest X500 lineup has three smartphones, and smack dab in the middle of the standard X500 and the extravagant X500 Pro Max is the small X500 Pro. It’s a compact flagship that promises top-tier performance, capable cameras, and a massive battery with fast charging that keeps you away from a charger for as long as possible.
I’ve spent the past couple of days with it, and I have to say, this is one seriously well-rounded smartphone. I’ll have to admit, I was quite skeptical when I looked at the spec sheet. The Pro branding comes with certain expectations, especially from a company that’s been pushing smartphone photography as aggressively as Vivo. The Vivo X500 Pro loses the larger 200MP telephoto camera found on its Pro Max sibling, while OriginOS has never been my favorite Android skin.
However, actually using the phone has challenged quite a few of those reservations. In fact, coming straight from the Google Pixel 11 Pro, there are already a few things about the Vivo that I’m going to have a hard time giving up.
A compact phones that gets the right flagship polish
The first thing that struck me about the X500 Pro was just how well put together it is. There’s a reassuring solidity to the construction, with a clean dual-tone design that I found very elegant and understated. The 6.36-inch display is also a refreshing change from the increasingly enormous flagship phones we’ve become accustomed to. It’s bright, vibrant, and wonderfully smooth, with enough screen real estate for everyday tasks while remaining comfortable to handle.
But what really felt special were the bezels. Vivo built them to be razer thin, almost to the point of disappearing, and Vivo has done a fantastic job keeping them uniform around the entire display. Coming directly from the Pixel 11 Pro, the difference was pretty apparent. Another small detail I appreciate is the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. It’s fast, conveniently placed, and adds to the overall sense of polish.
OriginOS surprised me more than the hardware
If there’s one aspect of the X500 Pro that genuinely caught me off guard, it’s OriginOS 7. I’ve always considered Vivo’s software a tab behind some of my favorite Android interfaces. This is one regard where Google’s Pixel UI shines with its simplicity, yet thoughtful design. The OriginOS version’s heavy use of translucent, Liquid Glass-inspired elements did little to change that initial impression.
But after using it, I have to give Vivo some credit. There’s an impressive amount of customization available, and several small decisions make the interface very enjoyable. Take the Quick Settings panel, for instance. You can customize the size of individual tiles, making frequently used controls larger while keeping less important ones compact. It’s a clever way of making better use of the available space.
Vivo even lets you retain the traditional combined notification and Quick Settings shade. I absolutely despise the split swipe-down approach adopted by several Android manufacturers, including Samsung. Having to reach across the phone to reach one side of the screen to swipe from just to access a notification or toggle seems like unnecessary complexity. It’s one of the reasons I’ve appreciated Google’s approach on the Pixel 11 Pro, and I’m glad Vivo gives users the choice.
I was also pleasantly surprised to discover Motion Cues, a feature similar to Google’s Motion Assist. It’s designed to help reduce motion sickness when you’re using your phone in a moving vehicle, and seeing this sort of thoughtful addition on the Vivo was a welcome surprise. To be fair, this is something ship with Android 17, but availability still depends on how Google Play Services run on a device and the custom skins from various brands.
There are still aspects of the interface I’m less happy about. The frosted-glass aesthetic is everywhere, and its visual effects can become a little tiring after a while. But after these first couple of days, I can confidently say OriginOS deserves more credit than I’ve given it.
The cameras are capable, even with the missing megapixels
Cameras have become a defining part of Vivo’s flagship identity, so naturally, I was eager to see what the X500 Pro could do. Its biggest compromise is obvious. While the Pro Max gets a massive 200MP ZEISS APO telephoto camera, the smaller Pro gets a 64MP periscope telephoto lens. Both offer an 85mm-equivalent focal length, but the larger model has an advantage in sensor hardware and long-range flexibility.
Fortunately, the actual photography experience has been reassuringly good so far. The main camera delivers the sort of image quality I’d expect from a premium Vivo flagship, and during my initial testing, I didn’t find myself longing for the more expensive model every time I opened the camera app.
The telephoto is also a capable performer in its own right. I still want to spend more time testing its limits, especially with distant subjects and challenging lighting, before deciding how significant that hardware gap really is.
For everyday photography, however, the X500 Pro has already left a positive impression. There’s plenty here to like, even if the Pro Max has the more eye-catching hardware.
Battery life and charging is in a league of its own
Chinese OEMs are miles ahead of the curve in terms of battery life and endurance. While using the Pixel 11 Pro as my daily driver, I’d become accustomed to its battery endurance and charging speeds. They were perfectly manageable. Nothing too great, but just enough to get you by.
But moving back to a Chinese flagship shows what exactly I was missing. During a recent airport stop, I spent almost an hour on a call while simultaneously using the X500 Pro’s hotspot to provide internet access to my laptop. That’s a reasonably demanding combination of tasks. When I finally checked the battery indicator, it was still above 90%.
I wasn’t running a controlled battery test, and the result will naturally vary depending on signal strength and other conditions. Even then, it was an encouraging demonstration of just how much endurance Vivo has squeezed into this relatively compact phone.
The 6,510mAh battery is gigantic for a device of this size, and the 90W wired charging is another welcome advantage. If you want to go wirelesss, Vivo let’s you go up to 40W, which is faster than the wired charging on the Galaxy S26, another compact flagship of this year.
I know the Pixels, Galaxies, and iPhones of the world offer perfectly serviceable battery life. But trust me, spend some time with a phone like the X500 Pro, and it will show you liberating faster charging and a large battery can be. It’s a powerful quality-of-life improvement.
A smaller flagship with plenty of promise
Under the hood, the X500 Pro uses MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset, the same processor found in the larger Pro Max. In early benchmarks, this chip matches Everything I’ve done so far has been smooth and responsive, although proper performance testing, extended gaming sessions, and benchmarks will have to wait for the full review.
The X500 Pro starts at 6,499 yuan in China, while European pricing begins at €1,399. That’s a little over $1,500, which is where it starts competing with the iPhone 18 Pros.
Still, my first impressions have been overwhelmingly positive. The X500 Pro has a beautifully proportioned display, excellent build quality, useful software customization, and battery endurance that has already made an impression on me.
I’d like to spend more time with the cameras, investigate the long-term battery life, and see how the Dimensity 9600 Pro performs under sustained workloads. But just a few days in, the experience has been very promising.
