Only this touch of navy | The vivo X100 series is unique in this compartment

This is the last article in the backlog after a crazy business trip some time ago - about the vivo X100 series. On November 20, 2012, also at the Water Cube in Beijing, the landmark model X1 in the history of vivo was released, but the press conference at that time only happened on a small podium. Nearly 11 years later, on November 13, 2023, the vivo X100 series was crowned as a "full-score flagship", and the scale of the stage on this day was more than 10 times larger than at the beginning. Yes, the growth history of the entire vivo X series is the 10-year picture scroll written by vivo in the global smartphone market.

A true one-man effort

I don't intend to repeat the history of the vivo X series here, as I have said it many times before. It's no exaggeration to say that I've been able to take the vivo X series through several leaps and bounds. Whether it is the earliest "HiFi &Smart", or the switch to "Illuminate Your Beauty", to the all-round image, and now to the current "you can always trust vivo's image", from beginning to end, the X series is the core of the entire smartphone strategy of Blue Factory. Even after Xplay, NEX, these former brand flagships, as well as the short but impressive Xshot image flagship, to this day we can find that vivo X series is the "real flagship" that integrates thousands of favorites from the blue factory, and is the real spokesperson of vivo's "blue technology" strategy.

Yes, the term "blue technology" still appeared for the first time at vivo's press conference, the blue crystal chip technology stack, blue ocean battery life system, blue heart model and blue river operating system The four underlying technologies were revealed for the first time, in addition to the chip, the other three are almost the first time to release, of which the blue ocean battery life system is the first time. The first three are all equipped by the vivo X100 series, and it is no wonder that it is called a "full-score flagship": strong computing power, strong battery life, and the blessing of the hottest end-side large model at the moment, it is really a powerful existence in this magnificent flagship tide at the end of 2023.

The most striking of these is the Dimensity 9300 used in the vivo X100 series. As the first new generation of flagship SoC with an all-large core architecture, it amazes the industry at the same time, but also accompanied by questions: under the existing process, can the power consumption and heat be suppressed? More than half a month has passed, the answer to this question has been very clear, I can clearly answer that there is no need to have such worries at all, just use it with confidence. It can also be seen from the actual test results of other evaluation institutions that under the escort of the blue ocean battery life system, the vivo X100 series has successfully achieved both performance and battery life, whether it is MTK or vivo, 2023 is a year worth celebrating.

However, I think vivo should be happier, because its dream of chips for many years has finally come true. Previously, it cooperated with Samsung SLI "Blue Blue", and the two generations of Exynos processors launched can only be regarded as unsatisfactory in terms of effect, and vivo's biggest gain is to find that by grasping the rhythm of the processor, you can get a strong voice in the product cycle - for example, the Exynos 980 on the vivo X30 series is one step ahead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 on the market, contributing to the first-mover advantage of the blue factory in the 5G era. For a brand like vivo with a strong channel advantage, the launch of new products can run even for a week, and it can also seize many opportunities.

If you have a chip in your hand, you can take a step fast, step by step. The desire for the vivo X series to get ahead in the high-end flagship market is in line with MTK, which has always hoped to compete with Qualcomm in the high-end market. vivo X80 series and Dimensity 9000 first cooperation - Dimensity 9000 the Chinese name comes from vivo, the whole life cycle of this chip about 6 million total sales, the blue factory accounted for most of the half; the follow-up vivo X90 series and Dimensity 9200 staged a good show of mutual achievement, vivo in the 3500 yuan ~ 4000 yuan price range all the way forward, MTK also finally breathed the fresh air of the peak of the SoC. It is not an exaggeration to say that vivo has single-handedly carried the road of MTK's flagship SoC advancement, and behind this, the two sides have been brewing a big drama for several years, which is the Dimensity 9300.

Why this chip is so "luxury" radically defined, I have already explained in detail in other articles. As the demander in this cooperation, vivo needs the Dimensity 9300 to correspond to its own product definition. For example, the pre-research work of the blue heart large model led by the vice president of vivo and the president of vivo AI Global Research Institute has been done for 6 years, and with the commercial use of OriginOS 4, strong end-side computing power support is required;

From the perspective of the overall product experience, I personally think that the vivo X100 series equipped with Dimensity 9300 is likely to become another classic product in the history of the blue factory. First, OriginOS 4 should be the most completed version of this operating system since its launch, and many slots of the previous two generations have been modified;Second, it supports PPS universal charging protocol to achieve 100-watt fast charging, and the compatibility is so good that it is not like the blue factory;Third, even the standard version uses vivo X90 Pro+-level periscope telephoto, which is the first time on vivo X series.

It's an oversized cup in its own right

In an exclusive interview after the press conference, Huang Tao and Han Boxiao responded to the same question several times: "Does the vivo X100 series have a super large cup?" The answer is "vivo X100 Pro itself is defined by a super large cup". This is also, looking at the flagship products that have been released or have been exposed, it is really the only one that uses a 1-inch IMX989 sensor in the main camera, and the treatment is indeed very high. Considering that the flagship or super flagship of the competitor will not be released until 2024, it is not an exaggeration to say that the vivo X100 series has the intention of rushing again.

At the same time, the two executives also made it clear that if the vivo X100 series has a super large cup, then it will be launched in other forms in the future, whether it will be called this name is still unknown, but the image will be rich in experimental nature, will be beyond imagination. It seems that after accumulating imaging technology for several years and no longer worrying about the market performance of the vivo X100 series, vivo is finally going to make a move on the super flagship, which is worth looking forward to.

Another thing worth mentioning on the vivo X100 series is that I was surprised by the fact that the Blue Factory's signature 50mm portrait focal length has been changed from a physical lens to a crop one. Because the previous generation of Pro/Pro+ models was greatly upgraded from the previous "10,000 years" 12 million pixels to 50 million pixels, I thought it would be popularized on this generation of models, but I didn't expect it to be transformed into a periscope telephoto module. Through communication, it was learned that after the performance and algorithm system of the telephoto module were greatly upgraded, the vivo imaging team found that the imaging results could fully meet the needs, so they made this decision.

The result of the upgrade of the technical system is that the portrait mode of the vivo X100 series has pulled out as many as 5 focal lengths, and with the ZEISS lens simulation, it can present the most comprehensive and most selective portrait mode of all smartphones at present, and the effect is also highly recognizable. It can be said that in the field of portrait shooting, which has formed a consumer reputation, the vivo X100 series has taken a big step forward, especially in the case of friends in the field of portrait shooting, the blue factory really gave up the old ideas, and the decision to make full use of the computing power advantage of the platform is very bold.

Judging from the results of this period of use, the upper limit of the image performance of the vivo X100 series is very high, and vivo's polishing of sensors and self-developed algorithms is very fruitful. However, the high dependence on the algorithm still has a negative effect, that is, the imaging stability is slightly affected, such as the occasional loss of picture detail and white balance errors caused by the multi-frame synthesis algorithm. Although the probability of a problem is low, as one of the most recognized imaging models in the entire smartphone market, I think it is important to maintain consumers' trust in their image performance, and it is important to meet expectations every time you press the shutter.

Write at the end

There is no such thing as a perfect product, but it is possible to do the best under existing conditions. As the only product on the market that adopts a flagship SoC with an all-core architecture and is positioned in the field of mobile imaging, the two brothers of the vivo X100 series can still rank at the top of the list of performance phones, which I also think is an alternative spectacle. I think from this point of view can also give the vivo X100 series an "all-round flagship" evaluation, considering the price difference between the standard and the Pro, if consumers don't particularly care about wireless charging and the 1-inch main camera, I think the vivo X100 standard version is quite worth recommending.