Introduction
A Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ with no home button? No, it's the Vivo Xplay5 Elite, but we'll understand if you needed a double-take.
Okay, the dual-edge facade doesn't strictly make the Xplay 5 the master of disguise. The resemblance disappears completely if you flip it over to reveal a design no Galaxy would be caught dead in. Now, similarities could be found with a certain iPhone 6s Plus, but Vivo has indeed put an extra few distinguishing touches.
There's more than meets the eye though, and some pretty powerful internals are in there to warrant the Elite moniker. And it doesn't stop at Qualcomm's top-shelf Snapdragon 820 - the Elite has 6 gigs of RAM, while plenty of flagships this year make do with just 4. Oh, and 128GB of storage as standard equipment mean you likely won't be missing the non-existent microSD slot.
Beyond the hardware that keeps it running, the Xplay5 Elite has a Sony-made 16MP primary camera with 4K video capture and an 8MP front facer. Vivo is also big on Hi-Fi audio and comes with two 32-bit digital-to-analog converters and three amplifiers (respect for that!). But first things first.
Vivo Xplay5 Elite key features
- 5.43" 1,440 x 2,560px dual-edge AMOLED display of 540ppi
- Android OS v6.0 Marshmallow with FuntouchOS on top
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset: quad-core Kryo CPU (2x2.15GHz +2x1.6GHz); Adreno 530 GPU; 6GB RAM; 128 GB of built-in storage
- 16MP camera with 2160p (4K) video recording; 8MP front-facing camera with 1080p video
- Dual-SIM support; LTE Cat.9 (450/50 Mbps); Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, Bluetooth v4.2
- Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
- 32-bit/192kHz Hi-Fi 3.0 audio, dual DACs, triple amplifiers
- 3,600mAh non-removable battery; dual-chip fast charging
- Fingerprint sensor
Main disadvantages
- No stereo speakers
- No microSD slot
- Not too subtle impersonation
We already mentioned that the sheer amount of internal storage mitigates the lack of a microSD slot, but some may miss it nonetheless, as a data transfer option if nothing else. Vivo, with all its audio pedigree, could have thought of fitting a pair of stereo speakers though, instead of keeping all that high quality audio flowing from the 3.5mm jack only - it sure looks like there's plenty of room on the front.
Vivo Xplay5 Elite press images
You can see we're struggling to find fault with the Vivo Xplay 5 Elite on paper. We'll be sure to dig deeper than that as usual, but not before we get a look and feel of the hardware.
Unboxing
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite comes in a large box, one that the space-saving flat-packers at Ikea will scoff at. On the other hand, the lavish packaging points to the phone's top-shelf position.
Package contents • Bumper case on
Other than the presentation, the contents are pretty solid too. You get a fancy-looking (read Apple-looking) AC adapter capable of outputting 2A of current at 9V, a microUSB cable, an in-ear headset, plus a clear silicone bumper case.
Vivo Xplay5 Elite 360-degree spin
The handset measures 153.5 x 76.2 x 7.6mm - a millimeter shorter than its inspiration Galaxy S6 edge+, but is a hair wider and also thicker. And the S6 edge+ has a larger 5.7-inch display at that. The current S7 edge (again with a marginally larger 5.5-inch display) is 2.6mm shorter and 3.6mm narrower, though a fraction of a millimeter thicker. In short, the Xplay5 is no space saver.
It's also not particularly light, tipping the scales at 168g, 15g more than the S6 edge+ and 9g on top of the S7 edge.
Hardware overview
Okay, so the Vivo Xplay5 Elite looks like a Galaxy S6 edge+ on the front and like an iPhone 6s Plus on the back, that much is already established. We'll try then to refrain from copycat remarks.
Vivo Xplay5 Elite next to the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (where did our S6 edge+ go?)
The Xplay5 Elite has a metal unibody with materials and craftsmanship well befitting its name. The premium nature of the phone is evident just by looking at it, and picking it up in your hand only adds to that impression.
Undoubtedly, the headline feature of the smartphone is its dual-edge display, and it just doesn't get old, not yet at least. The actual display curvature is very subtle, only about a millimeter or two and with a pretty large radius, but the effect is there. It is reinforced further by the side bezels, curved more prominently towards the extreme edges.
Curved displays are cool
Vivo sticks to capacitive keys below the display, there's no physical home button, or onscreen navigation bar. The keys have no backlighting, but that's hardly an issue in actual use - after all they're not going anywhere. They do have the "reverse" arrangement with Back sitting on the right so some users may require getting used to.
What's there to say about the area above the display - there's just the usual stuff here. A central earpiece, with the front-facing camera on its left and the ambient light/proximity sensor on the right.
Standard top bezel • Capacitive keys on the chin
They aren't the most compact of bezels, though, that's for sure. Samsung uses capacitive keys on the chin too, and yet manages to keep the edge models smaller, despite using larger displays. In Vivo's defense, at least there are keys in the bottom bezel, so it's not entirely wasted.
The back is almost flat, in the ubiquitous Rose Gold attire, and with a very fine satin finish. You can't escape the fact that smartphones need radio signal reception and there are two antenna bands splitting the back in three. A Vivo logo is etched dead center.
The camera module is in the top left corner, a dual-LED flash right next to it. The camera lens protrudes slightly, less than a millimeter, so it shouldn't catch the seam of your pocket. The front glass element is a hair below the lens ring, but we're not sure if that constitutes enough protection. At least it's something though.
The fingerprint sensor is on the back of the Xplay5 Elite, which is common with Chinese phablets. It's perhaps placed a little higher than usual, though that perception faded with use, so we'd say it's a non-issue.
Satin back • Camera bump • Fingerprint sensor
The power button and the volume rocker are on the right side and they are pretty well placed for right thumb or left forefinger access, requiring only minor grip adjustments to press.
On the left there's nothing but the card tray. It takes two nanoSIMs and zero microSD cards, but how much more than 128GB would you really need?
Physical button on the right • Card slot on the left
The microUSB 2.0 (not the Type-C) is on the bottom with the loudspeaker and primary mic on either side. Up top you'll find the 3.5mm jack and the noise-canceling microphone.
Bottom with microUSB port and speaker/mic combo • Top features the headphone jack and secondary mic
With those sharp sides, curved display edges and slippery metal back, the Xplay5 Elite was never going to be the most comfortable smartphone to handle. It's what you pay for striking looks and premium materials, but we can see how the trade-off can make sense to a lot of people. Plus you can always put on the bundled case for an immediate improvement of grip.
Vivo Xplay5 Elite in the hand
5.43-inch dual-edged AMOLED
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite's dual-curved display is an AMOLED unit of QHD resolution with a diagonal of 5.43 inches (quite the odd number, you would agree). This comes down to a 541ppi density. Our microscope shot revealed a Diamond Pentile subpixel arrangement - par for the course and identical to the ones on flagship Samsung phones.
While it is AMOLED and AMOLED's supposedly don't light up black pixels at all - there's the occasional panel where that isn't entirely true - and the one on the Elite is such. It's nothing to worry about though, blacks are only ever so slightly lit, so the contrast is dozen of times higher than any LCD's.
Not so with brightness, where the maximum is only about average even for an AMOLED, and nowhere near a good LCD. It's also worth noting that latest-gen Samsung AMOLEDs can match LCDs for maximum brightness in direct sunlight, but the Vivo is far from that.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.05 | 358 | 7160 | |
| - | 410 | ∞ | |
| - | 540 | - | |
| 0.00 | 392 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 610 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 433 | ∞ | |
| 0.17 | 306 | 1855 | |
| 0.20 | 378 | 1881 | |
| 0.29 | 428 | 1543 | |
| 0 | 321 | ∞ | |
| 0.01 | 360 | 40000 | |
| 0.346 | 471 | 1361 | |
| 0.46 | 500 | 1094 | |
| 0.43 | 590 | 1382 | |
That doesn't hurt it in the sun too much though. In our sunlight legibility test, the Xplay5 Elite posted solid numbers towards the top of the chart. Again, Samsung's own are superior, and so is the OnePlus 3.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Apple iPhone 6
3.838 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - LG V10
2.744 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
2.378 - HTC 10
2.378 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - Sony Xperia C
1.283 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Color reproduction is another area where the Xplay5 Elite does a reasonably good job. Average DeltaE is 5.0, better than both the LG G5 and Xperia X Performance, plus the Galaxy S7 edge in default mode. It's not without its flaws with whites exhibiting a bluish tint and red being the furthest off from reality at 9.3 DeltaE.
Connectivity
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite is a dual-SIM device with both slots taking nanoSIMs only. Specs say that one card gets the full connectivity package over 4G/3G/2G, while the second is limited to 2G. In our experience we had both cards connected to 3G, then one was on 4G while the other was on 3G, so the limitations might be specific to the networks in China.
There's dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac with 2x2 MIMO antennas, Bluetooth is v4.2, and the phone supports NFC and GPS. You can also wirelessly mirror the display over Miracast. There's no FM radio, though.
Wired connectivity is over microUSB 2.0 - no Type-C just yet. USB On-The-Go is supported, but make sure you enable it in settings.
Vivo Xplay5 Elite battery life
There's a 3,600mAh battery inside the Vivo Xplay5 Elite - as much as Samsung fitted inside the Galaxy S7 edge and 20% more than what the S6 edge+ came with, coincidentally the same 3,000mAh capacity as the OnePlus 3.
The Elite did very well in our battery test with the notable exception of Wi-Fi web browsing. Whether it's the built-in browser or Chrome, the result is the same - short of 8 and a half hours. While it's not particularly bad, but it's disappointing compared to the other scores.
In the video playback test the smartphone was good for almost 13 hours, a solid figure. We're starting to notice a pronounced discrepancy between the results AMOLEDs post in the two screen-on tests we carry out, indicating that the tech may actually be better suited to one rather than the other. Perhaps we'll investigate further in that area.
With the display off, the Vivo Xplay5 Elite does a good job too. We reckon 33+ hours of 3G talk time on a single charge won't leave anyone wanting. Standby consumption is pretty low too, though a second SIM card does rob the phone of more than a dozen hours in the overall endurance rating.
The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Marshmallow and Funtouch OS
Marshmallow finally makes it to a Vivo smartphone with the Xplay5 Elite. As usual, there's a proprietary Funtouch OS layer on top making it look and feel a lot like any other Vivo model, which means its vibe is not far removed from Apple's iOS.
The lockscreen can be heavily customized and features notifications. There are two shortcuts in the bottom corners - dialer and camera by default, but you do get to assign any other app of your choice to either one. Lockscreen themes are also an option for further customization.
Default lockscreen • Lockscreen settings • Lockscreen themes
Chances are, however, you won't be seeing much of the lockscreen if you enable fingerprint unlock. The recognition is instantaneous, there are no animations and you're at the homescreen before you know it. It also works virtually every time.
Fingerprint settings
Past the lockscreen you get the same single-tier interface with no app drawer. The number of homescreen panes doesn't appear to be limited to a single page of thumbs (which holds 9) and we quickly concluded you won't be left without room for new apps.
The homescreen is where all your apps reside after installation. You can group the app icons in folders and tapping on a folder shows its contents in a nicely animated popup on a blurred background. There's a dock on the bottom of the homescreen, which takes up to 5 icons, folders included, and redistributes them evenly, depending on the number.
You can rearrange the homescreens any way you like and the pane you place first is the default one that appears when you tap the Home button. The panes cannot be cycled, which can prove a problem if you have a large number set up.
The homescreen doubles as an app drawer • Folder view • Managing the homescreen panes
Meanwhile, swiping up from the bottom edge brings out a combined toggles/brightness/tasks drawer, reminiscent of the iOS Control center. Closing apps works with a cheerful "Speed up" button, which then pops up a message informing you of the resources freed up.
The brightness slider doesn't take taps if you want to jump straight to a specific position, instead you need to grab it by the handle each time. There's an Auto switch too.
The toggles offer the expected functionality and aside from the simple on/off action, work as shortcuts to the respective setting upon a long press. All of them are listed in a single side-scrollable row, and you can rearrange them or hide the unused ones.
The Quick settings toggles and the task manager • You can customize the Quick settings toggles • Notification
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite comes with extensive gesture and motion functionality, found in settings under Smart motion. Smart wake works with the display off and lets you draw letters to launch specific apps, unlock with an upward swipe without lighting the screen beforehand or launch the camera with a downward swipe.
"Smart motion" gestures
There's also a one-handed mode for easier operation, which shrinks the UI to one of the lower corners. It's activated the Samsung way - swiping in from one of the edges and back out. You're also given the option to resize the window, depending on how long your digits are.
Small screen mode
Vivo has also devised a nifty and truly useful screen-grabbing utility called S-capture. Chief among its features is the ability to capture long screenshots, for example an entire webpage or a conversation in a messaging app. Alternatively, you could record a video of what's going on the screen, like gameplay or instructional videos. The Funny screenshot option lets you crop a part of the screen with a freeform or preset shape, of which there are a few.
S-capture
There's also a rather limited multi-window implementation. Basically, if you're watching a video, and a message comes in, a notification pops up on the side and you can expand it to view the message without switching back and forth between the apps.
Multi-window, sort of
Synthetic benchmarks
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite is fully tricked out in the hardware department. And it's not just the mighty Snapdragon 820 chipset we're talking about, no - the smartphone is one of the few members of the (well...) elite 6GB RAM club.
Other members include some versions of the OnePlus 3, LeEco Le Max 2, Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe, ZTE Axon 7 and ZUK Z2 Pro. Our OnePlus 3 review unit did indeed come with as much operating memory, but not the Le Max 2 we tested, and the other models we're yet to experience first-hand.
Plenty of Snapdragon 820s already in our benchmark database though, so we're not short on options for comparison. There's a Helio X20 and a X25 too, plus the odd Kirin and Exynos 8890, so we can get a pretty good picture of where the Xplay5 Elite stands in terms of raw power.
Kicking off with a CPU-focused test, GeekBench puts the Vivo in the middle of the pack when it comes to multi-core performance. It's the Kirin 955 inside the P9 that leads the way, closely followed by the Helio X25 in the Meizu Pro 6 and the Samsug Galaxy S7 with a Exynos 8890. Some 1000 points below the Snapdragon 820s come, very tightly spaced, with the Vivo showing about average results.
GeekBench 3 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Huawei P9
6558 - Meizu Pro 6
6427 - Samsung Galaxy S7
6360 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
5543 - OnePlus 3
5520 - Sony Xperia X Performance
5460 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
5437 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
5420 - LG G5
5362 - Xiaomi Mi 5
5358 - HTC 10
5257 - LeEco Le Max 2
5026
When it comes to single-core performance, the Xplay5 Elite moves up the flagship ladder a little bit, but mostly due to the lower numbers of the non-S820 models. Among its peers with Qualcomm's high-end silicon, the Elite is again in the middle.
GeekBench 3 (single-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
2383 - HTC 10
2368 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
2345 - LG G5
2328 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
2322 - Xiaomi Mi 5
2305 - Sony Xperia X Performance
2273 - Samsung Galaxy S7
2170 - LeEco Le Max 2
2118 - Meizu Pro 6
1905 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
1834 - Huawei P9
1819
In Basemark 2.0, which sums up an extensive number of tests including CPU, memory and storage, the Elite posts excellent numbers, but then so does the competition. Vivo's flagship scores virtually identical to the Xperia X Perfomance and Xiaomi Mi 5, all three of them somewhat behind the Snapdragon version of Samsung's current flagship and the OnePlus 3.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
2365 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
2352 - Xiaomi Mi 5
2180 - Sony Xperia X Performance
2179 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
2175 - Samsung Galaxy S7
2128 - Huawei P9
2068 - LG G5
2065 - LeEco Le Max 2
2063 - Meizu Pro 6
1919 - HTC 10
1839 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
1227
Antutu tells a slightly different story, one that puts the Vivo Xplay5 Elite in a more favorable light. Neck and neck with the OnePlus 3, the two are only second to the HTC 10. The rest of this year's cream of the crop are ranked lower. Now had it not been for the HTC 10, we could have reasonably deduced that 6GB of RAM does indeed make a difference. Well, it apparently does, but there's more to it, as the Taiwanese flagship can attest.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- HTC 10
154031 - OnePlus 3
141764 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
140871 - LG G5
134541 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
132849 - Samsung Galaxy S7
132084 - Xiaomi Mi 5
131758 - LeEco Le Max 2
129461 - Sony Xperia X Performance
116217 - Meizu Pro 6
99195 - Huawei P9
98069 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
90137
On the graphics front the Adreno 530 is a proven top performer, even when it needs to deal with QHD resolution as is the case with the Vivo Xplay5 Elite. In fact, the score in Basemark X is the highest we've seen.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Vivo Xplay5 Elite
35180 - LeEco Le Max 2
33874 - Xiaomi Mi 5
33110 - OnePlus 3
32715 - Samsung Galaxy S7
32345 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
32160 - LG G5
29456 - HTC 10
28882 - Sony Xperia X Performance
28450 - Huawei P9
16942 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
15756 - Meizu Pro 6
15209
In the OpenGL 3.1-enabled Basemark ES 3.1 the Elite returns from exceptional to average for this esteemed selection. The humble Huawei P9 is the last in this test, and the Vivo outpaces the Xperia X Performance and Le Max 2, with the Mi 5 and G5 in its crosshairs. The OnePlus fares better in this test, but it's no match for the Galaxy S7 and its 12-core Mali GPU.
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S7
732 - OnePlus 3
625 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
624 - LG G5
587 - Xiaomi Mi 5
580 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
574 - Sony Xperia X Performance
551 - LeEco Le Max 2
517 - Huawei P9
341
In GFXBench the strong results continue, with the obvious note that due to the QHD resolution onscreen tests will inevitably produce lower frame rates than the standardized 1080p offscreen runs. A frame per second here and there splits the S820/Exynos 8890 rivals, and the other chips are not quite in the same league.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
49 - HTC 10
47 - LG G5
47 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
47 - OnePlus 3
46 - Xiaomi Mi 5
45 - LeEco Le Max 2
44 - Sony Xperia X Performance
41 - Samsung Galaxy S7
38 - Huawei P9
18 - Meizu Pro 6
18 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
14
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 3
45 - Xiaomi Mi 5
43 - Sony Xperia X Performance
38 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
29 - HTC 10
28 - LeEco Le Max 2
28 - LG G5
28 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
27 - Samsung Galaxy S7
27 - Huawei P9
19 - Meizu Pro 6
18 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
12
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
32 - HTC 10
31 - OnePlus 3
31 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
31 - Xiaomi Mi 5
30 - Sony Xperia X Performance
30 - LG G5
30 - Samsung Galaxy S7
28 - LeEco Le Max 2
28 - Meizu Pro 6
11 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
11 - Huawei P9
10
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia X Performance
31 - OnePlus 3
30 - Xiaomi Mi 5
29 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
16 - HTC 10
15 - LeEco Le Max 2
15 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
15 - Samsung Galaxy S7
15 - LG G5
15 - Huawei P9
11 - Meizu Pro 6
11 - Zopo Speed 8 (office)
11
Phonebook
The phonebook app on the Vivo Xplay5 Elite is called Contacts and follows the general styling of the rest of the interface, meaning it's entirely custom. There are tabs, but unless you are big on groups, or want to jump to the dialer or to your personal info page all the time, chances are you won't be using them too often.
The main interface is a well-organized list, with favorite contacts at the top, followed by an alphabetical rundown of the rest. Naturally, there is a search field, which accepts both names and numbers, as well as a vertical slider, along the letters to the right, for quick navigation. There are no contact pics on this screen though, with Vivo opting to fit more but thinner rows.
The contacts app • Viewing a contact • Smart dial • Call log • In-call interface
Adding a new contact is a pretty straightforward process. It begins by selecting where you would like to store the entry, or you can just set a default the first time you use it. The rest is fairly self-explanatory. Viewing a contact is done through a clean and well-arranged interface. All in all vivo has tried to keep things as simple and intuitive as possible.
Loudspeaker
Our loudspeaker test put the Vivo Xplay5 Elite in the Average category in terms of loudness. We've seen Vivos perform better in this department, but even so the Elite does pack more bang than an iPhone 6s Plus. The OnePlus 3 is louder overall, though.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 65.8 | 65.1 | 64.6 | Below Average | |
| 66.5 | 66.2 | 66.3 | Below Average | |
| 67.3 | 65.7 | 66.5 | Below Average | |
| 65.8 | 64.8 | 70.4 | Average | |
| 62.6 | 72.0 | 66.5 | Average | |
| 65.5 | 72.2 | 65.2 | Average | |
| 62.4 | 71.0 | 77.8 | Good | |
| 68.7 | 66.5 | 76.2 | Good | |
| 74.7 | 75.8 | 68.0 | Good | |
| 74.9 | 69.3 | 77.2 | Very Good | |
| 74.7 | 77.8 | 72.1 | Very Good | |
| 73.7 | 72.8 | 79.9 | Very Good | |
| 75.7 | 73.5 | 79.5 | Excellent | |
| 75.7 | 73.5 | 80.7 | Excellent |
Text input
In terms of text input, the Vivo Xplay5 Elite comes with a custom keyboard solution. It has a ton of panes with symbols grouped by category and language, and there's also a 'recent' tab. There are emojis as well. We're not thrilled that the keyboard shows all capital letters all the time, so need to pay close attention to the shift key to be sure that you're typing lowercase.
Custom Vivo keyboard
Other apps
First up, Funtouch OS has an amazing central management hub, called iManager. It is designed to keep your phone in top shape and generally does a pretty good job of it. It can clean your RAM and storage on request and naturally manage applications.
But the software goes beyond this and is quite clever. For one, it has access to some advanced hardware features on the Xplay5 and can influence general performance and power-management through different modes. It also offers black-lists for both calls and messages and has granular permissions controls since before it was cool.
iManager
The phone comes with a very intuitive file manager. It automatically groups things according to type, but also allows traditional folder browsing, as well as searching. Multiple file operations are possible too.
File manager
All the little tools are available too, including a calendar, notes app with doodle support, a sleek-looking compass and full scientific calculator.
Calendar • Notes • Compass • Calculator
The basic gallery app is called Albums
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite comes with a simple gallery. It consists of two tabs, one for your camera roll, the other for your various albums. Either way, you get a grid of thumbnails, four in a row. Hitting the search tool doubles the number of thumbs and groups them by month.
The main gallery interface is simple
Viewing a single image offers the usual basic options like cropping and rotation as well as a quick shortcut for sharing.
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite allows you to edit photos straight from the gallery. The editor itself is packed with features, ranging from trivial cropping and effects all the way up to fine-tuning colors, shadows, exposure and applying different blurs. It is definitely more than enough for quickly fixing up a photo before uploading it online.
The image editor is surprisingly rich in options
Video player
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite comes with a dedicated video application. It offers a quite basic interface and few advanced features, but definitely gets the job done. The player itself does offer Hi-Fi support as well as DLNA and subtitles.
Simplistic video player • pop-out mode
Audio player has headphone profiles
The music player, bundled with Funtouch OS and interestingly named iMusic, doesn't look overly impressive but is quite pleasant to use and has a few tricks hidden away.
Launching the app brings you to a selection of quite a few browsing options. Songs can be browsed in various categories and playlists are easily accessible, for even more flexibility. The smartphone comes with preinstalled sound profiles for a few headsets, one of them the bundled XE600i.
Browsing songs in the music app • dedicated sound profiles for a number of headphones
The main playback interface consists of a backdrop of album art and a simple control pad. You get two toggles altogether, one for Repeat/Shuffle and another for switching on Hi-Fi mode, but it only works with headphones attached.
Standard now-playing interface • music controls in the notification shade and lockscreen
Vivo has thrown another little treat in the music application. It is a simple timer, but one that is tied to your music player. With it, you can easily fall asleep to your favorite jams, without worrying about draining your battery overnight. It can even power-down the device completely, once the deadline is reached.
Audio output excellently clean
The vivo Xplay5 Elite showed perfectly clean output when hooked to an active external amplifier. The smartphone achieved great marks and had no weak points to its performance, outside of the only average volume.
Adding headphones to the equation doesn’t change too much with the smartphone still producing some of cleanest output we’ve seen. Loudness failed to impress once more, but it wasn’t too bad either and all things considered it’s an excellent showing by the curved flagship.
And now here go the results so you can do your comparison.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| vivo Xplay5 Elite | +0.01, -0.04 | -92.9 | 93.0 | 0.0030 | 0.0084 | -85.5 |
| vivo Xplay5 Elite (headphones) | +0.02, -0.12 | -92.7 | 92.8 | 0.0042 | 0.088 | -67.7 |
| OnePlus 3 | +0.01, -0.03 | -93.4 | 93.5 | 0.0039 | 0.0068 | -94.4 |
| OnePlus 3 (headphones) | +0.28, -0.58 | -92.8 | 93.0 | 0.022 | 0.486 | -51.5 |
| Sony Xperia X Performance | +0.01, -0.04 | -95.2 | 90.0 | 0.0038 | 0.011 | -95.1 |
| Sony Xperia X Performance (headphones) | +0.23, -0.17 | -93.2 | 89.3 | 0.0078 | 0.174 | -64.9 |
| LG G5 | +0.01, -0.04 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0051 | 0.0096 | -93.3 |
| LG G5 (headphones) | +0.05, -0.01 | -92.2 | 92.3 | 0.0029 | 0.037 | -50.7 |
| Xiaomi Mi 5 | +0.01, -0.03 | -95.3 | 95.1 | 0.0034 | 0.0065 | -95.1 |
| Xiaomi Mi 5 (headphones) | +0.01, -0.03 | -95.2 | 95.1 | 0.0027 | 0.013 | -71.5 |
| Samsung Galaxy S7 | +0.01, -0.04 | -92.5 | 92.6 | 0.0027 | 0.0078 | -92.7 |
| Samsung Galaxy S7 (headphones) | +0.05, -0.05 | -91.9 | 92.1 | 0.0044 | 0.063 | -73.4 |
| +0.03, -0.04 | -93.5 | 93.5 | 0.0016 | 0.0075 | -73.2 | |
| +0.10, -0.06 | -93.8 | 93.9 | 0.0030 | 0.101 | -68.2 |
vivo Xplay5 Elite frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
Very good 16MP shooter
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite has a 16MP camera with a Sony IMX298 sensor behind a 6-element lens with an f/2.0 aperture. Phase detection autofocus comes standard with the IMX298, but there's no optical stabilization. There is a dual-tone dual-LED flash, though.
The simplistic camera app interface will be familiar to anyone who's picked up an iPhone and then consequently a lot of Chinese brand smartphones. Swiping left and right (or up and down in landscape orientation) switches between basic stills, beautification mode and video.
The separate video mode solves the age-old problem of the different coverage between photos and video when they share the same viewfinder - Vivo addressed that a while ago (X6 and V3Max come to mind), but it's still worth pointing out.
The flash toggle, front/rear camera switch and settings button complete the readily available controls. Readily available, but not too comfortable to get to single-handedly, as they require you to readjust your grip, and it's a bit more of an issue on the already somewhat awkward to handle dual-edge Xplay5.
You get the usual shooting modes like HDR, Panorama and Night. In terms of settings you're pretty limited, and for example you can only set a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio, but not different resolutions for each.
Camera interface
Photo enthusiasts will be pleased to find a Pro mode, which gives you access to a lot of manual controls, including exposure compensation (in 1/3 increments), ISO sensitivity (all the way up to ISO3200), shutter speed (as long as 32s), white balance presets and manual focus.
There's also a number of grid and spiral overlays to assist you with framing, and if that's not enough, you also get a digital level. These are only available in the Pro mode though, which is a shooting mode itself. What that means is you can forget about shooting HDR, for example, with the level or grids on.
Pro mode
The Xplay5 Elite is capable of producing some seriously good photos. Packed with detail, with great contrast and colors a touch on the punchy side of accurate (green particularly tends to pop). Noise is present too, but well contained and non-intrusive. Autofocus is fast ind dependable too.
If there's anything worth complaining about it's perhaps the limited dynamic range, an issue particularly visible in the shadows. Be prepared for a lot of black in there in high-contrast scenarios.
Camera samples
HDR mode does brighten up the shadows noticeably and produces even livelier colors, sometimes over the top. Detail isn't sacrificed either. You need to have stationary subjects as the multiple frames span a certain amount of time, and you're likely to end up with blurred cars, as in the first scenario below.
HDR: off • on • off • on
The panorama mode produces images with a vertical resolution of about 1800 pixels when shooting in portrait, and detail is about average. Stitching is very good, even nearby objects are nicely smoothed out.
Panorama sample
The selfie camera on the Xplay5 Elite is an 8MP unit with an f/2.4 aperture lens. Its focus is fixed at arms length distance and in good light the camera resolves a lot of detail. It struggles to preserve the highlights in high-contrast scenes, but that's more or less par for the course with tiny sensor front cams.
Selfie camera samples
We took the Vivo into the studio for some test chart shots and here's how it fared next to the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and OnePlus 3. Of course, our tool allows you to compare it against any other smartphone that we've shot with.
Vivo Xplay5 Elite in our photo compare tool
Great 4K video, mediocre 1080p output
The Vivo Xplay5 Elite records 2160p video at 30fps, as well as 1080p@fps, plus a bunch of lower resolutions. There's no 1080p@60fps mode, though, but there is a slow-motion (720p@120fps) mode, as well as a time-lapse mode at your choice of resolution, 4K included.
4K footage is encoded at almost 42Mbps, 1080p gets a comparatively high bit rate of 20Mbps, and audio is recorded in stereo, but at a rather low 96kbps.
2160p videos out of the Xplay5 Elite come out excellent with a high level of resolved detail. There is, however, quite a lot of noise too, especially in dark areas or in dim lighting, as Vivo's noise reduction algorithms have been geared to detail preservation. We're not ones to complain about such an approach, though.
If you're shooting a high-contrast scene, like our typical test scenario, you're likely to be less than thrilled with dynamic range. Shadows in particular tend to go pitch black, while overall the video is correctly exposed.
And while the bad about 4K output applies equally well to 1080p videos, the good doesn't. FullHD videos are quite soft, the level of detail is about equal to 720p. The combination of great 4K footage, barely acceptable FullHD mode and vast 128GB of storage makes for only one logical choice then.
You can also download the untouched video samples: 2160p at 30fps (11s, 52.8MB), 1080p at 30fps (11s, 26.3MB).
You can also compare the Vivo Xplay5 Elite to any of the numerous phones and tablets we've tested, but we've pre-selected the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and the OnePlus 3.
Vivo Xplay5 Elite in our video compare tool: 2160p
Vivo Xplay5 Elite in our video compare tool: 1080p
Final words
Okay, we have a thing for curves, and dual-edge displays strike a particular cord in our reviewers' hearts. It's irrational, naturally, as looks in these cases come to the detriment of handling, and the vivo Xplay5 Elite is no exception.
Elite it truly is though - in appearance, build, presentation. The vivo flagship's appeal is not just skin deep either - some premium hardware is put to good use and the contender stands tall next to the established players.
Key test findings
- Great build quality, beautiful to look at, premium in-hand feel. Handling, on the other hand, is a little awkward, and the phone is prone to slipping.
- The AMOLED display could've been brighter, and blacks aren't really pitch black as usual, though contrast is still beyond the reach of even the best LCDs. Sunlight legibility is great too, but we wish the maximum brightness was higher.
- 85h of battery endurance rating, very good at video playback and voice calls, only average at web browsing.
- Funtouch OS is a very iOS-ified take on Android, and is consistent between vivo models. It's flat and colorful, but may need some getting used to if you're coming from a more vanilla Android.
- Near-instant fingerprint recognition - one of the fastest sensors we've experienced.
- Benchmark performance is up there with the best, the extra RAM over the competitors doesn't consistently result in better scores though.
- Exceptionally clean audio output with or without headphones, not very loud though.
- Loudspeaker posted an Average result in our test.
- Excellent still camera output from the rear camera with a lot of detail, well controlled noise in good light, and pleasing colors.
- Superb 4K video recording, plenty of detail, vivid colors, stable focus and exposure. Limited dynamic range leaves shadows too dark though. 1080p video is disappointing.
- 8MP front-facing camera captures detailed selfies with natural colors.
The vivo Xplay5 Elite is a premium smartphone and commands a high price. That said, its price of about $650 in China is still some $200 less than what Samsung's charging on the Galaxy S7 edge, and the S6 edge+ isn't much cheaper than its successor either. That makes the Elite a viable alternative to the two Samsung curve-screened offerings, and you won't really be sacrificing much.
The S7 edge has IP certification, better battery life and inductive charging, plus that dual-pixel autofocus, and potentially better support down the line, so it's up to you if those features can justify the higher price. The Xplay5 Elite on the other hand has a higher-res primary camera, that can give the S7 edge a run for its money, and 4K video quality may actually be on vivo's side too.
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
The OnePlus 3 is often in the same conversation when the Xplay5 Elite gets mentioned, both of them sporting 6GB of RAM on top of their Snapdragon 820's. Audio enthusiasts may opt for the vivo for its dual-DAC-triple-amp setup, and the Elite does win a few extra points for fashion with its curved display. The OnePlus 3 is significantly more affordable though, and has better chances for official software updates, plus a very active community for unofficial mods.
OnePlus 3
The Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe has yet to hit the stores, but if you haven't yet picked up a vivo Xplay5 Elite, the Zenfone may be worth waiting for. With a price of $500, the Deluxe will spare you $150 over the Elite, but you'll be trading off display resolution, not to mention curves. That 3,000mAh battery inside the Asus phablet raises some concerns, though.
Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe ZS570KL
And if we're going the affordable route there are also the ZUK Z2 Pro and the LeEco Le Max 2 - both fully tricked-out smartphones retailing for about $420 and $380, respectively. Neither has the Elite's flair, that's for sure, but both match it on chipset and RAM (in the top-spec'd versions).
Lenovo ZUK Z2 Pro • LeEco Le Max 2
Ultimately, whether the vivo Xplay5 Elite is the right phone for you could be down to simple a yes/no question. Let's say it is available to purchase where you are, which is hardly a given, in that case it's not a very tough choice over one of Samsung's edges - it's cheaper, yet as capable.
Then again, there are similarly equipped competitors for, say, two thirds of the Elite's asking price. None of them has a dual-curved display and that premium presence but then again, they don't raise questions about your aesthetic motivation.
Yes, vivo has gone to a new extreme by pulling a double impersonation with the Xplay5 Eilte. Something more subtle may arguably have been more convincing but obviously easier to miss too.
The same goes for the price. But hey, wouldn't you be suspicious if it looks like a Samsung Edge and an iPhone 6 at the same time, and it's cheap.
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