vivo X300 FE review

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Introduction

The global sales of the vivo X300 FE have just begun, and it's only natural that we take a deep dive into the most balanced X300 flagship just yet. We have already explored the X300, X300 Pro and X300 Ultra, some properly impressive cameraphones, and our expectations of the X300 FE are quite through the roof as well.

While the rest of the X300 series had a clear focus on the camera experience, the X300 FE aims at something else - a balanced package between speed and imaging skills, long battery life and compact form factor. And, at least on paper, it seems vivo has achieved all of these.

The X300 FE is based around a rather compact 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED with high resolution and high refresh rate, and it is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip coupled with 12GB DDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage.

The X300 FE features a solid camera kit with a 50MP primary, a 50MP 3x telephoto, and an 8MP ultrawide imager. There is another 50MP AF selfie camera on the other side. The FE model is still photography-focused, and vivo is offering a special edition with a Zeiss Professional Kit - a Zeiss Gen 2 Telephoto Extender Lens (200mm), the case you need to mount it on the phone, and a carrying case for the lens.

Even if compact, the vivo X300 FE packs a large capacity battery - 6,500mAh - and it supports 90W wired and 40W wireless charging.

Finally, there is the question about the vivo X300 FE design - while equally durable as the rest of the X300 series, this model looks more like the recent Pixel phones than the vivo models because of its horizontal camera arrangement on the back.

Well, we are quite intrigued by the vivo X300 FE, so let's take a quick scroll through the specs sheet and kick this review off.

vivo X300 FE specs at a glance:

• Body: 150.8x71.8x8.2mm, 190g; Glass front, aluminum frame, glass back; IP68/IP69 dust tight and water resistant (high pressure water jets; immersible up to 1.5m for 30 min).
• Display: 6.31" LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 2160Hz PWM, HDR10+, 5000 nits (peak), 1216x2640px resolution, 19.54:9 aspect ratio, 461ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8845 Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 (3 nm): Octa-core (2x3.8 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L + 6x3.32 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M); Adreno 829.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.1.
• OS/Software: Android 16, up to 5 major Android upgrades, OriginOS 6.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.6, 23mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/2.7, 73mm, 1/1.95", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom; Optional add-on zoom lenses: 200mm, 2.35x optical zoom, Zeiss optics; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 15mm, 115˚, 1/4.0", 1.12µm.
• Front camera: 50 MP, f/2.0, 20mm (wide), 1/2.76", 0.64µm, AF.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60/120fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps; gyro-EIS, OIS; Front camera: 4K, 1080p.
• Battery: 6500mAh; 90W wired, PD, 100% in 55 min, 40W wireless, Reverse wireless, Reverse wired, Bypass charging.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.4; NFC; Infrared port.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); stereo speakers.

We cannot think of anything that's really missing on the vivo X300 FE. We are not fans of the basic ultrawide-angle camera though and given that the X300 FE costs more than the X300, it could have offered a better imager for sure.

Unboxing the vivo X300 FE

The vivo X300 FE ships inside a square black box filled with goodies - there is a 90W adapter, an 8.5A-rated USB cable, and a soft case with a matching color to the X300 FE's back (lilac in our package).