Design, build quality, handling
You can immediately spot the relation between the vivo X300 and X300 Pro. This year the X300 has an all-flat design with glass panels and an aluminum frame. Everything is silky smooth with a matte finish.
The texture of the back panel feels velvety because it is not only matte, but almost soft, too. That’s thanks to what vivo calls a Coral Velvet Glass Technique. The whole thing is smudge-repellent, but also quite slippery.
The camera island is similar to the one on the X300 Pro, but while equally large and rounded, it is less sticking out, which further helps the X300 case for a compact and lightweight flagship. And, indeed, the X300 measures 150.6 x 71.9 x 8 mm and weighs just 190 grams.
You can get the X300 in Black, Blue (ours), Purple, and Pink colorways.
The X300 is IP68 and IP69 rated for dust, water and pressurized water resistance.
And now, let’s take a closer look at the X300.
The front is a home to the 6.31-inch LTPO OLED of high resolution and high frame rate. We will explore the screen in more detail on the next page, but for now, we’ll just point out how impressively thin and even its bezels are – they are just 1.05mm thick.
There is an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor under the display, which works flawlessly.
The screen has a small punch hole for the new 50MP selfie camera with autofocus.
The final bit at the front is the earpiece, which, together with its top-facing outlet, makes for a stereo speaker.
The back is where the photography magic happens. The round black blob contains the 200MP primary, the 50MP telephoto and the 50MP ultrawide cameras. Also, here you will find an IR blaster, a color temperature sensor, the laser transmitter and receiver for the autofocus assistance, and a microphone.
Outside the big camera island is the dual-LED flash that’s flush with the back panel.
Unlike on many other cameraphones, while big, the camera housing appears to be thinner than expected. It has a distinctive, fluid sloping edge, and ends with a super-thin metal ring.
The sides of the X300 are rather standard – the metal frame has a very subtle 2.5D finish and it’s all matte.
The left side is completely bare, while the right side houses the power and volume keys. There is no shortcut here like on the X300 Pro (and the iPhones).
The top has the speaker outlet and one microphone.
Finally, the bottom packs the primary microphone, the USB-C port, the other stereo speaker, and the SIM tray.
Handling the vivo X300 feels great – it’s not particularly small, but it disappears in a jeans pocket and it’s really easy to use with a single hand. And, weighing less than 200g, it’s substantial but relatively lightweight.
The X300 finish makes it feel super smooth, but this also means it’s not very grippy. If that bothers you, the bundled case will solve these problems at the cost of some added thickness.
