Design, build quality, handling
The vivo V80 is a stylish smartphone with a traditional glass-and-metal build. It features protective front glass co-developed with Schott, an aluminum frame, and a glass back with a matte finish. All surfaces are mostly flat.
This year, vivo has opted for a larger camera housing, reminiscent of the iPhone 17 Pro, which stretches across the entire width of the phone. While it looks unnecessarily large, it gives the V80 a more cohesive appearance and reduces wobbling when using the phone on a flat surface.
There are new colors, too – Stellar Black, Sunrise Anthem (orange), and Horizon Blue (ours). There is also a limited Starwish Purple edition with star-shaped patterns on the back. We particularly like the sense of depth created by the matte layer over the rear glass.
The vivo V80 carries IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance, including protection against high-pressure water jets.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the vivo V80.
The front is dominated by a 6.59-inch AMOLED display with impressively thin and uniform bezels. This generation also brings a higher refresh rate of up to 144Hz.
A small punch-hole near the top houses the 50MP selfie camera with autofocus.
Below the display sits an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, neatly concealed beneath the glass. It’s fast and reliable, and we had no issues with it throughout our review. Ultrasonic readers generally offer more consistent recognition than their optical counterparts.
Just above the screen is an almost invisible earpiece, which also serves as part of the stereo speaker setup, along with an additional top-facing sound outlet.
The back is arguably the V80’s most distinctive design element. It’s made from a single piece of glass, with the camera housing rising gently from the otherwise flat surface. The transition is smooth and visually pleasing, while the uniform matte finish looks nice and does a great job of keeping fingerprints at bay.
The camera island houses three cameras, each surrounded by a metal ring, along with a dual-LED, dual-tone flash, a ring-shaped LED fill light for video recording, and the Zeiss logo.
There’s nothing unusual about the sides of the vivo V80. The left side is completely bare.
The right side houses the volume rocker and power/lock button.
The top has a microphone.
At the bottom, you’ll find the USB-C port flanked by two microphones, the SIM tray, and the main loudspeaker.
The vivo V80 measures 157.5 x 74.3 x 7.7 mm and weighs 203 grams. It’s a Goldilocks size, which neither feels particularly large nor compact, but just right in the hand. The weight is well distributed, and despite tipping the scales at over 200 grams, the V80 never feels excessively bulky.
Finally, the smooth matte back is excellent at resisting fingerprints, but doesn’t offer much in the way of grip. The V80 is quite slippery, so if you’re worried about dropping it, the bundled case is worth using. Like many matte-finished phones nowadays, the V80 gets an A for looks and a D for grip.