vivo X200 FE Review

We all know how great the X200 lineup from vivo is, featuring ZEISS Cameras, high-quality batteries, multimedia capabilities, and excellent performance. We had experienced the vivo X200 Pro last year, and it certainly made a lasting impression in our books.

And now, vivo is bringing the X200 FE for the very first time to our shores. This compact flagship phone is getting great reviews for how it caters to users’ needs, and who are we not to give it a try and explore it more to see its capabilities.

For its price of PHP 44,999, is it worth that much to have it as your daily buddy? We’ll all find out in this review.

Design and Construction

At first glance, I fell in love with its overall design so quickly. It exudes an appealing profile that would automatically capture your attention and sight. And how can I say so? I’ve let my friends enjoy the phone, and their first reaction was all about how it looks. They didn’t just like it, they totally loved it.

Knowing some of them are Apple users, but they highly prefer the design and build of the phone. Mine comes in Blue Breeze color disguise, but vivo is bringing two colorways here in the Philippines, and the other tone is the Black Luxe. As a person who loves monochromatic colors, I would love to have mine in Black, but Blue captivated my heart.

Both front and back panels are made out of glass. The back features a matte-finish display with the vivo moniker at the bottom left part in a silver reflective tone, and the front cover is made out of reinforced Gorilla Shield Glass. The back doesn’t magnetize any fingerprint which we pretty liked about it.

Side frames are also matte, and they’re made of aluminum. The camera island only houses the two lenses with sensors, while the other one and the vivo flash, or what they call the “Aura Light” are just beside it.

The ergonomic curves make it more handy, weighing 186g. Super light and the thickness is at 7.9mm. Perfect fit for peeps out there with smaller hands like me and it’s not that small for users who have humongous ones. With its size, it’ll fit your pocket and bag without taking up much space.

Apart from having good ergonomics, the phone’s durability is outstanding. With how compact it looks, it can resist impacts from drops. The vivo X200 FE has a triple SGS certification, military-grade certification, and an IP68/69 rating, which protects it from dust and water. It does come with a cover case for an added layer of protection.

For I/Os, the power and volume buttons are seen on the right side, while the left side is neat. At the bottom, you’ll see the Type-C Port, Speaker grill, and SIM Tray slot. Up top, you can see the IR Blaster and NC mic.

Display and Multimedia

Now, let’s talk about our multimedia experience on the vivo X200 FE. The phone sports a 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED display with support for a smooth and adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. But I just set my refresh rate to “Smart switch” for less power consumption and it just lets me glide through apps and windows without stuttering.

It houses a front camera in a punch-hole design which makes it neater, together with the X200 FE’s thin bezels. Complementing the entire display and creating an appealing look for users to enjoy.

We did have a nice viewing experience, and what we liked most about it is that it delivers a good balance of colors, contrast, and deep blacks. From watching movies, streaming music videos, reading content, and just using it for surfing, I can say that I’m loving its accuracy and it shows why users will enjoy the display because of its high pixel density (460ppi). Even though it doesn’t have Dolby Vision, you can still see great colors.

And don’t worry about how you’ll use it on a sunny day or at any outdoor space, this one can reach a peak brightness of up to 5000 nits. No need to cover your phone while you’re outside just to see notifs or check out some snaps, coz your vivo X200 FE will make your life easier.

For audio, the dual-stereo speakers are loud and crisp. It just suits perfectly with the display. Both are complementary and work together to satisfy one’s multimedia experience. This sealed the deal for its display and has justified how great the display is.

As per security biometrics, the vivo X200 FE supports both a facial and fingerprint sensor. The phone has an always-on display, which lets you read notifications and messages right away.

Performance and Benchmarks

At the heart of the vivo X200 FE is a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ that keeps everything performing to its best capabilities. This is paired with 12GB RAM with another 12GB dynamic RAM extension and 512GB of internal storage.

Just to clear things up, this chip may not be as powerful as you would expect it to be, but mind you, it handled my tasks so smoothly. Everything I threw at it just goes buttery smooth. Jumping from one window to another, it never lags or anything.

As for gaming, we did try playing MOBA title games at a maximum graphic setting, and it ran seamlessly. No matter how many gameplays you do, it can deliver decent performance. And if you’re wondering about higher-demand titles like Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, the X200 FE played well without having serious frame drops.

My only gripe about my experience on this is about the thermal cooling system; it dissipated heat that fast, which made me feel the phone warm to the touch. After playing for about 3 gameplays on Mobile Legends, I noticed it immediately. I also let my colleagues play with it after I had rested the phone for about an hour and they also eventually felt it as well.

It’s not something I should be worried about, but it was so immediate, coz I did set my expectations for this phone at this price range to be so well in terms of managing its cooling system.

For benchmark results, the vivo X200 FE scored 1.8 million plus on Antutu and had maxed out 3DMark Wild Life Test. All scores showed great numbers, so if you’re really interested, it’s all attached below.

OS, Apps and UI

The vivo X200 FE runs the Funtouch OS 15 based on Android 15. The current OS has a suite of AI tools you can use for efficiency in doing tasks and fulfilling responsibilities with its help.

As per its UI, it’s now customizable and allows you to design your phone the way you want it to be in terms of its themes. This makes it even fun than it looks. There are some bloatware apps that are already around, but manageable to delete if you’re bothered about it.

The vivo X200 FE lets you enjoy what it calls the AI Office. It has AI Circle to search, AI Screen Translation which Google Lens is integrated into a new sidebar for one-tap interpretation of webpages, articles, or websites, satisfying communication and transit requirements in nations with several languages; AI Smart Call Assistant which handles summary records for convenient tracking, automatically isolates important points and action items to skip replays, and offers real-time call translation with on-screen text/voice output; and AI Captions, this feature offers real-time speech-to-text conversion and automatically creates important meeting material summaries.

Additionally, it facilitates multilingual translation to guarantee smooth communication. You can use this during meetings and calls.

And now, the vivo X200 FE has the vivo DocMaster, a native app that lets you open files in Word, Excel, PDF, and Presentation format to work on your vivo phone without the hassle of installing apps that can eat up space.

Vivo promises to have four years of OS updates, three significant Android upgrades, and an extra year of security fixes. This implies that it will continue to get security patches and updates for the next Android versions for a long time.

Connectivity and Battery

The vivo X200 FE packs a huge 6500mAh  Battery pack with support for 90W FlashCharge via USB Type-C. In a small-sized smartphone, there’s a battery supply that can power up the phone that can last you almost 2days or more.

In our PCMark Battery test, the phone was able to record a result of 20 Hours and 39 Minutes. For a phone with a battery pack like that, it pumped an accurate result for real-world use.

To be completely honest with you, I’ve been using my vivo X200 FE for almost 2 weeks now and with just casual use, the phone can almost last for 3 days til it drains its juice.

Nothing to complain about this segment and charging the phone with its primary power brick, it can charge the vivo X200 FE swiftly. I usually charge every smartphone at 20% and in less than an hour, the vivo X200 FE fills it.

Take note, the vivo X200 FE doesn’t support bypass charging. And again, it depends on the user’s lifestyle on how he/she use the phone. But as of my experience, this is what I’ve encountered so far.

For connectivity, the vivo X200 FE has support for Wi-Fi 7, 5G, 4G LTE, e-SIM, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, and NFC.

Cameras

Of course, this segment is something we can never forget about the X200 series, photography. The vivo X200 FE carries a triple rear set-up, comprised of a 50MP Main Camera (Sony IMX921), 50MP Telephoto Lens, and an 8MP Ultrawide Lens- all Zeiss lenses.

The oblong-shaped camera island only carries two Zeiss lenses, which are the Main and Telephoto. I just wondered why they haven’t tried to fit the ultra-wide lens, instead of excluding it from the island itself. Or they could’ve switched the sensor between the main and telephoto with the ultrawide. Regardless of its position, the cameras are great.

I have no complaints about how the cameras perform indoors and outdoors. It captures great quality images even from afar. You can enjoy zooming up to 100X max when taking snaps. The balance of colors and contrast is impeccable, and images are leaning towards warmer-toned portraits.

Even the 50MP Zeiss Selfie Shooter, I just loved how clear and detailed every photo I take with it. It can shoot at 0.8 to 2x with the selfie lens. At night and in a dark lit environment, images turned out so well. And with the help of its Dual Aura Light, it brightens up the photo and gives justice to the portraits we imagine capturing.

Aside from amazing lenses, the native editing app inside the gallery lets you enjoy the AI-powered tools. You can make fun now of the AI Magic Move, AI Image Expander, and AI Reflection Erase. With the help of these features, you can create well-composed images enhanced by the editing app.

There’s also a street photography feature inside the default camera app, which can be accessed by just clicking the arrow below the shutter button. It lets you take images in different film tones.

And when it comes to shooting video, the vivo X200 FE can shoot at 4K@60FPS for all the cameras. But once stabilization mode is enabled, video capability lowers to 1080P@60FPS resolution. And another fun feature worth mentioning is that you can take videos with a teleprompter on your default camera app. No need for third-party apps for you to perfect your speech because vivo X200 FE, serves all the things you need.

So, for those interested who are interested on our snaps, it’s actually down here:

Conclusion

The vivo X200 FE shapes up to be one of the most compelling “FE” devices we’ve seen in recent memory. vivo manages to strike an impressive balance between premium design, reliable performance, and competitive pricing, making this phone a solid contender in the category.

From the get-go, you’re greeted with a sleek build and an immersive AMOLED display that’s bright, sharp, and perfect for binge-watching or gaming on the go. Performance is equally reliable thanks to the efficient chipset under the hood, capable of handling everyday tasks without breaking a sweat.

Battery life is another strong point here. With a large cell and vivo’s fast-charging support, you’re looking at a phone that can confidently last you a full day — and quickly juice back up when needed. The camera system is great, Zeiss lenses never disappoint.

Of course, it’s not flawless; the cooling system could use more improvement by dissipating heat properly. Still, at its price point of PHP 44,999, the vivo X200 FE offers excellent value, blending style, performance, and practicality in a package that feels tailor-made for users who want more without overspending.

How’s the vivo X200 FE for you in this review? Will you buy this one as your daily buddy? Share your thoughts with us. You can also comment here for more tech-related content. Please follow us on our socials and stay tuned here at our website for tech news and updates.

vivo X200 FE specs:
6.3 1-inch 1.5K LTPO AMOLED @ 2640 x 1216 pixels, 460 ppi
120Hz refresh rate, 4500 nits peak brightness
MediaTek Dimensity 9300+
4nm, octa-core, up to 3.4GHz
12GB LPDDR5x RAM
512GB UFS3.1 storage
Triple rear cameras (tuned by ZEISS) :
– 50MP f/1.88 main, OIS
– 50MP f/2.65 telephoto, 3x optical zoom
– 8MP f/2.2
50 MP f/2. 0 selfie shooter (punch-hole notch)
Dual nano-SIM, supports e-SIM
5G, 4G LTE
WiFi 7
Bluetooth 5.4
GPS, Beidou, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, A-GPS
USB Type-C
NFC
Under-display fingerprint sensor
IP68/IP69 dust and water resistance
IR blaster
Funtouch OS 15, Android 15
6,500mAh battery, 90W charging (wired)
150.83 x 71.76 x 7.99 mm (dimensions)
186 grams (weight)
Blue Breeze, Black Luxe (colorways)