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Xiaomi 17 Pro Review: Refined in All the Right Places

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PROS:


  • Capable camera setup with excellent 5x telephoto camera

  • Great battery life from the big 7,000mAh battery

  • Refined, premium design with rich color options

  • Bright, smooth display with strong eye-care features

CONS:


  • Telemacro mode is not especially sharp

  • Fingerprint sensor sits too close to the bottom edge of the display

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Xiaomi 17T Pro is a confident refinement of an already strong formula, pairing elegant design with excellent battery life and one of the best telephoto cameras in its class.

Xiaomi is bringing back its T series with the Xiaomi 17T and Xiaomi 17T Pro, but this time the schedule feels unusually aggressive. Instead of the typical September-style annual launch, the new models arrive only about six months after the 15T series. That shorter gap also brings the T series closer to the Xiaomi 17 and 17 Ultra launch window, which usually falls between late February and early March, making the company’s flagship lineup feel more cohesive across the year.

The Xiaomi 15T Pro was one of my favorite affordable flagships of the past year, particularly for its design and camera performance. So I was pleased to see that Xiaomi has not abandoned that formula. The design language remains largely the same, and so does the familiar triple camera setup.

Designer: Xiaomi

On paper, the Xiaomi 17T Pro still makes a strong case for itself. It features a 6.83-inch 144Hz display with peak brightness of up to 3,500 nits, a triple camera system with a 5x periscope telephoto camera, and a larger 7,000mAh battery with 100W wired charging. Continuing a partnership with Leica that is now in its fifth year, Xiaomi also introduces Leica Live Moment with the 17T series, adding a new layer of visual storytelling shaped by Leica’s photographic look.

I have been testing the Xiaomi 17T Pro for about a week to get an early sense of how this year’s T series performs. Even at this stage, it already feels like a phone that knows exactly what made its predecessor appealing. The question is not whether Xiaomi changed everything, but whether it refined the right things.

Aesthetics

At first glance, the Xiaomi 17T Pro looks almost identical to its predecessor, and that is not a bad thing at all. When a design language already works, refinement can be more valuable than reinvention. Rather than chasing a dramatic visual reset, Xiaomi builds on a form that already felt resolved, keeping the same restrained character while sharpening the details that made the earlier model appealing.

What continues to make this T series design stand out is the way restraint is paired with color. The silhouette remains minimalistic, but it is lifted by finishes that feel subtle yet premium. Instead of relying on loud textures or flashy accents, the phone creates presence through tone, depth, and gentle shifts in light, giving it a more personal quality.

Compared to the 15T Pro, there is also a clear shift in the finish itself. The older model had more of a shimmer, while the 17T Pro moves toward a sheen finish instead. Both have their appeal. The shimmer of the 15T Pro feels lively and expressive, while the sheen of the 17T Pro feels smoother and more understated.

The Xiaomi 17T Pro comes in Deep Blue, Deep Purple, and Black. I received the Deep Blue variant, and it made the strongest first impression with its deep purple undertone, which adds richness and subtle variation depending on the light. Deep Purple feels a little warmer and more expressive, while Black is the most understated of the three, though it still has a deep navy undertone that keeps it from looking flat.

Another key part of the visual identity is the square camera housing, which is color-matched to the rest of the body. The continuous side frame and matching buttons also help the device feel more unified and architectural. The only minor distraction is the regulatory markings on the lower right of the back panel, which are a bit more noticeable than I would like on an otherwise very clean design.

Ergonomics

The Xiaomi 17T Pro remains close to its predecessor in both size and weight, measuring 162.2 x 77.5 x 8.25mm and weighing 219g. Those numbers are substantial, but they make sense for a phone with a 6.82-inch display, 7,000mAh battery, and a capable camera system. Given the hardware it packs in, Xiaomi has done a good job balancing flagship ambition with everyday usability.

This is not really a one-handed phone unless you have large hands, but it avoids feeling awkward. The smooth pebble-like texture of the back panel helps here, making the phone feel softer and more natural in the hand. Combined with the frame and the gentle transitions from the back panel, the edges do not dig into the palm even when you are using it a little awkwardly with one hand. The weight is also well balanced, which makes the phone feel more controlled than its size might suggest.

One detail that could be improved is the fingerprint sensor placement. It sits quite close to the bottom edge of the display, which makes unlocking the phone feel a bit awkward at times. It is something you can get used to, but a slightly higher position would have felt more natural.

Performance

The Xiaomi 17T Pro feels fast and responsive in everyday use, which is exactly what you would hope for from a flagship built around the MediaTek Dimensity 9500. Paired with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage, the phone has more than enough headroom for smooth navigation, quick app launches, and fluid multitasking. The phone runs Xiaomi HyperOS 3 based on Android 16 out of the box, and so far, the overall experience feels snappy and polished rather than overly busy.

A big part of that impression comes from the display. The 6.83-inch AMOLED panel has a 1.5K resolution of 2772 x 1280, a refresh rate of up to 144Hz, and peak brightness of up to 3,500 nits. It also supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, which helps content look vivid and high contrast when the source material allows. Xiaomi includes both DC dimming and PWM dimming and introduces Xiaomi Vision Care with the 17T Pro. The 17T series is also the first in the industry to receive TÜV Rheinland quadruple eye care certification, including Low Blue Light, Circadian Friendly, Flicker Free, and Intelligent Eye Care, with the display designed to deliver a more comfortable viewing experience over longer sessions.

The camera system builds on what already worked well on the 15T Pro rather than trying to reinvent the formula. On the back, you get a 50MP main camera, a 50MP telephoto camera, and a 12MP ultra-wide camera, while the front houses a 32MP selfie camera. All three rear cameras carry Leica branding, and as usual, Xiaomi lets you choose between Leica Vibrant and Leica Authentic color profiles. I usually prefer Leica Authentic because it delivers that signature Leica look, though Leica Vibrant tends to work better for food photography, where a little extra punch can be welcome.

1x Main, Leica Authentic

1x Main, Leica Authentic

5x Telephoto, Leica Vibrant

The 23mm-equivalent main camera with its f/1.67 aperture takes great photos with a pleasing level of detail, good exposure, and a wide dynamic range in good lighting. Colors look realistic rather than overly processed, which gives the images a more natural feel. Low-light performance is also strong overall, with good detail retention and very little visible noise. It feels like a dependable main camera that can handle a wide range of situations without much fuss.

5x Telephoto

10x Telephoto

The 115mm-equivalent telephoto camera with its f/3.0 aperture is really the star of the show. It delivers shots with strong detail, good exposure, and a wide dynamic range, while color stays fairly consistent with the main camera. Even in low light or more difficult lighting conditions, it manages to hold onto detail impressively well. The telemacro mode is less convincing, though. It is not especially sharp, and with a minimum focus distance of 30cm, it does not let you get quite as close to the subject as I would have liked.

0.6x Ultra-wide, Leica Vibrant with Film Positive filter

5x Telephoto, Leica Authentic

5x Telephoto, Leica Authentic

The 15mm-equivalent ultra-wide camera with its f/2.2 aperture and 120-degree field of view is the weakest of the three rear cameras, but it still delivers solid results. Detail can look a bit softer compared to the main and telephoto cameras, though dynamic range remains good, and the overall output is still perfectly usable. It may not be the standout lens in the system, but it does its job well enough for most casual wide shots.

Portrait mode is another strong point. You can choose between Master Portrait and Leica Portrait, and both styles deliver attractive results with natural-looking background blur. Subject isolation is consistently well judged, which helps portraits look polished without feeling overly artificial.

2x Main, Master Portrait

5x Telephoto, Master Portrait

5x Telephoto, Master Portrait

One of the more playful additions is Leica Live Moment, which lets you capture live motion photos with Leica color tone. I usually turn off live motion photos on most phones because the still image quality often takes a hit, and the moving portion can end up looking blurry. With the 17T Pro, though, I could clearly see the appeal.

It adds a little more story and spontaneity to the image, and the fact that it is available even in Portrait mode makes it more versatile than I expected. I tried it with kids, pets, a couple dancing, and an approaching train, all of which felt like good examples of where the feature makes sense. In those moments, it preserved a bit of movement and atmosphere that a still image alone would not fully capture. You do need to keep the phone fairly still; the motion portion can end up showing too much camera movement. Even so, when it works, it is a genuinely fun feature.

2x Main, Leica Vibrant with B&W Filter

Video is another area where the 17T Pro feels well-equipped. The main camera can record up to 8K at 30fps or 4K at 120fps. The telephoto and ultra-wide cameras are capped at 4K at 60fps, while the front camera tops out at 4K at 30fps. Xiaomi also lets you shoot in Log with all rear cameras, and there is a Movie mode that adds cinematic background blur for a more stylized look. Video quality has been very good across different lighting conditions on both the main and telephoto cameras, with wide dynamic range, solid exposure, and a generally polished result.

Battery size is one of the biggest improvements over the previous model. With its 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, the 17T Pro gives a reassuring sense of stamina that matches its large size, and it has felt great in day-to-day use. Even with a full day of heavy camera use, the phone was able to last the entire day, and with lighter use, it can easily stretch beyond that. It supports 100W wired charge, 55W wireless HyperCharge, and 22.5W wired reverse charge.

Sustainability

The Xiaomi 17T Pro makes a reasonable case for longevity through both durability and software support. It comes with an IP68 rating, Corning Gorilla Glass 7i on both the display and back panel, and a high-strength aluminum frame. Those details may not define sustainability on their own, but they do suggest a phone built to hold up well over time.

Xiaomi is also promising 5 generations of Android upgrades and 6 years of security patches, which gives the 17T Pro a longer life beyond the hardware itself. That matters because one of the most practical forms of sustainability is simply keeping a phone useful for longer. The 17T Pro may not radically change the sustainability conversation, but it does feel like a device designed with longevity in mind.

Value

The Xiaomi 17T Pro comes in three configurations: 12GB + 256GB, 12GB + 512GB, and 12GB + 1TB, with prices starting at 899 euros. That is 100 euros more than the 15T Pro, which is a noticeable jump for the series. It does make the 17T Pro feel a little less aggressively priced than its predecessor.

Still, the increase does not feel entirely surprising given the recent rise in memory prices. Xiaomi is also unlikely to be the only brand adjusting prices in 2026. With its larger 7,000mAh battery, refined design, strong telephoto camera, and solid software support, the 17T Pro still feels like a well-rounded flagship that offers good value overall.

Verdict

The Xiaomi 17T Pro does not try to reinvent what made the T series appealing, and that is exactly why it works. Instead, it takes the core strengths of the 15T Pro, including the restrained design, strong camera system, and flagship-like everyday performance, and refines them in ways that feel practical rather than flashy. The result is a phone that feels more mature than dramatic, but also more complete.

What stands out most is how balanced the overall package feels. The telephoto camera is genuinely excellent, the battery life is a major step up, and the design still has a quiet confidence that helps the phone stand out without trying too hard. There are a few compromises, of course. The ultra-wide camera is merely good rather than great, the fingerprint sensor sits lower than it should, and the higher starting price means the 17T Pro no longer feels quite as aggressively positioned as earlier T Pro devices.

Even so, Xiaomi has refined the right things. The 17T Pro feels like a phone that understands its own appeal and leans into it with confidence. It is not chasing attention with gimmicks or trying to prove itself through excess. Instead, it delivers the kind of thoughtful, well-rounded flagship experience that becomes more convincing the longer you use it, and that is what makes it easy to recommend.

The post Xiaomi 17 Pro Review: Refined in All the Right Places first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei MatePad Pro Max PaperMatte Edition Review: Thinnest 13-inch Tablet Nails Portability and Creativity

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PROS:


  • Impressively thin and lightweight

  • Excellent PaperMatte OLED display with ultra-thin bezels

  • M-Pencil feels highly responsive and natural for writing and drawing

  • Glide Keyboard adds useful productivity features, including secure stylus storage

CONS:


  • Wi-Fi only, with no cellular option

  • Glide Keyboard has no backlight

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Huawei MatePad Pro Max pairs an ultra-thin and lightweight design with a refined PaperMatte display and excellent stylus experience, making it one of Huawei’s most compelling tablets for creativity and everyday use.
award-icon

MatePad Pro Max PaperMatte Edition is the company’s largest tablet yet, and it arrives with a design that feels almost implausible in person. It is remarkably thin, unusually light for its size, and still positioned as a serious performance tablet rather than a pure showpiece. On paper, the appeal is immediate. You get a full-metal body, a 13.2-inch flexible OLED display, a 94 percent screen-to-body ratio, and a chassis that measures just 4.7mm thin.

Huawei is also aiming for a premium experience that extends well beyond the tablet itself. The ultra-thin bezel, the optional matte display treatment, the large battery, and the refined metal construction all work together to make the MatePad Pro Max feel elevated before the screen even turns on. Add in optional accessories like the Glide Keyboard and M-Pencil Pro, and it is clearly designed to stretch beyond entertainment into productivity and creative work. The real question is whether all of that sleek hardware leads to a meaningfully better everyday experience, or if it is simply a beautiful piece of industrial design wrapped around the usual tablet compromises.

Designer: Huawei

Aesthetics

The MatePad Pro Max is a sleek, premium-looking slate that relies on clean proportions and refined finishes rather than flashy details. It comes in Blue and Space Gray, and the blue version I received is especially striking. Its fine glitter finish catches the light beautifully and gives the back panel a more expressive look.

The full-metal body keeps the design simple and clean, while the round camera bump on the upper right adds a bit of visual weight to one corner, and the centered Huawei branding keeps the back from feeling too plain. Around the sides, the glossy frame adds a bit of contrast, with the power button and fingerprint scanner on the left side from the display view, and the volume rocker along the top. Huawei’s optional accessories also fit the design well, with the keyboard offered in white or black and the folio cover available in black.

Ergonomics

The MatePad Pro Max PaperMatte Edition is surprisingly manageable for a tablet this large. A 13.2-inch display usually suggests a device that is best left on a desk or propped on a stand, but here the physical experience feels far more inviting. At just 4.7mm thin and 509g, it feels notably easy to carry and hold for longer stretches.

Huawei calls it the world’s thinnest 13-inch-plus tablet, and that slimness is immediately noticeable in use. Even so, it does not feel flimsy or overly delicate in hand. The build still feels solid, though I would still handle it with some care, given just how thin the body is.

The Glide Keyboard adds 439g, but the full setup still feels very manageable for its size. What I like most is the integrated pen slot, which stores the M-Pencil more securely than a simple magnetic attachment on the side of the tablet. That small detail makes a real difference if you tend to toss your tablet into a bag and go, since the stylus feels less likely to come loose.

The keyboard itself is pleasant to type on, and the hinge feels sturdy in use. It gives the MatePad Pro Max a more laptop-like feel when you need to get work done. The main limitation is that the viewing angle is fixed to two positions, so it is less flexible than some other tablet keyboard setups. It also lacks a backlight, which makes it less convenient to use in darker environments.

Performance

Performance starts with the display, because it shapes nearly every interaction you have with the MatePad Pro Max. The 13.2-inch flexible OLED panel is large, sharp, and visually immersive, with a 3000 x 2000 resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and up to 1,600 nits peak brightness. It is the kind of screen that makes reading, streaming, and multitasking feel immediately premium, especially with the PaperMatte finish, which helps cut glare and makes the display more comfortable to use in bright environments.

A big part of that immersive feel comes from the tablet’s extremely thin bezel. At just 3.55mm, the border around the display is slim enough to make the front feel almost all screen, helping the MatePad Pro Max reach a 94 percent screen-to-body ratio. Even more impressive is how Huawei has tucked the front camera into that narrow bezel so discreetly that it nearly disappears from view. The result is a front design that feels remarkably clean and uninterrupted, making the display look even more expansive and giving the tablet a more refined, almost futuristic presence in everyday use.

The display quality also lives up to the tablet’s premium design. OLED gives the MatePad Pro Max the deep contrast and rich color you want from a flagship tablet, while the 144Hz refresh rate keeps motion looking fluid and responsive. Whether you are scrolling through documents, flipping between apps, or watching high-quality video, the screen carries a polished sense of smoothness that fits the hardware well. Huawei also gets the basics right when it comes to unlocking the device. Both face recognition and the side-mounted fingerprint scanner worked reliably in my testing. Face unlock was even able to recognize me in the dark, which made the tablet feel quicker and more seamless to use throughout the day.

The MatePad Pro Max runs HarmonyOS 4 out of the box. Huawei does not specify the chipset, but in day-to-day use, performance feels strong and responsive. Apps open quickly, multitasking feels smooth, and the tablet has no trouble keeping up with entertainment, browsing, note-taking, and general productivity. It feels like a flagship tablet in everyday use, even without Huawei sharing much detail about the chip inside.

HarmonyOS also makes decent use of the large display. You can keep up to three apps active and move between them easily, though only one is fully visible at a time in that setup. For more direct multitasking, split-screen lets you run two apps simultaneously, either side by side in landscape or stacked vertically in portrait. On top of that, you can open up to two floating windows, which appear as smaller, resizable panels for quick access to other tasks without fully leaving your main app.

The M-Pencil is also a big part of the experience. It feels very responsive, with no noticeable latency in writing or drawing, and pressure sensitivity works very well. Combined with the PaperMatte display, the writing and sketching experience feels closer to paper than on many other tablets, which makes the MatePad Pro Max especially appealing for note-taking, annotation, and creative work.


Huawei also has one genuinely compelling creative advantage in GoPaint. It is a surprisingly sophisticated painting app that feels much more advanced than a basic bundled sketch tool. You get a wide range of features, including more than 100 brush options, color picking tools, and effects like a splatter brush, which makes it feel like a serious canvas for illustration rather than a simple note-taking extra. Paired with the M-Pencil, it gives the MatePad Pro Max a stronger identity as a creative tablet, not just a productivity device with stylus support.

The bigger consideration is software rather than speed. Because of ongoing U.S. trade restrictions affecting Huawei, the MatePad Pro Max does not come with Google Services, so users who rely heavily on Google’s apps and services will need to find workarounds.

Audio also helps sell the experience. Huawei includes a 6-speaker crossover system with a quad-driver bass unit, and the sound has enough scale to match the size of the display. It gives movies, music, and games more presence than you would expect from something this thin, which makes the tablet feel like a stronger all-around entertainment device rather than just a beautiful screen.

Battery life is also a strong point, given the 10,400mAh battery. Huawei also includes 40W reverse charging, which adds some practical versatility if you want to top up another device in a pinch. The MatePad Pro Max is clearly designed to deliver a premium media and productivity experience, with the display doing most of the heavy lifting and the rest of the hardware supporting it well.

Sustainability

Huawei’s sustainability story here feels understated, which is often the case with premium tablets that prefer to lead with design and experience. The full-metal body should help the MatePad Pro Max feel durable over time, and there is something inherently longevity-friendly about hardware that feels physically refined. A device that remains pleasant to touch, carry, and look at tends to stay in use longer, and that matters even if it is not framed as a sustainability feature.

At the same time, there is not much information that speaks directly to repairability, recycled materials, or long-term software commitments. That absence is worth mentioning because sustainability is no longer just about whether a product looks durable. It is also about whether it can remain relevant, supported, and serviceable over the years. Without stronger messaging around those areas, the MatePad Pro Max feels more premium than progressive on this front. The tablet feels built to last physically, but the broader ownership story remains less defined.

Value

The MatePad Pro Max is priced like a premium tablet. The 12GB + 512GB model with the Folio Cover costs EUR 1,399, or roughly $1,520 USD. The 12GB + 256GB version with the Smart Keyboard is EUR 1,499, about $1,630 USD, while the 16GB + 512GB model with the Smart Keyboard goes up to EUR 1,649, or around $1,790 USD.

At those prices, the MatePad Pro Max is really selling its hardware. The thin and light design, matte OLED display option, slim bezels, and strong stylus experience help it stand out from other large tablets. That said, it is worth noting that this is a Wi-Fi-only tablet with no LTE or cellular option, and there is no microSD card expansion. Storage tops out at 512GB, which should be more than enough for most users, but heavier users who install a lot of AAA games, edit high-resolution video, or keep large media libraries may want to factor that in.

Verdict

The Huawei MatePad Pro Max gets a lot right where it matters most. It is impressively thin and light for a tablet of this size, and that alone changes how approachable it feels in daily use. The 13.2-inch OLED display is the star of the experience, not just because it is large and vibrant, but because the ultra-thin bezel and discreet front camera integration make the whole front feel unusually clean and immersive. The matte screen is also a real treat, giving the display a more comfortable, paper-like quality that makes watching, reading, writing, and drawing feel more enjoyable over longer stretches.

What makes it stand out is how well the hardware and creative experience come together. The writing and drawing feel is excellent, GoPaint is more capable than expected, and the Glide Keyboard adds real utility without making the setup feel cumbersome. There are still a few tradeoffs, including the keyboard’s limited angle adjustment, lack of backlight, and the Wi-Fi-only setup with no microSD expansion, but for many users, those will be secondary to the overall experience. Huawei’s software situation also still requires some adjustment depending on your workflow.

Even with those caveats, the MatePad Pro Max is a thoughtfully designed tablet that feels distinct in a crowded category. It is not simply trying to be a bigger screen with flagship specs. It is trying to offer a more refined, paper-like, design-conscious experience, and for the right user, it succeeds very well. If your priorities are portability, display quality, and creative work, this is one of the most compelling large tablets Huawei has made.

The post Huawei MatePad Pro Max PaperMatte Edition Review: Thinnest 13-inch Tablet Nails Portability and Creativity first appeared on Yanko Design.

OPPO Find X9 Ultra Review: An Exceptional Camera Phone That Gets Everything Else Right Too

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PROS:


  • One of the best and most flexible camera systems on any phone today

  • Excellent battery life

  • Beautiful, camera-inspired design in the Tundra Umber

  • Feels like a complete flagship, not just a camera phone

CONS:


  • Heavy and not especially one-handed friendly

  • Lens switching in video could be smoother

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The OPPO Find X9 Ultra proves that a camera-first phone does not have to feel like a compromise. It is one of the most complete and compelling flagships of the year so far.

The OPPO Find X9 Ultra is a true flagship with a clear camera-first identity, but what makes it stand out is how little it sacrifices elsewhere. OPPO has built this phone around photography, yet the rest of the package feels just as considered. The design is distinctive, the battery is huge, the performance is top-tier, and the software experience is polished enough to make the Find X9 Ultra feel like a genuine all-rounder rather than a specialist device.

Many camera-focused phones excel in one area while asking users to accept compromises in others, but the Find X9 Ultra aims to do more than that. It wants to be one of the best camera phones on the market while still delivering the kind of complete flagship experience people expect at this level. And for the most part, it succeeds. The OPPO Find X9 Ultra is not just a phone for photography enthusiasts. It is a premium smartphone that happens to put photography first, without forgetting everything else that makes a flagship great.

Designer: OPPO

Aesthetics

The OPPO Find X9 Ultra makes a strong first impression, shaped by two clearly distinct colorways that carry different design languages. Rather than simply offering the same phone in different shades, OPPO gives the device two visual personalities. One leans into classic camera-inspired warmth and tactile richness, while the other takes on a sharper, more expressive character.

That broader design story is rooted in photography. Tundra Umber is the more classic of the two, drawing inspiration from the Hasselblad X2D 100C Earth Explorer Edition while refining the camera-led design language OPPO established with its Ultra series. Its finely textured, eco-friendly vegan leather back is divided into broad vertical panels, giving it a structured, almost camera-body-like feel. A deep bronze-toned matte surround traces those panel divisions and the oversized circular camera housing before continuing into the side frame, helping the whole design feel cohesive.

The camera influence is visible throughout, from the horizontally aligned OPPO and Hasselblad logos to the orange detailing around the camera ring and Quick Button, both nods to Hasselblad’s iconic orange dot. Tundra Umber feels warm, tactile, and understated, with a sense of luxury rooted more in texture and material depth than in visual flash. Canyon Orange takes the opposite approach. Its aircraft-grade fiber back is finished with a sculpted pattern inspired by canyon formations, adding movement and depth to the surface.

Taken together, the two finishes make the Find X9 Ultra feel more thoughtfully designed than most ultra-premium smartphones. Instead of relying on superficial color variation, OPPO uses material, texture, and framing details to create two genuinely different expressions of the same flagship. That gives the device more character, and more importantly, gives buyers a real choice in how they want that character to be expressed.

Ergonomics

The OPPO Find X9 Ultra is unmistakably a large flagship. Measuring 163.16 × 76.97 mm and weighing 236 grams in Tundra Amber or 235 grams in Canyon Orange, it is a phone that feels substantial from the moment you pick it up. The two finishes also differ slightly in thickness, with Tundra Amber at 9.10 mm and Canyon Orange at 8.65 mm, giving each version a subtly different physical character.

Even so, the difference between the two finishes is worth noting, as it subtly changes how the phone feels in daily use. Tundra Amber is both slightly thicker and slightly heavier, and its eco-friendly vegan leather back gives it the more tactile and forgiving grip of the two. Despite the large camera housing, both versions feel balanced rather than top-heavy, and the oversized module can even serve as a natural resting point for the index finger during use.

Performance

The OPPO Find X9 Ultra brings the kind of hardware expected of a true flagship, but what matters most is how that translates into everyday use. For most people, performance is not about benchmark numbers. It is about whether a phone feels fast, fluid, and dependable, and the Find X9 Ultra appears built with very few compromises.

Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, it ranks among the fastest Android phones of its generation. That means quick app launches, smooth multitasking, fast photo processing, and strong gaming performance, all delivered with the kind of effortless responsiveness buyers expect at this level. Offered in 12GB + 512GB and China-only 16GB + 1TB configurations, it also has the memory and storage headroom to remain smooth over time while supporting its demanding camera system without strain.

The Find X9 Ultra’s 6.82-inch AMOLED display is every bit as flagship as the rest of the hardware. With a sharp 3168 x 1440 resolution, a 120Hz LTPO refresh rate, and peak brightness of up to 2500 nits, it feels bright, crisp, and fluid in daily use. Whether you are scrolling, watching a video, or reviewing photos, it delivers the kind of polished visual experience you would expect from a phone in this class.

Portrait Mode

Macro Mode

The camera system, developed in continued partnership with Hasselblad, is where the Find X9 Ultra becomes genuinely distinctive. OPPO has upgraded the entire imaging setup and expanded it into what it now calls a penta-camera system. The rear array includes a 200MP main camera, a 200MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, a 50MP periscope telephoto with 10x optical zoom, a 50MP ultra-wide camera, and a dedicated white balance sensor.

Ultrawide

Main, 1x

The 200MP main camera, built around a 1/1.2-inch Sony LYT-901 sensor with an f/1.5 aperture and OIS, produces images that are crisp, detailed, and rich in dynamic range, with color reproduction that remains pleasingly natural. The 200MP 3x telephoto camera is just as impressive. Using a large 1/1.28-inch OmniVision OV52A sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and OIS, it delivers similarly detailed results with strong dynamic range and balanced color.

Telephoto, 3x

Telephoto, 10x

The 50MP 10x periscope telephoto is the most technically fascinating part of the setup. Long-range zoom in a smartphone is always constrained by space, and OPPO addresses that challenge with its Quintuple Prism Reflection Periscope Structure, which bends light five times before it reaches the sensor. The result is serious optical reach within the tight confines of a smartphone body, making it one of the device’s most ambitious engineering features. Crucially, it is not just impressive in theory. It also captures excellent 10x shots, giving the Find X9 Ultra a level of versatility that few flagships can match.

300mm, Teleconverter

OPPO also offers an optional Hasselblad Earth Explorer Kit, which includes a Bluetooth camera grip case and a dedicated lens mount. Its standout feature is a 300mm lens attachment that extends the system to 13x optical zoom and up to 200x hybrid zoom. The setup is undeniably bulky, but in situations where extra reach really matters, whether for sports, concerts, detailed architectural photography, or other distant subjects, it can be genuinely worthwhile. Results at the optical end are impressive, while pushing further into hybrid zoom brings the familiar decline in image quality.

13x, Normal

13x, With Teleconverter

The 50MP front-facing camera also performs well, capturing detailed selfies with natural-looking skin tones. The 50MP ultra-wide camera is useful and generally capable, but it is the least convincing part of the rear setup, with images that can look a little softer than those from the main and telephoto cameras.

200x, Normal

200x, With Teleconverter

That flexibility extends beyond the hardware. Portrait mode offers seven focal lengths ranging from 1x to 10x, giving users far more freedom in how they frame subjects than most phones allow. More importantly, the Find X9 Ultra generally processes images with a natural touch, avoiding some of the heavy-handed contrast and tone shaping that still affect many smartphone cameras. For those who want an even more photography-focused look, Master Mode uses a different imaging pipeline that steps away from the aggressive tone mapping common to traditional smartphone processing.

Normal

Hasselblad Master Mode

OPPO also equips the Find X9 Ultra with a very capable video system. All cameras support recording at up to 4K 60fps with Dolby Vision, while the main and 3x telephoto cameras can go as high as 4K 120fps or 8K 30fps. Video quality is generally very good, with strong detail, solid stabilization, and an overall polished look. For users who want a more advanced workflow, Pro mode includes Log recording and support for importing custom LUTs, making the phone more flexible for grading and post-production.

That said, the experience is not flawless. Panning at 3x zoom or beyond can sometimes introduce a touch of jitter, and transitions between lenses could be smoother. These are relatively minor complaints in the context of such a flexible video system, but they are worth noting all the same.

Main, 1x, Night Mode

Telephoto, 3x, Night Mode

Telephoto, 10x, Night Mode

Battery life may be just as important to mainstream buyers as the camera system, and the Find X9 Ultra looks especially strong on that front. It comes with a massive 7050mAh silicon-carbon battery, a capacity that should comfortably support heavy use without the low-battery anxiety that still shadows some premium phones.

Charging is impressive too. With OPPO’s proprietary charger, the Find X9 Ultra supports 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, while USB-PD support allows for up to 55W wired charging with compatible third-party adapters. Reverse wired and reverse wireless charging are both available as well, rounding out a battery setup that feels as flexible as it is powerful.

Sustainability

Sustainability in a premium smartphone should be approached from multiple angles, and in the case of the Find X9 Ultra, durability is clearly where OPPO has placed the greatest emphasis. That does not tell the whole sustainability story, but it does give the phone a solid foundation in the areas that most directly affect long-term ownership. In practical terms, OPPO seems more focused on helping the device last longer than on building a broader environmental narrative around it.

It carries IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance, uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front, and has earned an SGS Premium Performance 5-Star drop-resistance certification. OPPO also backs the phone with five major OS updates and six years of security patches, which strengthens the case for keeping the device longer rather than replacing it early. At the same time, OPPO says far less about the broader environmental side of sustainability, so the Find X9 Ultra feels more convincing as a durable long-term device than as a flagship making a wider green statement.

Value

The Find X9 Ultra is priced like a true flagship, and in global markets, it leaves no doubt about that. The 12GB + 512GB version comes in at €1,699.99, or roughly $1,940, while the same configuration in China is priced at CNY 7,999, or about $1,180. That makes the global version undeniably expensive, while the China pricing feels strikingly aggressive by comparison.

What makes the phone interesting is that even at its global price, it still has a real value argument. The camera system is among the very best available today, the battery is exceptionally large for a premium flagship, the design feels distinctive, and the software experience is smooth and pleasant to live with. It is not cheap by any measure, but it does feel like a phone that gives you something memorable in return.

The catch is that this value depends on how much you care about what OPPO is doing differently. If photography, endurance, and design identity sit high on your list, the Find X9 Ultra feels easier to justify. If not, it becomes harder to ignore just how expensive the global model really is.

Verdict

The OPPO Find X9 Ultra stands out by knowing exactly what it wants to be. It is a camera-first flagship with one of the best imaging systems available today, backed by excellent battery life, polished software, and a design that feels more distinctive than most ultra-premium rivals.

There are still compromises. The ultra-wide camera is not quite on the same level as the rest of the setup; some video behavior could be smoother, and the global price is undeniably steep. Even so, for buyers who value photography and want a flagship with real personality, the Find X9 Ultra is one of the most compelling choices on the market.

The post OPPO Find X9 Ultra Review: An Exceptional Camera Phone That Gets Everything Else Right Too first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro Review: More Than Its Slim Design Suggests

Posted on by

PROS:


  • Excellent battery life

  • Bright, vivid display

  • Lightweight and slim design

  • Strong sports and health tracking features

CONS:


  • App ecosystem is still limited compared to WatchOS or Wear OS

  • Some features are restricted by region or work best with a Huawei phone

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro blends style, comfort, and serious fitness features into a smartwatch that feels more capable than its slim design suggests.

Huawei has launched the Watch Fit 5 series, continuing the evolution of a product line that now feels far more ambitious than its name might suggest. The Watch Fit 5 Pro is only the second Pro entry in the series after the Watch Fit 4 Pro, but it makes a strong case for why that upgrade matters. Rather than simply offering a slightly nicer version of the standard model, Huawei is using the Pro label to push the Fit line into more premium territory.

That shift is immediately clear in the hardware, but it goes beyond looks. The Watch Fit 5 Pro combines a slim and comfortable design with higher-end materials, stronger health tracking, and a deeper set of sports and outdoor features than you might expect from something this light. After spending time with the Orange version, I found myself appreciating not just how much Huawei has added, but how well the watch still holds onto the easy-wearing character that made the Fit series appealing in the first place.

Aesthetics

The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro is largely identical to its predecessor in overall shape, and that familiarity works in its favour. It continues Huawei’s Apple Watch Ultra-like approach, with a squared display, a rotating crown, and a secondary button on the right side, but slimmer and sleeker in execution. Rather than reinventing the formula, Huawei has refined it, giving the Watch Fit 5 Pro a cleaner and more polished presence than the Watch Fit 4 Pro.

Huawei offers the watch in three colour versions, Orange, Black, and White, and each gives the design a distinct mood. The Orange version pairs a subtle warm gold-toned body with a vivid orange woven strap, along with an orange accent line around the bezel that stands out more clearly than on the other two models. The Black version is the most understated of the trio, with a black body, a black fluoroelastomer strap, and a matching black accent line around the bezel that blends in much more subtly. The White version is the most distinctive, using what Huawei calls Aerospace-Grade Nanoceramic Metal, where the surface is treated through oxidation technology to create a ceramic-like texture while also improving hardness and stain resistance. It too has a matching white accent line around the bezel, but like the black model, it is more understated than the orange version.

Part of what makes the Watch Fit 5 Pro feel more premium is its material mix. Huawei uses 2.5D sapphire glass, a titanium alloy bezel, and an aluminium alloy body, which gives the watch a stronger sense of quality than most slim fitness-focused wearables. Even if the silhouette remains familiar, the finishing does a lot of heavy lifting. The watch looks more elevated than a typical rectangular sports tracker, and that added material richness helps justify the Pro positioning.

I received the Orange version, and while I like the overall design, I am less convinced by one specific detail. The subtle warm gold tone of the body looks great, and I especially like the brushed metal texture, which gives the finish a bit more depth. The woven orange strap also gives the watch plenty of character without feeling cheap. But I am not a fan of the orange accent line around the bezel. I understand the intention, since it adds contrast and a more dynamic feel, but for me, it also makes the front of the watch look busier than necessary. It is still an attractive watch, but that accent slightly interrupts an otherwise polished design.

Ergonomics

One of the most impressive things about the Watch Fit 5 Pro is how little bulk Huawei seems to have added despite how much the watch offers. It measures 44.5 × 40.8 × 9.5 mm and weighs just 30.4 g without the strap, which helps it feel surprisingly manageable for a smartwatch with features like ECG, golf maps, trail tools, and diving support. On paper, it sounds like a device that could easily become too much for everyday wear. In practice, it does a good job avoiding that trap.

Comfort is not only about weight. It is also about how easily a watch disappears into your routine. A model with this many features would be far less appealing if it felt awkward at a desk, uncomfortable in bed, or distracting during a run. Thankfully, the Watch Fit 5 Pro remains slim and light on the wrist, while the crown and side button are neatly integrated into the frame. I found the watch, especially with the breathable fabric strap, comfortable enough for all-day wear, even on a small wrist, which makes a real difference over longer stretches of use.

The smaller details are well handled, too. The rotating crown and side button are both responsive, and the haptic feedback on the crown feels pleasantly precise. The screen has a slight curve at the edges, so swiping in from the side never feels sharp or awkward against the finger. The fabric strap is also easy to put on and take off, while staying secure once fastened. Altogether, the Watch Fit 5 Pro feels like a watch designed not just to look sleek, but to stay comfortable and easy to use throughout the day.

Performance

Huawei has upgraded the display to a 1.92-inch panel with an 83 percent screen-to-body ratio, evenly slim borders, and peak brightness of up to 3000 nits. Compared with the Watch Fit 4 Pro, which had a 79 percent screen-to-body ratio, the new model feels more immersive and more expansive at a glance. The slimmer borders make the interface look cleaner, while the brighter screen makes a real difference outdoors. For a watch built around workouts and activity, that matters more than raw numbers on a spec sheet. A bright and easily readable display is one of those things you notice every single day.

The Watch Fit 5 Pro is compatible with both iOS and Android, though you need to install the Huawei Health app, either through a QR code or directly from Huawei’s website. The watch runs HarmonyOS 6, and its smart features feel fairly basic by smartwatch standards. Notifications are supported, and you can reply using preset messages, emoji, or the on-screen keyboard. There is also Bluetooth calling, along with a remote camera shutter feature, though opening the camera remotely still requires a Huawei phone. You can also install third-party apps through Huawei AppGallery, but the overall app ecosystem remains more limited than what you get on Apple’s watchOS or Google’s Wear OS. Huawei also offers plenty of watch face designs, which adds some welcome personality and makes the watch easier to tailor to your taste. AI voice assistance is available too, but only for Huawei phone users.

The interface is generally easy to navigate. Swiping down or rotating the crown downward brings up the quick menu, while swiping up or rotating the crown upward opens notifications. Swiping in from the right brings up the widget panels. Pressing the side button once opens the workout menu, and this can also be customized as a shortcut, which adds a bit of flexibility to the experience. That said, pressing the side button twice is assigned to the Wallet shortcut, and this cannot be changed. This feels less useful if contactless payment is not supported in your region, which limits part of the watch’s convenience.

The sports side is where the Watch Fit 5 Pro starts to feel much more serious than a typical slim fitness watch. Huawei has added a richer set of cycling metrics, including virtual power, virtual cadence, and real-time grade, while trail running gets route navigation, off-course alerts, map zooming, split elevation, and estimated distance to markers. Golf is another major differentiator, with support for more than 17,000 course maps, up from 15,000 on the Watch Fit 4 Pro, alongside vector layouts, green view, custom distance measurement, and live scorecard features. There is also support for 40-metre free-diving. Taken together, these features make the Watch Fit 5 Pro feel less like a stylish wellness watch with extra modes and more like a genuinely capable sports companion.

Huawei is also pushing the watch harder on health tracking. The Watch Fit 5 Pro supports ECG analysis, arterial stiffness detection, pulse wave arrhythmia analysis, sleep breathing awareness, emotional well-being tracking, and the Diabetes Risk Study. That is an ambitious set of tools for a watch in this category, and it shows that Huawei wants the Pro model to do more than count steps and monitor heart rate. Some of these features are region-dependent, which is worth keeping in mind, but the overall package still feels notably broader than what the Fit line used to offer. It gives the Watch Fit 5 Pro a stronger sense of purpose beyond fitness alone.

Even if you are not into cycling, golf, free-diving, or most of the 100-plus workout modes, the Watch Fit 5 Pro still offers plenty of practical reasons to care. One of the more charming additions is Mini-workout, which includes 30 guided movements designed to help you exercise anytime and anywhere, complete with playful panda animations. I appreciated this because I tend to shy away from regular exercise, and it encouraged me to fit in quick stretches and more movement throughout the day. I do wish Mini-workout were easier to access, as it is tucked under “Courses and Plans” in the Workout menu. If you use the dedicated Mini-Workout Panda watch face, you can also open it directly from the home screen.

In daily use, the upgraded Huawei Sunflower Positioning System also proved accurate for GPS tracking. Sleep tracking is detailed, and I especially appreciated the easy-to-understand sleep report in the app. Huawei Health also lets you manually add sleep records, which came in handy on nights when I went to bed without wearing the watch.

Battery life remains one of the Watch Fit 5 Pro’s biggest strengths. It uses a 471 mAh battery, with Huawei claiming up to 7 days of typical use, 10 days of light use, and as much as 25 hours in trail run mode. It also supports 60-minute wireless fast charging. Those figures matter because a watch with a bright display and this many sensors could easily become high maintenance, yet Huawei still seems focused on making it practical for daily use. In my experience, the real-world performance comes close to those claims. That makes the Watch Fit 5 Pro far more convenient than smartwatches that demand charging every day or two. I do wish the included magnetic charger used USB-C rather than USB-A.

Sustainability

Sustainability is not a major part of Huawei’s pitch for the Watch Fit 5 Pro, and unfortunately, that seems to be true for most smartwatches on the market. There is little emphasis on recycled materials, repairability, or broader environmental commitments. As a result, this is not a watch that stands out as an especially sustainability-focused product.

What it does offer is durability and a bit of long-term flexibility. With sapphire glass, a titanium alloy bezel, and an aluminium body, the Watch Fit 5 Pro feels better built than many lightweight fitness watches. The strap is also easily replaceable without any extra hardware, which is a small but meaningful advantage if the original band wears out or if you simply want to change the look over time. It is also compatible with both iOS and Android, which adds a bit of flexibility if your phone platform ever changes. That does not make it a sustainability leader, but it does suggest a product designed to stay useful for longer rather than be quickly replaced.

Value

At £249.99, the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro feels competitively priced rather than aggressively cheap, and that is what makes its value proposition work. Huawei is not trying to win purely by offering the lowest price. Instead, it is offering a slim and comfortable watch with premium materials, a bright display, strong battery life, broad health tracking, and a surprisingly serious set of sports and outdoor features. That combination makes it feel more substantial than many rivals that sit somewhere between a basic fitness band and a full smartwatch.

That value does come with some limits. The smart features are still fairly basic by broader smartwatch standards, the app ecosystem remains more limited than what you get from Apple or Google, and features like Wallet will matter less in regions where support is restricted. Even so, I think Huawei has judged the balance well. At its price point, the Watch Fit 5 Pro does not need to be the smartest watch in its class to feel like good value. For the right user, especially someone who wants a sleek, lightweight watch with serious fitness and outdoor ability, it is a well-judged package at a fair price.

Verdict

After spending time with it, the Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro feels like a smartwatch that understands. The Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro strikes a convincing balance between style, comfort, and capability. It takes the slim and approachable Fit formula and elevates it with better materials, a brighter and more immersive display, stronger sports and health features, and battery life that remains comfortably practical. Just as importantly, it still feels light and easy to live with, which is not something every feature-packed smartwatch manages to achieve.

It is not perfect. The smart features are still fairly basic by broader smartwatch standards, the app ecosystem remains limited, and some functions become less useful depending on your region or phone. But if your priorities lean more toward fitness, health tracking, comfort, and design than deep app support, the Watch Fit 5 Pro makes a very strong case for itself. It is not trying to be the smartest watch you can buy. It is trying to be a sleek, capable, and highly wearable one, and in that role, it succeeds.

The post Huawei Watch Fit 5 Pro Review: More Than Its Slim Design Suggests first appeared on Yanko Design.

vivo X300 FE Review: The Compact Flagship That Earns Its Keep

Posted on by

PROS:


  • Compact, comfortable, and premium design

  • Powerful 50MP main and telephoto cameras

  • Large battery with fast wired and wireless charging

  • Long-term software support

CONS:


  • Mediocre 8MP ultra-wide camera

  • Uncommon horizontal camera design

  • A bit pricier than most "small flagships"

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The vivo X300 FE proves that a compact phone doesn't have to feel like a lesser one.

Premium smartphones have been trending bigger, heavier, and more visually imposing for years. It’s reached the point where “flagship” is almost synonymous with large, and carrying one all day feels less like convenience and more like a commitment. The compact phone hasn’t disappeared, but finding one that doesn’t sacrifice performance, battery life, or camera quality in exchange for a smaller footprint has been genuinely difficult.

That’s the gap the vivo X300 FE is aiming to fill. It pairs a 6.31-inch flat display with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, a 6,500 mAh battery, and a ZEISS co-engineered camera system, all within a compact design that stays remarkably light for its class. On paper, it reads like a phone that shouldn’t be this compact. But does it actually work in practice? We give it a spin to find out.

Designer: vivo

Aesthetics

The X300 FE follows a flat-design language that’s become increasingly standard among more expensive flagships. There aren’t any curved glass edges or aggressively contoured surfaces, just a clean, rectangular form with ultra-narrow bezels, an aerospace-grade aluminum frame, and a front face that looks symmetrical and composed. The centered punch-hole is small and unobtrusive, and those slim borders give the display a neat, purposeful presence that doesn’t need theatrics to feel premium.

Our review unit came in white, which turns out to be a great choice for a phone this carefully considered. The matte rear panel uses vivo’s Metallic Sand AG glass treatment, giving it a soft, slightly chalky texture that resists fingerprints well and picks up ambient light in a way that shifts subtly between warm and cool tones. It doesn’t try to be eye-catching; it just looks well-made.

The flat aluminum frame wraps cleanly around the body, with edges that make it comfortable to grip without feeling sharp or slippery. The white model measures 8.10mm thick and weighs 192g, a hair more than the other colorways, but those differences don’t register in hand. What does register is the overall sense of a phone that’s been assembled with genuine attention to detail.

The camera module deserves its own mention. Rather than going for the oversized circular island that’s become visual shorthand for “serious camera phone,” vivo opted for a horizontal bar that spans the upper portion of the back. Three lenses are arranged neatly across it, with a ZEISS badge centered between them. It’s recognizable and distinctive without domineering the rest of the design. Admittedly, it’s going to be a divisive design, but it at least lets the vivo X300 FE easily stand out from the competition.

Ergonomics

At 150.83mm tall and 71.76mm wide, the X300 FE sits firmly in one-handed territory. It isn’t trying to be a miniature phone. It’s simply sized more sensibly than most flagships on the market. You can reach across the screen without adjusting your grip, slip it into a front pocket without thinking, and hold it for extended periods without the wrist fatigue bigger phones tend to bring.

The 192g weight for the white model falls in a range that feels present without being burdensome. There’s enough substance here to reinforce the premium feel of the materials, but not so much that you’re constantly aware of it. The 8.10mm profile isn’t exactly wafer-thin, though that’s a reasonable trade-off for a 6,500 mAh cell packed inside a frame this compact.

The flat-sided frame also contributes more to the ergonomic experience than it might seem. It gives your palm a stable, consistent surface to press against during typing and scrolling, which feels more controlled than on rounded-edge designs. The compact footprint, flat back, and balanced weight distribution all work together to make this a phone that feels designed around how it’s actually used.

Performance

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 inside doesn’t need much introduction. It’s a flagship-class mobile processor, and the X300 FE puts it to good use. The 12GB RAM, expandable with another 12GB taken from the generous 512GB storage, clearly marks it as a class above your typical mid-tier compact phone. It runs Origin OS 6, based on the current Android 16 release, embracing a more minimalist and flat aesthetic that perfectly matches the phone’s design.

Day-to-day tasks feel completely effortless, from switching between apps and browser tabs to occasional gaming sessions, and nothing about the experience suggests the compact body is in any way holding the hardware back. Thermals are pretty impressive, given the vivo X300 FE’s size, but its compact form factor might work against it when it comes to how you hold it during those long periods.

Thankfully, the display backs that up well. It’s a 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with an adaptive refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz, a 1.5K resolution at 460 PPI, and a local peak brightness of 5,000 nits. The 2,160 Hz PWM dimming also makes prolonged reading and scrolling noticeably more comfortable on the eyes, a detail that matters far more than most spec sheets would have you believe.

Then there’s the battery, arguably the X300 FE’s most impressive engineering accomplishment. A 6,500 mAh cell in a phone this slim and light isn’t something you see every day, and in practice, that capacity means genuine all-day endurance with room to spare. The 90W wired and 40W wireless charging mean you’re rarely stuck waiting long when it runs low, at least with the appropriate chargers.

The camera system is led by a 50 MP ZEISS main camera and a 50 MP ZEISS super-telephoto camera, with an 8 MP ultra-wide rounding out the rear. The main and telephoto cameras handle portraits, street photography, and concert scenes with real confidence. An optional telephoto extender accessory also exists for those who want extended reach, though it’s firmly in niche territory.

The results are impressive, especially when starting to zoom in on subjects. Even without the telephoto extender, you can enjoy clear and detailed shots, even at night. The 8MP ultra-wide, though usable, is a bit of a letdown, but vivo had to cut some corners to bring down the price and differentiate this model from its more powerful and more expensive siblings. You do have a ton of settings to tweak to get your perfect shot, but even the defaults are good enough to make fleeting moments more memorable.

Sustainability

The X300 FE carries IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance ratings, alongside an SGS five-star drop resistance certification, giving it a reassuring level of durability for daily use. It also carries an SGS five-star drop resistance certification, which gives it more formal durability credentials than most phones in its class. Together, those ratings make a convincing case for a phone built to survive daily life without requiring any particularly careful handling.

Software longevity is where the X300 FE makes its strongest long-term case. On that front, vivo is committing to five years of OS upgrades, seven years of security maintenance, and a five-year smooth experience promise. That support window is competitive with the best in the Android space, and it signals that this phone is meant to be genuinely used for years, not replaced the moment something newer comes along.

Value

At around €1,000, The X300 FE isn’t a budget phone, and it doesn’t try to be. It competes in the premium compact flagship space, where the particular combination it offers is harder to find than you’d expect. A current-generation chipset, a genuinely large battery, fast wired and wireless charging, ZEISS-branded imaging, and a durable premium build in a package that remains notably light for a flagship is a rare and coherent offering.

The person this phone is designed for isn’t shopping for the biggest or most spec’d-out device available. It’s someone who wants a phone that keeps pace with their life without dominating it, one that fits in a jacket pocket, lasts a full day, and still takes genuinely good photos. Frequent travelers, urban commuters, and anyone who’s tired of unwieldy flagships will feel right at home here.

Verdict

The vivo X300 FE is the kind of compact flagship that doesn’t feel like a compromise once you’re actually using it. The design is restrained and coherent, the battery is frankly impressive for the size, the chipset handles everything you throw at it, and the camera does its best work in exactly the situations most people find themselves in, out in the world rather than on a lab bench.

What the X300 FE offers is a phone that’s easy to carry, genuinely long-lasting, and capable enough for the photography and day-to-day demands you’ll actually encounter. It’s well built, well supported, and clearly designed with a specific kind of person in mind. That clarity of purpose is refreshing, and for the right buyer, it’s exactly what makes this phone worth serious consideration.

The post vivo X300 FE Review: The Compact Flagship That Earns Its Keep first appeared on Yanko Design.

vivo X300 FE Review: The Compact Flagship That Earns Its Keep

Posted on by

PROS:


  • Compact, comfortable, and premium design

  • Powerful 50MP main and telephoto cameras

  • Large battery with fast wired and wireless charging

  • Long-term software support

CONS:


  • Mediocre 8MP ultra-wide camera

  • Uncommon horizontal camera design

  • A bit pricier than most "small flagships"

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The vivo X300 FE proves that a compact phone doesn't have to feel like a lesser one.

Premium smartphones have been trending bigger, heavier, and more visually imposing for years. It’s reached the point where “flagship” is almost synonymous with large, and carrying one all day feels less like convenience and more like a commitment. The compact phone hasn’t disappeared, but finding one that doesn’t sacrifice performance, battery life, or camera quality in exchange for a smaller footprint has been genuinely difficult.

That’s the gap the vivo X300 FE is aiming to fill. It pairs a 6.31-inch flat display with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, a 6,500 mAh battery, and a ZEISS co-engineered camera system, all within a compact design that stays remarkably light for its class. On paper, it reads like a phone that shouldn’t be this compact. But does it actually work in practice? We give it a spin to find out.

Designer: vivo

Aesthetics

The X300 FE follows a flat-design language that’s become increasingly standard among more expensive flagships. There aren’t any curved glass edges or aggressively contoured surfaces, just a clean, rectangular form with ultra-narrow bezels, an aerospace-grade aluminum frame, and a front face that looks symmetrical and composed. The centered punch-hole is small and unobtrusive, and those slim borders give the display a neat, purposeful presence that doesn’t need theatrics to feel premium.

Our review unit came in white, which turns out to be a great choice for a phone this carefully considered. The matte rear panel uses vivo’s Metallic Sand AG glass treatment, giving it a soft, slightly chalky texture that resists fingerprints well and picks up ambient light in a way that shifts subtly between warm and cool tones. It doesn’t try to be eye-catching; it just looks well-made.

The flat aluminum frame wraps cleanly around the body, with edges that make it comfortable to grip without feeling sharp or slippery. The white model measures 8.10mm thick and weighs 192g, a hair more than the other colorways, but those differences don’t register in hand. What does register is the overall sense of a phone that’s been assembled with genuine attention to detail.

The camera module deserves its own mention. Rather than going for the oversized circular island that’s become visual shorthand for “serious camera phone,” vivo opted for a horizontal bar that spans the upper portion of the back. Three lenses are arranged neatly across it, with a ZEISS badge centered between them. It’s recognizable and distinctive without domineering the rest of the design. Admittedly, it’s going to be a divisive design, but it at least lets the vivo X300 FE easily stand out from the competition.

Ergonomics

At 150.83mm tall and 71.76mm wide, the X300 FE sits firmly in one-handed territory. It isn’t trying to be a miniature phone. It’s simply sized more sensibly than most flagships on the market. You can reach across the screen without adjusting your grip, slip it into a front pocket without thinking, and hold it for extended periods without the wrist fatigue bigger phones tend to bring.

The 192g weight for the white model falls in a range that feels present without being burdensome. There’s enough substance here to reinforce the premium feel of the materials, but not so much that you’re constantly aware of it. The 8.10mm profile isn’t exactly wafer-thin, though that’s a reasonable trade-off for a 6,500 mAh cell packed inside a frame this compact.

The flat-sided frame also contributes more to the ergonomic experience than it might seem. It gives your palm a stable, consistent surface to press against during typing and scrolling, which feels more controlled than on rounded-edge designs. The compact footprint, flat back, and balanced weight distribution all work together to make this a phone that feels designed around how it’s actually used.

Performance

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 inside doesn’t need much introduction. It’s a flagship-class mobile processor, and the X300 FE puts it to good use. The 12GB RAM, expandable with another 12GB taken from the generous 512GB storage, clearly marks it as a class above your typical mid-tier compact phone. It runs Origin OS 6, based on the current Android 16 release, embracing a more minimalist and flat aesthetic that perfectly matches the phone’s design.

Day-to-day tasks feel completely effortless, from switching between apps and browser tabs to occasional gaming sessions, and nothing about the experience suggests the compact body is in any way holding the hardware back. Thermals are pretty impressive, given the vivo X300 FE’s size, but its compact form factor might work against it when it comes to how you hold it during those long periods.

Thankfully, the display backs that up well. It’s a 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with an adaptive refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz, a 1.5K resolution at 460 PPI, and a local peak brightness of 5,000 nits. The 2,160 Hz PWM dimming also makes prolonged reading and scrolling noticeably more comfortable on the eyes, a detail that matters far more than most spec sheets would have you believe.

Then there’s the battery, arguably the X300 FE’s most impressive engineering accomplishment. A 6,500 mAh cell in a phone this slim and light isn’t something you see every day, and in practice, that capacity means genuine all-day endurance with room to spare. The 90W wired and 40W wireless charging mean you’re rarely stuck waiting long when it runs low, at least with the appropriate chargers.

The camera system is led by a 50 MP ZEISS main camera and a 50 MP ZEISS super-telephoto camera, with an 8 MP ultra-wide rounding out the rear. The main and telephoto cameras handle portraits, street photography, and concert scenes with real confidence. An optional telephoto extender accessory also exists for those who want extended reach, though it’s firmly in niche territory.

The results are impressive, especially when starting to zoom in on subjects. Even without the telephoto extender, you can enjoy clear and detailed shots, even at night. The 8MP ultra-wide, though usable, is a bit of a letdown, but vivo had to cut some corners to bring down the price and differentiate this model from its more powerful and more expensive siblings. You do have a ton of settings to tweak to get your perfect shot, but even the defaults are good enough to make fleeting moments more memorable.

Sustainability

The X300 FE carries IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance ratings, alongside an SGS five-star drop resistance certification, giving it a reassuring level of durability for daily use. It also carries an SGS five-star drop resistance certification, which gives it more formal durability credentials than most phones in its class. Together, those ratings make a convincing case for a phone built to survive daily life without requiring any particularly careful handling.

Software longevity is where the X300 FE makes its strongest long-term case. On that front, vivo is committing to five years of OS upgrades, seven years of security maintenance, and a five-year smooth experience promise. That support window is competitive with the best in the Android space, and it signals that this phone is meant to be genuinely used for years, not replaced the moment something newer comes along.

Value

At around €1,000, The X300 FE isn’t a budget phone, and it doesn’t try to be. It competes in the premium compact flagship space, where the particular combination it offers is harder to find than you’d expect. A current-generation chipset, a genuinely large battery, fast wired and wireless charging, ZEISS-branded imaging, and a durable premium build in a package that remains notably light for a flagship is a rare and coherent offering.

The person this phone is designed for isn’t shopping for the biggest or most spec’d-out device available. It’s someone who wants a phone that keeps pace with their life without dominating it, one that fits in a jacket pocket, lasts a full day, and still takes genuinely good photos. Frequent travelers, urban commuters, and anyone who’s tired of unwieldy flagships will feel right at home here.

Verdict

The vivo X300 FE is the kind of compact flagship that doesn’t feel like a compromise once you’re actually using it. The design is restrained and coherent, the battery is frankly impressive for the size, the chipset handles everything you throw at it, and the camera does its best work in exactly the situations most people find themselves in, out in the world rather than on a lab bench.

What the X300 FE offers is a phone that’s easy to carry, genuinely long-lasting, and capable enough for the photography and day-to-day demands you’ll actually encounter. It’s well built, well supported, and clearly designed with a specific kind of person in mind. That clarity of purpose is refreshing, and for the right buyer, it’s exactly what makes this phone worth serious consideration.

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HONOR 600 Review: Looks Premium, Lasts all day, and Doesn’t Cost a Fortune

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PROS:


  • Beautiful, minimalist design

  • Gorgeous screen with narrow bezels

  • Strong hardware performance and battery life

  • Impressive 200MP camera

CONS:


  • 12MP ultra-wide and no telephoto camera

  • No wireless charging

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The HONOR 600 is quietly refined, impressively enduring, and priced like it knows exactly what it's doing.

Smartphones are starting to look increasingly alike. The flat-edged aluminum frame, the polished glass back, the minimal bezels; these have become the default visual language of every phone that wants to be taken seriously. The differences between competing designs are getting harder to spot, and choosing between them often comes down to specs rather than any genuine sense of aesthetic preference. That leaves a lot of phones feeling pretty forgettable.

HONOR’s response to that trend with the HONOR 600 is to squeeze as much premium character as possible into a phone that doesn’t demand a premium sacrifice from your wallet. On paper, it looks like a solid upper-midrange device. In person, though, it carries a kind of quiet refinement that feels well above its price class, and that difference is worth paying attention to. Read on to learn why.

Designer: HONOR

Ida Torres contributed to this review.

Aesthetics

The HONOR 600 will draw inevitable comparisons to Apple’s current design direction, and that’s not an accident. The overall silhouette, the straight display, and the deliberately restrained detailing all read from the same design vocabulary. But where Apple tends to keep things cool and clinical, the HONOR 600 manages to feel warmer and somehow more luxurious, which is a rather ironic achievement for a phone that costs this much less.

A lot of that warmth comes from the back panel, which is made from a translucent composite fiber material that looks remarkably like frosted glass. It has a clean, understated quality that doesn’t try too hard. The matte metal frame features a satin-like finish that shifts subtly under light. And it’s available in Black, Orange, and Golden White (our review unit), all of which feel right for this design. It’s a design that doesn’t scream for attention but still manages to make you look twice either way.

Not everything lands quite so elegantly, though. The raised camera module, which houses the 200MP main lens and ultrawide camera, looks a bit like an acrylic plate sitting on top of an otherwise seamless body. It’s only an optical illusion, though, as it really is a unibody structure as advertised. Additionally, that area picks up fingerprints and smudges with remarkable enthusiasm, which shows up even more conspicuously on the glass-like material.

The front of the phone, though, tells a very different story. The display framing is, in a word, stunning. HONOR uses a sub-1mm bezel around the screen that makes the border all but disappear, creating a front face that looks incredibly clean and modern. Certified by TÜV Rheinland as the narrowest black bezel among all global straight-screen phones currently on the market, it gives the phone a near-borderless look that you’d normally expect from something much more expensive.

Ergonomics

Picking up the HONOR 600 for the first time is a small but pleasant surprise. At 185g with a 6,400mAh battery packed inside a 7.8mm body, it feels lighter than you’d expect, without ever feeling cheap or flimsy. There’s a genuinely satisfying substance to it, the kind of weight that communicates quality rather than bulk, and the flat profile makes it comfortable to slip in and out of a pocket.

The flat edges of the aluminum frame, also on par with today’s design trends, have a satin-like finish that adds some texture to your grip. Along with the matte texture of the composite fiber material on its back, the Honor 600 offers a satisfying and confident hold that won’t make you feel like you’re precariously carrying some fragile luxury item.

One-handed use is generally comfortable, though there are a couple of small quirks worth mentioning. The camera bump introduces a slight wobble when the phone rests on a flat surface, which is par for the course with most phones these days. The under-display fingerprint sensor also sits a little lower than feels natural, requiring a small but noticeable stretch that takes a few days to get used to.

Performance

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 at the heart of the HONOR 600 isn’t branded as a flagship-grade processor, though it promises 27% CPU and 30% GPU performance improvements over its predecessor. That said, it handles daily tasks with smooth, unfussy reliability, from jumping between apps to editing photos in a gallery packed with AI tools. Gaming is no issue either, and the phone doesn’t grow unbearably hot during its use.

As mentioned earlier, the display matches the phone’s stunning rear design, boasting a bright 6.57-inch 120Hz AMOLED display with a resolution that sits comfortably above FHD+ resolution. The true test of its brightness comes in its Sunlight mode, pushing it to around the advertised 8,000 nits, allowing you to capture moments and videos even under bright sunlight.

Battery life is where the HONOR 600 makes its most compelling argument. The European review unit packs a 6,400mAh cell, while other regional variants go up to 7,000mAh, and either way, you’re getting genuinely impressive endurance. Heavy days involving a lot of photography, video streaming, and social media don’t bring the battery to its knees before bedtime, and lighter days make two-day stretches perfectly achievable.

Charging comes via an 80W wired HONOR SuperCharge connection that tops the phone up quickly when you need it, though wireless charging isn’t part of the package here. That’s one of the few features reserved for the Pro tier. Disappointing but not all too surprising, given some corners HONOR had to cut to reach this price point. The HONOR 600 does make use of that ample battery for 27W reverse charging, though it’s really unclear who still uses such a feature these days.

Portrait (Studio Harcourt)

The 200MP main camera on a 1/1.4-inch sensor is the standout on the back, delivering 16-in-1 pixel binning with an equivalent 2.24μm super pixel size and 24% greater light sensitivity. CIPA 6.0-certified optical image stabilization keeps handheld night shots sharp in a way that many phones in this category can’t match, almost to the point that a dedicated night mode feels redundant, let alone an AI-enhanced one.

Normal

Night Mode

Night Mode, AI Enhanced

Unsurprisingly, the HONOR 600 performs admirably in this department, producing impressive, vibrant, and detailed shots even without setting anything up. And there are tons of knobs and dials you can turn to tweak your photo to your liking. You can, for example, select between Vibrant, Natural, Authentic “Classic” filters, though the differences are sometimes subtle.

Vibrant (Default)

Natural

Authentic

Beyond that, however, the HONOR 600 descends into the mid-range category. The 12MP ultra-wide shooter is decent but basic. There’s also no dedicated telephoto lens, though, so anyone with a serious interest in zoom photography might notice the gap most. The 50MP front camera, however, is perfect for selfies and vlogs, earmarking the phone for a very specific market.

0.5x (ultra-wide)

1x, 27mm

1x, 35mm

2x

4x

There’s no shortage of AI features, of course, most of which lean towards creative use for generating or editing images. There are also the staples like translation, search, and, with a bit of irony, a feature that detects deepfakes and voice cloning. There’s a dedicated AI Button that can be configured to a range of predefined shortcuts, making frequently used functions easier to reach. Unfortunately, you can’t even set it to launch an app of your choice.

Sustainability

The HONOR 600 isn’t marketed on sustainability credentials, but it’s built to last, which is arguably more meaningful. IP68, IP69, and IP69K water and dust resistance ratings, tested under controlled laboratory conditions, are complemented by an SGS 5-star Premium Performance Certification of Drop and Crush Resistance. More than just stickers on a spec sheet, they represent a phone that can handle the knocks and spills of daily life without drama.

HONOR promises six years of OS updates, which is a meaningful commitment that helps justify holding onto the phone for longer. The rollout timing isn’t always perfectly predictable, but the intention is solid. On the packaging front, there’s no charger in the minimalist and extremely compact box, which has become standard practice across the industry and is unlikely to inconvenience most buyers who already have an 80W-compatible charger at home.

Value

The HONOR 600 starts at €649.90 in Europe (around £549.99 in the UK, or roughly $700 in the US) for the 8GB RAM, 256GB storage configuration. That puts it squarely in premium territory, well above casual midrange pricing and nudging into the lower end of the proper flagship bracket. For context, it’s the kind of money where expectations are high, and compromises get noticed quickly.

Given what you’re getting, though, the asking price holds up well. The combination of premium design, a genuinely impressive main camera, outstanding battery life, a bright and comfortable display, and triple water resistance creates a package that feels more expensive than it costs. For buyers who prioritize how a phone looks and how long it lasts over raw performance or camera versatility, there’s real value here.

The one thing worth factoring in is how close the standard model sits in price to the Pro. The upgrade brings the Snapdragon 8 Elite, marking the first time the N Series featured that Elite-tier chipset, along with a dedicated telephoto lens and wireless charging, with 12GB of RAM as standard. For avid mobile photographers who want optical reach for zoom shots, that gap might feel more significant than the price difference suggests. For everyone else, the standard 600 covers most of what matters.

Verdict

The HONOR 600 is a phone with a clear sense of purpose. It’s slim, refined, and built with the kind of care that tends to show in daily use rather than on a spec sheet. The battery lasts, the display shines, the main camera performs, and the overall package carries itself with a quiet confidence that’s surprisingly rare at this price.

If you’re looking for a beautiful everyday phone with serious battery endurance and a genuinely premium feel that won’t push you into flagship pricing, the HONOR 600 is hard to overlook. The missing telephoto and the lack of wireless charging are worth knowing about beforehand, but they’re far less central to the daily experience than everything this phone gets confidently right.

The post HONOR 600 Review: Looks Premium, Lasts all day, and Doesn’t Cost a Fortune first appeared on Yanko Design.