vivo X500 Pro Max review – Awesome Concert Phone Takes the Stage

Fresh from its debut in China and Europe, the vivo X500 series has finally made its way to Malaysia. As the successors to the earlier X300 series that were launched in two waves with the Pro and base model late last year and the Ultra and FE models a few months ago, the vivo X500 series that consists of the vivo X500 Pro Max, the vivo X500 Pro and the vivo X500, have a host of improvements across the board especially in their cameras.

According to vivo, their new generation of X500 series phones, in particular the vivo X500 Pro Max aim to be the ideal phone for content creators with the tools to create more content while needing to carry less, especially in regards to capturing concerts and other live performances with superior videography and photography capabilities compared to the competition.

We managed to acquire a sample for testing ahead of its official launch and after taking it for a spin, here’s our vivo X500 Pro Max review where we share if it’s a worthy acquisition.

vivo X500 Pro Max Review – Build and Design

Out of the box, our vivo X500 Pro Max review sample comes with a generous array of kit. In addition to the phone itself, the obligatory SIM eject pin, USB-C cable and quick start literature, the phone also ships with a soft gray silicone casing, a pre-applied screen protector and a fast charger which is quite a bit more than what many competitors ship with their phones these days.

Intended as vivo’s premier flagship design, the X500 Pro Max has an array of hardware that can go toe to toe with any flagship phone. Aesthetically speaking, the phone comes in three possible colourways for the Pro Max variant with a Sunset Orange, Moonlit Black and in the case of our vivo X500 Pro Max review sample, a classy shade of Starry Grey which translates into a light dual-tone satin grey finish.

Closer inspection of the backplate reveals subtle shimmering sparkles embedded into the material itself when held up to the light while the matte finish offers a decent grip while repelling fingerprints. Interestingly, the phone has a very subtle horizontal slope that can only be felt by touch just below the camera housing though it’s primarily stylistic in nature.

Paying homage to its predecessors, the triple rear camera array is housed in a large, rounded housing that mimics a traditional camera lens complete with knurling on the sides along with the ZEISS logo boldly emblazoned in the centre.

The left side of the phone hosts a programmable shortcut key with the default settings set to turn on the flash light with a double press and to turn the phone to silent if you hold it down. The right side hosts the customary power button and volume rocker. 

A closer look at the base reveals a USB-C port for charging, a nano SIM card tray and a grille for one of the two speakers integrated into the phone.

Up front, the phone features a 6.85-inch ZEISS Master Color Display which utilises an LTPO AMOLED panel with 3,168 x 1,440 pixels resolution, a dynamic 1-144Hz dynamic refresh rate, up to 4,400 nits peak brightness and support for DCI-P3 colour gamut, Ultra HDR image support and HDR10+ content. Up top, the phone has a rounded punch hole for a single 50MP camera for selfies and video calls along with a tiny slit for the earpiece and the second speaker.

Aesthetics aside, the vivo X500 Pro Max features an IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance rating and utilises what they refer to as Armor Glass to protect the display from drops. The rear camera array is protected by a 13-layer scratch resistant Ultra Hard AR coating that not only mitigates  reflections but also increases lens hardness too The lenses also have what vivo refers to as an Organic Nano Polymer Coating to resist impacts for added protection. 

As first impressions go, our vivo X500 Pro Max review sample hits all the marks right out of the starting gate with a generous array of kit bundled in the box, excellent build quality with pleasing tactility and heft ensconced within an understated yet premium looking design that looks classy indeed.

vivo X500 Pro Max – Performance and Benchmarks

In terms of hardware, our vivo X500 Pro Max review sample is built around the latest MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset.

One of the first phones in the market to feature this new chipset, the Dimensity 9600 Pro is  built on a 2nm process with a 2+3+3 Big Core CPU Design that offers up to 17% higher single-core and 15% higher multi-core performance over the older Dimensity 9500 that last saw service in the vivo X300 Pro, the most premium option available out of the vivo X300 series line-up when it launched  last year in Malaysia.

While specifics aren’t available, vivo states that the phone has a 30% larger vapour chamber compared to the vivo X300 Pro for sustained heavy duty performance. Connectivity for the Dimensity 9600 Pro is top-shelf with the latest WiFI 7 and Bluetooth 6.2. 

Paired with the Dimensity 9600 Pro is 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.1 storage for vast file transfers with your choice of the aforementioned three different colourways. A more affordable configuration with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage is also available.

Running under the hood of our vivo X500 Pro Max review unit is the latest Android 17 with their own Origin OS 7 interface with a guaranteed 5 years of OS and 7 years of security updates which is considered a relatively generous policy as flagship phones go. 

Interestingly, Origin OS 7 also allows for up to a whopping 24GB of virtual Extended RAM off the onboard storage which is so far the largest amount of assignable virtual memory currently seen in any smartphone firmware. Unfortunately, you can only disable it entirely and you can’t dial down or reassign the amount of virtual RAM available.

Of note is that vivo has taken great pains to ensure a smooth user experience over time and they’ve implemented a number of features including new techniques for memory allocation and to manage system aging to ensure at least 6 years of sustained smooth usage.  Here’s how the phone stacks up on paper:

Price	RM6,999 (12GB RAM/512GB), RM6,399 (12GB RAM/256GB)
Display	6.85-inch 2K LTPO OLED ZEISS Master Color Display, 3,168 x 1,440 pixels, 1-144Hz refresh rate, 4,400 nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3, HDR10+, Dolby Vision  Processor MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro
Processor	MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro
OS	Android 17 w/ OriginOS 7
Memory	12GB RAM / 512GB [256GB variant also available]
Cameras	50MP f/1.57  ZEISS TrueDynamic Main Camera w/ OIS [CIPA 7.0 rated], 200MP f/2.67 ZEISS APO Super Telephoto camera w/ OIS and 3.5x telephoto zoom , 50MP f/2.0 ZEISS Ultra wide angle camera [rear] / 50MP f/2.0 [front]
Battery	7,800mAh BlueVolt battery [47 hours video playback, quoted] w/90W wired FlashCharge & 40W wireless charging
Size/Weight	163.32 x 76.82 x 7.95mm / 229g

With the default 24GB of virtual Extended RAM, our vivo X500 Pro Max review unit managed to score the following synthetic benchmarks: 

3D Mark Steel Nomad Light	3,313
3D Mark Steel Nomad Light Unlimited	2,584
3D Mark Solar Bay	10,166
3D Mark Solar Bay Unlimited	9,749
3D Mark Solar Bay Extreme	1,751
3D Mark Solar Bay Extreme Unlimited	1,497
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	4,197
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	4,051
Geekbench 7 Single core	2,447
Geekbench 7 Multi core	8,757
Geekbench 7 OpenCL	19,656
Geekbench 7 Vulkan	20,335
Geekbench AI (CPU)	3,939
Geekbench AI (GPU)	632
PCMark Work 3.0	16,416
PC Mark Work 3.1 Battery Life	27 hours 8 mins

When compared side by side with the current incumbent flagship chipset in the market, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, the MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro used in our vivo X500 Pro Max review unit gives it a run for its money with competitive graphics performance in selected tests and winning several 3DMark benchmarks too.

However, the Snapdragon edges out in single-core performance and in AI performance though it is worth noting that synthetic benchmarks don’t fully reflect actual day-to-day usage.

In the Steel Nomad Light Stress Test, the phone enjoyed better best loop scores and lowest loop scores than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset and also runs cooler with temperatures running between 38°C to 44°C.

In practical field tests as a daily driver, our vivo X500 Pro Max review sample offered excellent performance across the board. The usual tasks like web browsing, texting and doom scrolling ran like a dream.

The latest games like Zenless Zone Zero or Wuthering Waves, ran on high settings without issue, while editing videos on CapCut was a silky-smooth experience.

The provided display was among the best on test in a flagship phone, serving up gorgeous colour rendition, beautifully deep blacks and brilliant whites along with pin-sharp text and fine detail in movies and images alike.The display also offered good clarity under sunlight along with smooth animations onscreen.

While the display is capable of a 144Hz refresh rate, it typically runs around between 1-30Hz when viewing static content like a photo which also helps reduce battery drain and ramps up to 60Hz when using most apps and games with a selected few apps offering 120Hz refresh rate.

In terms of battery life, our vivo X500 Pro Max review unit did not disappoint. The energy efficient dynamic LTPO AMOLED combined with the massive 7,800mAh battery is among the largest mounted in a flagship phone and on paper, is quoted to offer 47 hours of video playback time which lets you plough through the entire Star Wars saga at least twice. 

In practical terms the phone was able to comfortably handle a full day and a half of heavy use with liberal use of the camera, web browsing, light gaming and several minutes worth of voice calls. 

As a stress test, our vivo X500 Pro Max review unit was used to capture a two hour live performance. Even with constant shifting between different modes and capturing both 200MP full-resolution stills and 4K video, it managed to survive the gauntlet from 100% down to about 48% while remaining relatively cool even with nonstop use.

With the bundled 90W charger, the phone was able to charge from dead zero to full in about 35 minutes which is blazing fast.

vivo X500 Pro Max review – Cameras

The most impressive aspect of the vivo X500 Pro Max, its rear triple camera array, distills the absolute cutting edge of vivo’s imaging knowhow into a compact triple camera array (50MP main + 200MP telephoto + 50MP ultra wide angle). Taking centrestage is a 50MP ZEISS TrueDynamic Main camera that has an f/1.57 aperture and Sony LYTIA L910 sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS) rated for a respectable 7.0 CIPA rating which approaches  gimbal-grade stability.

Alongside the main camera is a 200MP ZEISS APO Telephoto Camera with an f/2.67 aperture that also has OIS with a CIPA 7.0 rating as well as 3.5X telephoto zoom. Rounding things off is a 50MP ZEISS Ultra wide angle camera with an f/2.0 aperture. 

Combined, this rear setup is capable of stills with lossless telephoto zoom  at up to 3.5x zoom, up to 10x hybrid zoom and up to 100x digital zoom along with up to 8K@30fps video along with 4K at the default 60fps at up to 30x digital zoom as well as slow-motion 120fps and a stunning 240 fps for ultra-slow motion John Woo action movie style footage.

 

Rounding off its rear triple camera array, our vivo X500 Pro Max review unit has a single 50MP ZEISS wide angle front camera with an f/2.0 aperture, up to 2x zoom by cropping the sensor and the ability to record 4K@60fps video.

Beyond the hardware, vivo has lavished the cameras with a veritable cornucopia of additional features and technologies with many modes focused on capturing photos and videos of challenging stage performances even from less-than-ideal seats at a concert. 

 

When put to the test capturing stills across a variety of subjects like scenery, architecture, portraiture and food, the rear cameras on our vivo X500 Pro Max review unit offered excellent results across the range with lifelike colour rendition and excellent detail in daylight and dialling in with full-sized 200MP resolution shots reveal a wealth of detail if you crop in. 

In low light conditions, the cameras were able to deliver stills with excellent dynamic range, retaining considerable detail from the shadows. Shots were crisp out to 3.5X zoom and were still very usable at 10X though details started getting smooshed and smoothed over beyond that focal length. Even so, the fact that the camera was still able to yield viewable detail in challenging low light conditions is still quite a feat. 

Of note is vivo’s vaunted Stage Mode to capture stills of performers even in the haphazardly dim lighting conditions of a concert venue. This time around, it has been further augmented with vivo’s new Auto Framing Fancam Video mode that lets you automatically track and frame a person as a close-up, half-body or full-body shot when capturing video. It worked as advertised with smooth tracking across the stage in a recent vivo event with live stage performers.

 

Beyond its concert-centric features, the impressive 4K@240fps video capture by the main camera allows for impressive 8x slow motion effects that cannot be tracked by the naked eye and allows you to see things like droplets of water splashing in the rain and birds taking flight. It’s exceptionally impressive though you need daylight conditions or brightly lit scenarios for it to work but when it does, the results are breathtaking. 

For professionals, the vivo X500 Pro Max is also able to capture video in Log specifically tuned for its 17 EV ultra-high dynamic range to preserve more detail in shadows and highlights for greater creative control in post production even in challenging scenarios like backlit portraiture and sunrise or sunset portraits.

When it comes to video capture, the rear cameras performed well in brightly lit and low light conditions with the CIPA 7.0 rated stabilisation ensuring smooth and steady footage without juddering though doing so at maximum 30x digital zoom still requires a tripod.

Overall, the vivo X500 Pro Max delivers excellent stills and 4K video especially in challenging stage performances with its 4K@240fps video capture offering impressive ultra slow-motion footage.

Should you buy the vivo X500 Pro Max?

The vivo X500 Pro Max is a potent flagship phone that offers a vibrant and crisp display, excellent performance, dependable battery life and one of the best smartphone camera systems around, particularly when it comes to concert photography and videography.

 

That level of capability comes at a premium, and the optional telephoto extender kit costs a pretty penny. However, the phone’s built in ZEISS-tuned cameras are already more than capable of capturing impressive photos and videos on their own. Its extensive selection of camera modes offer a wealth of creative flexibility, though getting the most out of it requires time and practice.

If price is no object, and you want a flagship phone that prioritises photography and videography, the vivo X500 Pro Max is an excellent choice especially for concertgoers and mobile content creators who are looking to create more content with greater creative control and options without having to carry a dedicated camera.

vivo X500 Pro Max review sample courtesy of vivo Malaysia. For more details check out https://www.vivo.com/my/activity/x500-series-launch