The Vivo V25 and V25 Pro style it up with colour-changing glass

Vivo is no stranger to a capable set of cameras, and its latest affordable offering is no different. The Vivo V25 and V25 Pro land with triple-lens setups meant to snap a perfect portrait, no matter what the lighting conditions – and do so in style, with glass bodies that change colour under UV light.

Both phones get a 64MP main snapper with optical image stabilisation, paired to an 8MP ultrawide. (There’s also a 2MP macro bringing up the rear, but those aren’t worth shouting about as much). Up front, the V25 Pro gets a 32MP punch-hole selfie cam, while the vanilla P25 gets a smaller but higher pixel-count 50MP sensor. Both support eye autofocus, and can shoot stabilised 4K video.

The two new V series models take a few camera tips from the flagship Vivo X80 Pro, like low-light algorithms that allow for more realistic colours and contrast in night shots without adding a load of picture noise, and a choice of bokeh effects for portrait shooting.

That all sounds a bit serious, but Vivo hasn’t forgotten to have a little fun. Both phones use Fluorite anti-glare glass rear panels, which change colour under bright natural or UV light. The Surfing Blue V25 Pro turns from baby blue to a much darker hue, while the Aquamarine Blue V25 turns from dark blue to green. Stick the Sunrise Gold V25 in the sunshine and it’ll morph from gold to a reddy orange.

Both phones also have non-colour changing black variants – but we’re betting anyone who’d buy one probably doesn’t get invited to many parties.

Cameras and colours aside, the two phones don’t share an awful lot on the hardware front. The smaller V25 has a 6.44in, Full HD+ AMOLED screen with flat sides and a teardrop notch selfie cam. It’ll play nicely with HDR content, and has a 90Hz refresh rate for buttery-smooth scrolling. Step up to the V25 Pro, though, and you get a 6.56in AMOLED panel, with curved sides, a slightly higher resolution and even zippier 120Hz refresh rate.

Inside the V25 beats a MediaTek Dimensity 900 CPU, with either 8 or 12GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of on-board storage. The more premium V25 Pro steps things up with an octa-core Dimensity 1300, and both phones are able to dedicated up to 8GB of storage to virtual memory for a boost to multitasking.

The pricier handset also gets a bigger battery and faster charging. While the V25 tops out at 4500mAh and 44W respectively, the V25 Pro gets a 4830mAh cell and can top up at 66W. That means it’ll manage a 70% refuel in half an hour, versus the V25’s 61% in the same timeframe.

While Vivo isn’t as big a name here in the UK as its BBK Electronics stablemates Oppo and OnePlus, it’s a huge deal in Asia and India. And even if you haven’t heard of ’em, there’s a lot here worth your attention. Both look like solid alternatives to the OnePlus Nord 2T, Realme 9 Pro+, Motorola G82 and Poco X4 Pro 5G.

There’s just one small downside: Vivo has yet to confirm whether they’ll be heading to Western Europe.

Right now, all we know is that the Vivo V25 and V25 Pro will start rolling out across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America from today. Prices vary by territory, but expect them to land at a similar amount to the close rivals mentioned above.

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