The presentation of the Vivo X500 Pro Max outside of China took place in Tenerife. I am taking the opportunity to test the smartphone and its accessories for their suitability for tourists. I am particularly fond of the 400mm clip-on lens.
The day begins on the sea and ends at an altitude of over 2000 meters. In the morning, we head out by boat in search of pilot whales and to the Los Gigantes cliffs. In the evening, the view of the Teide volcano and the stars. Always with me: the Vivo X500 Max Pro and the 400mm clip-on lens. I leave the 200mm version at the hotel. It offers me too little added value.
The Vivo X500 Pro Max in full tourist gear.
Always have a suitable camera with you
Vivo normally sells the X500 Max Pro on its own. The set with two teleconverters costs just under 500 euros or francs extra. However, Vivo also offers them individually. Availability in our region is still unclear. The scope of delivery includes a case for attaching the clip-on lenses as well as a clip-on camera grip.
Vivo offers the two lenses as a set or individually.
This makes the smartphone feel very much like a camera – with all the advantages and disadvantages. For example, it no longer fits in a trouser or jacket pocket.
Compared to the X300 Ultra, Vivo uses a different sensor with lower resolution in the X500. In return, the lens offers a longer focal length. On the X300 Ultra, it was unusually large at 35 mm. The telephoto camera uses the same sensor, and the sensor area of the ultra-wide-angle camera is smaller in comparison.
The cameras on the back of the Vivo X500 Max Pro.
The slow autofocus makes "whale watching" a gamble
We set sail from Puerto Colón at 9:15 a.m. After just under an hour on the catamaran, pilot whales are in sight. Full of excitement, I head to the railing with the 400mm lens attached and am immediately confronted with a problem: the marine mammals only surface briefly, and I don't know exactly where. This makes it a gamble to get them into the frame. Furthermore, the autofocus proves to be too slow under these conditions. But I do manage to get the occasional snapshot.
Im Folgenden verwende ich Bildergalerien, die in der mobilen Ansicht nicht als solche zu erkennen sind. Wisch einfach nach links für weitere Bilder.
Not so easy to capture a briefly surfacing animal with 400mm.It's easier with the telephoto lens without the clip-on, but the pilot whales are too far away.If they are close to the boat, only the main camera helps.
It is easier to photograph the whales with the smartphone's regular telephoto lens, but not full-frame as I would like. Some of the animals do get very close to the boat, and the main camera takes over. However, it remains a top-down view with blurry pilot whales beneath the water's surface.
This cliff is too high for the 400mm lens
After the encounter with the animals, the ship heads back towards the coast. The destination is Los Gigantes, a cliff face up to 450 meters high. Its size can only be captured with the main or telephoto camera. We are already too close for the teleconverter. It can only be used for detail shots of the buildings located in front of the cliffs.
Impressive cliffs captured with the main camera.The telephoto camera also captures their size.With the clip-on lens, the focal length is too large for Los Gigantes, but it's still worth it for detail shots.
Say hello with beautiful holiday selfies
There is still time for a selfie in the sun in front of Los Gigantes. The front camera captures me sharply and well-lit against the backdrop, which is out of focus due to the distance. By the afternoon, I am already in the shade on the plateau at the Teide volcano. But the front camera doesn't disappoint here either.
Tenerife, 26 degrees, the sun is shining, the selfie is perfect.
On the volcano, but not dancing.
Capturing the volcano with all cameras
The vast, barren landscape is impressive and hard to capture in a single photo. However, the main camera shows that contrasts are no problem for it. It captures the entire volcano. For a close look at the cloud-covered peak of Teide, I mount the 400mm lens.
Elsewhere, I get back into the sun and have an impressive rock formation in front of me. The main camera has too long a focal length for it. But fortunately, the ultra-wide-angle camera also delivers good photos.
It must look something like this on Mars.Clouds cling to the peak.When the main camera can't get everything in the frame.There is no reason not to use the ultra-wide-angle camera.The cloud was paid for that, after all.Two mountain peaks in a sea of clouds.
The tourist tour takes me further into the north of the island. I stay above the clouds and catch a glimpse of the sunset. With the smartphone's telephoto lens, I even bring the two highest elevations of Las Palmas close in the twilight.
Long exposure times work handheld
The evening ends in darkness with a look at the sky. The camera app has a special moon mode, and with the teleconverter and a digital zoom to 1600 mm, the Earth's satellite fills a large part of the image. On Earth, the moonlight provides brightness. For my taste, almost too bright for a night photo. At least stars can be seen in the sky.
The biggest challenge is to keep the moon steady in the frame handheld.The moon almost turns night into day.The telephoto camera reveals the limits of image quality at night.The street lighting bathes the beach in yellow light.
The telephoto camera then reveals the problems of exposure times with sometimes double-digit seconds. It is amazing to be able to hold these times by hand, and it looks good on the smartphone, but upon closer inspection, the image quality leaves something to be desired.
As a photographer, I would criticize the details of the image quality in the dark or the speed of the autofocus. As a tourist, however, I am thrilled with the Vivo X500 Max Pro. One click is enough, and I have a shot in the can that I can send or post immediately to show everyone how beautiful my holiday is. And the shots also serve wonderfully as memories later on.
Surfing in slow motion
I hardly bothered with the video features of the X500 Pro Max, but the slow-mo function in combination with the 400mm lens caught my eye. I got very close to the surfers this way.
A robust companion, not just on holiday
Whether the sun is shining on it or it is dark, the 6.85-inch AMOLED display proves to be a helpful viewfinder that adjusts its brightness itself. In "High Brightness Mode," up to 2000 nits are possible. With a resolution of 3168 x 1440 pixels, a refresh rate of up to 144 Hertz, and 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, the screen is also suitable for games or videos.
The display is an always-easy-to-see viewfinder, even in sunshine.
The entire smartphone is waterproof according to IP69 and even withstands water jets. Or in other words: even on a rainy holiday, I can take photos with it without worry. The frame is made of aluminum, and the back is made of glass or carbon-reinforced plastic, depending on the color. If the light hits my test device at the right angle, the back sparkles.
The small subtleties of the back are not visible in every photo.
The battery lasts for a long tourist day
Despite several hundred photos, the X500 Pro Max still delights me the next morning with a 60 percent charged battery. I used the smartphone mainly as a camera. Route planning, social media, and the like would put more strain on the battery. But a day-long excursion is possible without a power bank.
And this despite the fact that the battery capacity of 6750 mAh is rather low for a top smartphone from a Chinese manufacturer. The sister brand Oppo, for example, installs a 7150 mAh battery in the Find X10 Pro Max in Europe. However, Vivo has apparently built a more efficient system with the same chipset. In our battery test, the smartphone lasts 25 hours and 29 minutes. The Oppo manages nine minutes less with its larger battery.
The X500 Pro Max is charged via USB-C or wirelessly.
With the appropriate power supply unit, the X500 Pro Max is also quickly recharged. It accepts up to 90 watts via its USB-C port. Wirelessly, it is still up to 40 watts.
Plenty of power for image editing
Vivo installs the Dimensity 9600 Pro in the X500 Pro Max and pairs it with twelve gigabytes of RAM. This means image processing is done quickly, even if I sometimes still see the unfinished photo when switching quickly to the gallery, which changes to the final view after a short moment. The smartphone also offers more than enough computing power for other applications, including image editing.
Vivo uses the same hardware as Oppo in the aforementioned Find X10 Pro Max. On average across several benchmark tests, however, the X500 Pro Max achieves better results. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and the Exynos 2600 in two Samsung smartphones also lag behind the Vivo. However, Qualcomm has already introduced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, which will likely achieve even better values in the next smartphone generation. But the Dimensity is perfectly sufficient for me.
We run various benchmarks on the smartphones – namely 3DMark, Geekbench, and Antutu. The results of the respective test device correspond to 100 percent. The results of other devices are set in relation to this. Average values are derived from the various benchmarks for CPU and iGPU performance. The results are weighted equally.
Origin OS with an Apple penchant and little AI
Vivo expands Android 17 on the X500 Max Pro with its own interface and calls it Origin OS 7. In addition to visual adjustments that seem copied from Apple's "Liquid Glass," there are some exciting functional enhancements. Brand new is Workbench. This allows up to five apps to be grouped – and importantly: they continue to run when switching and are not sent to the background. For example, you can switch applications during a video export, even if the app says you shouldn't leave it.
Vivo could have let a little more of its own creativity flow into the design.
In addition, Vivo has managed to connect its Android devices with macOS. AirDrop works, and via Continuity, the smartphone can be mirrored and accessed from the Mac.
It is noticeable that Vivo is sparing with AI tools. Gemini is pre-installed as an AI assistant. Otherwise, I have only found AI functions in image editing so far. Vivo does not offer its own tools for text editing, translation, content creation, and the like.
Vivo pre-installs comparatively few apps.
I also find it positive that Vivo is very restrained with its own and, above all, third-party apps. Only Facebook is pre-installed.
Vivo organized and paid for the trip to Tenerife.
In a nutshell
Perfect companion for holidays and everyday life
As a tourist, I am completely convinced by the Vivo X500 Pro Max. I get great photos under all conditions. The display shows no weaknesses, and the battery easily lasts the whole day. There is also no lack of computing power for image editing or gaming. In the end, all that remains is the price, for which you could also take a week's vacation. As a photographer, I appreciate the additional perspectives that the optional clip-on lenses offer me – even if I almost always only use one of them. However, it is a bit cumbersome to have to change them depending on the subject. With the grip on the case, the Vivo X500 Pro Max also feels very much like a camera.
As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
