First let's cast an eye back to the Vivo V30 Pro - we had talked about in on Openvy, calling it (https://openvy.com/NimishAndAk…) one of the best-equipped phones in camera terms out there and stunningly good value for money for Rs 41,999. It did have a few chinks in its armour, like the rather mid-segment processor and the absence of stereo speakers...well, the V40 Pro fixes all that. AND makes the cameras even better. Here's a quick look at it!

The Vivo V40 Pro is supposed to be mainly about the cameras, but you know what - it looks very good too. It is surprisingly slim at 7.6 mm, when you consider it has a 5500 mAh battery (that's a BIG battery - the Galaxy 24 Ultra has a 5000 mAh one). But the Ganges Blue variant will turn heads with its design that shows patterns that seem like shiny streams of water flowing across its back. Some might not like it, but we rather do, although that camera unit is rather...lumpy. We forgive it, given what it can do, though. The back is glass, the front is glass too (no protection mentioned though), and the frame is plastic, and the entire phone is IP68 rated - so it can actually survive a fall in the water!

Let's cut to the chase though - the cameras. Like all new Vivo series phones, the V40 Pro also comes with cameras made in collaboration with Zeiss optics (the same Carl Zeiss that used to come on Sony and Nokia smartphones). There are three cameras on the back - all 50 MP each. One of them is a main sensor with OIS, one an ultrawide and one a portrait telephoto with rather modest 2x optical zoom, but lots of shooting versatility and also with OIS. And all of them - even the ultrawide - have autofocus. That ain't all - the front facing camera is 50 megapixel too and has autofocus too., Round that off with a special flash on the back that changes colour (Aura flash, Vivo calls it) and the Vivo V40 Pro comes across as extremely well-stacked in the camera department.

It is not just about the hardware, though, The Vivo V40 Pro comes with a number of special shooting modes and filters designed by Zeiss. You can also tweak settings on all the four camEras, which gives one a terrific amount of control. No, we will NOT use the DSLR word here, but if you are the type that likes to tweak aperture, shutter speed and contrast settings on your cameras, then you will love the Vivo V40 Pro - even taking selfies gets elevated to a new level. Of course, you get very good output from all the cameras - this is a Vivo with Zeiss, after all. Can it match the Pixel and iPhone? YES. And it hammers them in the selfie camera department.

Unlike the Vivo V30 Pro, which had made some hardware compromises, the V40 Pro comes pretty well stacked. It tuns on the slightly old, but still flagship level MediaTek Dimensity 9200+ and comes with up to 12 GB RAM and 512 GB storage (they are not the fastest LPDDR and UFS variants, but will not affect performance much). You also get a brilliant 6.78 inch 2800 x 1260 resolution AMOLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate, and stereo speakers.

The phone packs in a very big 5500 mAh battery, which is surprising considering how slim it is. It comes with support for 80W fast charging and a 80W charger in the box as well. That will recharge. the phone in about an hour, which is respectable given the size of the battery. It is not as crazy fast as the charging on OnePlus and Xiaomi flagships that go into three figure charging speeds, but is pretty good.

All of which makes the Vivo V40 Pro quite a terrific proposition for those who want a camera centric phone which does not cut any major corners. You get fantastic cameras (perhaps some of the best out there), a very good processor, plenty of RAM and storage, a big battery with fast-ish charging, stereo speakers, and heck, even dust and water resistance, All at a starting price of Rs 49,999, which we expect to decrease in the coming days. Our take? Perhaps as good as any camera phone gets below Rs 50,000, And if you like photograph, you will actually get more from this than from a Galaxy S24, an iPhone 15 or even a Pixel 8! Yes, we said that.