Hardly anyone knows about this smartphone, which offers outstanding value for the price

Apple and Samsung also offer affordable smartphones with slightly more compact designs, but these usually come with significant limitations compared to their top-of-the-line models.

The Chinese manufacturer Vivo is taking a different approach and offers the X300 FE for well under US$ 1,100, while keeping the limitations – compared to the Vivo X300 Ultra, which the manufacturer sells for more than double the price – relatively minor.

Smaller Sensors, but Light-Sensitive

Although smaller camera sensors are used, some of them are actually even more light-sensitive than those in the top-of-the-line model. As a result, images still appear very sharp and offer high dynamic range, especially in darker environments.

A 3x optical periscope zoom in the telephoto lens enables good images up to 10x magnification; beyond that, it goes up to 100x, though with clearly visible AI post-processing. Nevertheless, this feature is still useful – for example, as a substitute for binoculars.

We’re not very impressed with the images from the wide-angle lens: you can barely zoom in on them without noticing the very low level of detail. The selfie camera, on the other hand, certainly impressed us in our in-depth review.

Vivo X300 FE with Good Battery Life

The battery life is also impressive: In our real-world Wi-Fi test, we recorded over 24 hours of use, and the phone can even last through two workdays on a single charge.

And thanks to the 90-watt charging power, the phone can be charged enough in just a few minutes to allow for several hours of normal use when needed. It even supports wireless charging at up to 40 watts.

You can game on the go for over 4 hours before the battery runs out of power, and if you use your phone very lightly, you can even get three or four days of battery life.

Few Limitations

In general, there are very few limitations compared to the Vivo X300 Ultra, aside from multifocal videos or a slightly larger optical zoom: Even the optional clip-on lens for telephoto shots is compatible with the Vivo X300 FE .

If you’d like to learn more about our top value pick, we recommend our in-depth review of the Vivo X300 FE.