Compact phones are typically riddled with compromises, usually blamed on a lack of space – meagre batteries, pared-down cameras and toned-down performance. The Vivo X300 FE arrives to challenge that premise, with a capacious battery, flagship-grade cameras, and top-tier performance…in a phone that’s comfortable to use one-handed. Is there anything holding Vivo's latest Fan Edition back?
Visually distinct from the rest of Vivo’s lineup, the X300 FE, with its pill-shaped camera island placed all the way to the top of the frame, subtly echoes the design of the iPhone Air. It’s not nearly as thin at 7.99mm, but the sculpted 3D glass camera bump doesn’t protrude quite as much and seamlessly matches the colour options: Olive, Purple and Black. It’s remarkably compact, at 150.83mm × 71.76mm and 191g, and with the matte finish rear panel and rounded edges curving into the aluminium frame, it is rather comfortable to hold - a refreshing change from the slabs most flagships are today. IP68 and IP69 ratings round out the sturdy build.
What stays the same from last year’s X200 FE is the 6.31-inch LTPO (1-120Hz refresh rate) AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution and 5,000/1,800 nits of peak/high brightness, ensuring excellent HDR10+ support and good visibility even under the harsh summer sun. Visuals are crisp, colours are well balanced, and contrast is excellent, and you can switch between Standard, Professional, and Bright profiles based on your preferences. Even better, the stereo speakers sound good and get plenty loud.
Where Vivo’s switched gears is their choice of silicon powering the device, and it’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage, that gives the X300 FE a performance boost. Coupled with a large vapour chamber cooling system, gaming performance is surprisingly good, even after long durations of gameplay. Battery life is solid, with the 6,500mAh silicon carbon battery lasting nearly a day and a half of heavy use, plus thers's 90W FlashCharge / 40W wireless charging speeds. OriginOS 6 remains iOS26-inspired as ever, but it’s highly customisable and all the AI-based image editing, audio noise reduction and note-taking tools are present. The issue of pre-installed software bloat persists, though the 5 years of software updates and 7 years of security updates should inspire confidence.
Now, the X300 FE may be the least equipped of the X300 series on cameras, but it’s no pushover, with a triple Zeiss-backed rear camera setup. You get a 50MP Sony IMX921 f/1.57 primary sensor, a 50MP Sony IMX882 f/2.65 OIS telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, and an 8MP ultrawide lens, plus a 50MP f/2.0 Zeiss lens for selfies and video calls. By and large, the phone delivers pleasing shots with strong detail and great dynamic range, and you can play with the Zeiss photography styles to find a colour saturation level that you like. Portraits are exceptional with the 3x telephoto, though the colour science differs from the primary shooter. The ultrawide is clearly the weakest link, and unlike the primary and the telephoto, it falters in low light both in detail and depth.
The biggest leap forward for an FE buyer is the ability to extend the reach of the 50MP telephoto by attaching the 2.35x optical zoom/200mm Zeiss-tuned Telephoto Extender Gen 2. It weighs 153g and requires a specialised mounting case and accessory, which blocks access to other lenses while using it – not to mention, along with the lens, it bumps up the price to ₹95,997 for the base variant! While I welcome the ability to add this accessory, it makes the X300 FE an even more expensive proposition than it already is.
Which then brings one to the question of the similarly-sized X300, which packs better imaging hardware (a 200MP primary, for instance) along with its own telephoto extender system, for about the same price as the X300 FE…or even a bit lower. If you're not keen on carrying a mammoth Ultra flagship, but you still want some of that Vivo magic, the X300 FE could be a good bet…if you can snag it at a decent discount.
Rating: 8/10
Price: ₹79,999 (12 + 256 GB) onwards