vivo X300, An Opportunity We Could Not MIss
A few weeks ago, vivo sent over a vivo X300 for us to take a look at. Having seldomly sent a product from vivo to review their devices, we grabbed the opportunity and took it out for a spin.
Here’s TL;DR of this review: The vivo X300 is a compact flagship that nails the basics and then goes beyond them, especially in performance and camera quality.
Build and Design
The vivo X300 leans heavily into the idea of a compact flagship, and that is exactly what makes it appealing if you are tired of huge phones. Its footprint is close to the OPPO Find X9, so if you liked that phone’s in-hand feel, this will feel instantly familiar, just a bit more refined around the edges. In daily use after three weeks, the compact form factor really stood out as a major plus, because it is easier to use one-handed, slip into pockets, and hold for long reading or gaming sessions without fatigue. The glass front and back with an aluminum frame give it a proper premium feel, and the IP68/IP69 rating adds peace of mind if you bring it outdoors a lot. There is enough heft at 190 g to feel solid, but not so much that it feels tiring to hold.gadgets.
The design language is clean and modern, with subtle curves and a camera island that looks expensive without being flashy. Button placement is comfortable, and after three weeks, I never felt like I had to “stretch” for the power or volume keys. Compared with the OPPO Find X9, the experience is very similar in terms of hand feel, but the X300’s slightly better weight balance makes it a bit nicer to use for long periods. If you like compact phones that still look and feel like proper flagships, the X300 fits that niche really well.
Display
The X300 uses a 6.31‑inch FHD+ LTPO AMOLED panel with a 1216 x 2640 resolution and adaptive 1–120 Hz refresh rate, which is impressive for a compact device. The screen is sharp, colors are punchy without looking cartoonish, and the 4,500 nits peak brightness rating means you can comfortably use it outdoors, even under direct sunlight. In practice, during three weeks of use, I never had visibility issues, whether taking photos at noon or checking maps while walking. The LTPO tech helps the phone drop refresh rate when it does not need to be high, which contributes to better battery life over time.
Scrolling feels very smooth, whether you are browsing social media, reading, or gaming at higher frame rates. HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support make videos look rich, with good contrast and highlights that pop without blowing out details. The punch-hole cutout is small and not distracting, and touch response feels instant, which matters a lot when you play fast-paced games. For a compact phone, there is very little to complain about on the display side.
Hardware
Under the hood, the vivo X300 runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 chipset paired with 12 GB of RAM and fast UFS 4.1 storage. This is a proper flagship setup and you can feel it from the moment you start using the phone. Apps open quickly, multitasking is smooth, and heavy tasks like photo editing or running many apps in the background do not slow it down. Across three weeks of use, I never felt limited by the hardware, even when pushing it with games, camera use, and social apps all in one day.browser.
You also get modern connectivity standards like 5G, Wi‑Fi 7, NFC, and an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, which is faster and more reliable than optical scanners in my experience. Stereo speakers are present and get reasonably loud with clear highs, though the bass is more on the modest side, which is typical for slim phones. The only real limitation on the hardware side is the lack of expandable storage, so you need to pick the right storage variant from the start, but 512 GB is absolutely enough for most people.
Benchmark
On paper, the Dimensity 9500 delivers strong benchmark numbers, and those results line up well with real-world use. Geekbench scores place the X300 firmly among flagship devices, and GPU benchmarks show it can handle demanding games and heavy visuals without breaking a sweat. This matches my own experience: the phone feels fast and responsive in everything from UI navigation to switching between heavy apps and games.
What matters more is that these numbers can actually translate to smooth day-to-day use and gaming. For three weeks, I used the X300 as my main device, and performance was basically never a concern. It is fast, responsive, and absolutely game ready. Whether I was playing graphically intensive titles or just jumping in and out of lighter games, the phone stayed smooth and stable. So while saying “it’s fast” might sound too simple, our benchmark results do back that up and show that the silicon inside really is on par with other top-tier flagship chipsets.
Software and Features
The vivo X300 runs Android 16 with OriginOS 6 on top, which brings a modern, polished interface and plenty of customization. The UI feels fluid and consistent, with animations that complement the fast hardware rather than slowing it down. There are a lot of options to tweak the home screen, always-on display, and gesture navigation, so it is easy to make the phone feel “yours” after a bit of setup. Over three weeks, I did not run into major bugs or weird slowdowns, which is good news for anyone worried about software stability.
There are some pre-installed apps and features that you may or may not use, but most of them can be disabled or ignored. Vivo’s camera app is packed with different modes, and it is actually one of the better organized ones once you get familiar with it. Long-term update support is an important part of any flagship, and reports indicate that the X300 is meant to get extended software and security updates, which makes it a safer buy if you plan to keep your phone for several years. Overall, the software experience is smooth and clean enough while still feeling feature-rich.
Camera
The camera system is where the vivo X300 really separates itself from many other compact flagships. It packs a 200 MP main camera with OIS, a 50 MP ultra-wide, and a 50 MP periscope telephoto with 3x optical zoom, all co-engineered with ZEISS. In practice, this combination delivers consistently sharp and detailed photos across focal lengths, with nice color science that leans natural but still looks pleasing on social media. Daytime shots have excellent dynamic range, and portrait shots benefit from ZEISS tuning, with clean subject separation and pleasing background blur.
What impressed me most over three weeks is how reliable the camera is. It is not just good in ideal light, it also performs well during low-light scenes, where the main sensor and OIS work together to keep shots sharp without requiring long exposure times. Zoom performance at 3x is very usable and still holds up decently beyond that thanks to the high-resolution sensor, though like any phone, very high digital zoom starts to lose detail. If last year the OPPO Find X9 was the compact camera king, the vivo X300 really feels like it took that crown at the start of this year, because it delivers impressive camera performance across the board and rarely disappoints. The 50 MP selfie camera is also strong, with detailed, well-exposed shots that look good even in tricky lighting.
Audio
The vivo X300 uses stereo speakers with audio output through the USB‑C port for wired listening. For a compact device, the speakers are loud enough for casual video watching and gaming, and they stay relatively clear even at higher volumes. In my use, the sound stage is decent, with clear mids and highs, though bass is not its strong point, which is expected given the slim frame. Watching movies and playing games without headphones is still enjoyable, just not as immersive as bigger phones with larger speaker chambers.
There is no 3.5 mm headphone jack, so all wired listening goes through USB‑C, but wireless audio via Bluetooth 6.0 works well and stays stable. If you have good wireless earbuds or headphones, the experience is perfectly fine, and latency for media and gaming is acceptable. For calls, earpiece clarity is solid and the microphones handle voice well, even in noisier environments. Audio is not the headline feature of this phone, but it is good enough that it never felt like a weakness in everyday use.
Battery
Vivo managed to fit a 6,040 mAh class battery (listed as 6,040 or 6,050 mAh depending on the spec sheet revision) into this compact body, which is impressive by any standard. Combined with the efficient Dimensity 9500 and LTPO display, this leads to strong endurance. In typical mixed use with messaging, browsing, social media, camera use, and some gaming, the phone comfortably lasts more than a full day, and reported screen-on times around 7 hours line up with what I saw. In my own testing, I was able to push a single charge to about 18 hours and 24 minutes of total use during a long, travel-heavy day, which is a huge plus if you rely on your phone as your main travel companion.
Charging is also fast, with 90 W wired charging and 40 W wireless charging supported. The phone can reach around 50% in under 20 minutes and a full charge in around 40 minutes, so even if you forget to charge overnight, a short top-up in the morning is enough. The combination of big battery and fast charging makes the X300 very easy to live with. You do not feel battery anxiety, even on days filled with navigation, photos, and a bit of gaming.
Verdict
The vivo X300 is one of those rare compact flagships that does not feel like a compromise device. You get a premium build, a bright and smooth AMOLED display, a flagship Dimensity 9500 chip, strong benchmark numbers, and one of the best camera setups you can find in a small phone. After three weeks of daily use, what stood out most to me is how balanced the experience is. The compact form factor is exactly what I prefer these days, and the in-hand feel is very close to the OPPO Find X9 while offering a more impressive camera package. Performance-wise, I really could not ask for more: it is fast, responsive, and fully game ready, and our benchmark results strongly agree with that real-world feeling.
The camera performance is what truly makes the X300 shine in a crowded compact flagship market. If the OPPO Find X9 “took the cake” last year, vivo started this year strong with the X300 by delivering a camera system that is consistently impressive across main, ultra-wide, zoom, and selfie use cases. Battery life and charging only add to the appeal, with that 18 hours and 24 minutes of real-world use on a single charge making it a reliable travel buddy, not just a desk phone. It is not perfect – there is no expandable storage, and the audio, while decent, is not class-leading – but those trade-offs feel minor next to what you are getting. If you want a compact flagship that behaves like a true all-rounder and not a cut-down version of a bigger phone, the vivo X300 is very easy to recommend. Just be sure that you’ve got PhP67,999 lying around.
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
