Vivo X300 FE Review: The Compact Gem With No Real Rival?

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Vivo X300 FE

€749.90 In stock — ships within 24 h

2-year warranty · Support in France

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For years, choosing a compact smartphone meant accepting a string of frustrating compromises. Wanting a device you could actually use one-handed almost always meant putting up with an anaemic battery, no telephoto lens or a throttled processor.

The Vivo X300 FE (Fan Edition) sweeps that fate aside. Priced at €799, this pocket-sized flagship rewrites the industry rulebook by pairing a miniature footprint with a spec sheet that is nothing short of titanic. Is it the ultimate compact phone of the year? Here is our verdict after an in-depth test.

1. Design and Handling: Ergonomics as an Art Form

From the very first moment in the hand, the Vivo X300 FE impresses with its balance. Where the competition keeps piling on bulk, Vivo delivers a phone of rare compactness, measuring 150.83 x 71.76 mm with a thickness of just 7.99 mm and a restrained weight of 191 grams.

• Comfort in use: Thanks to its 6.31-inch diagonal and ultra-thin bezels, sweeping across the screen with your thumb requires no contortions whatsoever. The phone doesn’t slip, and it never feels top-heavy the way larger formats do.
• The back and the camera bar: The matte AG finish glass rear (available in Black, Purple and the elegant Olive Green) is a textbook example of the genre: it fends off fingerprints very effectively. Vivo has wisely dropped the huge central circular module in favour of a horizontal camera bar. The result: the phone sits perfectly flat on a table, with none of that annoying wobble when you type.
• Built to take a beating: The aerospace-grade aluminium chassis shrugs off everyday knocks, backed by SGS Five-Star drop-resistance certification. On the sealing front, Vivo goes all in with dual IP68 and IP69 certification, guaranteeing protection against immersion as well as high-pressure hot water jets.

2. ZEISS Master Color Display: Small Format, Big Spectacle

The X300 FE’s panel proves that a compact display can still be fully immersive. You get a 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED panel with a surgically sharp 1.5K (2640 x 1216 pixels) resolution, for a density of 460 ppi.

The display’s standout feature: this screen can climb to a staggering peak brightness of 5,000 nits. Even under blazing midday sun, readability is absolute.

Thanks to LTPO technology, the refresh rate scales dynamically from 1 to 120 Hz to preserve battery life. Colour accuracy (with HDR10+ support) is remarkably faithful, particularly with “Professional” mode enabled. Anyone prone to eye strain will appreciate the SCHOTT Xensation Core protective glass combined with 2,160 Hz PWM dimming, which eliminates any screen flicker at low brightness.

3. Performance and Hardware: The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Beast

Under the bonnet, the Vivo X300 FE isn’t here to make up the numbers. It packs the most powerful chip on the market: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. Built on a 3 nm process with an “All-Big-Core” architecture, the processor is paired here with 12 GB of LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and 256 GB of UFS 4.1 storage.

• Day to day: the experience is disarmingly smooth. Apps open instantly, multitasking is flawlessly responsive and there isn’t a single stutter to report, even with dozens of Chrome tabs open in the background.
• Gaming: on extremely demanding titles such as Genshin Impact or Wuthering Waves, the X300 FE holds a maximum, rock-steady framerate with every graphics option cranked to the limit. The internal cooling system dissipates heat beautifully: the phone warms up moderately without ever triggering thermal throttling (the loss of power caused by overheating). In AnTuTu (v11), the phone proudly clears the 3,000,000-point mark.

4. Battery Life That Redefines the Compact Segment

This is where the Vivo X300 FE pulls off its biggest coup. Historically, a small phone meant a small battery. Vivo rewrites the rules by fitting a gigantic 6500 mAh silicon-carbon cell.

BATTERY RESULTS (BlueVolt 6500 mAh battery)
Continuous GPS navigation: 10h45
YouTube video streaming: 38h24
Typical use: 1.5 to 2 days

Heavy users will get through a full day without a second thought. With more moderate use, two days of battery life is genuinely achievable.

On the charging side, Vivo delivers a comprehensive package:

1. 90W FlashCharge wired charging: a full 100% top-up in barely 55 minutes.
2. 40W wireless charging: a rare speed on a compact model, ideal for desk charging stands.
3. Bypass Charging: a software feature that powers the motherboard directly when the phone is plugged in while gaming, avoiding overheating and extending battery lifespan (certified for 1,200 cycles).

5. Photography: ZEISS Expertise at Work

The emblematic partnership between Vivo and ZEISS takes a particularly versatile form here. The X300 FE offers a triple-sensor setup at the back, rounded out by an excellent 50 MP front camera with autofocus for consistently sharp selfies.

• ZEISS portraits: the X300 FE includes ZEISS Multifocal Portrait mode, offering 5 different focal lengths (from 23 mm to 100 mm) paired with legendary background blur (bokeh) profiles (Biotar, Sonnar, Planar). Hair cut-out and skin tones look astonishingly natural.
• The secret weapon: the telephoto lens supports the optional ZEISS Teleconverter Extender Gen 2 optical kit. This 153g aluminium-alloy accessory attaches magnetically to deliver a 200 mm equivalent, letting you capture distant scenes or live concerts with image sharpness worthy of a DSLR.
• Video: the phone shoots up to 8K at 30 fps and offers an impressive 4K at 120 fps mode for cinematic slow motion, all stabilised by a highly effective gyroscope-EIS and OIS combination.

6. Software and Security: A Premium Experience Built to Last

The Vivo X300 FE runs OriginOS 6, based on Android 16. It’s one of the smoothest skins on the market, with animations of absolute fluidity.

• Exemplary software support: Vivo guarantees 5 years of major Android updates and 7 years of security patches, making this device a long-term investment.
• Smart features: the highlights include Origin Island (an interactive area at the top of the screen for keeping tabs on background apps such as music or navigation) and the AI Retouch editing suite (magic eraser to remove reflections or passers-by, image expansion). The Vivo Office Kit greatly simplifies file sharing and screen mirroring to Windows PCs and Macs.
• Security: beneath the display sits a 3D Ultrasonic 2.0 fingerprint sensor. Unlike traditional optical sensors, it unlocks the phone instantly, even when your fingers are wet or dirty.

The Verdict: The Undisputed King of Compacts at €799

The Vivo X300 FE pulls off a masterstroke. At €799, it isn’t trying to be a “budget” flagship. It’s a deliberate, upmarket choice for anyone who refuses to carry a 200-gram “brick” in their pocket but won’t sacrifice technological comfort either.

Aside from an ultra wide-angle sensor that lags behind the rest of the arsenal, its spec sheet is very nearly faultless: the sheer muscle of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, a stunning ZEISS camera ecosystem and, above all, a 6500 mAh battery that obliterates every rival in this size category. If you’re after the most complete and most enjoyable compact phone to live with day to day, the Vivo X300 FE currently stands alone.

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