u/JKSniper

Just in case you're in same dilemma.

I was deciding for months now to upgrade from my old S21 Ultra and X300 Ultra seems great, ShenzenTrading seemed reliable so I went for it. Purchase is smooth, delivery ~10 days with cheapest option. So far no additional costs for tarrifs or anything on top of the purchase price (~1100e 16MB/512GB).

Phone arrived in great shape, been a bit worried about the Tele OIS lens being in some extreme position (looked tilted+rotated) when delivered, but it recentered just fine when I first turned on the phone and used camera, so you know that is normal.

GLOBALISATION
Phone came with developer settings on, so ShenzenTrading -did- something to the phone. No malicious apps I found, no malicius permissions were given, so I think they only deleted a bunch of apps, selected English language and enabled a few things for smoother start.
- Google play has to be downloaded via preinstalled V-Appstore.
- Google services has to be enabled.
- I've uninstalled a bunch of chinese preinstalled apps and everything works without them fine.
- I've installed Gemini AI and disabled BlueLM Copilot. I've also disabled news and "Smart stuff" left from home screen, as news etc. were in Chinese.
- I've installed banking apps, tons of other apps (I'm quite heavy dev/smart home/photo user) and everything works perfectly.
- I've disabled Lock screen background images, as they are from chinese authors and their names are in Chinese.
- I've logged in Vivo Account with my name so chinese text on top of the settings screen dissapeared.
- For apps that you need instant notifications to work (like Viber, WhatsApp, IG, FB, Home Assistant....) you need to allow background battery usage AND enable AUTOSTART for these apps. After that, all notifications are instant, even if app was closed and it's not in background apps.
- All banking apps works, including NFC payments etc. etc.

Phone at this stage is now COMPLETELY WITHOUT ONE SINGLE CHINESE CHARACTER ANYWHERE and looks, operates and feels as my Samsung phone I was used to.

Things that I miss:
- Quick camera access: Double press of power button goes to Chinese NFC payment, which you want to disable. Shortcut to camera can be set as long press of volume down button when phone is locked. I wished I could link double-press of power button (in both locked phone and unlocked phone) to camera, same as I had on Samsung. It's really fast and convenient.

- Launcher (home screen) has main screen fixed on the left, then other screens to the right. With Samsung I was used to have main screen in the middle, then other screens to the left/right from that main home screen.

PROTECTION

EU doesn't have screen protectors, camera protectors etc. yet in local stores! So when you order the phone, order all accessories via AliExpress (or similar) too. On coincidence, I've received both phone and other stuff on same day, so ~10 days after purchase.

SCREEN PROTECTOR - Original screen protector foil was preinstalled a bit to the left ~1mm misalignment, so when I've put phone in original silicone protector, foil lifted up and bubbles appeared on the left. IMHO screen foil is not good enough protection for me anyways and I've ordered bunch of other screen protectors. One from "LEREACH" is tempered glass, so I will try that one and see if fingerprint is still reliable. I have bunch of AR-foils too, but foil won't protect the glass if I drop it during MTB and falls on the rock. Tempered glass with soft glue will.

PHONE CASE - Original phone case does not protect camera glass AND has zero grip on the sides, therefore I find it quite bad. I've purchased 5 different and 2 were similar to original, but had camera protection with holes, but still no grip to the sides of the phone. One I liked in the end is Nillkin - it has some grip to the sides, good cutouts, but camera is still unprotected.

CAMERA PROTECTION - While Nillkin protector is overall best, it doesn't have camera protection (same as original phone case), so I've purchased aluminium cover with cutouts and soft glue. It looks and feels great and will protect cameras from being scratched easily as now they are recessed inside. I saw photos of users having their glass scratched without this. I dislike full glass cover, as it affects optics.

CONCLUSION
I'm really happy with decision for the phone and also to go with Chinese directly, as it was fast and trouble-free purchase experiance and phone is now basically identical to my old Samsung, which was the goal, and all functions, apps, connections, bluetooth, WiFi, mobile data, 5G... are working perfectly.
I won't even go in details how great the phone camera, screen and performance is.

PS: I'm not sponsored by Vivo, any shop or anybody. Just sharing my experiance as this would be helpful for me, if I'd see it before purchasing.

I just received my long anticipated Vivo X300 Ultra in undamaged pacakge from ShenzenTrading. 16GB+512GB black version, manufactured 26-3-2026. Immediately after turning the new phone around I noticed that one camera is somewhat installed at angle. I'm trying to figure out if that is normal (like some gimbal, stabilization...) or is this poor craftsmanship? Does somebody have X300 Ultra and check it out, maybe both phone on/off. I haven't turned it on yet - and afraid to do so, before verifying.