Vivo has announced its much-rumored flagship device called the NEX S on 12th of June with a beautiful bezel-less display. The NEX is based on Apex, the impressive concept phone we saw at Mobile World Congress in February. Like Apex, the NEX avoids the now-ubiquitous display notch but maintains 91.24% screen-to-body ratio, beating all other phones on the market. The most striking feature of the phone is its elevating selfie camera that pops out from the top edge of the phone when required.
Vivo NEX S overview
The Vivo NEX boasts a 6.59-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with an industry-leading 91.24% screen-to-body ratio. The display has 2316x1080p resolution and a unique 19.3:9 ratio. The Ultra FullView display has a thin chin on the bottom and the all-screen design has no notch, no speaker grille, and a selfie camera that pops up from inside the phone to take your picture.
The phone itself is made out of metal and glass, while its display sports extremely thin bezels and display corners are rounded. The power key, volume up and volume down buttons are placed on the right side of the Vivo NEX. The phone’s customizable physical key sits on the left, while a Type-C USB port sits on the bottom of the device. The NEX also feature an in-display fingerprint scanner which is powered by the third-gen version of the tech. There is no doubt it is a lot better from the original!
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Hiding the 8MP pop-up camera inside the phone means it isn’t taking up room on the screen. That design helps keep the display bezel-free, though there’s still a small chin at the bottom. The company claims that the pop-up camera can easily be “popped out” more than 50 thousand times. Speaking of cameras, the Vivo NEX has a dual camera setup on the back. The rear side fetures12MP (f/1.8 aperture, 4-axis OIS, EIS, 1.4-micron pixel size, Dual Pixel sensor) and 5MP (f/2.4 aperture), while a single 8MP (f/2.0) “Elevating Camera” serves as the phone’s front-facing camera.
Like previous Vivo phones, it uses AI to help you identify scenes and take better shots by automatically adjusting the settings. There are AI features here like on the Huawei range of products and some other devices, meaning the camera will optimize its settings to take what it believes to be the best shot when you’re shooting particular objects. Vivo has packed in loads of other features here too including a beauty mode, panoramas and artificial intelligence filters that will work in a similar way to Snapchat.
There are also no speakers on the front. The Vivo NEX uses “Screen SoundCasting” technology to turn the screen into a speaker. It works in a similar way to bone conduction technology. It means you can place any part of the screen to your ear during a phone call, and Vivo claims this should offer better sound quality in phone calls too. This feature gives the handset a similar feel to the original Xiaomi Mi Mix, but Xiaomi dropped this technology for its Mi Mix 2, as it tends to broadcast your conversations to everyone around you. Time will tell if this will also be the case with the Vivo NEX.
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Powering the device is a top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 64-bit octa-core chipset, which is the same as we’ve seen in a number of 2018 flagships and we hope to see it perform well in this Vivo device too. On the storage side, the device has 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of onboard storage. However, there is no microSD slot for further storage expansion. Fueling up the device is a massive 4000mAh non-user removable battery with support for 22W fast charging.
Android 8.1 Oreo comes pre-installed on the Vivo NEX, while there is Vivo’s Funtouch OS 4.0 on top of it. As far as sensors are concerned, Vivo NEX includes the following: infrared, light, accelerometer, virtual gyroscope, and digital compass. This package also includes Bluetooth 5.0 as well, while the phone measures 162 x 77 x 7.98mm, and weighs 199 grams.
Right next to the selfie camera is a 3.5mm headphone jack! While the bottom edge of the phone features the USB-C charging port and a single speaker. There’s also a voice assistant called Jovi to help users with tasks. Though this feature will most likely be available only in China. However, the only downside is that it fails to support the NFC function. Despite the glass back, Vivo hasn’t included wireless charging technology in this phone.
Vivo NEX S price and availability
Basically, the Vivo NEX is for anyone who wants the most legitimately bezel-free phone possible at this moment in time. The obvious caveat is that it’ll only be available in China, for 4998 Yuan (about $780). This is a lot cheaper than the iPhone X but more expensive than a local flagship like the Mi 8. But Vivo is actually making this thing, and that’s reason enough to dream about the notch-less future. We’re looking forward to seeing how well it works out in reality. The phone comes in Black and Red color options which is great.
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