Vivo has launched its innovative and ambitious flagship phone, Nex, in India for an incredibly competitive price. Most mid-range and premium phones we have come across this year adhere to a conservative approach of accomplishing things, but the Vivo Nex (review) takes a bold stance without unrealistically inflating the price tag.
If you have been on the fence and can’t decide whether to buy Vivo Nex in India or not, we can help. Let’s sum up reasons for why the Nex is the way to go.
1. Immersive Notch-less Screen
In the pursuit of bezel-less phones, the notch has been the interim stage. It allows OEMs to house an almost bezel-less screen without going out of their way to accommodate necessary components that need to be on the front elsewhere.
Well, the valiant Nex takes the uncompromised route and manages to deliver a continuous bezel-less screen, resulting in a staggering 91.24% screen-to-body ratio. Moreover, the quality of the display panel is awesome.
The extra-large AMOLED screen (19.3:9) with wide dynamic range, high contrasts, and support for DCI-P3 color gamut is a blessing for anyone who prefers watching multimedia content on his/her phone (which is most of us). Also, the software is well optimized to make the most of the panel.
2. Pop-up Selfie Camera
The selfie camera is the most difficult to accommodate on Bezel-less phones. It’s one component that you can’t shift under the screen and to fit it on the bottom bezel is known to yield disastrous user experience.
The Nex resolves the conundrum with an innovative and stylish Pop-up camera. The camera elevates automatically as soon as you switch to the front sensor in the camera app (which is SO cool). And it automatically retracts when not needed.
You need not worry about the durability of the slider mechanism either. The mechanical assembly is firmly mounted and can handle approximately 12.5 kilograms of weight.
And more importantly, we managed to shoot amazing selfies without having to put in any work.
3. Spectacular Dual Rear Cameras
On the rear, the Vivo Nex houses a 12MP primary dual-pixel sensor (f/1.8) aided by a 5MP depth sensor. The primary sensor gets 4-axis optical image stabilization (OIS) that significantly improves low light image quality.
The camera app has been thoughtfully designed and has all the options in the right places. The software is also bolstered by AI Smarts. With Nex, you get smart features like AI scene recognition, AI Face Beauty mode, and AI HDR that intelligently tweak image settings for the best results.
The camera can lock focus is no time and can shoot vivid, crisp and well-balanced images. The portrait mode on Vivo Nex can accurately determine subject from the backdrop even in low light. To sum it up, the Nex has the best rear camera you could ask for in its class.
4. In-Display Fingerprint Sensor
Another cool factor of the Nex is its third-generation in-display fingerprint sensor that brings in 50 percent more accuracy and is 10 percent faster compared to the last generation sensor. We have been using the in-display fingerprint sensor for a while now, but the performance never ceases to amaze us.
The sensor positioning is perfect and it feels totally natural to unlock your phone by placing your digit on the screen. Once you have tried it, there is no going back.
5. Screen SoundCasting and Hidden Sensors
So, where does the ear-piece go? The Vivo Nex replaces it with the Screen SoundCasting technology. The new tech converts the entire screen into a speaker, which is to say, you can place your ears anywhere on the screen to attend or make phone calls. In fact, the audio is perfectly audible even when you place your ears on the rear glass.
Vivo has dexterously hidden other mandatory front sensors too. For instance, the ambient light sensor and proximity sensor are placed under the top of the display. To ensure performance consistency, these sensors are controlled with an independent IC.
6 Stunning Design
The 6.59-inch screen on a phone would have made it a niche product up until a year ago. The Vivo Nex, however, is a cleverly designed phone that houses the panel in a reasonably compact form factor (The size is nearly the same as a conventional 5.68-inch display phone).
As we stated above, the bezel around the screen is extremely narrow, the glass back tapers towards the edges, and all buttons and ports are always within reach. The Nex is surprisingly comfortable to wield and even if you are coming from a relatively compact phone, you will get used to its size in no time.
Also, Vivo has used a nano-precision laser engraving to carve tens of thousands of dynamic color diffraction units onto the back cover, with four optical diffractive surfaces cut into each unit. This ensures a premium and futuristic design experience that complements Nex’s theme.
8. Impressive Performance
The Vivo Nex is powered by the top-shelf Snapdragon 845 quad-core chipset paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage. Naturally, everything on the Nex is blazing fast. Apps open in no time, high-end games run ultra smooth, and we are yet to run into any unexpected performance drop or erratic behaviour.
On the software side of things, Nex includes AI Smart Engine that intelligently allocates system resources in real-time to ensure that the performance remains pristine throughout the life cycles. For gamers, Vivo has also added a very elaborate AI gaming mode that optimizes performance according to the game’s resources for a smooth gaming experience.
8. Remarkable Battery Endurance
Thanks to the use of power-efficient hardware and intelligent software, the 4000mAh battery on the Vivo Nex can easily last for 1.5 to 2 days of usage. Even if you are a heavy user, you won’t have to worry about running out of charge mid-day.
Besides, the handset supports fast charging. The bundled 22.5W charger can top up the battery in less than 2 hours.
9. Rich Audio
Vivo has been laying a lot of emphasis on music and audio and that remains true for the flagship Nex as well. The phone comes with a professional Hi-fi V1 System which results in a dynamic range of 130dB and distortion -115dB. The phone supports FLAC and comes bundled with HI-Res earphones, which should make it extremely appealing to audiophiles.
10. Dedicated AI Button
The Vivo Nex also has a dedicated AI button on the left edge. With a single tap, the button fires Google Lens, which is one of the best OCR tools out there. You can use Google lens to identify nearby objects, grab texts from images (or objects) and do a lot more.
You can also long press the button to summon Google Assistant wherever you feel like getting things done using simple Voice prompts.
