When Vivo demoed the Apex at MWC 2018, it
immediately raised questions of mass production and retail availability. At
that moment, Vivo just said it was a concept phone. Obviously, what a let down
it would be to see such a gorgeous device never reach the people. Fast forward
to today, and Vivo is giving the Chinese populace the Vivo Nex, which is a
refined Vivo Apex.
The Vivo Nex design is somewhat different than the
Vivo Apex in that it is much more ergonomic and ready for use. Also somewhat
surprising is the fact that there’s no Nex S, or Nex A or anything else.
There’s just the Vivo Nex and Nex Ultimate. In total, there are three variants.
But we’ll get to that in the end.
Interestingly there are some things that leaks have
missed this whole time. And we’ll get to that first. The Vivo Nex has a
dedicated voice assistant called Jovi that can be activated via a dedicated
button. There are a lot of details to Jovi, but for now, let’s just wrap it up
in a bulleted form. We can get to details sometime later.
The second highlight of the event was the on-screen
fingerprint. Vivo said that this the third generation sensor whereas the X21 UD
had second-gen sensors. This one is 10 percent faster and 50 percent more
accurate, good job Vivo!
The other highlight was for the camera and specs are
as we’ve seen earlier. There’s a 12MP + 5MP rear setup and there’s AI
everywhere. There’s Qualcomm’s Artificial Intelligence Engineering, AI scene
recognition, AI filters, and AI HDR as well. In short, there’s a bit of AI
overload here. The 12MP sensor is a Sony IMX363 lens that has ƒ/1.8 aperture.
You also get OIS and 4K video recording with the setup. The pop-up selfie
camera is armed with AI Beauty and is an 8MP sensor.
Vivo then laid emphasis on its Game Engine that is
made with the help of Tencent Games. The Vivo Nex will use Unreal Engine to
provide an ideal above-par gaming experience. This experience will be elevated
by 7.1-channel 3D audio, thanks to dtsX partnership. The phone also has a completely
new UI called Energy UI. Well, this will be something you’ll have to see to get
an idea of it.
The Vivo Nex is the Snapdragon
710 version we’ve been hearing about. And it is the lowest-end lowest priced
piece of art. The other two variants belong to Nex Ultimate and feature the
Snapdragon 845 chip. All three, boast a marvellous 6.59-inch Full HD+ Super
AMOLED screen (19.3:9 aspect ratio). The screen-to-body ratio is a jaw-dropping
never seem before 91.24 percent. The Vivo Nex features 6GB of RAM and 128GB of
storage. Camera specs of all the three variants are equal and the same as
mentioned above. The battery is also the same in all three variants – 4000mAh.
The Nex Ultimate consists of a 8GB + 128GB variant
and a 8GB + 256GB variant. So, let’s declutter that for you. One more
difference between the Nex and Nex Ultimate is the fingerprint reader. Vivo Nex
has a traditional rear sensor. The Nex Ultimate has the on-screen one.
- Vivo NEX (6GB RAM+128GB Storage) – 6.59-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED screen (19.3:9 aspect ratio), Qualcomm Snapdragon 710, 6GB RAM, 128GB storage, 12MP+5MP dual camera with Sony IMX363 sensor and OIS, AK4376A audio chip, and 4000mAh battery: CNY 3,898 (US$ 608).
- Vivo NEX Ultimate (8GB RAM+128GB Storage) – 6.59-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED screen (19.3:9 aspect ratio), Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, 12MP+5MP dual camera with Sony IMX363 sensor and 4-axis OIS, CS43199+SSM6322 audio chip, High Power UE, and 4000mAh battery: CNY 4,498 (US$ 700).
- Vivo NEX Ultimate (8GB RAM+256GB Storage) – 6.59-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED screen (19.3:9 aspect ratio), Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, 12MP+5MP dual camera with Sony IMX363 sensor and 4-axis OIS, CS43199+SSM6322 audio chip, High Power UE, and 4000mAh battery: CNY 4,998 (US$ 780).
There are no details of availability outside of
Chine right now, but we look for confirmation in the weeks ahead.
