Vivo Nex review: Unhindered and futuristic

Price: Rs 44,990

Rating: ****1/2

Specifications: Snapdragon 845, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage (non expandable), 6.59-inch Ultra FullView display (2316 x 1080 pixels), 12MP f1.8 + 5MP f2.4 rear camera with OIS, 8MP f2.0 pop-up front camera, WiFi ac, BT5.0, under display fingerprint scanner, 4,000mAh battery, 199 grams


Pros: Groundbreaking & futuristic design, ultranarrow bezels with 91.24% screen-to-body ratio, excellent performance, superb results & accurate bokeh from primary camera, great battery life, made in India, included earphones and case, value for money

Cons: Screen soundcasting not as loud as conventional earpiece, no face unlock, in-screen fingerprint scanner not as fast as capacitive

We’ve known for a while that smartphone bezels are getting smaller. Exactly how small they can get is limited by current technology. The front of a smartphone still has to have a few components (that take up space): earpiece for calls, a front camera, light sensor to auto adjust screen brightness and a proximity sensor that switches off the screen when you talk. The Vivo NEX has none of these to break up its beautiful, vast expanse of amoled screen goodness.

This may be just another new phone but it’s also a lesson in how to hide all these components. The purpose? Letting the screen take centre stage — it is the one thing we use most in a phone. Here’s how Vivo did it! Let’s start with the earpiece. Instead of a speaker, NEX uses screen soundcasting technology (we’ve seen it in high-end OLED TVs too). The entire screen is vibrated to create sound, which also means you don’t need to be precise while placing it to your ear. The proximity and ambient light sensors have been re-engineered and calibrated to work through the screen. And the party trick of the NEX has to be the elevating (pop-up) camera. Switch to the front camera and it pops out of its housing in a smooth motion, with a robotic sound to boot!

You can’t really do away with a front camera, so on full screen phones, there can be different approaches: a small cutout (Essential phone), camera on the bottom (Mi Mix2), rotating camera (Oppo N1) or a second screen on the back to use the primary camera for selfies (Meizu Pro 7).

History teaches us that moving parts on a smartphone is not a good idea. This time though, Vivo has made it extra tough. The camera module is solid — no shake at all. If you forget to retract it, it goes back in on standby.

Push it back in with force and it yields without breaking.

As for performance, you can’t go wrong with Snapdragon 845, 8GB DDR4X RAM and 128GB of ultra-fast UFS 2.1 storage — it’s a top performer. The large battery is good for a day and a half of use — starting with a 100% at 8am, we sometimes ended the day with a 60% charge remaining. Camera performance is stellar too — great low light sensitivity, excellent edge detection for portraits, punchy colour and sharp detail. The front camera is good for the most part but tends to over-soften results. It does have a software enabled background blur and different lighting modes.

As for calls, it the screen soundcasting technology ‘sounds’ a little different — a little distant and not as loud you’d like it to be in noisy environments. It’s the one real compromise you make to get those tiny bezels. There could be other things to nitpick at. For instance, the glossy surfaces, non expandable storage (though 128GB is a lot), no water resistance and no face unlock. But none of these are deal-breakers as far as we’re concerned.

In a world filled with notches, the NEX feels refreshing and futuristic. Watching videos on it is a treat and it turns heads quite easily too. Kudos to Vivo for turning a concept into reality and bringing us even closer to the elusive all-screen goal.