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Large • beautiful • screen without notch • Lots of innovation • Large rear camera
Fingerprint sensor often does not work • Selfie camera is not so
The Vivo NEX is definitely a cool device, but you should probably expect a successor (less buggy).
There is finally: a smartphone that is (almost) nothing else than a beautiful big screen on the front. This is what is called the Vivo NEX, and it is currently available for purchase.
To get that look without notch, Vivo made several bold choices: he placed the selfie camera in a pop-up mechanism on the top of the phone. the fingerprint reader under the screen, which also serves as a speaker.
I spent about a week with the NEX, and I can tell you that none of these choices is really bad, but they have enough inconvenience for you to you can not help wondering if it's all worth it.
NEX comes in a few different configurations for RAM and storage; I've tested the most powerful black variant called Vivo NEX S. It's the most beautiful Vivo phone I've had, thanks largely to its simplicity.
The back is glass, with a dark gray dotted surface visible under and a dual camera positioned vertically. It's far from terse-to-the-eye, but it's not bad either. On the front, there is this big screen (6.59 inches!), With the only bezel that deserves to be mentioned downstairs – and even the one that I've measured to have only 5mm d & # 39; ;thickness.
And what a screen! It's a Super AMOLED with a resolution of 2,316 x 1,080 pixels, and it's positively gargantuan, say, an iPhone X, or even the Huawei P20 Pro. Despite the thin glasses, the NEX S is definitely in phablet territory (if that's still a word) and will not be everyone's cup of tea, but on the other hand, it's not the same. is the kind of phone that makes you want to sell your tablet you probably will not need it anymore. [Lefthanded:VivoNEXHuaweiP20ProiPhoneX"data-fragment="m!0128"data-image="https://iamzmshcdncom/0diR4KW3TsvpNROJNKPYD7ZC3Wg=/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-productions3amazonawscom%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F805679%2Fa4785f46-8848-4cee-b844-d95511279de8jpg"data-micro="1"/>
From left to right: Vivo NEX, Huawei P20 Pro, iPhone X
] Image: stan Schroeder / Mashable
Like most OLEDs nowadays, the screen is bright with deep blacks and blacks, and even though it 's not as good as it is. iPhone X screen, it is not too far away.
However, despite all the technologies that it contains, the NEX S seems just … normal. There is no guts, so there is nothing to stand out in. That is, if you forget the fact that the phones did not have any glasses, up to and including But if you expected the NEX S to be shown in public, it will not happen
Although it sounds weird to talk about sound when talking about the screen, in this case the speaker is the screen. I've already seen this technology in action and all I can say is that it works pretty much without problems: the audio coming from the speaker – sorry, screen – is clear, with the added benefit that it is as strong regardless of what part of the screen you press your ear in.
There is an extra speaker at the bottom of the phone, but the two speakers unfortunately do not work very well together, and the resulting sound is not very punchy. Compared to the iPhone X, the NEX S is quieter and less serious. On the bright side, at least it's not terribly corny at maximum volume like so many smartphones speakers.
This camera
You will have surprised looks when you turn on the selfie camera. Whenever you do this, a pop-up mechanism pushes the camera from the top of the phone. As soon as you close the camera or switch to the rear camera, the selfie camera retracts and disappears.
It's actually less embarrassing than it sounds. It takes a little less than a second for the selfie camera to "emerge" completely or go down, which is slower than turning on the camera selfie on an "ordinary" phone, but far from it. to be horrible.
I do not take selfies that often, and even when I do, the weather is rarely gas, so it does not bother me at all. But if you like taking selfies with celebrities, where every millisecond counts, you might find the NEX S's selfie camera too slow.
My NEX S comes with an original case that leaves the top and bottom sides of the phone open, while protecting the corners. It's obviously out of the question to use a "standard" holster that completely covers the phone from all sides, but unless you absolutely need such a case, the NEX S and its holster semi-open should not be a big problem.
Vivo's case for NEX does the trick, but It's not as protective as some cases in the market. ] Image: Stan Schroeder / Mashable
The projecting selfie camera has several interesting consequences. For example, now people around you can see if you take a selfie or if you take a picture of something else. This is a very minor thing, but it might be important for some users.
He also makes a sound when he goes out; by default, this sound looks like a lightsaber, but you can change it or turn it off completely. Again, it's a small detail, but it makes the phone a little cooler.
The question I had most during my time with the NEX S was: Will this camera break? I do not know the answer to that one. It did not break or stutter during the time I spent with the phone, and I used it hundreds of times. But given the extra pieces and the complexity, this camera is certainly more likely to fail than a "regular" selfie camera. This could prove to be a big problem or no problem at all; we will not know until this phone sells en masse . Generally, however, it sounds like a solution that introduces more problems than it solves, and I strongly doubt we'll see it on so many phones in the future.
OK, but are the photos good?
Strangely, cameras are a weak link on the list of specifications of the phone: the selfie camera is an 8-megapixel game and on the back there is a 12 and a 5-megapixel combo, so nothing to write about. Despite the meager resolution (for Vivo's standards), the rear cameras have good features: they both have optical and electronic image stabilization, large 1.4-micron pixel sensors and an aperture f / 1.8.
The rear cameras produce great pictures, similar to similar cameras on the Vivo X21. They are good in daylight and excellent in dimly lit conditions, though Vivo's post-processing software is a little too zealous for sharpening. I've compared the NEX S to the iPhone X and I've always got better pictures of the NEX S. In the photo below, taken in a nice dark shed, the NEX produced a sharper and sharper picture with more accurate colors.
picture: stan schroeder / mashable
picture: STAN SCHROEDER / MASHABLE
And in the example below, taken in daylight, it was actually the iPhone X which was going crazy to sharpen and saturate, producing a photo that looks more attractive from a distance but worse when you zoom in.
Image: STAN SCHROEDER / MASHABLE
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Image: STAN SCHROEDER / MASHABLE
When using cameras, I preferred to use the full screen, 19 , 3: 9 format – with it, the viewfinder covers the entire screen, which is quite impressive given its size and lack of notch. Also, like all smartphones nowadays, Vivo's camera is improved by AI and it can recognize various objects, translate text and others.
The selfie camera struggled with this shot far more than it should have.
Image: Stan Schroeder / Mashable
The camera selfie, however, was a disappointment. It was a little offbeat, and he had trouble adjusting the exposure in very bright conditions. In addition, the beautifying effects were too great and the effect bokeh – the equivalent of NEX Portrait mode – looked fake. Fortunately, a future version of the pop-up camera concept will give a better camera than the one you usually use on a smartphone, and not worse.
An unreliable fingerprint sensor
The fingerprint sensor is under the screen. It saves space, but unfortunately it does not work as well as the classic variant
Image: Stan Schroeder / Mashable
The NEX S is not the first Vivo phone with a sensor Fingerprint integrated. I recently reviewed the Vivo X21, and on this phone the installation process was a pain and the actual use was haphazard. On the NEX S, things have improved somewhat. Here, the installation process was much faster (perhaps because of my experience with such sensors), and I was able to record three different fingers without problems in minutes.
In real life, however, the NEX S's fingerprint sensor was not always working well. I've been able to unlock the phone using my index finger on both hands (most of the time – see the video below). But getting the sensor to record my thumb – the preferred method for unlocking the phone for me – was often a pain. The first time I recorded my right thumb, it did not work at all. I deleted that entry and registered it again, and it worked a lot better, but it was not perfect yet.
The fact that the NEX S does not offer any other alternative than typing your PIN or password every time you want to unlock the phone is all the more serious. Unlike Oppo Find X, which also has a pop-up camera, you can not set facial recognition on NEX S. Yes, a few years ago, we all happily tapped our PINs for each smartphone unlock, but Now that fingerprint sensors are fast, reliable and ubiquitous, not having a reliable biometric solution to unlock your phone is like a huge step backwards.
Battery Life, Performance and User Interface
The NEX S has top-of-the-line features: a Snapdragon 845 processor, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage and a 4000 mAh battery (configurations with 6 GB RAM and 128GB of storage as well). However, I could not test the phone with my usual applications because I received a unit adapted to the Chinese market. In fact, I could not even install the Google Play app. This made it difficult to accurately test the battery life – the battery lasted several days, but it is probably because I used the phone's cameras and not much.
<img class = "" data-credit-name = "Stan Schroeder / Mashable" data-credit-provider = "custom-type" data-caption = "The apps I typically use were not available." title = "The apps I was not used." src = "https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/Tyeq-JwhhwIU0SLX3FRTR6bXowo=/fit-in/1200×9600/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage% 2F805684% 2Fd510c0bd-e2a8-45be-b018-698c42d6f6d9.JPG "alt =" The commonly used applications were not available
Image: Stan Schroeder / Mashable
It should be noted that the following is not available. NEX S's user interface is more or less a total clone of the iPhone X – especially the gesture of returning home – which was interesting to see on an Android phone.Instead of classic Android buttons, you get three lines at the bottom of the screen, which give different functionality when you drag them up.
Coming from the iPhone X as my daily phone, I have not seen it. first not notice that I was moving on to something else – it's like that the two interfaces are similar.If you come from an android phone, it will take some time to get used to it, but after a while, sliding up to close an application or going back will become second nature. And if you do not like it, you can go back to the classic Android buttons in the phone settings, but this will eat a slightly larger part of the screen.
On the software side, the Nex S runs Android 8.1 and Vivo's FunTouch operating system. Since everything on my unit was designed for China, I can not give a complete evaluation of how it works, but I noticed some annoying problems.
For example, watching a YouTube video in the NEX S's built-in browser was a very painful experience, with some parts of the screen contracting in certain scenarios and some parts of the user interface that obstruct sometimes other parts of the user interface. Fortunately, the international version will have these kinks flattened at the time of launch.
It's good that you do not support the notch
There is no notch, but are the compromises worth it? Mashable
