VIVO has come a long way since their entry into the Philippine market about 3 years ago. While the majority of the handsets they release were in the entry-level to mid-range segment, they have slowly crept into the premium mid-range with the likes of the VIVO X21 UD. Their next attempt is a serious contender, perhaps the very first flagship smartphone to ever be introduced in the Philippines – the VIVO NEX.
There are actually two variants of the VIVO NEX. The first one is the VIVO NEX A which has 6GB of RAM, 128GB internal storage and is powered by the Snapdragon 710.
The second variant is the VIVO NEX S, which comes with 8GB of RAM, a whopping 256GB of internal storage and is powered by the Snapdragon 845.
For this review, we have the latter.
Table of Contents
The design approach of the NEX is simple. In fact, it’s got the same look and feel as other VIVO phones like the X20 or the X21 UD.
You get an immaculate, flat front panel with glass stretching from edge to edge, has slightly rounded corners and very thin bezels. No physical buttons, sensors, or extra space found up front – it’s all dedicated to the display.
The back panel has a glass outer material with tapered edges and a subtle design pattern just below the outer layer. There’s a big NEX logo in the center and the dual-camera system is placed in the top left corner stacked to one another.
The metal frame and back-to-back glass construction gives the phone a premium feel to it. And despite the large profile, it’s surprisingly not that heavy in the hands.
Speaking of which, it’s quite difficult to use the phone with one hand. Manageable but cumbersome. Making a phone call might be okay but texting and other activities will require both hands to comfortably navigate. The sheer size of the phone can either turn off people or it can be one of its biggest selling points so it comes with the territory.
The NEX is a huge device, perhaps the biggest smartphone we’ve ever reviewed in a very long time. The screen spans almost 6.6 inches from end to end with its FullView Display. No distraction, no buttons, no notch with an almost non-existent bezel — this is the reason VIVO managed to get a 91% screen-to-body ratio on the NEX, the highest ever achieved in the industry.
The Super AMOLED display is very bright and crisp even though the resolution is just FHD+ or 2316 by 1080 pixels or equal to 388ppi. The huge screen makes it much better when watching movies or playing games, although it makes it more difficult to navigate the UI with one hand.
Then, there’s the in-display fingerprint sensor that VIVO has popularized among its latest devices like the X21. It can be a bit confusing for the first few tries but after a while, you’ll get the hang of it. There’s a visual cue when and where you should be placing your fingers to unlock the device, which still gives you the same experience if there had been a physical placement for it up at the front.
The two cameras are a combo of 12MP and 5MP sensors with LED Flash, with the second camera adding depth-effect to portrait photos. There is a built-in 4-axis image stabilization and electronic image stabilization which aids in producing less shaky and smoother videos.
There are also additional features here that some might find interesting, like a 40MP maximum resolution via interpolation, Master AI, 4D predictive focus, 4K UHD video recording and Pro Mode. Photos look really nice, bright and crisp. Colors look vibrant and sharp too.
The most interesting part of this device and the one that really got a lot of people’s attention is the pop-up front-facing camera.
The camera module is conspicuously hidden at the topmost edge of the device and only pops out when you launch the camera and switch to selfie mode. The whole idea of the pop-up camera is that it frees up more space on the front panel, giving it a higher screen-to-body ratio. It takes about half a second to pop up, which isn’t bad at all.
When it comes to video recording, the NEX can shoot at a maximum of 4K resolution at 30fps. The quality is good as details are sharp with rich colors and high dynamic range. You can also activate its beautification feature while recording and features slow-motion and time-lapse recording if you want to be creative. Watch the sample video below:
VIVO’s FunTouch OS is layered on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. Its just screen after screen of icons and apps but you can group them into folders as well. There is a lot of customization in terms of navigation and UI. You’ll really need to get used to these, especially if you are a first time user of FunTouch OS.
There are no capacitive buttons and the main navigation is via three swipe zones from the bottom edge of the display — the first one is for return/ back, the middle is for bringing up the control center, and the last one is the home button. The idea is slightly similar to the Android Vanilla interface but with a bit of a twist. Although, you can also activate the traditional three-button navigation if that’s what you prefer.
We did not have Google Play pre-installed since this is a Chinese version but the native app store almost had everything we needed on first use, including some Google apps. The NEX also comes with a virtual assistant called Jovi but we couldn’t try it since it only supports Chinese at the moment.
Storage-wise, the Vivo NEX has a whopping 256GB of storage with 221.82GB usable, which should satisfy heavy users who like to store plenty of videos and photos, as well as install tons of apps. The only downside here is that it’s non-expandable so you won’t be able to swap microSD cards.
Powering the NEX S is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip with a very generous 8GB of RAM. This is the best combo there is on the market today. The performance of the Snapdragon 845 and 8GB of RAM was thru the roof. Initial AnTuTu benchmark puts the score at over 260,000 points, the highest we’ve seen for far in any review unit we’ve handled. Gaming is smooth and snappy, we couldn’t find anything to complain about.
We enjoyed playing with the phone even at the highest settings and games like Mobile Legends really pop out in terms of graphics. The bigger screen also means you can see more details you don’t normally notice before. We weren’t able to test some of the benchmark apps due to the absence of the Google Play Store and restrictions implemented for side-loaded apps. Still, we can say that the NEX can certainly handle whatever you throw at it.
Call quality of the VIVO NEX is fantastic with clear and crisp voice, SMS are received and sent quickly and signal reception of cellular, WiFi and Bluetooth are strong. All connectivity options are present and work just fine.
Battery life of the VIVO NEX is impressive. We get about 16 hours of video playback in a single full charge at 50% brightness, zero volume and in airplane mode. That’s pretty good for a device with this big a size of the display. (Note: PC Mark Battery Test crashes on the device so we’re skipping it until we get actual results later.)
On moderate use, the phone can last well in excess of an entire day and perhaps another half day. However, once you do a lot of heavy tasks like gaming or watching YouTube videos over WiFi, then you’ll have to charge it after about 6 to 7 hours of usage.
The VIVO NEX has great hardware, a simple yet elegant design with a large and gorgeous display, huge battery and packed with all the bells and whistles. We really love the idea of the pop-up front-facing camera.
What is also nice is that VIVO did not have to compromise on anything. Where the VIVO NEX really shine is the brave integration of new and innovative technologies. They’re not gimmicks, just smart solutions to an otherwise complicated design roadblock.
It’s the same issues all other smartphone vendors have encounters and we believe VIVO has found the most elegant solution of the lot. Big props to VIVO for pushing the boundaries.
The only remaining question though is how much the VIVO NEX would cost once it lands in the Philippines. That, we can only guess at this time.
If the global pricing is any indication, we might see the retail price somewhere between Php45k to Php50k.
| Specs | VIVO NEX S |
|---|---|
| Display | 6.59-inch sAMOLED Ultra FullView display@2316 × 1080px |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core 2.8GHz / Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 octa-core 2.2GHz |
| GPU | Adreno 630 / Adreno 615 |
| RAM | 6GB/8GB LPDDR4 RAM |
| Storage | 128GB/256GB internal storage |
| Expandable Storage | - |
| Rear Camera | 12MP f/1.8 + 5MP f/2.4 dual rear cameras with LED Flash, 4-axis OIS |
| Front Camera | 8MP f/2.0 pop-out front camera |
| Connectivity | 4G LTE |
| SIM | Dual SIM (nano,nano) |
| Wi-Fi | Dual-band WiFi 802.12ac |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| OTG | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GNSS |
| USB | USB Type-C |
| Sensors | -Under-display fingerprint scanner -Face Unlock |
| Audio Port | 3.5mm audio port |
| OS | Vivo FunTouch OS 4.0 (Android 8.1 Oreo) |
| Battery | 4000mAh Li-Ion battery |
| Colors | -Ruby Red -Star Diamond Black (NEX Fullscreen) -Star Diamond Black (NEX Ultimate) |
| Dimensions | 162 × 77 × 7.98mm |
| Weight | 199g |
The Vivo NEX will initially be available China starting June 23rd with prices as follows: CNY3,898 (~Php32,300) for the 6GB/128GB NEX A CNY4,498 (~Php37,300) for the NEX S with 8GB/128GB combo, and CNY4,998 (~Php41,400) for the higher 8GB/256GB model.
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Mot says:
NO NFC, NO IR BLASTER AND NO IP RATING. IS THERE ANY STEREO SPEAKERS TOO.. WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY? Do not be fooled guys.
chickie says:
Hi Author,
Do you have any hint or anything that tells when will this land to Ph? :) We need international version as I am following reviews for this unit and it seems there are some issues if you are not in China using this handset.
Thanks.
Abe Olandres says:
Nothing concrete yet.