Oppo may have shown off the first smartphone with a waterfall screen, but Vivo is now officially the first phone maker to launch a device with a waterfall display commercially. After numerous leaks and official teasers over the past few weeks, Vivo’s next flagship – Vivo NEX 3 5G was unveiled in China today. The smartphone features a truly bezel-less design, Snapdragon 855 Plus, triple cameras, and a massive battery to run the show.
Specs and Features
Vivo NEX 3 features a 6.89-inch E3 Super AMOLED waterfall FullView display with 99.6% screen-to-body ratio and brightness levels up to 800 nits. The screen curves at a 90-degree angle on the edges, making it the first-ever smartphone to boast a near 100% screen-to-body ratio. It supports 100% sRGB color space and HDR 10, alongwith Schott Xensation glass protection on top.
With the screen now wrapping around the edges, Vivo has baked in Accidental Touch Protection 4.0 to not leave you frustrated while using the device. There’s Touch Sense, which is basically a hidden power button (there’s a ridged area on the side to let users know where to press) that delivers haptic feedback to help you unlock Vivo NEX 3. Yes, there are no physical buttons on this smartphone.
Vivo NEX 3 is a flagship smartphone, so it’s only natural to expect it to be powered by a flagship processor. Snapdragon 855 Plus, the latest chip from Qualcomm, runs the show under the hood here, coupled with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB UFS 3.0 internal storage. The chipset onboard also brings along the Snapdragon X50 modem to enable fast 5G connectivity, which is great.
In the camera department, Vivo NEX 3 is adopting a circular camera module (which may soon be a trend as Mate 30 Pro will also come with a similar module) and offering you a triple-lens setup. This includes a primary 64MP (f/1.7) sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide sensor with a 120-degree field-of-view (FOV) and the ability to click macros at a focal length of 2.5cm, and a third 13MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom.
Vivo NEX 3 comes equipped with a number of camera features such as the Hyper-HDR, Super Night Mode 2.0, Super EIS for video recording (which crops a larger chunk of the video for added stability), AI-detailed portrait segmentation, and more. One of the key highlights here has to be the ability to customize the camera UI to your needs. If you’re pondering over the location of the selfie camera, well, the 16MP sensor (and LED flash) is housed in a huge pop-up module.
The smartphone runs Android 9 Pie-based FunTouchOS 9.1, which now brings a Google Duplex-style Phone Assistant feature, where Vivo’s Jovi assistant will be able to answer calls for you. There’s voice control, similar to iOS 13, baked into the phone as well. You have a massive 4,500mAh battery packed inside this device, with support for 44W fast-charging.
Price and Availability
Vivo is pushing for 5G connectivity with its latest flagship and well, the Vivo NEX 3 5G is priced quite exorbitantly – keeping that in mind. The Vivo NEX 3 5G is priced starting at 5,698 yuan (roughly Rs. 57,750) for the 8GB+256GB base variant. You will have to shell out 6,198 yuan (roughly Rs. 62,750) for the 12GB+256GB variant.
Well, it seems like Vivo also knows that 5G connectivity is not widespread and not every user would be planning to splurge on a future-proof smartphone, so there’s a NEX 3 4G variant as well. Vivo NEX 3, without 5G connectivity, will retail at 4,998 yuan (roughly around Rs. 50,500) for the 8GB+128GB variant.
Vivo NEX 3 will be available in two color variants – Black and White gradient. The device has currently landed only in China, but should be available in the coming months in Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia and other markets. So, how excited are you to get your hands on this waterfall display? Tell us in the comments below.
