This is how futuristic phones should look like
As much as we want an all-screen display, the needs of the modern smartphone prevent us from having it. Until someone invents a camera that can work from underneath a screen, we’ll continue to have phones that have notches in the front. Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2s tried to solve that with a bottom-mounted selfie snapper though that proved to be an annoying design compromise rather than an actual solution.
Chinese company vivo cleverly solved that particular problem with a pop-up camera that only appears when you need it. It was first teased by the brand via their Apex concept phone a few months ago, but now it’s a real, actual device that’s heading to stores soon.
The idea is simple: have a motorized camera that pops up from the top when you need to take selfies. It’s a clever and ingenious solution to a problem that’s been plaguing many brands that have jumped on the all-screen bandwagon.
Thanks to the pop-up camera, the NEX is the world’s first phone that has a true all-screen display. It doesn’t look too shabby either.
The NEX comes in two variants: The in-display fingerprint scanner-sporting NEX S, and the vanilla NEX A. Check out the spec sheet:
Vivo NEX A / NEX S Specs
- Snapdragon 845 (NEX S) / Snapdragon 710 (NEX A) octa-core processor
- 6GB (NEX A) or 8GB (NEX S) of RAM
- 6.59-inch 19:3.9 Super AMOLED Full HD+ all-screen display
- 128GB (NEX A) / 128GB (NEX S) / 256GB of expandable storage
- 4G, LTE
- Dual SIM
- 12-megapixel f/1.8 Sony IMX 363 primary rear camera with Dual Pixel autofocus, 1.4um pixels, OIS, EIS, and AI scene recognition; 5-megapixel f/2.4 secondary rear camera
- 8-megapixel f/2.0 periscope front camera
- WiFi, Bluetooth
- GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
- Rear mounted fingerprint scanner (NEX A) / In-display fingerprint scanner (NEX S), Jovi Voice Assistant, 7.1 Channel 3D audio
- Android 8.1 Oreo with FunTouch OS 4.0
- 4000mAh battery with quick charging
The NEX A is priced CNY 3,898 (~Php 32.3k), while the NEX S is priced at CNY 4,498(~Php 37.3k) for the 128GB version and CNY 4,998(Php 41.4k) for the 256GB version. Pre-orders start tomorrow in China. No word yet if the NEX series will be sold outside of China.
