Vivo was one of the first brands to roll out a phone with a mechanised slider in the first-gen NEX, and the manufacturer is now introducing a new version that ups the ante. The Vivo NEX Dual Display has a dual-screen design — with a front 6.39-inch screen joined by a 5.49-inch display at the back — along with three rear cameras coupled with 10GB of RAM.
Interestingly, there's no front camera on the NEX Dual Display; you'll instead have to rely on the display at the back of the phone to take selfies. There are three cameras at the back of the phone, with a primary 12MP f/1.79 lens joined by a 2MP "Night Video" camera and a Time of Flight 3D camera. Vivo says it is leveraging the unique dual display form factor to roll out features like Mirror Mode and Pose Director:
Mirror Mode allows users to see themselves in the rear display while being photographed or filmed, while Pose Director can show a posed image or video in the rear display as reference for imitation.
There's also a Lunar Ring at the back that works as a notification light and as an LED module when taking photos, and the phone comes with AI-assisted scene recognition, portrait mode, and a slew of filters.
The front 6.49-inch Super AMOLED 19:9 screen has a resolution of 2340x1080, and round the back there's a smaller 5.49-inch Super AMOLED 16:9 display with a resolution of 1920x1080. The NEX doesn't miss a beat when it comes to the internal hardware, with the phone offering the Snapdragon 845, 10GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, an in-display fingerprint sensor, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, USB-C, and a 3500mAh battery with 22.5W fast charging.
The phone comes with the latest version of Funtouch OS, which is based on Android 9.0 Pie. The NEX Dual Display is set to go on sale in China from December 29 for the equivalent of $725 (¥4,999), and right now there's no mention of international availability. But with Vivo having a strong presence in Asian markets, it's possible we'll see the phone make its way to other countries in the region shortly.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the dual-screen design of the NEX?
Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor covering Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone manufacturers, and writes about the semiconductor industry, storage servers, and audio products. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.
