We're used to modern day smartphones coming with very thin bezels around the front display, but the "Waterfall FullView" screen on the newly unveiled Vivo Nex 3 hits an impressive new milestone: a screen-to-body ratio of 99.6 percent.
Just 0.4 percent more, and those bezels will be gone forever. The Vivo Nex 3 gets around the need for a notch by including a pop-up selfie camera that extends from the chassis when required, while the fingerprint reader used for phone unlocking purposes is embedded in the display itself.
With the screen curving around the edges of the phone, there's no room for physical buttons here, so Vivo has added virtual ones. They're called Touch Sense, and they'll buzz when you push the phone in the right places (though you can't actually see any buttons).
The phone sports a 6.89-inch, 1080p (2,256 x 1,080 pixel) OLED display, and comes with a top-end Snapdragon 855 Plus under the hood, as well as either 8 GB or 12 GB of RAM. That's paired with 128 GB or 256 GB or internal storage, and both 4G and 5G versions are going to be available, so you can choose whatever suits your local network best.
The rear camera is a triple-lens model, with 64 MP + 13 MP ultrawide and 13 MP telephoto lenses working together. Around the front, that pop-up selfie camera features a 16 MP module. The battery capacity is a very respectable 4,500 mAh, though it's not clear yet just how many hours of use that'll get you.
A huge screen, almost non-existent bezels, and a best-in-class camera (on paper, at least) – it's another impressive phone launch from Asia, though you do have to put up with Vivo's Funtouch software running on top of Android.
With other companies like OnePlus, Xiaomi and Huawei also making moves to push into Europe and the US (trade bans notwithstanding), we're now getting used to Chinese phone makers introducing more innovative tech before the likes of Apple, Samsung and Google start adopting them in their own handsets. Complete, curved displays like the one on the Vivo Nex 3 may well start turning up in more flagship phones over the coming months (indeed the Samsung Note 10 pushes it close with a 90.9 percent screen-to-body ratio).
While the phone is now official, Vivo hasn't yet filled in all of the details in regards to international pricing and availability. According to the company, the phone will be sold "in the coming months on Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia and other markets", with a starting price of CNY 4,998 (roughly US$707). Sales in China start on September 21.
Product page: Vivo
