Vivo’s Nex 3 continues the fight against bezels

In February 2018, Chinese smartphone maker Vivo shocked the world (OK, it impressed a lot of geeks) with the Apex, a concept phone that was basically all screen. At the time, it was an extraordinary feat, and it took a lot of clever engineering, including a display that doubles as a speaker and a pop-up camera, to get there. 

Vivo followed up with two Nex phones, which were among the first commercially available phones to have a screen-to-body ratio of more than 90 percent. 

Now, at an event in Shanghai, Vivo announced the Nex 3, which is still fighting the same fight: Making the screen larger and bezels smaller. 

The Vivo Nex 3 has a 6.89-inch POLED screen with curvy edges and thin (but not negligible) bezels on top and bottom. Vivo says it has a 99.6 percent screen-to-body ratio, which, due to the chin and forehead, makes one wonder whether this number can go over 100 percent (it shouldn’t). Because of the curvy edges, the phone doesn’t have buttons on the side, instead relying on a combination of virtual buttons and haptic feedback.  

Other specs of note include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ processor, 5G support (a 4G version will also be available), 8/12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, a triple, 64/13/13-megapixel rear camera, a 16-megapixel pop-up camera and a 4,500mAh battery with fast, 44W charging. The fingerprint sensor is of the in-display variety. 

Put all that together and you get a phone that just isn’t as radical as earlier Nex phones. Sorry, Vivo, but large, notchless phones with pop-up cameras are pretty commonplace these days, as are screens with curved edges. 

That said, the Vivo Nex 3 still sounds like a smartphone that can hold its own against most flagships. If you’re looking for a phone that maximizes screen real estate, it may be a good fit. 

The Vivo Nex 3 will be available “in the coming months” in the Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia and “other” markets. There’s no word on when it might come to the U.S. or Europe.