Vivo’s APEX journey started in 2018, when the company launched the first APEX.
The Vivo APEX 2019 is as curvy as it can get from the edges.
For the APEX 2019, Vivo has removed the physical buttons and adopted Touch Sense technology.
Logic will let you create functional products. But it is passion, and a dash of engineering madness, that you need to create magic. The Vivo APEX 2019 is that magic. It’s not practical. But it is magic.
Vivo’s APEX journey started in 2018, when the company launched the first APEX. In fact, it is a misnomer to say launch here. Vivo showcased APEX, the world's first pop-up selfie camera phone. Now the pop-up camera technology has become a trend in the smartphone world. There are phones like Vivo NEX, Vivo V15 Pro, Oppo F11 Pro that come with pop-up selfie camera and are available in the market right now. Reports suggest that the next OnePlus flagship - most likely the OnePlus 7 -- will also come with a pop-up camera.
In 2019, now Vivo hopes to set another trend and for that the company is back with APEX 2019. The Vivo APEX 2019 was announced in January this year. The APEX 2019 is Vivo's first 5G smartphone that offers a Curved-Surface Waterdrop Glass and it has no openings, seams or bezels. That also means it has no ports. It has no buttons. And it is not practical.
Let’s set aside practicality for a minute, though. Let’s celebrate what APEX 2019 is, a gorgeous vision of future. But there are questions: If this future,. How does it charge? Or power up? Or adjusts the volume? Let’s see.
Looks stunning
Over here at India Today Tech, I spent a day with the Vivo APEX 2019 and I believe it is the most beautiful phone I have ever seen. This is a smartphone with no cutouts anywhere, no buttons, and also no ports. The Vivo APEX 2019 is as curvy as it can get from the edges. It sports near oval shaped design. This buttonless Vivo phone comes with "Super Unibody" curved all-glass design which gives a premium touch to the smartphone.
The Vivo APEX 2019 sports a big screen that measures 6.39-inches and is topped with an AMOLED panel. Vivo APEX 2019 has also got rid of the bezels on the sides -- almost. The display of the Vivo APEX is big and also bright. It is excellent for multimedia usage like watching videos. Keeping the brightness level of the screen below 50 per cent worked perfectly for me in both outside and indoor situations.
No buttons and ports
For the APEX 2019, Vivo has removed the physical buttons and adopted Touch Sense technology. This means there's no headphone jack, USB port, or physical volume and power buttons on the APEX 2019. This Vivo phone uses Haptic Touch technology on the sides of the phone that helps turn the screen on, increase or decrease the volume, power the phone on and off, and other things. Looks cool and this I believe could be the future.
Initially, it took me some time to get used to the touch functionality but I got used to the system in. Around 15 minutes. I wish the Haptic Touch technology was smoother but then considering this is a concept phone and not for the consumers we can ignore that a bit. As APEX 2019 is a concept phone it doesn't allow users to make calls or anything. So, there is no SIM tray or even microSD card slot of the phone.
Now, that there are no ports, some would wonder how will the phone charge or how to listen to music via headphones. For the APEX 2019, Vivo has replaced the USB ports with a MagPort, which is basically a magnetic power connector that enables both charging and data transfer. The MagPort is placed at the bottom of the phone on the rear panel. On the top, center of the back panel the Vivo APEX 2019 includes dual cameras followed by a LED flash. I couldn't test the camera much due to time constraints. On the backside, the Vivo APEX have a primary sensor of the 12MP and another sensor of 13MP paired with a LED flash.
Full-screen fingerprint sensor concept is brilliant
The Vivo APEX 2019 comes equipped with Full-Display Fingerprint Scanning technology. As the name suggests the Full-Display Fingerprint Scanning technology covers the entire display and turns the full screen into a fingerprint sensor. You will just need to register your fingerprint and after that, you can click anywhere on the screen to unlock the phone. The Full-Display Fingerprint Scanning technology enables users to touch almost anywhere on the screen to unlock the device seamlessly. The phone also supports Vivo's cutting-edge Fingerprint Light function --- this means that when the user's finger is close to the display, the pixels around the touch point will automatically bright up as extra light source to help in order to get a clear finger print.
In my one day of usage time, there were occasions the sensor misread the fingers and I had to unlock the phone by entering the passcode. There's no face unlock support in this Vivo phone as no there is no selfie camera. Yes, the Vivo APEX 2019 doesn't include a selfie camera on the front.
Now that the Vivo APEX 2019 is a seamless phone there are also no speaker grills like most smartphones. For the APEX 2019, Vivo turns its display into a speaker by using Body SoundCasting technology. Vivo has transformed the entire APEX 2019 display into a speaker via the screen vibration function, avoiding the need for a speaker grill.
Vivo's first Snapdragon 855 powered 5G phone
The APEX 2019 is Vivo's first 5G smartphone that runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor with X50 modem. The phone comes with a large memory of 12GB RAM paired with 256GB of internal storage. It also comes equipped with Jovi AI Assistant which is found in most of the recently launched Vivo phones.
Well, considering it is a concept phone, the device won't be available to the consumers -- not in India, not anywhere else globally. In fact, just like last year we may see Vivo using some of the technologies from the APEX 2019 in its upcoming phones later this year.
Last year Vivo adapted the pop-up selfie camera and in-display fingerprint sensor technology and used them in Vivo NEX, and later in the Vivo V15 Pro and V11 Pro, respectively. The same can happen this year too, however, there is no official word from Vivo on this yet.
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