Vivo seems to be making a habit of releasing otherworldly designs. The Chinese company showed off the Apex last February, revealing a design with a 98% screen-to-body ratio and in-display fingerprint tech. Vivo is now kicking things up a notch with the Apex 2019.
Vivo announced the Apex 2019 at a press conference in Beijing, and it's safe to say that the phone is unlike any other in the market today. There are no openings anywhere on the device, and Vivo even got rid of the USB port and substituted it with a magnetic connector at the back called MagPort that lets you charge the device and transfer data.
The end result is that the Apex 2019 is just a slab of glass and metal with rounded edges and a flowing design. There are virtually no bezels at the front, and Vivo got rid of the front camera altogether. On the hardware front, the device is 5G-enabled and powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 855 platform, along with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Vivo says it used a duplex PCB design to free up space for the 5G modules.
As there are no openings or protrusions, the camera at the back sits flush with the body of the device, and there are no physical power or volume buttons either. Vivo is instead relying on what it calls Touch Sense technology, which uses a combination of capacitive touch and pressure sensing along with "carefully designed programming logic and software" to translate touch inputs along the sides of the frame to corresponding actions.
And as there's no speaker grille or earpiece, the display is effectively turned into a speaker through Body SoundCasting technology, which is similar to what Vivo used last year. Vivo is also retaining in-display fingerprint scanning, but this time it is offering a sensor that covers almost the entire surface of the display.
Basically, you'll be able to touch anywhere on the screen to unlock the device, and Vivo is relying on a Fingerprint Light feature to light up the area around your finger to get a detailed fingerprint image. From Spark Ni, senior vice president of Vivo:
With the goal of enhanced usability and simplicity at the core, APEX 2019 offers consumers a glimpse into the future of smartphone design and development. The Super Unibody design and Full-Display Fingerprint Scanning technology, among several other breakthrough features, make APEX 2019 a truly exceptional smartphone that demonstrates Vivo's continuous exploration and pursuit of exceptional innovation for consumers.
Vivo will be showing off the Apex 2019 at Mobile World Congress next month, which is when we'll be able to see if all that futuristic tech is actually usable. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the Apex 2019?
