Vivo NEX 2: Smartphone with Dual Screen & Triple Camera on 11 December

The Vivo NEX (our review) attracted attention not only because of the banner advertising at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. With a pop-up camera and the fingerprint sensor in the display, it has integrated two innovative technologies and made them socially acceptable. Now the successor is in the starting blocks: the Vivo NEX 2 relies on a dual-screen display.

Vivo meets Nubia

So far hardly any specifications are known, but the first official photos reveal a lot about the design of the new flagship. Like its predecessor, the second Vivo NEX is quite borderless, the screen occupies almost the entire front. The size of the display diagnosis is not yet known, but it is conceivable that Vivo will remain at 6.4 inches. Much more exciting is the back. Because there is a fully functional second display, similar to the Nubia X.

This second screen also has the same function as the Nubia X screen. Vivo can do without the front camera, which means that you give up the pop-up camera of the predecessor. For Selfies you also use the cameras on the back, which are arranged horizontally above the secondary display. With a diagonal of 5.5 inches on the back, it is somewhat larger than the back display of the Nubia X. For comparison: the iPhone 8 Plus and the Xiaomi Mi A1 also have a 5.5 inch display.

vivo NEX Dual-screen version pic.twitter.com/ueKrlt9TY1

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 5, 2018

While the Nubia has two lateral fingerprint sensors, the Vivo NEX 2 apparently does without them. Here, too, a fingerprint sensor is used in the display. Vivo is regarded as a pioneer for this technology; after all, with the Vivo X20 UD they were the first manufacturer to bring this technology onto the market.

Snapdragon 845 or 855?

Inside it doesn’t seem to change that much. The Vivo NEX 2 is also likely to work with the Snapdragon 845 processor, the Qualcomm Flagship processor 2018. After all, the Octa-Core is extremely powerful and sits in the OnePlus 6T or Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 for a reason. Even though the Snapdragon 855 was introduced shortly before the release of the NEX 2, the first devices with this CPU are not likely to come onto the market until 2019. The only interesting thing is that you can use up to 10 GB RAM and 128 GB internal memory.

A bit more exciting is the already mentioned camera on the back side. This is a triple camera, i.e. three individual camera sensors that are arranged horizontally. The question remains as to what the third sensor is intended for. Do you use a telecamera for optical zoom or a wide angle sensor for group selffies? Finally, because there is no front camera, these three cameras are used for self-portraits. A ToF sensor (TimeofFlight) like the Oppo RX17 would also be possible.

Interestingly, Vivo integrates the so-called Lunar Ring, which is located above the primary camera on the back. This is probably an RGB LED ring that offers additional options for exposure, especially for Selfies. In addition, it could also be used as a notification LED.

On the bottom there is a USB type C port, on the top you even get a 3.5 mm jack connector!

Assessment & Release

Of course, Vivo still owes us some information here, without which we cannot give a complete assessment of the Vivo NEX 2. But we know what Vivo is capable of, as they have proven with Vivo NEX. I like the dual-screen concept very much and Nubia has already implemented it extremely well in purely technical terms. Will Vivo be able to do the same? And what is the added value of the third camera? Questions about questions that will be answered on 11 December. Then the Vivo NEX 2 will be officially presented.

What do you think of this concept? Have you already had experiences with Vivo?