We spoke about some of the upcoming smartphones that were launched at MWC a few days ago. With 5G being the feature that linked all of these devices, in terms of innovation, we also saw foldable phones and new ways to unlock your smartphone. Amidst all this, Vivo, a relatively new entrant to the smartphone game had a smartphone with a number of tricks up its sleeve. Called the Vivo Apex 2019, the phone has a number of intriguing features.
Vivo does it again
This is not the first time that Vivo has developed a not-so-average smartphone. Back in 2018, they launched the Vivo Apex FullView. The device sported pretty much an all-display design with no notches or camera holes in the front. Rather, it opted for a popup selfie camera. In addition, they took the in-display fingerprint scanner to another level.
The entire bottom half of the Vivo Apex FullView was a fingerprint scanner meaning you could place your finger anywhere on the bottom of the phone and unlock it. The speaker too was nonexistent if you looked at the device. That’s because Vivo used Screen SoundCasting technology. Here, the sound actually came from the display itself. They used a piezoelectric speaker. In case you don’t know what that is, this is a technology that converts the entire display into a speaker. It uses less power, but also gives better bass and smoother treble.
You’d think that with all these features, that the Vivo Apex FullView would cost an arm and a leg, right? Sadly, the phone never made it to the manufacturing line. The phone was a one-off design by Vivo just to show their technological prowess.
Meet the Vivo Apex 2019
Once again, as a concept device, the Vivo Apex 2019 pulls out all the stops to showcase what Vivo can do. The device packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 CPU along with 12GB of RAM and
The body of the Vivo Apex 2019 is shaped out of a single piece of glass and has absolutely no buttons on it. A small dotted area shows where the power button is. All other buttons are via capacitive and pressure sensors to simulate volume and sleep buttons. There’s no charging port either. Instead, a proprietary magnetic connector that is used for charging and data transfer.
Similar to the Vivo Apex FullView, the Vivo Apex 2019’s screen vibrates in place of a speaker. Perhaps the coolest feature is the OLED display that is also a full screen in-display fingerprint sensor. Once your fingerprint has been enrolled in the device, you can pretty much keep your finger anywhere on the screen of the Vivo Apex 2019 to unlock it.
So what’s the catch with the Vivo Apex 2019?
Well, there’s no catch per se. It’s a fully functioning smartphone with some next level tech. It’s just that the phone is not for sale. That’s right. There’s a very high chance that the Vivo Apex 2019 will not be commercially available. After all, its predecessor was a concept phone and so is this. So there’s no real reason that the phone would be made available to the public except to show off Vivo’s technological advancements.
However, it goes to show that these things are actually possible. Now we just need more smartphone manufacturers to follow suit and perhaps work on phones like this to make them available to us. We can always dream, right?
What are your thoughts on the Vivo Apex 2019?