Vivo V9 first impressions: iPhone X lookalike is comfortable and sleek without the high-end specs
It may not win points for originality, but the V9 is a solid Android phone, with an impressive 6.3-inch display, minimal bezel, and dual cameras with more than enough resolution, although the AI doesn’t seem to do much
Vivo, either China’s second or third-largest phonemaker by market share depending on the month (the order shuffles every quarter), has announced a new mid-tier device to target the Southeast Asia market. The V9 is not going on sale – officially, anyway – in China and Hong Kong, and instead will hit countries such as Thailand first.
There’s no getting around the elephant in the room: the V9, from the display notch, to the vertically aligned dual-camera layout, to even the choice of wallpaper used on the phone’s promotional product shots, is reminiscent of the iPhone X.
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But after testing the phone for two days ahead of the launch, I’m happy to report that the V9 is a very impressive piece of Android hardware – provided you’re OK with the lack of originality.
The most impressive aspect of the V9 is the display. At 6.3 inches (16cm) with an 19:9 aspect ratio, it spans almost edge to edge, save for a small bezel measuring about 6.8mm, just a hair thinner than the already tiny chin on the Samsung Galaxy S9+.
Just by virtue of being bigger, content on the Vivo V9 feels more immersive and in-your-face than the iPhone X. It is, however, an LCD panel on the V9, so colours, especially black, won’t be as snappy as on the iPhone X. And yes, the notch on the V9 cuts into full-screen videos just like the iPhone X.
