Someone added a clear back to Vivo’s pop-up camera phone and it looks awesome

This hack is nothing like Xiaomi’s transparent Mi 8 Explorer Edition

DIY

Karen Chiu

Published: 7:03pm, 2 Aug, 2018

Why you can trust SCMP

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

When Vivo first introduced its pop-up camera phone, I was smitten. The Nex may turn out to be a highly impractical design, but forget that for a second -- amid a sea of notches, how many phone makers in the past year can claim they’ve created something truly unique?

Now I’m smitten all over again by the same phone… with a completely transparent back.

In case you think this is going to be like the Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition -- which has a see-through back but doesn’t actually show the real circuit board -- it’s not!

This is what I’m talking about! (Picture: JerryRigEverything)

The amazing DIY project required some serious engineering skills from JerryRigEverything, who had to slice off the phone’s back carefully and peel off a layer of black laminate. But that’s not the trickiest part.

Turns out, the pop-up camera was obscured by an additional metal plate -- and because it might contain tiny antennas, he couldn’t just remove it from the phone. So what he did instead was to selectively cut out only the parts that cover the camera and related moving components, keeping the rest intact.

You can watch the incredible process here:

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