Vivo Nex 3 first look: almost everything you want from a smartphone, and for less than other flagship handsets

With its huge 6.9-inch ‘waterfall screen’, triple camera and fast charging battery, the Nex 3 is very good value for money; the premium version is 5G-ready

It lacks wireless charging, waterproofing and stereo speakers, and runs on Android 9 when Android 10 is near launch, but is cheaper than most high-end phones

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The Vivo Nex 3 gives you a lot of smartphone for your money. Photo: Ben Sin

Published: 10:46am, 18 Sep 2019Updated: 12:21pm, 20 Sep 2019

Vivo this week unveils the Nex 3, the latest flagship smartphone from the Chinese company. I got the chance to test the phone for a few hours, and if I have to sum up the phone in a word, it’s “more”.

The Nex 3 has more of everything that’s in rival Android handsets.

The 6.9-inch OLED screen is just about the largest display in a mainstream flagship phone release to date, and the screen curves off dramatically at the sides, significantly more so than other phones with edge screens such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 or Huawei P30 Pro.

Vivo calls this its “waterfall screen”, and the dramatic curvature – the edges slope off at a near 90-degree angle – is eye-catching.

The Vivo Nex 3’s triple-camera system. Photo: Ben Sin

Around the back, the Nex 3 sports a triple-camera system headlined by a 64-megapixel camera. This type of pixel count would have seemed unbelievable just a couple of years ago, but that’s the pace at which mobile technology and components are innovating.

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