vivo introduces NEX 3 5G with Snapdragon 855 Plus and Waterfall Display

The vivo NEX 3 is finally official. It comes with 5G, becoming the first non-gaming flagship with next-gen connectivity capabilities.

The phone also brings three cameras, with the main one being 64 MP, effectively becoming the first flagship with the new Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor. There are also a 13 MP wide-angle shooter and 13 MP telephoto camera.

The vivo NEX 3 is a gorgeous device, but the screen is a piece of beauty on its own. The company calls it a Waterfall FullView Display. It is a Super AMOLED panel with 6.89” diagonal and an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 99.6%, according to vivo. This is due to the extremely curved edges of the screen at nearly 90 degrees.

Having a screen on the sides, the vivo NEX 3 says goodbye to physical keys. Now it brings Touch Sense, which simulates the real touch of buttons and offers “more exquisite vibration feedback in various use cases”, according to vivo. There is also the feature called X-Axis Haptic that should provide a more comfortable vibration, applied to games, typing and other scenes.

The selfie camera mechanism is similar to the one in the vivo X27 Pro, but now it has a 16 MP sensor. There is a feature called Portrait Master’s Hyper HDR which should increase the dynamic range accuracy between a user’s face and the background’s brightest spot. The regular camera setup will have wide-angle, telescopic and macro capabilities “just a click away”.

On the inside, the phone is pretty impressive as well. It comes with either 8 or 12 GB RAM, while the storage is 256 GB. The chipset is a Snapdragon 855 Plus, which is hardly a surprise since the official social media channels already teased the feature. Another new-but-not-really-new feature is the battery capacity - 4,500 mAh with 44W fast-charging, which was already announced with the vivo iQOO Pro.

The NEX 3 series will be available in the coming months in Asia Pacific, Southeast China, and other markets. Тhe phone has three price tiers. The cheapest one is CNY 4,998 ($707/€641) with 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage and 4G capabilities.

Doubling the storage and getting the 5G modem would set you back CNY5,698 ($810/€730), while the most powerful 12/256 GB vivo NEX 3 5G will cost CNY6,198 ($877/€800). Pre-orders begin today, with shipments scheduled in five days - September 21.

The event ended with a classic "But wait, there's more" note, where vivo introduced the new TWS Earphone buds with Qualcomm's latest QCC5126 wireless chip.