vivo X5Max

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• RishiGuru
• utg
• 18 Jun 2016

Artanis, 06 Jun 2016The thinnest phone on the market at 4.75 millimeter.Correction
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The Global/ International version of Vivo X5Max that GSMArena reviewed here is of 5.1mm thickness as it comes with a bigger 2300 mAh battery. The Chinese version was of 4.75 mm thickness and had a smaller 2000 mAh battery.

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• RishiGuru
• utg
• 17 Jun 2016

Akma Din, 17 Jun 2016I just got my vivo x5max a few months ago.. I do agree it h... moreWhich version of Vivo X5Max are you using? The Chinese version is just 4.8 mm thick and was primarily made to compete for the slimmest smartphone of the world award. It eventually own this award over Oppo R5 with 4.9 mm thickness. Both these models comes with a 2000 mAh battery. Mind you both Oppo & Vivo are owned by the same company, BBK Electronics of China.

It is true that for a 1080p screen with octa core Snapdragon 615 processor 2000 mAh is just not enough. So the global version of X5Max had a more sane approach with increased battery capacity to 2300 mAh thus growing thicker by 0.3 mm to 5.1 mm. And Vivo went to great lengths to optimize their Funtouch OS for efficiency gains and using a new black background theme over the usual white one to limit battery drainage from display. Thus GSMArena after review gives the global X5Max an endurance rating of 71 hours where as the R5 could just cough up measly 38 hours. It speaks volumes of how well optimized the software part of the X5Max is in comparison to R5.

The global version of X5Max can very well last for a normal day of usage. But you have to be a bit calculative on how many of its "Smart Features" you want to use and disable the rest. These additional "Smart Features" of Funtouch OS drains a lot of battery even if the smartphone is not used.

Some tips:

1) I use "Smart Awake" feature only to play & change music. So I disabled it for Facebook, Whatsapp, dialer, browser, email, display unlock & take a photo actions.

2) Disable all "Air Operations" if you do not require it. Enabling this smart operations causes the front camera to be always stay "ON" to track our gestures like waving our hand for Air Unlock. This operations drains a lot of battery power.

3) Disable as many "Smart Call" operations as you can. For me it is completely disabled.

4) Disable as many "Smart Light" operations as you can. For me only the "Double click to light" operation is enabled.

Mind you these are additional operations provided by Vivo for added convenience and you can very well do without it. As such my daily driver X5Max now very well lasts for a full day of normal usage.

Hope this helps. :)

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• A
• Akma Din
• PxM
• 17 Jun 2016

I just got my vivo x5max a few months ago.. I do agree it has the wow factor.. thins and looks expansive. But the only downside of it is that the battery capacity is very low and for me I have to recharge it a few times a day....

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• Artanis
• v0q
• 06 Jun 2016

The thinnest phone on the market at 4.75 millimeter.

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• RishiGuru
• utg
• 02 Jun 2016

AnonD-524199, 29 May 2016You are right... i have both v3max and x5max ... and x5max ... moreYeah the X5Max is special, the best Vivo I have seen till date.

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• AnonD-524199
• u78
• 29 May 2016

RishiGuru, 17 May 2016If you are an audio fanatic gun for Vivo X5Max, else there ... moreYou are right... i have both v3max and x5max ... and x5max is just special. v3max may have the new powerful processor, more ram, better battery backup and all.. but in hand feel of this phone is second to none... it has this wow factor.. plus thin factor... which none of my phones.. incuding iphones can have in thousand years. x5max sounds awesome over earphones, the best i have heard and the display and built quality even surpasses iphones. Also the processor and ram is enough for my everyday duty and you have a very smooth fluid experience with the user interface. Even with such a thin phone the battery last a day which is unbelievable. Great flagship phone and i love this phone and the good thing is now we can have this flagship at same price of v3max.

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• 
• RishiGuru
• utg
• 25 May 2016

yatin, 24 May 2016I purchased vivo 2 months ago based on looks and assuranc... moreStrange, as I have used quite a few of their smartphones and the performance have been pretty solid to me. That said I have mainly used their X-Series flagships devices like X5Max, X5Pro, XShot, X3S and two of their mid-range offerings V1 & V1Max. Ofcource none of their phones are for power users and gamers, but they do perform day to day tasks pretty smoothly and reliably.

You buy a Vivo for few reasons, number one in them is audio quality over headphones. Next comes screen quality, built quality and looks. They will never be chart blazers in performance aspect except for audio quality. They are also quite expensive.

My pick and daily driver have always been the X5Max, the best of all their flagships launched internationally.

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• y
• yatin
• s82
• 24 May 2016

I purchased vivo 2 months ago based on looks and assurance of my dealer
I am deeply disappointed with the performance of my phone its very very slow and unfortunately not getting proper service have decided to through that phone and go back to Samsung
think 10 times before you buy such products

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• 
• RishiGuru
• utg
• 17 May 2016

Anonymous, 16 May 2016Are these phones any good. If you are an audio fanatic gun for Vivo X5Max, else there are much better options available in the market right now.

I have used all Vivo flagship X-Series phones available in Indian market, and X5Max repeatedly came out to be the best. It was also the most expensive of all their flagships at US $500. Simply put it has one of the best audio quality over headphones, the best I have heard from any smartphone to date. It is also very loud over headphones which is a very good indication of its audio prowess.

Other than audio there is nothing much to lookup in this phone, but it has exemplary built quality and an awesome 5.5 inch 1080p Samsung Super AMOLED display. And yeah I forgot to mention this, it is one of the thinnest phone in the world.

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• ?
• Anonymous
• Xsd
• 16 May 2016

Are these phones any good.

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• 
• RishiGuru
• utg
• 17 Apr 2016

AnonD-524199, 09 Apr 2016I am a lot interested in this phone for its hifi audio qual... moreTo understand which one has better sound quality over headphones and why, at first you need to understand the different types of DAC packages that comes with audio-centric smartphones:

1) Integrated DAC Chip (DAC + Headphone amplifier): This type of DAC chips have lower audio performance parameters compared to other type of discrete DACs mentioned below. But these are very cost effective solutions as a medium quality op-amp comes integrated with the DAC to act as an in-built headphone amplifier. The low cost AKM AK4375 audio chip is one such example, liberally used in Vivo Y27L, Vivo V1Max, Vivo V3 & Vivo V3Max. AK4375 contains an inbuilt stereo voltage output DAC plus a stereo Class-G headphone amplifier (an operational amplifier to amplify the volume output) all in a single integrated chip.

2) Voltage Output DAC: These are discrete stereo DACs offering far better audio quality than integrated solutions like AKM AK4375. Hence they are expensive. An example will be the renowned Cirrus Logic CS4398 discrete stereo DAC which produces analog voltage audio signals required to drive headphones from digital audio data of smartphone CPU. We can actually feed the DAC's output directly to headphones in order to listen music but the audio signal will be very feeble.

Hence discrete DACs require help from a discrete stereo headphone amplifier to pump up the volume. Vivo X5Pro uses the CS4398 DAC with a discrete Maxim MAX97220 operational amplifier (stereo headphone amplifier to amplify the voltage signal from the DAC output to the 3.5mm headphone out). Hence the sound over headphones is as loud as -3.3dB with the punch to drive audiophile grade headphones. In comparison the Apple iPhone 6s maxes out at just -7.0dB while the Google Nexus 6P will cough up a meager -15.5dB. Vivo labels this kind of audio architecture used in X5Pro as HiFi 1.0, where a discrete DAC is followed by a discrete operational amplifier to the 3.5mm headphone out jack.

3) Current Output DAC: The most expensive option with the highest audio performance. Here the DAC does not produce analog voltage(V) audio signals required to drive headphones from digital audio stream of CPU but instead produces current(I) as output. ESS as the best DAC manufacturer in the world produces such expensive & performance oriented DAC in the name of SES SABRE ES9018 for smartphones. But with performance comes cost & complications in hardware design as their comes an additional step in the audio path where the current output from this DAC needs to be converted to voltage signals on which headphones operate. This conversion is ultra critical for the final sound signature and in producing the desired tonality. ESS never wanted any other manufacturer to handle such a critical performance stage for their DAC and hence created the ESS SABRE ES9601 operational amplifier (on Vivo's insistence) to be exclusively mated with their DAC to perform this I/V conversion. Mind you ES9601 op-amp is exclusive to Vivo and no other manufacturer can claim it. Vivo used this pair for the first time in their X5Max handset. I believe it is this exclusive pair which gives X5Max a slight performance edge in audio quality to the rest of the smartphones like Lenovo Vibe X3 which uses the same ESS DAC. Not to be content, Vivo additionally roped in another great name Texas Instruments to make the ominious OPA1612 operational amplifier which acted as a discrete headphone amplifer in X5Max, further amplifing the voltage signals from the ES9018 op-amp to the 3.5mm headphone out. The headphone volumes are so high (-1.4dB) and clear
you can drive any audiophile in-ear headphones to the maximum with X5Max. Vivo calls this kind of audio architecture as used in X5Max as HiFi 2.0, where a discrete DAC is followed by two discrete operational amplifiers to the 3.5mm headphone out jack.
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My two cents (After extensive use of both Vivo X5Max & Lenovo Vibe X3 over multiple headphones):

A) If you are seeking to use a smartphone as a high resolution audio player to attain highest audio quality over headphones go for Vivo X5Max. To my knowledge X5Max is the most audiophile centric smartphone Vivo have ever created and then released globally. I own one and call it their masterpiece. Only the to-be-released Vivo XPlay5 Elite with HiFi 3.0 architecture have the potential to dethrone it, but it may not be released globally. The X5Max have the best timbre and tonal quality while the separation of instruments is second to none. As the pioneer of HiFi smartphones Vivo owns a special relationship with ESS, the best DAC manufacturer in the world. It is they who convinced ESS to make a DAC chip exclusively for their smartphones. Then ESS created the sublime SABRE ES9018 DAC only to be used in Vivo flagship smartphones. In 2014, no other smartphone manufacturer were interested to put such an expensive DAC in their units. The main objective of HiFi 2.0 architecture in X5Max was to attain a measured 120dB SNR, 118dB dynamic range and distortion less than -100dB. This indicates they have actually surpassed most desktop and high resolution portable audio players in the market with X5Max.

B) If you want to use a smartphone as a smartphone like playing games, multimedia stuff, watching movies in VR headset, etc along with a supreme sound quality that misses the X5Max by a whisker, get a Lenovo Vibe X3. I will be perfectly fine with Vibe X3 which uses the same high-end ESS SABRE ES9018 DAC of Vivo X5Max. But Lenovo like other manufacturers do not have access to Vivo exclusive ESS SABRE ES9601 op-amp for critical I/V conversion. So what Lenovo (or rather Motorola) did was clever, they used the best op-amp available in the market, the same Texas Instruments OPA1612 (used in X5Max as headphone amplifier) to perform the current-to-voltage(I/V) conversion. But to improve performance and keep it close to ES9601 op-amp, they used a OPA1612 per channel (differential configuration) rather than justy one for both channels (single-ended configuration). Hence two OPA1612 are required for the stereo I/V conversion rather than just one. Further Vibe X3 uses the third OPA1612 just as a headphone amplifer just like X5Max. Lenovo was definitely inspired by Vivo's HiFi 2.0 architecture in X5Max and Vibe X3 is the result. It uses the same ESS SABRE ES9018 DAC and three OPA1612 op-amps in its audio path. Vibe X3 attained a measured 120dB SNR, -103dB distortion (fractionally less than X5Max's -100dB) and an high output voltage on +0.9518 volts over headphone jacks. These are signs of a true HiFi oriented smartphone. Apart from similar audio performance over headphones, Vibe X3 will obliterate X5Max with stereo in-built speaker performance.
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Subjectively speaking both are equally loud on same headphones, maybe Vibe X3 a fractionally louder. I believe X5Max having access to the exclusive ESS SABRE ES9601 op-amp for ESS SABRE ES9018 DAC have a slight edge. But then you are splitting hairs as both uses the same DAC in different hardware architectures having their own strengths and weaknesses. X5Max having slightly better separation, transients, plucked strings of guitars are better illustrated and high frequency transparency is second to none. The Vibe X3 on the other hand have a slightly more authoritative bass, mids are more thick and mellow and male voices are slightly better put than X5Max. Female voices sound slightly better in X5Max. I will say Vibe X3's sound signature is somewhat in between the mellow-ish X5Pro & sharp-ish X5Max. It is very hard to choose between the two and will ultimately boil down to personal preferences. Having said that Vivo & Lenovo have both done a stellar job in X5Max & Vibe X3 respectively and they are currently second to none in audio department. If you love complete separation of instruments and the openness in sound signature go for X5Max else if vocals is your preference go for Vibe X3.

Apart from audio, the X5Max have more up-market feel with slightly better built quality over Vibe X3. The 5.5 inch 1080p Super AMOLED display of X5Max is superior to Vibe X3 in terms of both color reproduction and vibrancy. Battery backup just makes up for a day in X5Max as it is the thinnest phone in the world with just 2300 mAh juice. Both the smartphones have excellent call quality, just like Motorola's CrystalTalk.

Hope this helps!!!

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• AnonD-524199
• u7I
• 09 Apr 2016

RishiGuru, 31 Jan 2016I thought to share a few points about my X5Max, V1 and Vivo... moreI am a lot interested in this phone for its hifi audio quality over headphones. I also have come across another handset by the name lenovo vibe x3. Have you compared the sound between the two? Which one is the better of the two for quality sound over headphones? Does x5max support FLAC audio playback and how convinent is its default music player?

Also how is the network call quality of x5max? Finally i want to state i am not a power user, I want to use the phone for mainly calls and also use it as a portable audio player. Please help me as both phones cost more or less the same and i cannot decide which one to buy.

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• D
• Digvijay Gautam
• ijg
• 09 Apr 2016

AnonD-492515, 03 Feb 2016Vivo x 5max is the best smart phone. all play games, like a... moreThis phone has hanging problems or not .

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• m
• mts
• Khu
• 08 Apr 2016

RishiGuru, 31 Jan 2016I thought to share a few points about my X5Max, V1 and Vivo... moreHave you compared the audio quality of x5max with lenovo vibe x3 over headphones? Can you tell me which one is better? Why is better is audio is only considered? Which one is the better overall phone?

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• r
• raman31188
• sSU
• 21 Mar 2016

battery problem..........
hanging problem.................
everything is not responding..........
no updates.............
kitkat version only.................

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• r
• raman
• sSU
• 21 Mar 2016

hanging problem and imusic is not responding..................
battery drain very fast......................

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• ?
• Anonymous
• XuT
• 21 Mar 2016

AnonD-492515, 24 Jan 2016hahahah R u fool . viviox5max is very fast phone. i used it... morehii.. can I have owm custom gestures to open apps in vivo x5 max as I can do in vivo v1 max??

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• T
• Trump
• Nv1
• 16 Mar 2016

I am using this phone after another slimmest previous one,but I won't go anymore for such cheap brand phone again.A total waste of money.Be careful before expending your money guys.

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• AnonD-321155
• KA1
• 16 Mar 2016

u get better phones fr that price check out brfore buying

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• R
• Raj
• Ffk
• 11 Mar 2016

Hi,
Its not upgradable to lollipop or further version, its latest version is only kitkat....
please check before buying

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